U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) announced that he plans to propose the following addition to the Republican Conference rules during their meeting today. The proposal reads:  

Resolved, during the 117th Congress, the Senate Republican Conference believes Congress should prioritize spending on national security to meet the defense needs of our nation as articulated in the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission Report of 2018.

Inhofe made the following statement ahead of the conference meeting: “The Constitution is clear: defending America is supposed to be a top priority. After the Obama administration cut our military spending by 25 percent, we made significant progress in rebuilding our military under the Trump administration—and we need that to continue so we can address the threats from China and Russia. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s budget proposal did not include sufficient defense spending in line with the need for real growth articulated by the bipartisan 2018 National Defense Strategy Commission report. Including this proposal in our conference rules will show Republican unity on this issue ahead of this year’s budget process and National Defense Authorization Act.”

The simple proposal comes after the Biden administration submitted a topline budget request that didn’t even increase defense spending above the rate of inflation, cutting the Department of Defense and Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, while increasing non-defense spending by nearly 20 percent.