Barbara Boxer: “I strongly believe that our military must have every resource at its disposal to fully prosecute and win this war. I…”

“I strongly believe that our military must have every resource at its disposal to fully prosecute and win this war. I support the Senate fiscal year 2003 supplemental appropriations bill because it provides funding for the military functions of the Department of Defense as it prosecutes the war in Iraq. The bill also includes funding for the reconstruction efforts in Iraq and funding to continue our anti-terrorism efforts. However, I am disappointed that the bill does not provide adequate funding to protect our homeland. The bill provides more than $62 billion to prosecute the military operations in Iraq, including replenishing munitions that have been expended and maintaining air, ground and sea operations critical to our war effort. It also provides more than $7.8 billion to support the reconstruction of health services, sanitation, transportation and telecommunications for the people of Iraq. I also support the additional funds included in this bill to increase airline security.”