Maui Now:
Today, US Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) introduced the Advancing America’s Missile Defense Act of 2017.
The bill – a direct response to continued aggression from North Korea – seeks to strengthen and improve the reliability, capability, and capacity of US homeland missile defense.
“This bill will help improve our ability to defend Hawai‘i, Alaska, and the US mainland against a North Korean ballistic missile threat,” said Sen. Schatz. “While we take this extra step to strengthen our defense capacities, we must continue to explore every diplomatic avenue to hold North Korea to its international commitments and stop its unlawful pursuit of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile.”
“Top military leaders have been sounding the alarm, saying it is only a matter of ‘when, not if,’ Kim Jong-un will get the capability to range cities in the continental United States with a nuclear inter-continental ballistic missile,” said Sen. Sullivan. “The Advancing America’s Missile Defense Act of 2017 heeds that warning and seeks to advance our nation’s ability to outpace the current threats”…
