Let's see how many Republicans saying they support the troops will actually stand behind this bill.Bob Geiger:
The Defense Department authorization bill (H.R. 1585) will occupy the Senate over the next couple of weeks and, with the exception of the measures that would end American involvement in the Iraq quagmire, no amendment will be more important than the legislation (.pdf) by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) on which debate will begin today. Webb will go to the Senate floor today and introduce a bill requiring that active-duty troops have at least the same amount of time at home as the length of their previous tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is intended to halt the Bush administration's overextending of U.S. troops, the breaking of the country's armed forces and the extraordinary hardships being inflicted on military families.
"Now in the fifth year of ground operations in Iraq, this deck of cards has come crashing down, and it's landing heavily on the backs of soldiers and Marines who have been deployed again and again while the rest of the country sits back and debates Iraq as an intellectual or emotional exercise," Webb said on Monday. "We've reached the point where we can no longer allow the ever-changing nature of this Administration's operational policies to drive the way our troops are being deployed. In fact, the reverse is true. The availability of our troops should be the main determinant of how ground operations should be conducted."
Bob has more from the press conference today with Webb and Harry Reid:
