Political Quotes

“today we once again consider a supplemental spending bill for our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The spending bill before us represents a compromise between both the House and Senate. It provides funding to take care of our troops in the field through the balance of fiscal year 2008, and through June 2009. The funding in this bill closely follows our vision of ``looking beyond the war in Iraq.'' For fiscal year 2008 this supplemental includes: $825 million for National Guard and Reserve Equipment; $1.6 billion for HMMWVs; $3.1 billion for Medium and Heavy Tactical Trucks; $102 million for Land Warrior equipment sets for next-to-deploy units; $1.2 billion for various Joint Unmet Operational Needs as identified by the Department of Defense, but not included in the budget request; $500 million for Army and Marine Corps Facility Maintenance and Repairs (this includes barracks); $300 million for Facility Maintenance and Repairs at DoD medical treatment facilities; $94.9 million for Wounded Warrior efforts; $50 million for Family Advocacy Programs; $570 million for treatment and research activities within the Defense Health Program; and $3.5 billion to address the increasing cost of fuel that was not included in the budget request. For fiscal year 2009 this supplemental includes: $1.2 billion for military personnel and $51.9 billion for operation and maintenance.”