Transcript: Democratic Members Of The Senate Hold A News Conference On Troop Rotations

Transcript: Democratic Members of the Senate Hold a News Conference on Troop Rotations

WEBB: As everyone in the room knows, we just had our vote on
the amendment that I had proposed with respect to dwell time.
I regret that we did not reach the 60-vote margin that would have
caused this amendment to prevail. It was offered in the spirit of
bipartisanship. It was offered with the intention to protect the
wellbeing of our troops.

We had two days to debate it. There were a lot of
representations on the other side that were not particularly true and,
unfortunately, this ended up breaking down, for political reasons,
into, for the most part, a resistance by the Republicans on an issue
that we just shouldn't have had political implications.

At the same time, we got a strong majority of the United States
Senate to agree that this issue is vital to the wellbeing of the
people who are being sent into harm's way and we're going to continue
to focus on this issue and others in the future.

I have a number of my colleagues who have joined me today. I
would like to make time so that they can speak. Senator Durbin was
going to be here. I'm not sure he's here. Senator Biden is here and
Senator Hagel, who was our lead cosponsor on the Republican side. And
I'm not quite sure how protocol works, but I'm going to turn this over
right now to Senator Murray.

MURRAY: On behalf of 56 members of the United States Senate, I
want to thank Senator Webb for his tremendous leadership on an issue
that is impacting thousands of families across our country.

Every one of us who goes home and watches our men and women go
off to war has watched them over the last 4.5 years grow more
exhausted and more tired and, importantly, their families, the stress
and strain on their children, on their parents, on them as they just
try to do what this country's asked them to do and serve our country.

The amendment that Senator Webb put before the Senate today said
that we, as representatives here in the United States Senate, are
going to make sure that our troops are cared for. 24/7 they are
fighting overseas. When they come home, they ought to be given 24/7
by all of us. They haven't done that yet.

This administration has put a tremendous tax on our servicemen
and women on top of asking them to go overseas and that is taking them
away from their families and their training and the support they need
here at home.

This is an incredibly important issue. All of us who supported
this amendment are going to keep working, because certainly we owe the
men and women who serve us a lot more than lip service. We owe them
not standing behind procedural moves and motions in the United States
Senate and we owe them a country that backs them and we are going to
keep fighting.

We do have a number of members of the Senate here. Joining me in
the leadership is Senator Durbin. I want to turn it over to him and
then to other members of our caucus who would like to speak.

Following Senator Durbin, we will have Senator -- OK.

Chuck, why don't you speak and then Senator Durbin.

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