Max Cleland: “It seems to me the President of the United States, in his budget, authorized 2,300 additional personnel and gave the…”

“It seems to me the President of the United States, in his budget, authorized 2,300 additional personnel and gave the money for that, and we have included that in the Defense authorization bill. What this amendment says is that in the collective judgment of those of us who are involved in this personnel debate, that is not adequate enough to meet the needs of our commitments, especially in this new war we are fighting. You can see here the tremendous imbalance we have presently. These lines shown on the chart have to begin coming together. We have to begin matching our personnel with our commitments or else we will continue to strain our personnel to the limit. That is why we have the authorization for the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, as well as the Marine Corps, to go to a higher level.”