Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2863, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2863, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 16, 2005)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I yield myself 6 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by commending the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), the Appropriations Committee chairman and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking member, and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), Defense Subcommittee chairman, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha), the ranking member, for their continuing bipartisan work in drafting the annual defense appropriations bill.

I will not take time to detail the programs funded under this bill. However, I would like to express concern and my deep unease with a few aspects of this spending bill.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2863 appropriates $408.9 billion for the Department of Defense. That is $3.3 billion below what the administration requested. This total also includes $45.3 billion in unrequested funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Total defense spending now accounts for nearly 55 percent of the entire Federal discretionary budget for fiscal year 2006.

Now, while the Committee has trimmed somewhat the administration's budget request, overall defense spending, in real terms, is currently about 20 percent greater than the average Cold War budget.

Mr. Speaker, this is spending of historic proportions.

Since the spring of 2003, Congress has appropriated approximately $250 billion-plus for the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, largely through three huge supplemental appropriations bills. U.S. spending in Iraq alone will be at least 75 to 80 billion this year alone. And it could approach a $400 billion total by 2006, making the Iraq war one of the costliest in U.S. history. Everyone in this House expects the President to ask for additional funds later this year, an expectation that I guess led the Committee to appropriate the $45.3 billion in as-yet-unrequested funds for operations in Iraq.

This so-called ``bridge fund'' means, Mr. Speaker, that we are, in essence, passing two appropriations bills for Iraq and Afghanistan. One is called the Iraq supplemental, which Congress takes up at the beginning of each year, and the other is this bridge fund. Remember we had one last year too, and it is attached to the annual defense appropriations bill.

Mr. Speaker, it is no longer breaking news that we are engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it is critical for the economic and fiscal health of our Nation that the now-predictable spending for continued operations in Iraq and Afghanistan be included in the regular budget process so we can plan for it, make the necessary budgetary trade-offs, and most importantly, Mr. Speaker, so we can pay for it.

We should be paying for this war now, Mr. Speaker, not handing the cost off to our grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, just this week the death toll of American troops killed in Iraq exceeded 1,700. Last month was one of the deadliest months in Iraq in the 2 years since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations. In May of 2005, 67 U.S. soldiers and Marines were killed by hostile fire, the fourth highest tally since the war began.

In a June 12 Knight-Ridder article entitled ``Military Action Won't End Insurgency, Growing Number of U.S. Officers Believe,'' Lieutenant Colonel Frederick P. Wellman, who works with the task force overseeing the training of Iraqi security troops, said the insurgency doesn't seem to be running out of new recruits. ``We can't kill them all,'' Wellman said. ``When I kill one, I create three.''

Mr. Speaker, I personally believe there is no military solution in Iraq, immediate or long term. General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has expressed similar sentiments. He has called the U.S. military efforts ``the Pillsbury Doughboy idea,'' meaning that if you press the insurgency in one area, it only causes it to rise somewhere else.

Mr. Speaker, I very much regret that an amendment offered by the Democratic minority leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), was not made in order by the Rules Committee. This amendment is quite simple. It calls on the President to transmit to congressional leaders a report on what is our strategy for success in Iraq, one that identifies criteria to determine when it is appropriate to begin the withdrawal of our military from Iraq. The gentlewoman from California's (Ms. Pelosi) amendment is a reasonable, thoughtful approach. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Rules Committee would not make it in order.

Mr. Speaker, we need that kind of clarity in our policy. We need a change, of course, and at the end of this debate, I will ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question so that the Pelosi amendment may be considered.

Mr. Speaker, there are some who believe that our only responsibility in this time of war is to automatically approve appropriations bills, no questions asked. Let me remind my colleagues that we also have a responsibility to do proper oversight, to conduct thoughtful debate, and to ensure that there is a clearly defined mission, which includes when our men and women can come home. That is what the Pelosi amendment seeks to accomplish, but for some reason the Republican leadership does not want to talk about it.

To be honest, I do not think this administration has a clue about what they are doing in Iraq, and, Mr. Speaker, that is a tragedy.

Clearly the current situation is not what the administration predicted, but instead of giving us a truthful assessment, instead of candor and clarity, we are given spin. We are told that things are going great. That is simply not credible.

Mr. Speaker, it takes no courage for a politician to stand before a microphone and say, we must stay the course. It is not our lives that are on the line. We must recognize that the Members of this House have a responsibility that has for too long been neglected.

We owe our troops, indeed we owe our country, some answers. I know that this is not a comfortable topic, but I would plead with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to start worrying less about saving face and more about doing what is right.

At the end of this debate, Mr. Speaker, I will remind my colleagues I will be asking for a ``no'' vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me just respond to the gentleman briefly by saying that I do not believe that we are more secure today. We were not told the truth about this war in Iraq. We were not told the truth about WMDs or Iraq's tie to al Qaeda. The justification for this war was based on false or falsified information. Things are getting worse. And this administration does not have a clue.

I was in Iraq as well. I saw firsthand what is going on over there. What the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) is trying to do is to get some clarity, to get the administration to come out and explain to us what their strategy is, if they have one, and if they do not, to try to get them to come up with one. This is a very serious matter. Those men and women who are serving our country so bravely over there deserve more from us than they have gotten.

That is the reason why I hope people will vote ``no'' on the previous question, to give us an opportunity to force this administration to do what it should have done a long time ago and that is define what this mission is all about.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would just say to the very distinguished gentleman from Florida, whom that I have a great deal of respect for, that all these terrible terrorist acts that he has cited were committed by al Qaeda. And, unfortunately, most of those masterminds are still at large because our forces have been diverted into this war in Iraq, and they are not focused in on where they should be, on bringing to justice those members of al Qaeda who are the masterminds of these crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Meehan).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

If the gentleman from Oklahoma has a strategy on Iraq or knows that the Bush administration has written down such a strategy, would he please share with us a copy because I have yet to see one?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will be asking Members to oppose the previous question. If the previous question is defeated, I will amend the rule so we can consider the Pelosi amendment that was offered in the Committee on Rules Tuesday night, but rejected on a straight party-line vote.

Mr. Speaker, the Pelosi amendment would require the President to submit to Congress within 30 days a report on a strategy for success in Iraq. That is it.

Mr. Speaker, whatever one's position is on the war in Iraq, I think most of us realize that it is past time for the administration to assess the situation in Iraq and to address the matter of an eventual withdrawal from that country. I hope Members will agree to at least consider this amendment today.

The House has a responsibility to ask tough questions and to demand straight answers. I am tired of the spin, as so many other Members are. It is time for candor. The people of this country deserve that.

A ``no'' vote will not prevent us from considering the defense appropriations bill under an open rule, but a ``no'' vote will allow Members to vote on the Pelosi amendment. However, a ``yes'' vote will block the House from considering and voting on the need for a success strategy in the war in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, we need a strategy, not just slogans.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I will enter into the RECORD two articles cited in my opening statement. I also had a very moving meeting yesterday with members of the Gold Star Families for Peace who have lost sons and daughters in the war in Iraq. These families have experienced the tragedy of this war firsthand, and they believe we should set a very different course. I will enter into the RECORD the personal statements by these family members regarding the continuing U.S. presence in Iraq.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, again, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question so that we can have an opportunity to vote on the Pelosi amendment. It is our responsibility as Members of Congress to ask tough questions, to demand answers, to do the oversight, to make sure that we are getting this right. We have not been doing that. This is an opportunity for us to demand that the administration give us answers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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