Biden: Don't Veto Our Troops' Safety

Statement

Biden: Don't Veto Our Troops' Safety

New Armored Vehicles Can Reduce Casualties from Road-side Bombs by Two-Thirds

U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) called on President Bush today to forgo the veto pen on the final Emergency Supplemental Funding Conference Report for Iraq, legislation that contains funding for new life-saving technology for our troops. Sen. Biden's amendment (#739 to the Senate Version of the Iraq Supplemental Bill) accelerated $1.5 billion in funds for the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. The majority of those funds, $1.2 billion, were included in the final conference report passed by the U.S. Senate today. If President Bush follows through on his threat to veto the report, funding for these new life-saving MRAPS could be slowed.

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are responsible for 70 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The new MRAP vehicles provide four to five times the protection of armored HMMVS (humvees) and the military has indicated that MRAP vehicles can reduce casualties by two-thirds.

"Putting it simply - Mr. President don't veto our troops' safety," said Sen. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "This legislation contains life or death funding for our troops - including funding for the new MRAP vehicle, a proven life-saver in the field. Seventy percent of our casualties in Iraq come from roadside bombs and these new MRAP vehicles can reduce those casualties by two-thirds. The bottom line is that we need to get as many of these MRAPs into the field as possible as soon as possible and vetoing this bill slows that down."

On March 14th, General Peter Schoomaker told the Appropriations Committee that with the MRAPs, "We can build what we get the funds to build. It is strictly an issue of money."

The Commandant of the Marine Corps said in a March 1, 2008 memo to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "The MRAP vehicle has a dramatically better record of preventing fatal and serious injuries from attacks by improvised explosive devices....Getting the MRAP into the Al Anbar province is my number one unfilled warfighting requirement at this time."

Sen. Biden introduced his amendment to the Senate's FY 2007 Supplemental Appropriations Bill on March 28, 2007. The amendment accelerated MRAP funding to meet the military's growing need for these life-saving vehicles. It passed the Senate the next day, 98-0. The Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force say they need 7,774 vehicles, at a total cost of $8.4 billion.

The Administration's plan was to spend $2.3 billion this year and $6.1 billion next year. According to Sen. Biden, that plan was unacceptably slow. At that rate, the military would not get all 7,774 MRAPs into the field until July 2008. Sen. Biden's amendment put over a billion more of the funding into this year's FY 07 Supplemental Budget, so the military could get over 2,000 more MRAPs into the field six-months faster.

Senator Biden also said there was more work to do: "The Administration still does not see the urgency of getting these vehicles into the field. They are waiting for the next supplemental to fully fund the rest of the MRAP purchases. This is unacceptable. They need to send over a revised budget that includes the necessary $4.4 billion for Fiscal Year 2008. The $441 million currently in the budget shows that the President is all talk when says he cares about meeting the needs of our troops."

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