Removal of the Use of United States Forces for Hostilities Within or Against Venezuela

Floor Speech

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Mr. RYAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time.

Mr. Speaker, we face a fundamental question here: Who makes the decision to send our most precious resource, our young men and women in uniform, into harm's way? Is it a five-time draft dodger who has called them suckers and losers, or is it the American people with us as their voices?

Mr. Speaker, I was on the receiving end of this same chicken-hawk bs for 27 months in combat in Iraq, and I don't need to be lectured by my colleagues. We all know how that went: thousands of American lives lost; trillions of dollars spent not on one, but two forever wars over the last 20-plus years that we should not have started in the first place; and, most importantly, no honest conversation with the American people about what would be required, what blood and treasure would be spilled halfway across the world.

Now, we are seeing it all play out again. History doesn't repeat, but it certainly rhymes. We in this room had the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State come to Congress before the end of this calendar year and blatantly lie to our faces and, more importantly, lie to the American people. Why? Because they know it isn't right or popular.

The last thing, Mr. Speaker, the American people want is another regime change war, a forever war for oil. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and to not repeat history.

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