Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. 2642, Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2642, SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 15, 2008)

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Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I support this rule, in part, because it allows Congress to finally rein in an out-of-control policy by the administration in Iraq.

For too long our Congress has stood by while an administration has pursued a course in Iraq fraught with peril, with no plan for its conclusion, with no plan for resolution, with no meaningful plan for international involvement, to end this problem in Iraq. While Congress has not reined in this administration, the American people have been raising a hue and cry for relief from this negligent lack of plan in Iraq.

I came across, a few weeks ago, some work that some citizens had done to provide an exit strategy from Iraq. This is a plan called A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. It was organized by a group of citizens, a woman from Carnation, Washington, named Darcy Burner. It is endorsed by considerable military thinking, endorsed by Major General Paul Eaton, U.S. Army, retired, former Security Transition Commanding General in Iraq; Dr. Lawrence Korb, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration; Brigadier General John Johns, specialist in counterinsurgency and nation-building; Captain Larry Seaquist, U.S. Navy, retired, former commander of the USS Iowa and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning.

Here is a plan that has considerable parallels to the amendment we will be allowed to offer to finally having some responsible plan to end the war in Iraq. A meaningful timetable, a statement about permanent bases, meaningful requirements for not overburdening our military. It's time, simply, for Congress to act. This rule allows us to do so. We should pass it.

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