We enacted largest increase in national defense since Reagan: Pence to US military

US vice president Mike Pence addressed a crowd of service members at the Lemoore naval air station in California touting the Trump administration's foreign policy achievements.

Pence said that the current administration has always understood that if you want peace, prepare for war.

"Four years ago, we inherited a military that had been hollowed out by devastating budget cuts. our troops hadn't seen a significant pay raise in nearly 10 years. our military lacked equipment at a level that was actually impacting readiness, and our nato allies weren't meeting their commitments to our common defense," Pence said.

"Iran was resurgent across the Middle East and a terrorist organization controlled a landmass the size of Pennsylvania and I couldn't be more proud to stand before all you heroes today and report under the leadership of President Donald Trump we've rebuilt our military, we've restored the arsenal of democracy, and we've enacted the largest increases in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan," Pence asserted.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration carried out its 13th federal execution since July just days before president-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony. Dustin Higgs was convicted in the killing of three women in 1996. He was the third convict this week to receive a lethal injection at a federal prison in Indiana.

The US Justice department had resumed federal executions last year. The number of federal death sentences carried out under Trump since 2020 is more than in the previous 56 years combined. The number of prisoners on federal death row have been reduced by nearly a quarter.