President George W. Bush:

Military leaders were telling Congress that our armed forces were stretched too thin before Sept. 11, and deployment requirements have grown significantly since then. Do you believe we need larger armed forces to meet ongoing operations and be prepared for future contingencies?
B I have great confidence in the men and women of our armed forces to help protect the United States and our freedoms in this time of war. We are asking a lot from them and their families, and our nation greatly appreciates their service and honors their sacrifices. In my role as commander in chief, my pledge to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines is that they will have what they need to get the job done. Military commanders in the field tell me they have the personnel and resources they need. If I find they do not have it, I will make sure they get it.

We have the resources now to meet current and potential threats. Our enemies need to know that we are strong, and any effort to test us will result in a strong response. We will meet any test with all the might of this great country.

The Guard and Reserve forces now bear an unprecedented share of operational missions, but their compensation and benefits package was designed for a force with full-time civilian jobs that would be mobilized very rarely. What changes do you believe this requires for the active duty versus Guard and Reserve force mix and for the Guard and Reserve compensation and benefits package?
B Our nation has called on the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve—our citizen soldiers—more than ever in the current war. There have been long deployments, and those in our National Guard and Reserve have served brilliantly. Whether stationed around the world or serving here at home, they are defending their nation in the war on terror. We value their courage and honor their sacrifice. My administration has worked to address the effects of active duty on members of the Guard and Reserve and their families. I signed legislation that extended a temporary expansion of health benefits for reservists and their families before and after they are mobilized.

The war on terror has transformed the mission of our military, and we are actively working to enhance our readiness, responsiveness, and capabilities. There is an ongoing process of moving some skill sets from the active force to the National Guard and Reserve while taking other skill sets that are in the National Guard and Reserve and moving them to the active force. We are looking at the long-term implications of longer deployments to help us understand adjustments in programs and forces that may be needed.

Every year, there is extended debate about the adequacy of veterans’ health funding, and Congress usually increases executive branch funding requests. How will you ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is fully funded to meet the needs of all veterans enrolled in the VA health care system?
B When I came into office, the VA medical and disability systems were riddled with bureaucracy, errors, oversights, delays, and unfair denials of care and coverage. Resolving a disability claim was a long ordeal, and the system was backlogged. I promised to cut the backlog, and I did.

Today, because of our actions, 2.5 million more veterans are enrolled in health care services than in 2001. Over the last four years, we have increased funding for VA health care by more than 40 percent. And this year, my budget proposal requests $68 billion for the VA, which is $20 billion more than what was allocated in 2001. In four years, my budgets have included twice as much funding as the previous administration’s budgets made available in eight years. As a result, outpatient visits have increased from 44 million to 54 million a year, the number of prescriptions filled has risen from 86 million to 108 million annually, and the VA has opened 194 new community-based clinics for veterans.

I am also committed to modernizing VA health care facilities and providing more care to more veterans in more places. My administration will spend an estimated $1.5 billion in 2004 and 2005 to begin this effort. Our goal is to ensure that a vast majority of veterans are within 30 miles of a VA community-based outpatient clinic or other facility.

We also are making care and support for low-income and disabled veterans our highest priority. I have proposed ending pharmacy copayments for low-income veterans who need service-connected care and ending copayments for emergency room care for veterans in non-VA medical facilities.

My administration has been the first to act on allowing military retirees to receive both disability compensation and retirement pay. I have twice signed into law legislation allowing military retirees to receive VA disability compensation without having to offset the amount from their retirement benefits. This policy reverses, for the first time, a century-old prohibition on concurrent receipt. I am keeping my promise to our nation’s veterans.

Some allege that military personnel costs are excessive and that meeting health and compensation equity requirements for retirees and survivors would come at the expense of current force needs. What is your perspective on the government’s reciprocal obligations to those who have borne the sacrifices of defending our freedoms in past and current wars?
B It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that soldiers, veterans, and their families are compensated for their service and their sacrifices. I take this responsibility seriously. During my first year in office I promised to provide members of the armed forces with better pay, better treatment, and better training. And I have fulfilled this promise. In keeping this commitment to our troops, we are attracting highly competent and disciplined men and women into the armed forces, training them to fight effectively, and giving them the incentive to remain in the military.

I am committed to modernizing VA health care facilities and providing more care to more veterans in more places. I am determined to maintain a military force that is all-voluntary and will do whatever is necessary to support and sustain that force while fulfilling our commitments to the men and women who have gone before them in battle.

For generations, the men and women of our military have stood between the American people and the dangers of the world. The men and women who valiantly serve our nation do not return unscathed, and we are making their care our highest priority.

Today’s defense budget represents about 3.4 percent of the GNP, versus 4 percent to 6 percent in the past. What is your view regarding the appropriate level of the nation’s resources that should be applied to national defense?
B The world changed on a terrible September morning. And since that day, we have changed the world. I have made a commitment to our troops, their loved ones, and the American people that our men and women in uniform will have the resources they need to fight and win the war on terror.

Since I entered office in 2001, America’s defense budget has increased more than 34 percent, from $296.8 billion in 2001 to $390.5 billion in the 2005. In fact, in constant 2004 dollars, defense spending has only been higher twice since World War II—during the Korean War and at the peak of the Cold War buildup.
 
My budgets over the last four years are providing America with a strong national defense and a fighting force that is second to none.
 

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Military leaders were telling Congress that our armed forces were stretched too thin before Sept. 11, and deployment requirements have grown significantly since then. Do you believe we need larger armed forces to meet ongoing operations and be prepared for future contingencies?
K Yes, I do, and each day provides us with further evidence that our military is stretched dangerously thin. We’ve deployed units from the National Training Center, called back members of the Individual Ready Reserve, extended tours of duty, delayed retirements, and relied on “stop-loss” as a kind of “backdoor draft.” This is no way to keep faith with the men and women of the American military.

My Military Family Bill of Rights will lay out a comprehensive program that will ensure that servicemembers and military families are treated fairly. It will make sure troops do not face pay cuts and give them the protections they need on the battlefield and at home, like allies by their side, body armor and other equipment, health care for all military reservists, assistance for families affected by extended deployments, support for small business and reservists, and up-to-date and accurate information about deployments.

My first order of business as commander in chief will be to expand America’s active duty forces by 40,000 troops. As I have said many times, this is an imperative if we are to give our troops the strength and support they deserve and our country the military it needs.

The Guard and Reserve forces now bear an unprecedented share of operational missions, but their compensation and benefits package was designed for a force with full-time civilian jobs that would be mobilized very rarely. What changes do you believe this requires for the active duty versus Guard and Reserve force mix and for the Guard and Reserve compensation and benefits package?
K I have called for the creation of a “New Total Force” as a way to rethink our current force mix. An important component of this plan is to ensure a sufficient number of active duty and reserve personnel as well as making homeland security one of the primary missions of the National Guard.

But today, too many National Guard members are far away from home, and the Guard as a whole is not integrated into an effective strategy for homeland security. The thousands of National Guard members called to active duty and deployed overseas include countless first responders—the very people we will depend upon in the event of another terrorist attack at home. That is no way to protect America.

I have put forward a comprehensive set of initiatives to bolster Guard and Reserve compensation and benefits, including access to TRICARE and incentives to lessen the economic consequences these dedicated men and women face when they are called on to defend our nation. My plan also contains incentives for the civilian employers of guardmembers and reservists who have endured the repeated and prolonged loss of valuable employees to military service.

Every year, there is extended debate about the adequacy of veterans’ health funding, and Congress usually increases executive branch funding requests. How will you ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is fully funded to meet the needs of all veterans enrolled in the VA health care system?
K  I support mandatory funding of veterans’ health care. For too long veterans have faced health care rationing because the budgetary reality they face has not met the promises we have made. I vow that my administration will find real solutions to funding veterans’ health care and will end the game of playing politics with the health and the lives of sick veterans.

A bedrock American value is that we are true to our word, that our promises are kept. Providing adequate, high-quality health care to those we owe so much to is a promise we must keep, and I vow to work to make sure that the resources are available to fully fund the VA.

Some allege that military personnel costs are excessive and that meeting health and compensation equity requirements for retirees and survivors would come at the expense of current force needs. What is your perspective on the government’s reciprocal obligations to those who have borne the sacrifices of defending our freedoms in past and current wars?
K The troops come first. A commander’s first responsibility is to the men and women he leads. As a nation, that responsibility does not end when they take off their uniforms. It is a sacred trust that we are duty-bound to keep. To scrimp on benefits and compensation to those who already have served is to be penny wise, but dollar foolish.

I believe that treating our troops and their families with respect, dignity, and fairness in what they are paid, where they live, and where their children go to school is an ongoing duty that we must fulfill to properly protect our nation. Yes, it is a matter of national honor. But it is also vital to recruiting and retaining the best military in the world. That is why I have proposed the Military Family Bill of Rights, to put into law this country’s commitment to those who serve and their families who share so much of the burden.

This nation made a sacred covenant with those it drafted and those who enlisted, but the truth is that every day in America the treatment of too many veterans is breaking that covenant. As president, I will be determined to deliver the health care and prescription drugs that veterans need, to fight for full concurrent receipt, and to fairly compensate soldiers and their families for their service.

I make this simple pledge: If I am president, I will fight for a constant standard of decency and respect for those who serve their country in our armed forces—on active duty, in the reserves, and as veterans. It should be no other way, and if I am president, it will be no other way.

Today’s defense budget represents about 3.4 percent of the GNP, versus 4 percent to 6 percent in the past. What is your view regarding the appropriate level of the nation’s resources that should be applied to national defense?
K It is unwise to set arbitrary spending targets for defending our nation and meeting our global responsibilities. The primary responsibility of a president is to make America strong and to keep Americans safe. Our military must be prepared to defeat any enemy, at any time, in any place. Our soldiers must be capable of success in any conflict and any mission that we call upon them to perform.
Meeting the threats of a new century will not be inexpensive. There are no corners to cut when our security is at stake. The money and the resources we expend must be tailored to meet the full range of challenges we face today and are likely to face tomorrow. As president I will ensure that the resources needed to keep America safe will be provided.

To me, taking care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, both those serving now and those who have served, is personal. This commitment goes back more than 35 years to the years of my own days in the Navy. It was then that I learned about our obligation to each other and our country’s obligation to those in uniform. And since then, from the struggle for care in our VA hospitals, to post-traumatic stress disorder, to Agent Orange, to the battle for military strength and military pay, to the struggle for answers as we kept faith with our obligation to find the truth about POWs and MIAs, I have tried to be a voice and a champion for those in uniform who serve our country.