MR. RUSSERT: If, in fact, the president does not accept a firm withdrawal date, will you vote to cut off funding?
SEN. BIDEN: Look, I went to Iraq for two reasons. One, to see what was going on with these mine-resistant vehicles I’ve been pushing, and we funded in the last vote we had. I went into Ramadi. These kids—they’re kids, young soldiers, who were driving these up-armored humvees, gleefully took me over and showed me a new what they call Cougar, these mine-resistant vehicles. They showed me a photograph, Tim. I wish I’d brought it with me. And it showed one of these vehicles being exploded with 250 pounds of TNT in a roadside bomb. It took this vehicle that weighs tons all the way up higher than the telephone pole, knocked down the wires. Guess what happened? Every one of those kids survived. Every one of them inside that vehicle. They’d all be dead if they were in that mine—in, in that up-armored humvee. I will vote, as long as there’s a single troop in there that we are taking out or maintaining, either way I will vote for the money necessary to protect them, period.
SEN. BIDEN: First of all, let’s speak truth to power here. You need 67 votes to cut that off. All 51 votes will do is delay building these vehicles. And, look, Tim, if you tell me I’ve got to take away this protection for these kids in order to win the election, some things aren’t worth it. Some things are worth losing over. That would be worth losing over. Hundreds of lives are being saved and will be saved by us sending these vehicles over which we are funding with this supplemental legislation. And I want to ask any of my other colleagues, would they, in fact, vote to cut off the money for those troops to protect them? That’s the right question. This isn’t cutting off the war. This is cutting off support that will save the lives of thousands of American troops.
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