President Joe Biden said Friday he wants to make America’s military a happy place for the global climate.
Biden appeared at an Earth Day event in Seattle where he talked about his plans to makes sure that the military would be eco-friendly.
Biden last month proposed a $5.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2023 that set aside $773 billion for the Department of Defense and, according to Biden, would ensure that America’s military “remains the best-prepared, best-trained, best-equipped military in the world,” Fox News reported.
Biden said he was ready to spend a lot of taxpayer dollars to achieve his objectives.
“One of the things I found out as the President of the United States: I get to spend a lot of that money,” Biden said, according to a transcript of his comments.
Biden: "In the U.S. military every vehicle is going to be climate friendly. Every vehicle." pic.twitter.com/QdVQdsq1wW
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 22, 2022
“I get to decide where — no, I’m not joking. And we’re going to completely — but before — we’re — I’m going to start the process where every vehicle in the United States military — every vehicle is going to be climate friendly,” Biden said.
“Every vehicle. We’re going to have — no, I mean it. We’re spending billions of dollars to do it,” he said. “And — and it’s going to matter. You know, it matters. You know, in my view, this crisis, as I said, is a genuine opportunity — an opportunity to do things we wanted to do, and only now it’s become so apparent,” he said.
In February, as Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine, the Army unveiled its strategy to address climate change, to the anger of many Republicans, according to Roll Call.
“First, the Biden administration used troops as critical race theory lab rats,” Sen. Tom Cotton said. “Now, President Biden wants to turn the Army into a climate change task force. Time and money spent indulging Democrats’ political goals is time and money lost in the fight against America’s enemies — and our enemies know it.”
Sen. James Imhofe of Oklahoma called the Army strategy “another effort from the Biden administration to focus our military on everything except its primary mission: defending our country.”
“The Army’s top priority should be securing the capabilities needed to operate and win in contested environments, not adhering to arbitrary bureaucratic deadlines,” he said.
Biden is now discussing making our entire military "climate friendly" because there's nothing that screams "STRENGTH" more than our gunners driving down the battlefield in a Nissan Leaf.
— Irene Armendariz-Jackson For Congress (@ArmendarizDis16) April 22, 2022
Retired Army Gen. Thomas Spoehr noted in February that it was “incongruous the Army published a climate strategy at the same moment that Russia has 80 battalion tactical groups across the border from Ukraine threatening aggression.”
On Friday, Biden urged Congress to pass legislation he likes concerning climate change.
“You know, my pen’s ready. My pen’s ready to sign. I’m anxious to sign this. Get some of these bills to my desk,” he said.