Amendment offers flexibility for Army growth - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Amendment offers flexibility for Army growth

Sen. Joe Lieberman says he’ll push for a vote this week on his amendment to the defense authorizat ion bill to fund a temporary increase in Army end strength, a move proposed Monday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“I commend Secretary Gates for making this decision, which will provide much-needed relief to our brave soldiers and their families,” said Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Connecticut, following Gates’s announcement. “I have already introduced an amendment to give Secretary Gates the new authority he will need to add up to 30,000 additional soldiers, and I call upon my colleagues to vote to support our troops this week.”

Gates said Monday that he’ll add another 22,000 soldiers to the ranks over the next three years in an effort to fill out deploying units that are short personnel who are unable to deploy for medical and other reasons. The effort, he said, was recommended by former Army Secretary Pete Geren, Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and has “President Obama’s strong support.”

The larger Lieberman proposal gives the Pentagon the flexibility it wants, particularly in 2010 and 2011. That’s when the U.S. drawdown in Iraq begins in earnest, troop strength remains high in Afghanistan and the Army continues trying to end implementation of the controversial “stop-loss” involuntary extension program by March 2011, Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright told the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 9.

“The case for the … additional forces is clearly there,” he said.

Gates said the additional troops won’t be used to create new combat formations but strictly for ensuring that deploying units are “properly manned.”

The cost of the move for the remainder of fiscal 2009 will be “less than $100 million” and $1 billion in 2010, Gates said. He said the Pentagon will not seek additional funding to pay for the troop increases through that period of time, will absorb the costs “and will work with [the Office of Management and Budget] and the Congress in putting together the necessary fiscal program in the remaining two years.”

Lieberman’s amendment, however, would authorize funding for the temporary end strength increase in fiscal 2010, 2011 and 2012. According to Lieberman’s staff, an increase of more than 16,244 above the currently authorized 547,400 requires additional authorization because that would exceed the Pentagon’s current 3 percent waiver authority.

The amendment would allow the Pentagon to take the money “out of hide” but would also allow it to request an emergency supplemental appropriation to cover any shortfall in military personnel accounts, the staff said.

The work to build the force begins immediately, continues for the next three fiscal years and will increase the size of the Army from its current 547,400 to 569,000, Gates said. The increase comes on the heels of a permanent increase of 65,000 in the Army and 27,000 in the Marine Corps, both efforts to reduce strain on the much-deployed forces and to sustain deployment patterns to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gates’s move drew immediate praise from both sides of the aisle in the powerful House Armed Services Committee.

“While Congress has authorized increasing the size of the military for several consecutive years, I commend Secretary Gates for accelerating plans to increase the size of the Army,” said the committee’s chairman, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who will serve as the chief House negotiator on the conference committee that will determine the final version of the spending authorization bill. “This important step will help reduce the strain on the overall force and help address readiness concerns more quickly than we had anticipated. It is the right thing to do.”

The committee’s ranking member agreed. “This growth is necessary to ensure that deploying units are properly manned,” said Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., who will serve as the chief Republican negotiator on the conference committee. “In addition, our troops, and their families, have carried the heavy burden of fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By increasing the size of the Army, the strain of multiple deployments should be lessened over time.”

“Secretary Gates’ decision to approve this increase in troop strength is an important part of our collective efforts to grow our military to meet our 21st Century national security challenges,” added Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who will work with the conference committee on personnel issues.