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The Credibility Gap Widens: The Bush Administration's Record on Body Armor, Health Care, and Combat Pay
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"If you're going to make an accusation in the course of a presidential
campaign, you've got to back it up with facts."
-President George W. Bush, New York Times, 3/17/04
President Bush has repeatedly asserted that he strongly supports
our troops and is committed to ensuring that they receive the
equipment they need and the pay and benefits they and their
families have earned. Unfortunately, the President's record does not
match his rhetoric. This report provides a fact check on the
President's record on three issues of critical importance to our
troops: body armor, health care, and combat pay.
Body Armor
- The Bush Administration's failure to adequately prepare for the Iraq war and its
aftermath left thousands of our troops exposed to enemy fire without
sufficient body armor and heavily armored Humvees. Tens of thousands of
soldiers deployed to Iraq were outfitted with Vietnam-era flak jackets incapable of
stopping an AK-47 round instead of the Army's best body armor because the
Bush Administration had failed to procure and provide them with the needed
armor kits prior to their deployment. As of December 2003, nine months after the
invasion and more than a year after U.S. forces were deployed to the region,
40,000 of the 130,000 soldiers in Iraq still lacked the best body armor.
While the Defense Department now claims to finally have distributed body armor
in sufficient quantities to protect all troops, the Bush Administration has still failed
to provide other equipment that could make our troops more secure. For
example, more than 10,000 of the 12,000 Humvees in Iraq are currently without
adequate armor. The Bush Administration's Fiscal Year 2005 budget would
provide funding for the construction of 818 new armored Humvees, but provides
zero funding for upgrading the 10,000 vulnerable vehicles already in Iraq. The
Army does not expect a full compliment of heavily armored Humvees to arrive in
Iraq for more than a year.
- Democrats voted to increase funding for protective gear, including body
armor. In an effort to address this problem, on October 2, 2003, Democrats
supported an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2004 Supplemental Appropriations
bill, introduced by Senator Dodd, that would have provided an additional
$322 million for safety equipment, including body armor. Republicans united to
defeat this amendment, tabling it by a 49-37 vote (Vote No. 376).
Democrats also strongly supported an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2003
Supplemental Appropriations bill, offered by Senator Landrieu, that would have
appropriated $1.047 billion for National Guard and Reserve procurement. Despite
the fact that National Guard and Reserve troops serving in Iraq are the most likely
to lack appropriate body armor, Republicans tabled this amendment on April 2,
2003, in a 52-47 vote (Vote No. 116). Finally, during the course of last year's
appropriations process, Senator Leahy successfully worked with his colleagues
on the Appropriations Committee to add $220 million to the National Guard and
Reserve discretionary equipment account.
Health Care
- President Bush opposed providing health care to soldiers serving on the front
lines in Iraq and the War on Terrorism and their families. Despite his recent
rhetoric, President Bush has clearly and repeatedly opposed providing reservists
and their families with access to military health care. On July 8, 2003, Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld stated "If the President is presented a bill that...expands
TRICARE, then I would join other senior advisors to the President in
recommending that he veto the bill."
An October 16, 2003 Statement of Administration Policy asserted that "The
Administration strongly opposes...an amendment that was accepted by the Senate
to provide for expanded benefits under the TRICARE program." Finally, OMB
Director Bolton wrote, on October 21, 2003, that "The Administration strongly
opposes...the provision that would expand benefits under the TRICARE program."
- Even after Congress overrode the President's objections and passed
legislation, the Administration continues to deny reservists access to
military health care. On November 6, 2003, Congress overrode the President's
objections and passed legislation opening the TRICARE program to National
Guard and Reserve soldiers and their families for one year. Even though the
President signed this legislation, his Administration has refused to implement the
law, and thousands of reservists and their families have been denied access to
health care. In fact, the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) reports
that "the Pentagon has yet to offer any timetable for implementation or give any
indication that implementation planning has even begun. Apparently, they're
clinging to the hope that they can somehow get out of this responsibility."
(Legislative Update, 2/27/04).
MOAA further argues that "it's disgraceful that Pentagon leadership is slow-rolling
implementation of the new statutory requirement to provide fee-based TRICARE
coverage for Selected Reserve members who have no health coverage through a
civilian employer....It's time for Pentagon leaders to stop dragging their feet, start
supporting the troops, and get busy delivering this much-needed coverage."
- Democrats have consistently pushed to provide citizen soldiers and their
families with affordable health care. Over the last year, the Senate overcame
the Administration's opposition and passed several provisions to provide
reservists with access to health care. Last year, Congress passed legislation to
provide health care for one year to those reservists who either are unemployed or
have no employer-based health insurance. On March 10, 2004, the Senate
adopted a Daschle amendment to permanently provide health care to reservists
and their families and to cover a portion of the health care costs for those
reservists who choose to retain their private health insurance.
Combat Pay
- President Bush actively opposed combat pay increases. After having failed to
request increases in family separation allowance and imminent danger pay for all
soldiers serving abroad and facing hostile fire, the White House then opposed
congressional efforts to provide these increases. On August 14, 2003, during
debate on the Fiscal Year 2003 Supplemental Appropriations bill, Undersecretary
of Defense David Chu announced that the Defense Department opposed
extending increases past the end of Fiscal Year 2003. One month earlier, the
Defense Department sent Congress an interim budget report calling for the
expiration of the increases.
- Democrats support increases in combat pay bonuses. On April 2, 2003, Senate
Democrats helped pass an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2003 Emergency
Supplemental Appropriations bill that increased family separation allowance from
$100 to $250 per month and imminent danger pay from $150 to $225 monthly for
eligible military personnel. On November 6, 2003, Congress then passed a
provision in the Fiscal Year 2004 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill that
extended the increases permanently to all those soldiers serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
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