Military and defense

Note: This page is a reproduction of the Hillary for America policy proposal on the military and defense. 

We need a smart and sustainable defense budget driven by strategy—not by bluster and loose talk.

Hillary Clinton will be a president who doesn’t just support our military rhetorically. As a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she understands the issues facing our military and veterans and has a long record working to deliver real results for them.

As president, Hillary will:

• Provide budgetary certainty to facilitate reforms and enable long-term planning.The recent budget deal reached between the Congress and the White House is a promising first step in providing government agencies with much needed fiscal stability. But we must go further by ending the sequester for both defense and non-defense spending in a balanced way.
• Invest in innovation and capabilities that will allow us to prepare for and fight 21st-century threats. That includes leveraging our information advantage through what’s called “net-centric warfare” capabilities and preparing for asymmetric threats.
• Create a defense budget that reflects good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. As president, Hillary will prioritize defense reform initiatives, curbing runaway cost growth in areas like health care and acquisition and stretching every dollar.
• Take care of our veterans and their families—it’s part of our solemn duty. Hillary has proposed a comprehensive plan to ensure timely access to quality care; eliminate the claims and appeals backlog; make sure our vets continue to have access to education and economic opportunity; fight substance abuse, mental health disorders, and homelessness; and support our military families.