posted June 18, 2009
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander made the following statement Thursday regarding the emergency funding for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Supplemental Appropriations Act passed the Senate with a vote of 91-5:
"This bill will provide our soldiers with the training, equipment and protection they deserve as they fight the Afghanistan and Iraq wars - wars in which over 15,000 Tennesseans have served bravely over the past eight years."
U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was successful in adding language to the war supplemental funding bill requiring the Obama administration to submit a report to Congress outlining the benchmarks for U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and regular progress reports thereafter towards achieving those objectives. The provisions were first introduced in May by Senator Corker as well as Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Senator Corker voted for the war supplemental conference report (H.R. 2346) which passed the Senate by a vote of 91-5.
"I was proud to support this bill to provide our troops with the resources they need and very glad it included this critical language. This was a bipartisan effort calling on the President to provide Congress with a clear set of objectives for Afghanistan and Pakistan and benchmarks to quantify progress towards achieving those objectives. This is not tying anyone's hands, and there are no timetables dictating when certain things must occur, but we need a clearly articulated policy equal to the tremendous sacrifice that our men and women in uniform are putting forth daily on our behalf."
The Senators Corker, Lieberman, Graham provisions included in the conference report passed by Congress state:
(1) Within 90 days of enactment, the President must submit to Congress a clear statement of his objectives for Afghanistan and Pakistan and the benchmarks that will be used to quantify progress toward achieving those objectives.
(2) By 30 March 2010 and every 180 days after that time, the President must submit a report to Congress assessing progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan based on the benchmarks identified in the first report, justify any changes to benchmarks, and identify any additional resources or authorities that may be needed to better achieve the objectives.
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