William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, if a President decides to deploy troops domestically, the very least we can do as Congress is demand the same level of transparency that we expect when our troops are sent abroad.

It is true that the Insurrection Act was used to integrate Little Rock Central High School and the University of Mississippi. It is also true that it was used to crush slave revolts and labor organizing.

This amendment will go a long way towards helping inform Congress and the American people how a President intends to use the authority.

This is not an abstract conversation. When the President threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act recently, he was threatening my constituents and our constituents. Unmistakably, he was threatening people exercising their First Amendment rights.

There can be genuine emergencies when these powers are needed. We must protect against all possible abuses in situations where the emergencies do not exist.
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Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, October of next year will mark 20 years since the war in Afghanistan started. That is a generation of devastation in Afghanistan, a generation of our men and women in uniform being sent to fight and die for a war with no exit strategy. And still, to this day, there are people saying that we shouldn't be too hasty in leaving.

Too hasty? It has been two decades.

Mr. Speaker, there will never be a perfect time to withdraw our troops. There will never be a time when making the right decision does not include some risks.

Our obligation to Afghanistan's stability will not end when our troops leave. My amendment sets a clear timeline and clear Congressional intent that we must end our country's longest war.

Mr. Speaker, we put this debate in context. I want to say this amendment was offered by my friend, Chairman McGovern, 7 years ago. It passed the House in 2013 with the majority of both parties voting in favor. During that debate, Mr. McGovern stood on the floor and said: ``The future and fate of tens of thousands of uniformed men and women deserve a vote.'' The House took that vote, and 305 Members of this body voted to end the war in Afghanistan.

Yet, since then, we have had 7 years of fighting and sustained violence, 7 years of civilian casualties, 7 years of servicemembers being forced to say good-bye to their families and subjected to a terrible trauma.

In many ways, it is baffling to me that I have to do this, but I echo Mr. McGovern's words from 2013: The future and fate of thousands of uniformed men and women deserve a vote.

As a survivor of war, I can tell you that even 1 more minute of conflict comes with a cost that is too great for most to imagine.

Finally, I say that I do not believe that the end of military engagement should be the end of our obligation to the Afghanistan people. Mr. Speaker, my amendment calls for a comprehensive peace plan that includes all sectors of civil society. It calls for renewed engagement on diplomacy and development. It calls us to fulfill our moral and strategic obligation but not to risk one more life of American servicemembers in a war with no clear objective.

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Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, the last time this amendment was voted on in 2013, again, it got 305 Members of this body to vote for it. Nothing has changed since then.

Lee), the only Member of the House to vote against the 2001 authorization for war.

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Ms. OMAR. Lee).
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