"Hope the members of Congress enjoy their holiday break. I intend to enjoy mine."
So said the President during his "year-end" press conference on the 20th.
Well, that is what I read he said. I was not able to actually watch the press conference, so I read the transcript.
And then I read it again.
President Bush spoke of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan briefly, saying that "[t]hese brave men and women are risking their lives to protect us and they deserve the full support of the U.S. government."
He made two other statements expressing that he was grateful and "glad" that the troops were funded (without artificial timetables for withdrawals) by Congress.
Then the President proceeded to go into his priorities for 2008: not raising taxes. In fact, he talked about not raising taxes nine times, using the word "tax" (or some variation thereof) 29 times.
"You know, the argument that you've got to raise taxes make sure your children don't pay debt only works if the government doesn't follow suit and spend that money you raise on new programs. My view is that, given more money the government will find new ways to spend it..."
With all due respect, Mr. President, that’s the purpose of taxation: the government spends the money it collects from the citizens for their collective benefit.
We have accumulated billions of dollars of debt to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We could use those tax dollars to fund our troops in theater, to care for our wounded warriors, or to recruit and train new troops for future use. These are not unreasonable expenditures by our government, especially if Americans want to continue to rely upon an all volunteer force for our military, defense, and natural disaster needs.
The Department of Defense freely admits the need for a significant increase in mental health care providers for service members and wounded warriors. Physicians for Social Responsibility estimate the cost of care for our wounded warriors from OEF/OIF will equal or surpass the cost of the wars themselves. As long as we embrace the VA system, we will need to improve and expand our VA health care facilities to accommodate the expected 700,000 service-members who will seek care from the VA over the long-term.
Despite the overwhelming needs of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs for greater funding, we don’t even have a war bond that would allow Americans to contribute to a wounded warrior fund.
Since 9/11, we have lost an average of two service members a day. Of the 4,349 fatalities to date, 317 died during a December month. For every fatality, there are 8 to 16 wounded (the latter figure encompasses mental and physical injuries that develop or occur in the combat theater but were not necessarily the direct result of "hostile" action).
And yet, at the President’s year end press conference, he said hoped that Congress would enjoy their holiday break as he planned to enjoy his before returning to the business of ensuring that no taxes were raised, although those taxes could fund essential programs to care for our troops; troops who evidently did not warrant a call to action on the part of the American public for whom they have sacrificed their lives, their families, their holidays, their safety, and in some cases, their sanity.
As a result of 15 month tours, the soldiers who have recently deployed will be away from their loved ones this Christmas as well as next Christmas—if they survive their tours. First Cavalry soldiers expected to be home for Christmas got delayed due to mechanical problems and are going to be in Kuwait instead, having already spent Christmas of 2006 in Iraq.
Our Christmas will be bittersweet. My husband will be gone for Christmas in 2008 and 2009, just as he was in 2006. Yet like every other military family, we are thankful he is home and even more thankful that he is alive and unwounded. Those are our primary concerns.
Personally, my holiday thoughts and prayers are with our service men and women. I don’t just want them to enjoy their "holidays" in Iraq and Afghanistan, I want them to survive the holidays. Statistically speaking, however, not all of them will.