Senator Blunt believes in President Ronald Reagan’s vision of “peace through strength.” He knows that the United States is an exceptional country and that the federal government’s number one responsibility is to protect the nation from enemies, both foreign and domestic.

As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Defense, Senator Blunt helps oversee the nation’s federal defense spending. He supports Missouri’s vital role in the defense of our country and is working to promote greater investment in our state. Missouri is home to more than 17,000 active duty servicemen and women, more than 8,000 civilian Department of Defense employees, and more than 20,000 reservists and members of the National Guard.

In 2014, Congress passed several key Missouri defense priorities that were championed by Senator Blunt as part of the bipartisan omnibus agreement. The bill funded several important defense priorities for Missouri jobs, including $337 million to keep the Air Force’s A-10 Warthog flying in FY15, and $1.46 billion for 15 additional Growler aircraft, which are built in St. Louis.

The United States has important obligations in other parts of the world, especially those places where terrorist organizations have historically been provided with aid and comfort while planning attacks against our homeland. He believes we cannot allow our necessary focus on these non-traditional threats to distract us from maintaining our nuclear deterrent and readiness in the face of more traditional foes. And he supports more robust sanctions policies to stop Iran from gaining access to nuclear weapons capabilities.

Senator Blunt also serves as a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and he previously served as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). He understands that the challenge of fighting al Qaeda, ISIS, and other fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups is critical to countering these very real threats to our nation today. He supports committing important resources for the operations to fight ISIS, and he continues to call on President Obama to outline a strategy for defeating these terrorists who wish Americans harm.

As the threat to our nation evolves, Senator Blunt has been a leader in calling for a robust and comprehensive look at the way we protect critical infrastructure and other networks from cyber-attacks. He has co-sponsored several bills in the Senate to address this important issue, and he continues to believe that the nation must aggressively address this challenge head on.

Senator Blunt is in favor of supporting our allies in parts of the world that share our nation’s vision for freedom and human rights. He supports maintaining strong US-Israel relations, which means ensuring Israel has the resources to defend itself and upholding Israel’s right to do so. Senator Blunt worked to pass the US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act, which was signed into law in December 2014. He has strongly urged U.S. officials to aggressively protect the rights of religious minorities throughout the world. In 2014, President Obama signed Senator Blunt’s bill, the Near East and South Central Asia Religious Freedom Act, into law. The law encourages the president to appoint a special envoy to promote religious freedom among religious minorities in the Middle East.

In addition to supporting our nation’s servicemen and women, Senator Blunt is a strong advocate for our nation’s first responders and law enforcement officials. As the co-chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, Senator Blunt has fought to ensure our nation’s law enforcement community has the appropriate resources to protect people and property, including through better mental health training and information sharing.