U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' HEALTH, AND IRAQ ACCOUNTABILITY ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - April 25, 2007)
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding.
It has been so interesting to listen to the debate this evening. I am reminded of my school teacher grandmother and an admonition that she would regularly give us to us, which was ``Your actions speak louder than your words.'' And she would remind us of this time and time and time again.
And, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you, quite frankly, I think that what we are seeing is the actions of a majority who are doing their best to ensure, to ensure, that our men and women in uniform do not have the funding that they need.
I represent a lot of these military men and women, and I have heard from them. I am hearing from a lot of the military men and women and their families, and they feel like the modified withdrawal dates in this legislative disaster are nothing more than a vote of no confidence for our troops. They feel that this legislation will embolden our enemies and send a message to the rest of the world that they believe that they are more qualified to prosecute a war than the men and women we are sending to the frontlines. That is something, Mr. Speaker, that they do disagree with.
Our military leadership deserves the opportunity to fight this war with the funding and the support that they need to accomplish their goals. They deserve the ability and the opportunity to win. Yet the leadership in this House continues to try their best to micromanage the war and our troops without the funding that they need.
Despite what the majority leader in the other body and his supporters in the House believe, this war is not lost. Yet this dead-on-arrival supplemental bill will only exacerbate the problem and put our troops in harm's way.
I think that we should show our respect for the men and women in uniform by respecting the job they do. We should do our job: Send the funding to the troops.
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