U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 Veto Message From The President Of The United

Floor Speech

U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' CARE, KATRINA RECOVERY, AND IRAQ ACCOUNTABILITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 110-31) -- (House of Representatives - May 02, 2007)

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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to acknowledge the exceptional leadership of Chairman Obey, Chairman Murtha and Chairman Skelton in putting together this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, Congress passed this bill, and yesterday we sent it to the President of the United States. We did so with great pride, because it is a bill that supports our troops, honors our promises to our veterans, holds the Iraqi government accountable and winds down this war. It is a bill that honors the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. Thank you, Chairmen OBEY, MURTHA AND SKELTON.

The President had an historic opportunity. He had an opportunity to take yes for an answer, because the bill contained what the President had proposed. The President proposed benchmarks. His very own benchmarks were contained in this bill. The Department of Defense has guidelines for readiness for our troops, for their training, their equipment and the time they can spend at home and overseas. They are in the bill, even with a waiver for the President, giving the President more latitude. The President said no. The President said no.

I had hoped that the President would see the light, instead of turning a tin ear to the wishes of the American people and a blind eye to what is happening on the ground in Iraq.

The President, in signing the veto, is reporting that progress is being made in Iraq. Well, I don't know what his definition of ``progress'' is, but, sadly, April was the deadliest month this year, with over 100 of our troops killed there.

The President, in his statement on vetoing the bill, said that he vetoes the bill because, in his words, ``It makes no sense to tell the enemy when you start to plan withdrawing.''

In criticizing these timelines, of course, the President is wrong. But when he was a candidate for President, it made sense to him to say to President Clinton, ``I think it's also important for the President to lay out a timetable as to how long our troops will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.'' This is candidate Bush on the war in Kosovo, where we did not lose one single American soldier; this from a President whose initiative has lost over 3,000 Americans and countless, countless, countless Iraqis.

Bipartisan congressional majorities approved of using timelines for redeployment to instill urgency into benchmarks that have already again been endorsed by the President and the Iraqi leaders. They have agreed to this, except they reject them in this bill.

A wide range of people have noted the value of timelines in persuading the Iraqis to make the political compromises needed to end the violence, including Secretary of Defense Gates, who said, ``The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably have had a positive impact in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment.''

The Congress will not support an open-ended commitment to a war without end. He wants a blank check. The Congress will not give it to him.

Next the President said that Congress is substituting our judgment for the judgments of commanders in the field 6,000 miles away. Wrong again, Mr. President. We are substituting our judgment for your judgment 16 blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House. We are substituting the judgment of this Congress for your failed judgment.

The American people have lost faith in the President's conduct of the war. They have said that they want accountability and a new direction. This bill gives them both.

Next the President claimed, and Mr. Obey again referenced this, that this bill is loaded with non-emergency spending. Well, it may be a non-emergency to the President, but it certainly is an emergency to the people affected. Once again, the President is wrong.

The needs of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina think it is an emergency, and so does any person of conscience in our country who cares about the victims of Katrina. That millions of children are about to lose their health insurance is an emergency for them and for our country. America's farmers, devastated by natural disasters, think it is an emergency.

These situations remain emergencies because the President and the last Congress, the Republican Congress, refused to act. So now we must. So they have made it even more of an emergency.

Today, the President faces consequences of his own making. This is the seventh supplemental for the war in Iraq. Certainly somebody was planning something at the White House and could have put over the years the funding necessary for this war into the budget. Instead, the President did not do that. I don't know why. Maybe they didn't want the American people to see the real cost of this war in dollars. Certainly we know the price that we have paid more seriously in lives, in health, in reputation, in the readiness of our military and in probably $2 trillion now for this war.

The President claims that this legislation infringes upon the powers vested in the President by the Constitution. The President is wrong. Congress is exercising its right as a coequal branch of government to work cooperatively with the President to end this war.

By voting ``yes'' to override, Congress sends a strong message:

To support our troops. They have done everything that has been asked of them, and excellently. They deserve better.

To rebuild our military, which has been seriously strained by this war in Iraq.

To honor our commitment to our veterans, our heroes.

And to demand accountability.

With passage of this bill, we then can refocus our energy on the efforts against terrorism by bringing the war in Iraq to an end, bringing this war in Iraq to an end.

The President said there are real enemies out there. Yes, we know that, Mr. President, and we are prepared to make that fight. We will do whatever is necessary to protect the American people.

The war on terrorism was in Afghanistan. We took our fullest attention from Afghanistan to go into Iraq, and now Iraq is a magnet for terrorists. The war in Iraq has made matters worse in the war on terrorism.

What we have to do is work together, Democrats and Republicans, with the President of the United States, to bring stability to that region.

Now into the fifth year of a failed policy, this administration should get a clue. It is not working. This is the fourth surge they have proposed. When they proposed it in January, they said in 60 to 90 days we will know. It is 120 days, and now they are saying September. And then they say maybe by the end of the year. So what is this? We will be into another whole year of this war, far longer than World War II.

Nobody who serves in this body, who takes the oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution, needs anybody to tell them, whether you are a Democrat or Republican, what our responsibility is to protect the American people. Nobody needs a reminder of what the threat of terrorism is to our country. But we do need to work together to keep our focus on where the war on terror really is. If we clear up this matter, bring this war to an end in Iraq, we can give the war on terror our fullest attention.

Let us stop this war without end. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

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