Posted on 05/10/2007 4:22:01 PM PDT by pissant
WASHINGTON – In a break with the Bush administration, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter said Wednesday his panel will authorize an increase of 30,000 soldiers and 9,000 Marines to meet the continuing high demands on the U.S. military.
Hunter, R-Calif. (El Cajon), announced his committee's plans to boost the ground forces a day after the Pentagon announced the unexpected deployment of 10,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Iraq.
The committee also will authorize additional funds for body armor, armor-plated vehicles and other equipment to protect the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hunter said.
The additional personnel will cost a total of $4 billion a year when all 39,000 are serving, but the increased cost of the force protection equipment will be offset by cutting "lower priority" programs, he said.
Although the increase in troop strength is likely to be approved by the House, it could face a tough fight in the Senate because of opposition by the administration and by Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner, R-Va.
But Hunter said the administration has resisted a permanent force increase because the Pentagon is concerned that additional personnel would take funds needed for new weapons.
"We think we can have both and we must have both" adequate personnel and new equipment, Hunter said.
In its version of the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, the committee will allow the Army to add 10,000 soldiers to its authorized personnel limit in each of the next three years. The Marine Corps will be authorized to add 3,000 a year over the same period.
The Army currently is authorized 482,400 soldiers, but actually has about 500,000 on active duty because it is allowed to exceed its limit to meet demands. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved an additional 30,000 soldiers on a temporary basis while the Army makes some structural and personnel assignment changes that its leaders believe will make more troops available for foreign missions.
Hunter's proposal would make the increase of 30,000 soldiers permanent.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, has opposed a permanent increase, even though the Army has had to call up 148,280 numbers of Army Reserve and National Guard troops to meet its commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots. That is about one-fifth of the part-time soldiers.
The Marines are authorized 174,000 personnel but have about 177,000 on active duty and have called up 5,082 reservists.
Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, has said he does not need additional troops even though nearly all of the Corps' combat units were deployed in Iraq last year. With the additional deployments to Iraq announced Tuesday, the Marines would have nearly 30,000 troops there, while about 2,000 more are in Afghanistan.
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee dealing with personnel issues, and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., a committee member, joined Hunter at a Capitol news conference to argue for the troop increase.
McHugh said the proposed personnel increase is not meant to settle the on-going argument over whether there are enough U.S. troops in Iraq. "This is an attempt to recognize that there are insufficient forces to maintain the rotation" of new personnel to retain whatever level of troops is required, he said.
McHugh noted that the 10th Mountain Division, based in his district at Fort Drum, got orders Tuesday to send another brigade to Iraq, not long after returning from Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld has argued that the military does not need a permanent troop increase because the current high level of demand is "a spike."
But Wilson said the global war on terrorism is a long-term commitment "and we have to size the force to meet it."
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, was not at the news conference but has called repeatedly for increased troops.
In addition to troop increases, Hunter said his committee will shift funds from other programs to buy additional armor protection for personnel and vehicles, plus sensors and other equipment to counter the roadside bombs and mortar and rocket attacks that have caused most of the 442 U.S. combat deaths in the year since President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq.
Hunter held the news conference as his panel's subcommittees started the process of approving the defense authorization bill for the next fiscal year.
The Senate subcommittees started their process Tuesday.
Always ahead of the curve PING.
Yep, Hunter has a long history of supporting our military. Most congressmen are in it for themselves, but Hunter is in congress and is running for president because he truly wants to serve our country. That’s not something that you see often these days.
Please provide a link.
Hunter is a good one ... we need more fighters an fewer wimps.
At this point, I’d say the military will quietly welcome this. If there is emerging common ground with Dems, it was in this area. Small armies worked in the Afgan theator, but not in Iraq. Perhaps we went in too heavy there too, and with too many objectives.
I note that Tausher, a Bay Area Dem who is on this committee, was pushing hard for the troop increase last year and the previous year. I’d be curious to know what her position is now, now that the caucus has changed and they are in the majority.
That is exactly why he is doing this.
If we had about 20 more DH’s in congress, we’d be in much better shape.
Yep. Hunter has been pushing this since the mid 1990s. Hopefully, some dems do too.
Yep. had to have more $$ for midnight basketball, you know.
We need to seriously increase our defense spending to more than 5% of GDP.
And what made Rumsfeld think that there wouldn't be more spikes? Or higher spikes? The time to start increasing the size of the military was back in 2001 or 2002. Waiting this long will make it harder and more expensive.
It’s a good start.
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