WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, today questioned members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a hearing to examine the military’s long-term budgetary challenges and solutions to maintain America’s military superiority.

Wicker first questioned Marine Corps General Robert Neller about the Corps’s need for additional amphibious ships, which are among the most important military assets for responding to immediate crises. Wicker also asked Army General Mark Milley to detail the Afghan people’s perception of a sustained U.S.-Afghan partnership.

Lastly, the Pentagon officials confirmed to Wicker that they have not prepared an update to the Future Years Defense Plan, despite a possible return to devastating sequestration spending levels in FY2018, currently mandated by law.