Joe Donnelly: “We, in my hometown of South Bend, just this past weekend, last Saturday, sent off 175 young men and women who will be…”

“We, in my hometown of South Bend, just this past weekend, last Saturday, sent off 175 young men and women who will be going over to serve in Iraq, and again, a number of them on their second tour of duty. The best, the bravest, the finest you could ever see. I want to make sure that they have the finest body armor that they could possibly have; the best vehicle protection that they could have; the best equipment; the best training. All of that costs funds. We want to make sure those funds are there, and we will. But think, Mr. Ross, of $300 billion just to pay down a debt that never should have been run up in the first place. Those Guardsmen, as they were leaving, I was telling them all good luck, Godspeed. And they said, sir, it's our privilege to serve this country. It is a right that we look at and cherish, and it is a great honor for us to have this opportunity. Well, our obligation is to make sure they have everything they need. As you said, there is a hearing tomorrow on body armor. I have been fortunate enough over the last few months to have gone to Walter Reed Army Hospital on a number of occasions. I went through Building 18. I saw the holes in the ceiling; I saw the mold on the wall; I saw the wallpaper peeled off and hanging down; I saw plastic buckets along the floor because the roof was leaking in a United States medical facility, an outpatient housing center.”