Veteran Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama is correct: President Joe Biden still is short-changing the needs of U.S. military services.

Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has had harsh words for Biden’s 2023 Pentagon budget proposal. Even amid the war in Ukraine and China’s saber-rattling, both of which remind us that the world is more dangerous than it was just half a decade ago, Biden’s proposed defense spending doesn’t even keep up with inflation. Worse, as the Wall Street Journal editorialists note, Biden is mothballing more ships than he approves for construction. President Ronald Reagan once justifiably wanted a Navy approaching 600 ships; Biden won’t even maintain 300.