In the 110th Congress Bill has been consistent in voting for a new direction in Iraq that will bring our troops home and ensure our nation's veterans are properly cared for. Bill was a strong supporter of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability, which, had it not been vetoed by the President, would have supported our troops and veterans, held the Bush Administration and Iraqi government accountable, and brought our soldiers home by August 2008 or sooner. Bill also voted in May 2007 in favor a redeployment of troops to begin within 90 days and to be completed within 180 days of enactment. Bill again voted in November 2007 for legislation that would have required the President to redeploy our troops, while providing our troops in harm's way with the resources they need. Bill voted in strong opposition to Senate amendments to two Iraq funding bills, which did not hold the Bush Administration accountable for the War in Iraq and failed to include a timeline for a withdrawal of American military forces.
Bill has been a forceful advocate for protecting our troops in the field of battle and ensuring their care when they return home. As the Co-Chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force he led the fight to include $450 million in defense appropriations for Traumatic Brain Injury, an infliction that military medical experts consider to be the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also voted in favor of legislation which would have required active duty forces to be guaranteed that their time at home match the length of their deployment. Clearly nobody has paid a greater price for this war than our troops in the battlefield and their families.
Bill's commitment to bring our troops home from Iraq is firm. This war has cost our nation thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars and yet the Bush Administration has demonstrated no clear strategy to end the War in Iraq. As New Jersey prepares to send the largest deployment of National Guard members since World War II, it only reinforces the point that this war has left Americans vulnerable at home while fighting a war that is not against our enemies who planned the attacks of 9/11.