AUSA RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING LEGISLATORS

The Association of the United States Army recognized Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and Rodney Freylinghuysen, R-N.J., at its Outstanding Legislator award presentation on Capitol Hill last week.

Dicks, Chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said in accepting the award, “We are committed to helping the troops” and that the committee has and “needs to operate on a bipartisan basis.  I pledge to you that I will keep that going.”  He cited the work of his fellow recipient and Reps. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and “Bill” Young, R-Fla., both former full committee chairmen, in working together on legislation to improve the lives of soldiers, their families and retirees.

Soldiers in all components “are doing incredible work” and “sometimes we don’t realize that.”  He added, “We cannot do enough” to help wounded warriors.

Freylinghuysen, who was a draftee serving in the Mekong River Delta during the Vietnam War, said, “We have to emphasize they are all volunteers” serving in the Army now.  “It’s not just the soldier” serving; “it’s the family.”

As he concluded his remarks, Freylinghuysen, also a member of the subcommittee, said, “AUSA, thank you for being there.”

AUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., said, “These two congressmen, as well or better than anyone in this business, understand what the military is up against and understand its impact on the nation.”

Sullivan thanked Dicks for being “an advocate for a strong national defense to include military end strength increases.”  Sullivan also cited Dicks' assistance in raising the death gratuity, helping enact the Post 9/11 GI Bill and in health care.

Sullivan called Freylinghuysen “a sincere advocate for our military personnel, their families and for the need to provide appropriate funding for our Army.”  Other work cited included Frelinghuysen's help in securing more funding for research into traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, his work to secure better benefits for veterans especially in health care and work to prevent homelessness.

HOUSE, SENATE APPROVE FY 2010 DEFENSE SUPPLEMENTAL

Final action on the fiscal 2010 war supplemental spending bill came on July 27 after the House voted to pass a version of the bill that the Senate originally passed May 27 and not the one with the added spending for domestic programs.  President Obama signed the legislation July 29.

The original House bill included an amendment that added approximately $21 billion in spending for domestic programs such as aid to states to help avoid teacher layoffs, collegiate Pell Grants as well as funding that would assist youths with finding summer work.  Senate Republicans strongly objected to the added domestic spending while some of their counterparts on the other side objected to the $800 million cut in other education initiatives that would have paid for it.

The bill was passed on a 308-114 vote.  The final vote indicated the increasing uneasiness about the direction of the war.  One-hundred and two Democrats, including Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, voted against the bill while 160 Republicans voted for it.  In voting no, Obey joined many Democrats opposed to the war and reluctant to keep funding it.

Complicating matters was the release the day before of 90,000 classified documents concerning the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s role in the insurgency by WikiLeaks to the New York Times, Guardian of the United Kingdom and Der Spiegel, a German newsweekly.

Obey said that he has "the highest respect and appreciation" for the military, but that they are being "let down by the inability of the governments of Afghanistan and in some instances Pakistan to do their parts.  The Afghan government has not demonstrated the focused determination, reliability and judgment necessary to bring this effort to a rational and successful conclusion.”

AUSA PRESIDENT: “NO CUTS IN MILITARY MANPOWER TO REDUCE MILITARY BUDGETS”

AUSA President Gen. Gordon Sullivan, USA, Ret., troubled about recent reports concerning pressure to cut future military budgets by reducing end strength and health care benefits, wrote the House and Senate leadership to remind them that reducing military manpower is not appropriate when the nation is fighting two wars and when “more military personnel are lost to suicide than to enemy bullets”.  He stressed the need for money for research and treatment of TBI and PTSD - silent wounds that will affect Soldiers for a life time.  "I suggest the best way to provide for our military personnel, who sacrifice so much for our freedom, would be to instead hold manpower levels steady and provide more medical care that addresses the psychological needs of our over-stretched military force."

Therefore, Gen. Sullivan and AUSA were very pleased to see that the first items addressed in the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee’s mark up of the fiscal 2011 defense appropriations bill were funding for end strength and additional money for research and care for TBI and PTSD.  AUSA will continue to engage the Congress on these and other issues important to our membership and to our Soldiers.