SECDEF MATTIS: Cutting defense will not help deficit.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on Saturday threw his weight behind an op-ed from two top Republicans calling for greater funding for the Defense Department — and lining himself against Trump administration guidance to cut fiscal year 2020 defense spending.

“Fiscal solvency and strategic solvency can co-exist,” Mattis said at the Reagan National Defense Forum.

In a Friday Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Don’t cut military spending, Mr. President,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Calif., and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., warned that a smaller defense budget won’t have a major impact on fixing the national deficit, but would have painful repercussions on military equipment and end strength.

“Our top priority is the troops,” the pair wrote. “Any cut in the defense budget would be a senseless step backward.”

There’s nothing more expensive than a second-best military, the wise man once said.