Following Hurricane Milton’s catastrophic landfall, Governor Ron DeSantis has requested an Expedited Major Disaster Declaration to support Florida's response and recovery efforts. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL), and members...
Following Hurricane Milton’s catastrophic landfall in Florida, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined the U.S. Coast Guard to survey impacted areas across the State. Photos are courtesy of Senator Rubio’s office. Senator Rubio joins the U.S. Coast Guard for a flyover...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host in-person Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of Senator Rubio’s...
Major Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida, bringing with it devastating storm surge, winds, and inland flooding. The Seminole Tribe of Florida should have access to the federal resources required for emergency response and recovery preparations on...
Major Hurricane Milton is forecasted to potentially hinder or obstruct the Port of Tampa Bay, which receives more than 40 percent of Florida’s petroleum products. It’s crucial for the federal government to expedite all requested measures to protect Florida’s economy...
Major Hurricane Milton is forecasted to impact Florida with devastating storm surge, winds, and inland flooding. After just being hit by Hurricane Helene, it’s crucial for the State of Florida to have the support of the federal government. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio...
Sea Power Is Essential to Countering Communist China
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
April 10, 2023
Defense News
[O]n March 28,…U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro admitted a disturbing imbalance of military resources to the Senate Committee on Appropriations: “By 2028, we will have approximately 291 ships or so. I can’t predict exactly what the Chinese will have, but estimates are upward of 440.” In other words, China is on a fast track to displace America as the world’s dominant naval power….
Too few people fully understand or appreciate the fact that our ships do more than defend allies and partners from invasion; they also guarantee freedom of navigation on the open seas…. That will end if Beijing uses a more powerful force to overturn our maritime supremacy.
That Beijing seeks to do so is undeniable…. Beijing has…challenged the law of the sea countless times, using everything from fishing boats and artificial islands to warships and fighter jets to advance its illegal claims and restrict innocent passage in the South and East China Seas.
Meanwhile, just one of China’s 13 naval shipyards has greater productive capacity than all seven U.S. shipyards combined…. Don’t the stakes in this conflict merit a response from the Biden administration? The answer is obviously yes…. But President Biden apparently didn’t get that memo because his budget request for the Navy and Marine Corps is about two percent below inflation….
There’s another problem here, too, which is how the U.S. Department of Defense invests the money it does have. Instead of using funds for basic tasks like shipbuilding, the Pentagon has been spending more and more taxpayer dollars on obscure experiments conducted by third-party contractors under the guise of research and development….
If our leaders want even the slightest chance of maintaining U.S. maritime supremacy—and all the benefits it brings to the American people and the world as a whole—they need to reorder their priorities and accelerate our nation’s shipbuilding….