Here is the full story on legislative votes referenced in a New York Times article from Monday, October 2, 2006.

1. Investigating federal contracting fraud in Iraq.

This references a vote on a "motion to recommit" the FY 2006 Iraq Supplemental spending bill.   The motion - had it passed - would have forced the bill to be removed from floor consideration and returned to the Committee.   Specifically, the motion instructed the Committee to redo the bill and include funding to set up a commission, similar to the World War II commission chaired by Harry Truman.   Mr. Murtha opposed the motion because it would have delayed passage of the bill that he worked closely with other members of the Defense Subcommittee to complete.   The Defense Department had notified the Congress that quick passage was necessary to continue funding operations both in Iraq/Afghanistan and the United States.   Moreover, Mr. Murtha voted (in the conference on the FY 2004 Iraq Supplemental - P.L. 108-106) in favor of establishing the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.   The creation of this new inspector general increased oversight of contracting in Iraq and helped identify waste and abuse.

 
2. Diverting money from base closures to research on prosthetic limbs for veterans

Mr. Murtha opposed this amendment for several reasons:   1)   The bill was balanced in terms of both budget authority and outlays.   Had this amendment passed, the total outlay level would have increased, potentially causing the bill to fail because it would have violated budget rules (technically it would have exceeded the 302b allocation); 2)   Mr Murtha had already sponsored increased funding for prosthetic development.   For example, in the FY 2005 Defense Appropriations Conference report (House Report 108-622) Mr. Murtha sponsored an increase of $19.2 million for the Walter Reed Amputee Center.   $10 million of this amount was directed for prosthetic research. (see pages 366-367 of this report for a full description).

Mr. Murtha has long been one of the strongest Congressional supporters of the Defense Health Program.   For example, in the recently passed FY 2007 DoD Appropriations bill, he directed that an increase of $10 million be provided to Walter Reed for continued research and operations - some of these funds likely will be used to support the amputee center, among other Walter Reed activities.   In the FY 2004 Iraq Supplemental, Mr. Murtha sponsored an increase of $70 million to improve the infrastructure at Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval Hospital, and the U.S. hospital in Landstuhl, Germany - since these hospitals were taking the brunt of the casualties from the war.