Tax Relief Act of 2005

TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2005 -- (Senate - November 17, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished chairman, the Senator from Iowa, for yielding time off the bill. The issue we are debating obviously is one of great consequence, dealing with our budget and how we deal with the issue of the deficit and what we do to continue to keep the economy growing and creating jobs. That is what this debate is about.

I do, however, want to speak in response to something that was said earlier on the floor, also off the bill at hand that we are discussing today, and that has to do with the whole situation in Iraq.

The Democrat leader was on the floor earlier, once again attacking the President and the Vice President with respect to the issue of prewar intelligence. I think the American people deserve to know the facts in this debate. They deserve to know the truth. More important, our troops need to know we stand with them, we support them in completing their mission in achieving victory in the war on terror.

What we have seen instead is the Democrat leader come down here and accuse the President, because he is standing up and telling the truth to the American people, accusing him of deceiving and misleading on prewar intelligence.

Where is the evidence? Where are the facts to support those statements? The distinguished Democrat leader, as well as many Democrats who are still serving in this Chamber, back in 2002 had the same information, the same intelligence that the President of the United States had, the Vice President of the United States had, all our allies had, the United Nations had. Everybody came to the same essential conclusion, and that was that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the security of that region and the security of the United States, and we acted accordingly.

In this Chamber right here, 29 of the 50 Democrats at that time stood up and voted for a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq. In the House of Representatives, over 80 Democrats joined the Republican majority in the House of Representatives in support of the resolution for the use of force in Iraq.

What we are seeing now is an attempt to revise that history. You can try. You can disagree with the policy. You can disagree with the decisions that are being made by our commanders. But don't come to the floor of the Senate and don't go out to the public and attack this administration and this President for lying unless you have some evidence to demonstrate that.

There is no proof.

I believe the troops of this country, and our commanders who are valiantly and bravely and courageously leading the effort in Iraq and in Afghanistan to win the war on terror, are fighting to make this country more safe and secure and to make sure that country has a democracy. And all we focus on is the negative.

What about the positive things that are happening in Iraq? The fact is, today Iraq's GDP has more than quadrupled from 2003, Iraq's debt has been cut by more than a third from 2003, inflation and unemployment rates are down from last year while incomes have risen, Iraq's security personnel have doubled since last year, over 1,800 reconstruction projects have been finished, including schools and health facilities, the number of telephone subscribers has more than doubled since last year, and the number of independent television stations has doubled since last year.

We are making progress. It is hard work. The people who know that the best are the people on the ground in Iraq, the young men and women in uniform who are doing freedom's work.

I had the opportunity last week to go up to Walter Reed Army Hospital to visit with some of the casualties of that war, people who have lost limbs, amputees. I have to tell you it is inspiring, absolutely inspirational to see the courage and the determination and the spirit of these young people who have worn the uniform of the United States and have fought for something they believe in. They deserve to have elected leaders in this country, people in this Chamber, the Senate, and the House who are willing to at least acknowledge the good work they are doing and the progress we are making toward winning the war on terror, toward creating a democracy and standing up a government in Iraq, toward raising an army, a security force that can defend the Iraqi people.

What we do not need is demagoguery and people coming on the floor of the Senate and elected leaders getting up and making statements attacking the integrity and the credibility and the truthfulness of the President of the United States, our Commander in Chief, absent any evidence to support their claims. Furthermore, those are the ones who on this very floor have made statements in the past supporting our effort and concluding, based upon the intelligence that they received--just like the intelligence the President and the Vice President and all our allies and the United Nations received--that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States and to that region of the world. What we are seeing here is the worst of politics, and that is not the conduct we ought to have in the Senate or the discourse that we ought to be putting before the American people. The American people deserve the truth, and the American troops deserve our support.

I yield.

http://thomas.loc.gov/