Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today continued his years-long fight to require the government to examine the full long-term costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by introducing his True Cost of War amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act currently being debated on the House floor.
"It's embarrassing that over a decade after these wars began, we still don't have a true accounting of the long-term costs because both the Bush and Obama administrations would rather avoid the numbers than see the price we've really paid," Braley said. "The decision to go to war is the most important one the government makes, and if you're going to make it responsibly you need to know the basic facts and you need to understand the costs involved."
The True Cost of War amendment would require the President, in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense, State and Veterans Affairs to report on the long-term costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in human and financial terms.
The report would cover the current and previous costs to date of the wars in terms of number of troops deployed, casualty statistics, pending veterans claims, and the costs associated with caring for wounded veterans.
The report also asks for estimates of future costs based on scenarios of continued troop deployments, estimated number of troops needed, estimates of future casualties, and healthcare cost projections.
Since 2001, Congress has appropriated an estimated $1.5 trillion dollars for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, much of it in supplemental spending bills. During those conflicts, more than 6,600 servicemembers have been killed in the line of duty, and more than 50,000 have been wounded, many with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, severe burns and amputated limbs--injuries that can often require a lifetime of medical and psychological care. This means the true cost of the wars is much higher than the $1.5 trillion Congress has directly appropriated.
Braley first introduced the True Cost of War Act in 2008 and has worked in subsequent sessions of Congress to pass the bill into law. In 2013 the legislation was passed by the US House in a bipartisan vote. However, the True Cost of War Act has never advanced to the President's desk for his signature into law.