MEDIA ADVISORY:
JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE RISING FUTURE COSTS OF IRAQ WAR AND IMPACT ON STATE FINANCES, VETERANS AND ECONOMY
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Veterans Health and Economic Experts to Discuss War’s Drain on Public Funds
Estimated Total Costs of Iraq War Could Be Between $3 and $5 Trillion According to a Nobel-Prize Winning Economist and JEC Reports
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Vice Chair of the JEC will hold a hearing to examine the war’s impact on the economy, including state and federal funds and future care costs of veterans. The hearing entitled, “Fight Now, Pay Later: The Future Costs of Funding the Iraq War” will be held Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 10 am in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer will testify along with veterans health and economics experts. Governor Schweitzer, who travelled to Iraq in May 2006, has called for a plan for success in Iraq that includes a speedy withdrawal and better healthcare opportunities for returning soldiers, especially within his own state which has the highest rate of military veterans in the U.S. The JEC examined economic costs of the war more broadly earlier this year and released its own report on those costs last year. Estimates have put the cost of the War in Iraq in the trillions of dollars.
WHAT: Joint Economic Committee Hearing “Fight Now, Pay Later: The Future Costs of Funding the Iraq War”
WHO: Hon. Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana
Dr. Christine Eibner, Associate Economist, RAND Corporation
Mr. Tom Tarantino, Policy Associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
Mr. William Beach, Director, Center for Data Analysis, Heritage Foundation
WHEN: 10am, Thursday, June 12, 2008
WHERE: Room 106, Dirksen Senate Office Building
The Joint Economic Committee, established under the Employment Act of 1946, was created by Congress
to review economic conditions and to analyze the effectiveness of economic policy.
www.jec.senate.gov
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