GOP Rep. Eli Crane: Do not aspire to 'empire'

In a House subcommittee hearing on U.S. national security on Tuesday, a handful of Republican lawmakers voiced support for general restraint and called for cuts to Pentagon spending, citing the debt and deficit. One even quoted John Quincy Adams.

“The United States have no business in making conquests, nor in aspiring to any kind of empire,” said freshman Rep.Congressman Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), directly quoting Adams to a panel of mostly hawkish experts. “The principal object of government is to secure the happiness of society, not to extend the boundaries of an empire.”

Crane added, “Does it concern you guys that we’re $36 trillion in debt, (with an) annual deficit of $2 trillion as we sit here and talk about the United States’ global involvement? Do any of you guys wonder when that tipping point is going to be?”

The subcommittee hearing, titled “Emerging Global Threats: Putting America’s National Security First,” featured a panel of foreign policy experts who primarily focused on why Washington needs to reassure allies of its commitment to security.

“America first does not mean America alone,” said the Heritage Foundation’s Brent Saddler. “And a key lesson of the Ukraine war, many of our Asian allies have noted, is that an ally unable to defend itself or delay adequately, an aggressor is a liability to our collective defense and very likely to suffer defeat.”

Sadler added that “America must heed this lesson as well and tend to its defenses better, to include securing our economy while our allies work with us to bolster our common defense that has been neglected for too long.”

Despite these warnings, the committee members largely focused on spending and how America’s $36 trillion debt could threaten national security.

Freshman Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.) echoed this sentiment: “I've heard people saying we need more money for Taiwan, we need more money for the Middle East. ... Number one, we have got to get our spending under control.”

Lawmakers also brought up the Pentagon at the hearing. “I want to point out that Pentagon spending is on the chopping block,” commented subcommittee chairperson Rep William Timmons (R-S.C.). “It's (discussion around Pentagon spending cuts) not only going to be on the role of foreign aid. It's going to be across the board because we have $36 trillion in debt, and we have a $2 trillion annual deficit.”