America’s Military Is Back
Sen. Jim Banks
President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have overseen a historic turnaround.
Editors’ Note
This is an edited version of a floor speech Sen. Banks delivered on Tuesday, December 16.
As we close out 2025, the Trump Administration has racked up many big wins. But none are as significant as what President Trump and Secretary of War Hegseth have done to repair the recruitment crisis that took place during President Biden’s watch.
When I served in the House of Representatives, I chaired the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, so I saw firsthand how bad things got under Biden, especially at the Pentagon and in our military.
When Biden was president, he presided over the worst recruitment crisis since our military became an all-volunteer force over 50 years ago.
In 2022, the Army set a goal to recruit 60,000 new soldiers, but it only managed to recruit 45,000. That’s 15,000 soldiers short. And the same thing happened again the following year, when the Army was again 15,000 soldiers short of its 65,000 recruitment goal. When you add up the recruitment losses under President Biden between 2021 and 2025, the Army shrank by 40,000 soldiers due to a lack of recruits. That’s as many as four divisions of troops.
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