Biden: This Administration Continues to Mismanage War Needs

Press Release

Our Troops Need More MRAP Vehicles; Secretary Gates Says MRAPS are Number One Priority - But Administration Has No Plan to Meet this Need

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) expressed dissatisfaction with the Administration's continued poor planning of the Iraq War. According to news reports, the Army needs close to 15,500 additional Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles above their original request, but the Administration has no current budget plan to meet this need.

"This Administration's mismanagement of the Iraq War - on every level - continues to amaze me. We are repeatedly told that deployed forces have what they need. But that just doesn't bear out. The Army now says it needs a total of almost 18,000 MRAPS, that is 15,500 more than what the Administration had planned, because the Humvees in Iraq aren't protecting our soldiers from the kinds of blasts they're getting hit with. These MRAPS are proven life-saving vehicles, but there is no plan to produce them in these numbers.

"Road-side bombs are responsible for 70 percent of casualties in Iraq and these new MRAPS can reduce those casualties by two-thirds. I've been a big proponent of getting more MRAPS into the field as soon as possible, authoring an amendment to the Iraq Supplemental which accelerated funding for them. I'll continue to fight to do what's necessary to keep our soldiers safe - but why haven't we heard from the Administration about this? Where is its leadership when we need it?"

"The already strained Army can't absorb the over $15 billion price tag for these MRAPs on its own without severe consequences. The Administration needs to come to Congress and we need to work together to get our soldiers what they need as quickly as possible for as long as they are in harms way.

"If we need to increase production capacity, then let's do it. We have an entire auto industry under great stress, we have manufacturers out of work, we have plenty of hardworking Americans willing to do what it takes to save American soldier's lives, but this Administration won't even ask."

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