Bernie Sanders is proving once again why he should never be commander in chief. A recent official communication from his office claimed that climate change is a threat to military readiness.
Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon reports:
Bernie Sanders Hits Trump as Commander In Chief Over Climate ChangeSen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) is hitting President Donald Trump for not directing the Pentagon to make climate change its number one priority.In a press release Wednesday, Sanders, who took his honeymoon in the Soviet Union, said climate change is the biggest threat to military readiness.”With President Trump as commander in chief, the Department of Defense, which previously called climate change a national security threat, now questions the science linking increasingly common extreme weather events to climate change,” Sanders said. “This is unacceptable and could severely jeopardize our military readiness.”
Harrington notes that Bernie didn’t address real threats to combat readiness:
Earlier this year Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said he was “shocked” by the poor state of the U.S. military’s readiness for combat due to sequestration budget cuts when he returned to the Pentagon. The $700 billion military budget signed by Trump on Tuesday specifically increased spending for more “troops, jet fighters, ships, and other weapons needed to halt an erosion of the military’s combat readiness.”
Here’s more on what James Mattis said on the matter.
Sandra Erwin wrote at The National Interest:
Mattis is “Shocked” by U.S. Military Readiness CrisisLike frustrated constituents at a town hall meeting, Pentagon officials Monday night expressed deep disappointment at Congress, for failing to do its job.The men and women of the U.S. military give it all for their country, but can’t count on their government to provide stable funding, lamented Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).In his toughest language to date, Mattis — along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford and Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist — called on Congress to pass a budget for fiscal year 2018, on time.“I need bipartisan support for this budget,” Mattis said of President Trump’s $639 billion funding request for the Defense Department. That includes $574 billion for the Pentagon “base budget” and nearly $65 billion for overseas operations.Mattis repeated what other defense officials during President Obama’s years have said over and over, the military’s combat readiness is eroding, weapon modernization plans are at risk, and still, the inaction continues.
Trump is working hard to fix this problem. It’s a matter of national security.
Frederico Bartels writes at the Daily Signal:
Rebuilding the Military Comes With a Price Tag. But the Price of Waiting Is Higher.The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will cost an additional $295 billion over the next four years to execute President Donald Trump’s plans to rebuild the military.Its calculation was done by comparing the current Budget Control Act defense caps with the Trump budget outline. Those budget caps, established in 2011, limit how much Congress may appropriate for defense and nondefense discretionary spending through 2021, regardless of need or strategy…The administration is currently working to craft both its national security strategy and its national defense strategy. These documents will likely be released in the near future and will, undoubtedly, have budgetary implications in the next four years.Since 2015, The Heritage Foundation’s Index of U.S. Military Strength has documented the current state of our military. When looking over all recent editions of the index, deteriorating readiness is the main theme that emerges. Every service has experienced deteriorated readiness.
By tying climate change to military readiness, Bernie is not only being ridiculous. He is putting the left’s agenda ahead of national security. Thank your lucky stars this man was not elected president.
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