WASHINGTON, D.C. – As rest time between long deployments appears to be shrinking, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill voted for an amendment to guarantee U.S. troops have at least equal time at home as they spend abroad.  The provision, offered by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) to amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which authorizes funding for the U.S. Department of Defense for fiscal year 2008, failed with a vote of 56 to 44. As the Senate continues debate on the Defense authorization, McCaskill says she will turn her attention to adding additional language to the DOD authorization bill that would work to cut waste, fraud and abuse in defense contracting.
 
“Many of our men and women in uniform are on their second, third and even fourth deployments. They are at a breaking point.  That’s why it’s so disappointing that some of my colleagues voted against giving the troops as much time at home with their families between these deployments as they spend deployed into dangerous combat battlefields,” McCaskill said.  “This important measure would ensure the strength of our military and the security of our nation.”
 
U.S. troops are more often spending 12 months at home after 15-month deployments, placing more strain on them and their families.  When inadequate time to rest, recover and reconnect with their families is given to soldiers between deployments, a soldier’s likelihood of experiencing mental health problems increases drastically as does associated mental health problems in military families. Further, extended deployments with little rest time has resulted in rapidly declining retention rates, putting the overall health of the military at risk.  The overstretching of the nation’s troops is also jeopardizing the nation’s ability to respond to threats or crises in other parts of the world.  
 
To ensure troops receive adequate rest time, the Webb amendment would have required that members of the U.S. Armed Services who are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan receive at least the same amount of time at home as they have spent deployed before being called back out for duty.  Reserve and National Guard members would have received three years of rest in between deployments.
 
Following the vote on the Webb amendment, McCaskill said today that she now will turn her focus to attaching defense contracting oversight language to the DOD authorization bill.  McCaskill’s amendment, which she introduced with Senator Webb, would create an independent commission to investigate and study wartime, contingency and reconstruction contracting in the spirit of the World War II-era Truman Commission.  The commission would then make specific policy recommendations to help prevent future fraud and waste.
 
“New reports suggest that the Inspector General for the State Department has blocked investigation results related to contracting waste that would make the Bush administration look bad.  If this isn’t proof that we need an independent commission to take a closer look at the business side of our military missions, I don’t know what is,” McCaskill said.
 
The amendment would also expand the charter of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), a largely independent auditing body that has completed acclaimed work identifying fraud, waste and abuse in Iraq.  SIGIR would then have the ability to conduct audits on all Iraq contracting to further root out waste, not just audits on those related to reconstruction.