Rep. Tauscher and Democrats Announce Defense Strategy

                                    Proposal Addresses End Strength, Iraq, Nonproliferation


Today, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher joined Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer to offer the “Democratic National Security Strategy for the 21st Century.” The plan includes recommendations on a number of Tauscher’s signature issues, including right-sizing the military, winning the war in Iraq, safeguarding nuclear weapons and technology, and expanding nonproliferation programs. Rep. Tauscher joined Reps. Hoyer, Ike Skelton (MO), Jane Harman (CA), and John Spratt (SC) to announce the strategy.

“Our troops are overstretched, overcommitted, and in desperate need of relief. Back-to-back deployments, demoralizing stop-loss orders, and unpredictable missions have led to alarming problems in recruitment and threaten to break our volunteer military. During wartime, we are still operating with the same pre-war size of military, and catastrophes like Katrina further demonstrate the strain our troops are under,” said Rep. Tauscher, member of the House Armed Services Committee. “Democrats have long recognized this problem and know we must act immediately to relieve the burden placed on so few soldiers.”

Rep. Tauscher has led the charge in the House to increase the size of the military. This year, she authored legislation with Senators Lieberman, Clinton, Reed, and Salazar, and Rep. Mark Udall, to raise the cap on the size of the Army to 582,000. The Democratic National Security proposal endorses this increase.

“The Administration failed to build a broad coalition of the capable to shoulder the burden in Iraq. It didn’t supply our troops with the resources they need and isn’t getting the job done to secure the country or train Iraqis to replace our soldiers one-for-one. Until we get these steps right, we won’t be able to extricate our troops and leave behind any sort of a stable state,” said Rep. Tauscher, who has taken four trips to the Middle East since the outset of the war. “Our Democratic strategy calls for a political solution in Iraq, which is the only way to create real stability.”

Rep. Tauscher has been vocal about solutions to the situation in Iraq, focusing on the size of our forces and the training of Iraqi security forces. In her capacity as co-chair of the Congressional Iraqi Women’s Caucus, she met women running for office in Iraq prior to the January elections. Most recently, she sought female representation on Iraq’s constitution-drafting committee, and raised alarm about fundamentalist Sharia law in Iraq’s new constitution, which would turn back the clock on women’s rights in Iraq.

“At a time when we read daily about the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, we must do all we can to affirm America’s leadership on nonproliferation issues. It’s essential that we make the necessary investments to keep the world’s most dangerous weapons out of the world’s most dangerous hands while also fulfilling our own commitments under the Nonproliferation Treaty,” said Rep. Tauscher.

As an advocate of arms control efforts, Rep. Tauscher has supported stronger measures to bring nuclear weapons under control, through programs like Nunn-Lugar. She joined fellow HASC colleagues John Spratt of South Carolina and Marty Meehan of Massachusetts in introducing legislation which would implement the 9/11 Commission’s nonproliferation recommendations, expand the U.S. cooperative threat reduction programs and urge the Administration to improve accountability and funding for nonproliferation programs.

Click here to view the Democratic National Security Strategy for the 21st Century

Democrats Unveil their National Security Strategy (View the Press Conference)