Saxby Chambliss: “I oppose the Levin-Reed amendment, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I oppose the amendment for three important…”

“I oppose the Levin-Reed amendment, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I oppose the amendment for three important reasons: First of all, I believe the amendment unconstitutionally usurps the power of the Commander in Chief. Secondly, the amendment tells our enemies when they can take over in Iraq. Thirdly, the amendment is the wrong approach at the wrong time. Also, I wish to focus on what we are missing by spending unnecessary time last night and today debating this amendment. We have had a Defense bill pending before the Senate now for a week and a half and have yet to discuss this bill in substance. The bill which we have yet to make any real progress on does the following things for our men and women in uniform: First of all, it authorizes a 3.5-percent pay raise for our men and women in the armed forces. It authorizes additional tools for combating post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury and provides improved health care benefits for our injured warriors. It takes new steps to recognize the contributions of our Reserve Forces through increased retirement benefits and robust reintegration programs. It tightens our acquisition processes, our contracting policies, and increases benefits to our civilian personnel. It increases the amount of leave our military personnel can carry over, a provision which DOD strongly advocates as a way to increase the morale of our troops.”