Press Conference With Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)

Interview

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, AND SENATOR JACK REED (D-RI)
SUBJECT: TODAY'S VOTE ON THE LEVIN/REED AMENDMENT TO THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZATION BILL

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SEN. REED: The American people are much farther ahead on this issue than the Congress, but I am very confident we'll catch up.

They want change. They listened very intently to both General Petraeus and to the president and still their opinion remains that we have to significantly alter our course of action in Iraq. That has been at the heart of my efforts, along with Senator Levin's efforts, to change direction. And again, we will renew this fight, and we'll continue to push on because, one, as I said, this is what the American people, after carefully looking at the situation, are increasingly demanding. And also, it is what I believe will evolve on the ground in Iraq.

General Petraeus indicated that he is going to recommend and carry out a reduction in forces beginning before the end of the year. Months ago Senator Levin and I called for that, and we were criticized as not being in tune with the overall approach and strategy. Now that is going to be a fact on the ground. He also suggested -- and I think more than suggested, basically recognized the reality that come next spring the 30,000 additional troops that were part of the surge have to start coming down, which begs the question, which we answer in our amendment, is, well, what are you doing -- what can you do with the forces available after that? And I think clearly there's three missions that have to be performed. That's what we hope can happen, which is counterterrorism, training of Iraqi security forces and protecting our forces.

So I believe that as we look ahead, as we continue our efforts to formally change the policy, that that policy is changing because of American public opinion and because of the reality of our force structure and our limited forces, particularly Army and Marine Corps, that is driving events on the ground.

I think we have to continue our efforts, and I know we will continue our efforts. But we are at this point trying to catch up with the American public -- and I think wisely -- and continuously insist that we change, and that message, I hope, will be heard, as I said on the floor today, and heeded.

Thank you.

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Q (Off mike) -- plans to maybe not give the whole $200 billion in appropriations when they come up this fall?

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SEN. REED: No, I -- we have been focused on the authorization bill, obviously, and you know, frankly, we have not sat down yet, either individually or collectively talked about, at least to my knowledge, some type of approach on the appropriations bills. But I think we all assume that there's going to be discussion about Iraq when it comes to supplemental. That's the whole point of the supplemental. There'll be amendments, but we haven't gotten yet to the point, I think, of defining them very clearly.

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