Issues: Strengthening the Military

Senator Nelson and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson serves as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel. In that position, he is working to ensure that military personnel have the equipment, resources and other benefits they need. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Nelson also has an oversight role over the military budget.

Senator Nelson believes that to maintain the highly trained and well equipped military we have, we need to support our troops with resources and benefits that make military service more attractive as a career choice. He also believes that we should provide adequate equipment and training to protect our troops and enable them to carry out their missions.

Nelson has been a leader in pushing the Pentagon to increase the military end strength, or standing force, to meet the challenges of the global war on terror and military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots around the world.

The War in Iraq

Congress must begin the process of making the Iraqi government accountable for Iraq. Since returning from a Thanksgiving visit with U.S. soldiers in Iraq in 2004, Senator Nelson has pressed to establish measurable benchmarks, or "conditions for staying in Iraq", which the Iraqi government must meet in order for continued U.S. military presence.  In the 2007 Iraq Supplemental spending bill that passed the Senate, Nelson was successful in including these benchmarks, along with regular reports to Congress on the Iraqi's progress from the U.S. Commander in Iraq.

Improving Benefits for Soldiers

Senator Nelson introduced legislation, the Deployed Service Members Financial Security and Education Act, to create a new special pay for active-duty and reserve components of up to $1,000 per month during lengthy or repeated deployments. This bill was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2004. Senator Nelson has also sought to amend the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act to protect the educational status and tuition payments and limit the interest rate on student loans of service members called to active duty.

Senator Nelson continues to press the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide service members and families with the information they need regarding when deployments will begin and when they will end. Nelson has written Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on behalf of Nebraska’s military families expressing concern about the extended deployments and the effects these deployments have on service personnel and their loved ones.

Protecting Soldiers on the Battlefield
For soldiers in the field, Senator Nelson has pressured the Pentagon to guarantee soldiers are being provided with the most advanced body armor for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He has called on Defense Secretary Gates to fund equipment shortages facing the Nebraska National Guard, totaling more than $80 million.

Senator Nelson successfully worked to permanently increase the death gratuity benefit from $12,420 to $100,000 for nearly all active duty deaths. And he recently voted to add $1.5 billion to the Pentagon’s budget to purchase 2,500 additional Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to protect troops from explosive devices. 

Protecting Guard and Reserve Troops
Senator Nelson was an original cosponsor of S. 2035, the Guard and Reserve Readiness and Retention Act of 2004. This legislation enhanced health care benefits for National Guard and Reserve members by making all Guard and Reserve families eligible for health coverage through TRICARE, the military health system, regardless of their mobilization status. A compromise version of this was passed as part of the Defense Authorization Act of 2005.