U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007

Floor Speech

U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' CARE, KATRINA RECOVERY, AND IRAQ ACCOUNTABILITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 24, 2007)

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Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment to be voted on today which will provide supplemental funds for the war in Iraq.

As I have said before on the floor of the House, it is time we ended our military involvement in Iraq. We are not making progress, despite losing thousands of lives, expending years of effort, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars. This is a viewpoint shared by the vast majority of the American people.

I strongly support our troops and understand we must provide resources for them in the field. However, today's amendment continues the President's failed policy in Iraq by not holding him accountable to his own benchmarks for success and failing to set a timetable for the redeployment of our troops. Although the amendment ties non-military aid to the Iraqi Government's progress in meeting certain benchmarks, the President can waive the requirement.

Spending billions on the war in Iraq without providing a prescription for withdrawal or benchmarks with meaningful consequences for the Iraqi Government, as the amendment before us would do, does our troops and our entire Nation a disservice. It suggests that we will continue this war without end or without putting meaningful pressure on the Iraqi Government to do its fair share.

Unfortunately, President Bush and most Republicans in Congress believe that this is exactly what we should do. President Bush vetoed H.R. 1591, which imposed benchmarks with real consequences on the Iraqi Government and mandated that our military forces would have left Iraq by August 2008. So far he has refused to accept any major changes in his Iraq policy,

If President Bush continues to be intransigent, Congress has the responsibility to use its spending power to truly make a meaningful change in the direction of the war in Iraq. The amendment under consideration does not do that and I ask my colleagues to vote against it.

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