National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, I was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted: ``Yea'' on rollcall vote 269, on agreeing to Amendment No. 5 offered by Rep. Dean printed in H. Rept. 117-125. MEMBERS RECORDED PURSUANT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 8, 117TH CONGRESS Cardenas (Gomez) Carter (TX) (Calvert) DeSaulnier (Matsui) Frankel, Lois (Clark (MA)) Fulcher (Johnson (OH)) Gonzalez (OH) (Reschenthaler) Grijalva (Garcia (IL)) Kirkpatrick (Levin (CA)) Latta (Walberg) Lawson (FL) (Evans) McEachin (Wexton) Meng (Jeffries) Morelle (Tonko) Napolitano (Correa) Payne (Wasserman Schultz) Rice (SC) (Wilson (SC)) Rush (Underwood) Ryan (Kildee) Stanton (Levin (CA)) Stefanik (Reschenthaler) Strickland (Torres (NY)) Swalwell (Veasey) Wagner (Walorski) Wilson (FL) (Hayes) Young (Mast) Amendment No. 6 Offered by Ms. Plaskett

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Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for including my two amendments so that we may learn from the mistakes of the forever wars and ensure the Taliban cannot benefit from our financial system.

I served in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. I saw what began as a counterterrorism mission mutate under President Bush into a $1 trillion boondoggle of a counterinsurgency.

My first amendment ensures that Congress' Afghanistan Commission can access the classified documents behind the forever war and hold to account those decision makers who let the fallacy of sunk costs guide their continual investments of time, troops, and treasure into an unwinnable war.

My second amendment directs the Treasury Department to closely monitor illicit financing flowing to the Taliban. This safeguards our financial system and ensures the Taliban can't use it to finance terrorist activities. At the close of this war, we must move forward with the assurance that we will learn from history.

Madam Speaker, to increase transparency and counter the Taliban, I urge adoption of this en bloc package.

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