Oklahoma U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe supports the inclusion of $4 billion for missile defense in a federal spending bill signed Friday.
President Donald Trump requested the funding earlier this year.
"Over the last 30 years, we've witnessed our missile defense programs go through dramatic investment changes from administration to administration," Inhofe said.
Inhofe wrote a letter of support for Trump’s funding request to appropriations committee leaders earlier this month after a North Korean missile test reached 2,800 miles into space. Inhofe said North Korea’s recently demonstrated ability to reach the continental U.S. with a ballistic missile puts the country at it’s greatest nuclear threat in history.
"Adversaries like North Korea are developing ballistic missiles with increasing range and accuracy. It's important for us here in the Senate to communicate to the American people the credible, grave and immediate threat that we face," Inhofe said.
Of the $4 billion in missile funding, $1.3 billion is earmarked for the research and development of systems that can detect and shoot down ballistic missiles.
