WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement in response to U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement that he plans to drastically reduce the size of the U.S. Army to pre-WWII levels and eliminate attack aviation assets in the Army National Guard. Blunt serves as a member of both the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense: 

“Missouri serves a vital role in the defense of our country. Our state is the home to hundreds of thousands of active duty servicemen and women, civilian defense employees, military families, and private sector contractors. I have concerns about Secretary Hagel’s announcement today and its potential to harm America’s military readiness. We must ensure that our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to protect the country, and we should not slash defense funding in a way that jeopardizes our national security.”