Texas Senator Ted Cruz laid out his vision for bolstering the U.S. military on an aircraft carrier in South Carolina on Tuesday. The senator even promised to rebuild the military so "it will be feared by our enemies and trusted by our allies."
According to CBS DFW, the Texas Senator is proposing a plan to bolster the U.S. military, a state with a large military and veteran population. Cruz, in South Carolina on Tuesday, explained his military platform inside the U.S.S. Yorktown, a World War II-era aircraft carrier.
He seeks for increasing the number of active duty troops, airplanes and battleships. He did not really specify the budget on his plans, but pointed to former President Ronald Reagan's approach as a model for how he would get it done.
Cruz claimed that he will pay for it by cutting federal spending by at least $500 billion. He would also sell federal assets and properties, as well as audit the Pentagon to find savings. Voters in South Carolina will give off their votes for a Republican nominee for president on Saturday.
"If you think it's too expensive to defend this nation, try not defending it," Cruz stated via ABC NEWS. "This will be a challenge and involve difficult choices."
While giving his statement in front of a World War II Navy dive bomber inside the U.S.S. Yorktown, Cruz also called for expanding the Air Force. He would like to include at least 6,000 airplanes, up from 4,000, and to increase the number of battleships from 273 to at least 350.
"It is time for America to once again prioritize a strong, advanced and robust military," he added. "We will not go picking fights around the globe. The purpose of this rebuilt military is not to intervene in every conflict and engage in expensive and protracted exercises in nation building in countries who have scant interests in the institutions we want to impose on them."
However, the Obama administration has been the first to reshape the U.S. military. The administration is emphasizing what it considers to be new-era capabilities that are better suited for the range of conflicts the U.S. is facing.
These efforts would include a cyber warfare and special operations missions. But It has been constrained, by across-the-board budget cuts that Congress and the White House agreed to in 2011, which have left the Air Force and Army less ready for short-notice conflict, as reported by The New York Times.
Moreover, Cruz also called for a need for greater collaboration with the Jordanian, Egyptian and Israeli militaries. He pitched that partnering with them on counterterrorism missions, and boosting counterterrorism cyber-surveillance would also be needed.
Meanwhile, South Carolina is set to hold its Republican primary on February 20. As of the senator's plan, the same approaches utilized by the Obama administration has already pursued vigorously in recent years, especially in military cooperation with Israel and Jordan.
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