Patricia Schroeder: “This amendment is about burdensharing. It is a very key amendment, because it basically only asks that when the…”

“This amendment is about burdensharing. It is a very key amendment, because it basically only asks that when the President engages in the rest of the reporting requirements, that they also report to the Congress what percentage of the estimated total cost of the mission will be picked up by the United States. I do not think it is any great secret in this body that the United States always contributes way more than troops. Although troops are our most precious commodity, we contribute the intelligence, we are also contributing AWACS support, communications support, and any number of other things. If this amendment passes, it would say that we would have to also put in there what the cost of that is. I think we should get credit for that in our missions. I must also say that having chaired the burden-sharing panel in the 100th Congress that so much of my colleagues served on, and served on with distinction, our committee has had a long attempt to try and figure out how we get these numbers under control, because as we look at our military allies, they are also our trading competitors.”