Joe Biden: “This amendment moves up $1.5 billion into the supplemental from the 2008 budget. The effect will be, it will add an…”

“This amendment moves up $1.5 billion into the supplemental from the 2008 budget. The effect will be, it will add an additional 2,500 MRAP vehicles into the field faster. These are the vehicles with the V-shaped hull. This increases the security of our troops inside these vehicles--who are now riding in humvees--three to four times. What it will mean is it is an opportunity to provide 10,000 to 30,000 of our troops four times more protection than they now get riding around in the humvees when they are attacked by IEDs. That is tens of thousands of Americans who won't be severely injured or killed. The Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Staff of the Army both have said they need this money moved up so they can get these additional vehicles into the field earlier. He said: Senator, this is the highest moral imperative I have as a Commandant of the Marine Corps. It literally, not figuratively, will save lives.”