Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, on Thursday announced she’ll introduce legislation for the third time to increase the “end strength” size of both the Army and the Marines.

One big difference between this new legislation and the old: Now President Bush may want it too. He told reporters at his year-end news conference Wednesday that he has asked newly installed Defense Secretary Robert Gates to report to him as quickly as possible on plans to enlarge the size of the Army and Marine Corps.

Tauscher’s new bill would increase the size of the Army by 40,000 troops, the Marines by 20,000, and Special Forces by 10,000 troops. She says recruiting and training more ground force units will relieve pressure on the Guard and Reserve, so citizen soldiers can go back to growing the economy and protecting the homeland. She also says having more active-duty forces eventually would improve recruitment and retention by making stop-loss orders unnecessary.

She introduced similar bills in December 2003 and April 2005; 31 lawmakers cosponsored the former, 38 the latter. (Locally, Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, co-sponsored both; Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, only the latter.) But former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon leaders opposed end-strength increases authorized by Congress, preferring instead to boost troop numbers temporarily through emergency supplemental spending.