Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Congress to approve a sharp increase in the Pentagon budget during a ceremony marking the renaming of a military base in honor of the late Senator Lindsey Graham.

Graham, a veteran long known for supporting an expanded military, died suddenly last month from an aortic dissection. The military facility in South Carolina, previously known as Joint Base Charleston, has now been renamed Joint Base Lindsey Graham.

“As we gather here today, the Defense Department is seeking a historic $1.5 trillion investment for America’s warfighters. And Lindsey himself told me: ‘This is the best military budget I’ve seen in all my time in Congress,’” Hegseth said. “This department is honoring Lindsey Graham by putting his name on this base, but there can be no greater tribute from Congress than to invest the full $1.5 trillion in our warfighters.”

Hegseth also used his remarks to criticize the military’s “so-called woke leaders” under previous administrations and praised Graham for spending his “final years fighting the radical left-wing ideology that ran rampant in the media, in academia, and even among several members of Congress.”