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http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060508-105502-6962r

Senators boost funds for force protection
WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. Senate panel has approved a $950 million boost in spending for U.S. force protection in Iraq.

For the protection of ground forces, the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday authorized a $950.5 million increase, including $559.8 million for up-armored Humvees, and $100 million for vehicles to counter improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the greatest cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq, CongressDaily reported.

The SASC also set aside $2.1 billion for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund to advance development of new technologies and tactics, and $45.8 million for various IED countermeasure technologies, the report said.

"Our forces are protecting us here at home, and those of us on the committee have a very sacred and special trust to take care of them, and their families," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the committee's chairman.

The Senate panel also overturned unpopular Pentagon plans to increase TRICARE healthcare enrollment fees for many military retirees. But unlike their colleagues on the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, who had recommended a 2.7 percent increase to troop pay, the Senate panel authorized the Pentagon request of a 2.2 percent raise.