Every day, American servicemen and women stand ready to defend our nation. They stay vigilant to counter any threat, and they and their families make innumerable sacrifices in service to our country. And it’s their dedication and courage – and that of the generations of Americans who came before them – that have secured the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.

Providing for our nation’s defense is the most important thing I do in Congress. But it’s not a one-and-done exercise; we shouldn’t expect that a one-time buildup will provide the military with everything it needs to keep the nation safe. Technology and tactics change, threats evolve, and even the strongest reputations fade if they’re not backed up with substance. So maintaining a robust national defense has to be a permanent focus, year-in and year-out. It has to be a priority.

Unfortunately, we are not where we should be when it comes to national defense. The Commission on the National Defense Strategy recently released its assessment that “the U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat.” Another report from the Strategic Posture Commission reads, “Today the United States is on the cusp of having not one, but two nuclear peer adversaries, each with ambitions to change the international status quo, by force, if necessary: a situation which the United States did not anticipate and for which it is not prepared.”

While our preparedness lags, the world isn’t getting any safer. We’ve seen an unnerving increased alignment among our adversaries. Russian and Chinese bombers flew together 200 miles off the coast of Alaska this summer. Iran and North Korea have both provided Russia with missiles to use in Ukraine. Then, there are the threats to our allies. In the South Pacific, China has grown increasingly aggressive toward Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan. In the Middle East, our military continues to combat Iran-backed terrorists that have attacked commercial shipping and launched attacks against Israel, and Hamas still holds more than 100 hostages from its attack against Israel, including seven Americans.

There’s no time to waste, yet Democrats have kept our national defense funding on the backburner. Every one of the Biden-Harris administration defense budget requests has failed to keep pace with inflation. And Senate Democrats have shown once again that the annual defense bills are near the bottom of their priority list. A bipartisan defense authorization was passed by the Armed Services Committee months ago, but week after week the Senate’s business has largely been confirming Biden nominees and political show votes on bills going nowhere.

Our adversaries haven’t put their national defense on the backburner, and neither should we. Inaction sends the wrong message to our adversaries and allies, not to mention it hamstrings our own military’s ability to modernize and evolve with the threat environment. Failure is not an option. We owe America’s servicemembers – and the national security imperatives of our great nation – more than last-minute legislating.