Cord Byrd: “the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States Armed Forces have great abilities, supreme dedication, and…”

“the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States Armed Forces have great abilities, supreme dedication, and they deserve the highest level of support that this Nation can give them. But despite outstanding military troops, a number of challenges lie ahead for the Department of Defense, particularly in the area of allocating monetary resources. One of the first budget challenges that President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld will face is how to improve military readiness. By now, we are all familiar with the myriad problems confronting our military forces today--recruitment and retention problems, crushing deployment burdens, aging ships and tanks and aircraft, a scarcity of spare parts--even a scarcity of ammunition according to yesterday morning's Washington Post--substandard housing and outdated facilities--and the list can go on and on. All of these factors affect readiness. All of these deficiencies will require money to correct. Already, representatives of the Joint Chiefs are lobbying the Senate Armed Services Committee for a supplemental appropriations bill to increase the current defense budget by perhaps as much as $10 billion.”