One might wonder why the ship was deployed for so long, given that America has 11 carriers in its fleet. But that doesn’t mean all of them are available at any one time. Many are regularly in their home ports, undergoing regular maintenance or scheduled multiyear refurbishing. That significantly reduces the number of carriers that could have replaced the Lincoln before the recent troubles emerged.

The administration’s usage of the carrier fleet in action against Venezuela and Iran has exacerbated this shortage. The USS Gerald Ford recently returned to Norfolk, Virginia, after spending nearly 10 months at sea supporting operations against the two tyrannies. Delays in completing the USS John F. Kennedy prevent that ship from being deployed, while the rest of the carrier fleet is either undergoing maintenance or refurbishment. The USS George Washington, the only carrier available to replace the Lincoln, arrived in the Middle East this week.

America’s military has stretched its capabilities in other branches, too, to service the Venezuelan and Iranian operations. Many of its scarce air defense systems have been sent to the Middle East, while nearly half of the Marine Expeditionary Units have been assigned to one of those operations. And this doesn’t even get to the question of whether the United States is running short of some of its most sophisticated weapons, as has been widely reported.

The good news is that the administration knows America needs to increase its military and rate of weapon procurement dramatically if it is to meet its challenges. It recently announced that it will allow foreign shipmakers to build Navy ships overseas, provided they invest in creating and expanding new shipbuilding capability in the U.S. It also decreed that the complicated new electromagnetic aircraft launching system for carriers under construction would be replaced with traditional steam catapult launching on all Ford-class carriers starting with the USS Doris Miller, which is scheduled to start construction in 2029. This change would presumably reduce the delays and cost overruns that plagued the construction of the Ford and Kennedy.

The administration is expeditiously expanding other defense procurement programs, too. It recently awarded contracts to significantly expand production of Tomahawk and Patriot missiles and as much as quadruple annual purchases of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors that protect sites against ballistic missiles. Build more, faster, is the Pentagon’s new leitmotif.

All this costs money, however. And that is where Congress comes in.

Military contractors will not spend billions of dollars expanding or building factories unless they have a guarantee of long-term sales. This means that Congress needs to commit to a permanent increase in defense spending. While it appears that the administration’s request for a base $1.5 trillion military budget will be approved, the jury is still out on its requests for a $350 billion supplemental budget and additional spending to recoup the money spent on the Iran war.

There’s also no assurance that the base defense budget will be maintained or increased with inflation in future years. A one-time influx of cash is sufficient for one-off construction projects, such as building the wall on the southern border. It would be arguably catastrophic to halt the military buildup next year, leaving defense contractors to twist in the wind.

It’s true that America’s record $40 trillion debt, coupled with its annual $2 trillion budget deficit, makes it harder and more expensive to simply borrow the money to pay for defense. That shouldn’t mean that Congress puts the brakes on. The global situation is too dangerous to scrimp on national security in the name of solvency.

Congress should look at cutting spending and raising revenue to start reducing the budget deficit. Defense can be part of that, but that should mean looking at reducing the civilian bureaucracy or ending noncrucial programs that are placed in the defense budget. A 2022 report from the American Enterprise Institute, for example, found $109 billion of spending tucked in the defense budget that does nothing to directly support military readiness.

The Lincoln’s troubles put a human face on the long-standing gap between American military and strategic commitments and its force capability. President Donald Trump had to decide upon taking office whether to reduce commitments or expand capability. He’s largely decided to ask for expansion. Congress should follow suit as fast as it can.