From A Senator


Dear Friend, I thought you would be interested in this excerpt from a statement that I made on the Senate floor on March 20 in support of our troops in Iraq. Sincerely, Barbara Boxer U.S. Senator As military action begins in Iraq, I send my strong support, as a Senator, as a mother, as a grandmother, to our sons and daughters who are carrying out the mission asked of them. Military personnel from my State of California are a lead contributor in this effort. They include marines from Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms, carrier groups from San Diego, and Air Force personnel from Travis Air Force Base. There are many more soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines from throughout California serving us today, including 6,100 Guard and reservists who have recently been activated. Thousands of California families are impacted. Like all Americans, I hope and I pray that hostilities end soon and that casualties are minimal. And like all Americans, I very much hope that democracy in Iraq will take root. Last night, I saw an interview with a young man who is a soldier in the Army, and he was as eloquent on this same point as any statement I had ever heard, eloquent in his simplicity, in expressing his hope for this mission. Congress is supporting our troops from the minute they went in. I believe one way we can demonstrate that is to ensure that the lives of both parents of dual-military families with small children are not unnecessarily put at risk. We must be mindful of the impact on a child when both parents are put in harm's way. I believe we can make sure they are not both placed in harm's way. I will work to make sure of that. I also intend to work to provide additional funding for four important programs. First, we need to increase funding for impact aid programs to help school districts with military families. Our children of military families need attention now. They must have attention now. And we are not fulfilling our responsibility to our military families if those children do not get help. We have heard from many military families struggling to pay for daycare and other expenses who have one family member deployed from home. We have heard from them that they are having a very hard time. Next, I think we need to help with homeland defense. Clearly, everyone has told us--from the CIA to the FBI to Secretary Ridge--that the probability has now greatly increased that we will be facing more problems here at home. That is why I am supporting the Schumer amendment to reimburse our States for this burden. Many people throughout California have asked me, what can they do to support our troops? The Department of Defense has provided some excellent ideas that can be accessed on the official DOD Web site, DefenseLINK. I think it would be good for those who want to do something now to get on that Web site. We have a link on our Web site as well. The ideas are there on how to send a virtual thank-you card to our troops, how to provide them with telephone calling cards.These are things that will make their lives much better. Let's do everything we can for our troops and everything we can to protect our homeland. And let us all pray for our men and women in uniform, and for their families and for wisdom for all those who send them forward i nto battle. For more information on supporting our troops, please visit the special section of my Senate website at http://boxer.senate.gov/CAbases/troops.html