President Bush Underestimates Number of Troops and Amount of Money Needed for Troop Escalation Plan

PRESIDENT BUSH UNDERESTIMATES NUMBER OF TROOPS AND AMOUNT OF MONEY NEEDED FOR TROOP ESCALATION PLAN

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Madam Speaker, last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report saying that President Bush is understating the number of troops and the amount of money needed to move forward with his troop escalation plan.

While the President claims he plans to send 21,500 troops to Iraq, the Congressional Budget Office says the number will be as high as 48,000. As any soldier like myself knows, that to put a combat unit on the ground you need substantial support forces, including personnel to staff headquarters, serve as military police, provide communications, provide mess facilities, engineering and other services.

The Congressional Budget Office also said that the President has seriously underestimated the cost of troop escalation. While President Bush claims it should not cost any more than $5.6 billion, the Congressional Budget Office says a 4-month deployment will cost between $9 and $13 billion, 12 months between $20 and $27 billion. This is a 400 percent underestimate.

Madam Speaker, this is a serious report that cannot and will not be ignored. President Bush cannot expect Members of Congress to support his troop escalation plan when he is not telling us the whole story on the number of troops and the funds involved to make it happen.

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