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Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, under the misguided leadership of the Biden administration, our credibility--America's credibility--on the world stage has crumbled. Simply put, our friends no longer trust us, and our enemies no longer fear us.

The Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan signaled to our adversaries and our allies alike that the United States could not be trusted.

With deterrence a mere memory, this gave the green light to Vladimir Putin to continue his ambitions in Ukraine and launch a full-scale invasion after invading Crimea in 2014.

This administration took it a step further, though, unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets and allowing Tehran to pour even more money behind the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Shia militias, its terrorist proxies operating throughout the Middle East. Of course, the administration did this with full knowledge of Iran's nuclear ambitions. But they didn't stop there. By removing the designation of the Iranian-backed Houthis as a terrorist group--a decision which the President later only partially reversed--President Biden practically invited them to start attacking international commerce in the Red Sea.

The dominoes were set, and now we are seeing them fall. Iran and its proxies have been emboldened and launched the most deadly terrorist attack on the people of Israel on October 7. Then there is North Korea, which has sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia, and some intelligence estimates that they might be willing to provide up to 100,000 soldiers in the coming months as part of Russia's effort to capture Ukraine.

Then, in the South China Sea, in another part of the world, the People's Republic of China--dominated and run by the Chinese Communist Party--continues to assert excessive and illegal maritime boundary claims, at times using force against our treaty ally, the Philippines, when they have attempted to resupply their ship, the Sierra Madre, near the Second Thomas Shoal.

So perhaps it should be no surprise to anyone, given the absence of effective American leadership, that President Xi, the President of China, has ordered the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, to be ready and capable to take Taiwan by force in 2027, 2 years from now.

If China's aggression in the Indo-Pacific goes unchecked, President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party will continue to threaten, intimidate, and ultimately invade China's neighbors. The CCP, Chinese Communist Party, will likely escalate its economic war against the United States by blackballing us from the biggest market in the world and starving our country of critical supplies, including critical minerals.

It is no secret that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are now working in concert to undermine the United States and our allies. It is no exaggeration to say we are perhaps at the most dangerous environment, geopolitically, since World War II.

And we know from history that the beginning of wars becomes only clear in retrospect. We know that from the runup to World War II. This is a dangerous period and environment. So the United States must reestablish deterrence and must show the world that we are serious about confronting these threats and the reality head-on.

And while I admit this paints a rather grim picture, I am confident that the United States is headed toward a new chapter of ``peace through strength,'' as Ronald Reagan said, this time with President Trump as our Commander in Chief.

I am glad to see President Trump has selected military veteran Pete Hegseth as the next Defense Secretary, Representative Mike Waltz as the National Security Advisor, and our friend and colleague Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. And I am proud that my fellow Texan and my former colleague in Congress John Ratcliffe has been selected to direct the Central Intelligence Agency.

I am looking forward to working with these terrific individuals to reverse the disastrous policies of the Biden administration, but we all have our work cut out for us. But I am confident that, in these individuals, President Trump picked the right people for the job.

The first and most significant task at hand will be shoring up our Armed Forces, specifically the U.S. Navy. A revitalization of the Navy will be critical to deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific as well as keeping AUKUS--our partnership with Australia and the UK--alive and well.

In order to pose a credible threat to the CCP, in order to maintain deterrence--which is our ultimate goal--we need to adequately resource the Navy as well. This starts with our shipbuilding capabilities. Secretary-designate Hegseth should waste no time in working with Congress on a shipbuilding plan.

We also stand ready to work with the Trump administration on a plan to reinvigorate our aging shipyards, which are struggling to attract and retain necessary talent. The Pentagon can streamline its specifications for building maritime assets, ensuring that they are linked to warfighting requirements.

Another priority must be improving military recruitment. I am pleased to see Secretary-designate Hegseth's commitment to ending the politicalization of our military. Given the Biden administration's needless focus on what divides us instead of what unites us, it is really no surprise that the number of Americans voluntarily joining our military is at an alltime low. Reducing the diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracy will have the benefit of freeing up resources necessary to aid recruitment and rebuilding. By ending these culture wars and reorienting the Pentagon toward a commitment to excellence as a top priority, we will be better positioned to recruit a talented military ready to deter aggression anywhere around the world.

And the Pentagon must come to terms with our depleted arsenal of critical munitions. This includes replenishing our stock of long-range anti-ship missiles, joint air-to-surface standoff missiles, and the advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles.

Secretary-designate Hegseth can do this cost effectively by returning to policies that the Pentagon has disregarded in recent years. Mandatory fixed-price commercial contracts promote cost savings for the taxpayer. Contrast this with the Department of Defense's current model of cost-plus contracting, which has stifled innovation and allowed private sector contractors to outsource R&D costs to the taxpayer.

So we have a lot of work to do as a Congress and as a nation to bolster our commitment to our allies and shore up deterrence against our adversaries. But by reversing the damage done over the last 4 years by the Biden-Harris administration, we will be well on our way to a world where America's friends trust us once again and our enemies fear us once again.

I look forward to working with Secretary-designate Hegseth, Secretary-designate Rubio, and President Trump to move this country in a better direction. I am confident that working together with that goal in mind we can work toward a safer and more peaceful world.

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