Senator Biden's amendment passes senate; $26 billion will be spent to protect our troops . . .

[Steve_in_California]

with the new MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) vehicles, which reduce casualites from roadside bombs and roadway mines by 67 to 80%.

No matter when the troops begin to withdraw, it will take almost a year to get them all out of Iraq. They deserve the best protection America has to offer in the meantime.

October 1, 2007
Press Release

BIDEN Effort to Boost MRAP Funding Passes Senate


Biden Amendment Providing $23.6 Billion for the Building and Deployment of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles Passes Senate as Part of Department of Defense Authorization Bill

Mine Resistant Vehicles Proven to Reduce Casualties by More than 2/3rds

Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s (D-DE) bipartisan legislation (S.AMDT.3075) which boosts funding for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles by $23.6 billion, allowing the Army to replace all of its up-armored humvees in Iraq with MRAPs, passed the Senate today as part of the Department of Defense Authorization Bill. Road-side bombs are responsible for 70 percent of casualties in Iraq – they are by far the most lethal weapon used against our troops. Mine Resistant Vehicles can reduce those casualties by more than two-thirds.

“We have no higher obligation than to protect those we send to the front lines,” said Senator Joe Biden. “While we argue in Washington about the best course of action in Iraq, our troops on the ground face Improvised Explosive Devices, Rocket Propelled Grenades, Explosively Formed Penetrators, sniper fire, and suicide bombers every day. I am heartened to know that my amendment—with the support of Democrats and Republicans working together—will provide technology and equipment that will save American lives on the ground in Iraq.”

The bipartisan amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Robert Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) acts on the stated requests of commanders on the ground in Iraq. Lt. General Ray Odierno, lead commander in Iraq, has said he wants to replace every Army up-armored humvee in Iraq with an MRAP. Yet, the Pentagon has taken its time to study this issue and just recently agreed to increase the Army's requirement to 10,000, a little more than half of the approximately 18,000 vehicles Lt. General Odierno requested. In addition, earlier this week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that the administration would expand its 2008 military operations funding request to include $11 billion for MRAPs. While substantial, the figure would again cover less than half of the MRAPs that our lead commander in Iraq Lt. General Ray Odierno said are needed.

Over the last six months, Senator Biden has repeatedly called on the Administration to make the construction and deployment of MRAPs and EFP protection a national priority and to investigate the military’s failure to field this technology sooner. "When our commanders in the field tell us that these Mine Resistant Vehicles will reduce casualties by sixty-seven to eighty percent, I cannot understand why the Administration’s wartime budget request falls far below the stated needs of our folks on the ground,” said Senator Biden. “Providing our troops with the best possible protection should be a shared top priority. When American lives and limbs are on the line, giving anything less that 100% is not enough.”

“As long as we have a single soldier on the front lines in Iraq, or anywhere else, it is this country’s most sacred responsibility to protect them,” said Sen. Joe Biden.

Fast Facts about MRAPs:
MRAPS can hold four to twelve people provide 4 to 5 times more protection than an up-armored humvee.
MRAPS have raised steel V-shaped hulls and chasses. The raised hull gives the blast more time to expand, lessening its impact on those inside the vehicle. The V-shape also pushes the blast up the sides of the vehicle, away from the occupants.
With a humvee, the flat bottom sends the blast through the floor and right into the occupants.
MRAPS have side armor and bulletproof glass, as well as tires that can be driven when flat.
MRAPS are proven to reduce casualties from road-side bombs (the most lethal weapon used against our troops in Iraq) by sixty-seven to eighty percent.

###

[gateley]

1. Wonderful news! Thanks again! nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Is there any danger that the idiot will veto this?

He'd better not...

[Steve_in_California]

3. No danger of veto

It's part of the defense authorization bill. Bush wants it BAD! But Senator Biden won't let Bush get away with extending this war indefinitely by running it on the cheap! You want more money, Bushie? Make sure you spend $26 billion of it protecting our troops this time!

Biden is one smart dude.

[emilyg]

4. Good news.

[PatSeg]

5. Is there more than one Joe Biden??

He is everywhere today! I'm blown away.

[Steve_in_California]

6. The man is no ordinary mortal, that's for sure.

Senator Biden turns 65 this November. I am 12 years younger than he, yet I get worn out just climbing the stairs in my house. How does the man do it?

And who in God's name makes sure he has clean shirts and ties every day? I could drown in my dirty laundry most days!

[PatSeg]

15. I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with him

on the computer! He has extraordinary stamina. As for the shirts and ties, his wife Jill must be super human as well.

[Naturyl]

7. Excellent.

If we can't get them home, let's at least keep them as safe as possible.

I have a lot of respect for the work Joe Biden does on things like this.

[jmp]

8. You know things have gone to hell ...

When we are celebrating MORE funding for the war in Iraq. :eyes:

[Steve_in_California]

9. Coffins and flags cost money, too

It is a national disgrace that our soldiers were sent to war on the cheap by wealthy people who kept silent because Bush cut their taxes (without being asked).

What Biden is doing is damn smart. He is forcing Bush to pay for protecting the troops, thereby reducing the money he would have to expand the war. This is budgetary warfare at its best.

In the meantime, more and more Republicans are coming around to Biden's way of thinking. See where this is going? Yep! It takes 17 Republicans and all the Democrats in the Senate to end this war. Biden's strategy is masterful. This is how a President must think--like a chessmaster.

[jmp]

10. I asked the other day and I'll ask again ...

What exactly does Biden's plan DO? The US Congress doesn't have the power or authority to partition Iraq, nor can they force the President to favor that policy no matter how many Senators and Representatives support it.

Make all reconstruction money conditional on Iraq enacting the plan ... then and only then will it be more than a collection of wishes.

[Steve_in_California]

18. Biden and Brownback ask Bush for a a sit-down.

Bush is out of options. He has little support in Congress. Biden's plan offers Bush a way out and it is now been made part of the FY 2008 Defense Funding Bill that passed the Senate yesterday. Bush either signs the bill into law or he gets no more damn money out of Congress. Also yesterday, Biden addressed comments by Iraqi leader al-Maliki, who called the plan a "disaster." Biden said, "He had better get this straight real quick or they're on their own."

You gotta love a guy who actually talks like a President of the United States.

[malta blue]

11. K&R - to the greatest page with you.....

Thanks for posting this Steve!

[ananda]

12. I see it as another diversion.

The war is an endless boondoggle and a
sinkhole for deficit money that we don't have.

Many many people will still die or be harmed
and displaced; and many people will still be
profiting from this criminal and soulless war.

[Steve_in_California]

19. In other words, you have nothing to say yet you insist on saying it.

[Zandor]

13. This shows Democrats Support the Troops. Thanks, Joe n/t

[murbley40]

14. Once again

good work from my Senator and my choice for President! Keep going Joe!! :thumbsup: :applause:

[wyldwolf]

16. If Biden gets the Veep nod, he wouldn't have to leave the Senate.

[Byronic]

17. It won't happen of course

for geographic reasons more than anything else, and I would far prefer him as President of the United States or Secretary of State, but, Joe Biden, in the traditional sense of Veep nominee as attack-dog would be quite extraordinary. Nobody can outtalk him. Few can outdebate him. He is a straight-shooter and is immensely knowledgeable and experienced.

I'd just love him as President.

[Steve_in_California]

20. America is ready for a President who pulls no punches in fighting for what is right and good in this

country . . . and all of us.

[PatSeg]

23. I can't see him as VP

and I doubt he'd accept it even if it was offered. He could accomplish far more in the senate or possibly a cabinet position. Also I can't see any of the frontrunners wanting Biden as their VP as he might overshadow them.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

21. It's nice to see action from someone not just hot air

poor Biden will not get the nomination for President

[jillan]

22. Think about this - this is the only funding that we actually know where our money is being spent.

If only that was true about the rest of the trillions....