Political Quotes

“the Levin-Reed amendment requires the President to take steps to responsibly end the war that the country and our brave men and women in uniform deserve and demand, but it does not set specific troop levels and, certainly, schedules other than what we have already indicated, and that is the House-passed version, similar to ours, 120 days to start redeploying troops; as of April 1, according to the House, and May 1, according to us. There must be a change of mission. That change of mission will be directed toward counterterrorism, protecting our assets in the area, and also training the Iraqis. That is simply what it says. Senators Carl Levin and Jack Reed are uniquely qualified to offer this amendment. They have been joined in this amendment by others, including Senator Hagel. This amendment sets a firm date and an end date to transition the mission to begin the reduction of U.S. forces. I have talked about that. It limits the U.S. mission. This policy of the President--it is not Petraeus' policy; it is the President's--has, during the last 6 months, caused the deaths of over 600 more American soldiers and cost the American taxpayers more than $60 billion. The amendment offered by the distinguished Senator from Virginia, Mr. Webb, was a step in the right direction. It was defeated. We were not allowed to vote on that. It was offered to give our troops the relief they need--15 months in country, 15 months out of country.…”