U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007

Floor Speech

U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' CARE, KATRINA RECOVERY, AND IRAQ ACCOUNTABILITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 10, 2007)

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States had a chance to fully fund the troops just a few weeks ago, he chose not to take it, I tell my friend, Mr. Tiahrt, from Kansas. We fully funded the troops. In fact, we gave more money for the fight against terrorism. We want to see success.

Mr. Speaker, let every Member here and all those watching this debate at home be perfectly clear, this legislation fully funds our troops in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan, ensuring that they have the resources they need to conduct their missions. Not only that, this bill includes additional funding, as the last bill did, not requested by the President, to fight the war on terror, to improve America's military readiness and to meet our veterans' unmet health needs.

However, while this legislation funds our troops, it insists, as we tried to last time, for the first time in more than 4 years that the Bush Administration and the Iraqi government be accountable. The American public expects accountability.

Plain and simple, this legislation responds to the will of the people, who are dismayed by the failed implementation of American foreign policy, perhaps more failed than in any in the generation.

On Tuesday, a CNN poll found that two-thirds of Americans oppose the war, and 61 percent support benchmarks like the ones in this bill that would measure Iraqi progress.

Let me say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, Vice President Cheney was deployed by this administration. What for? To tell the Iraqis they had to perform, that they had to meet benchmarks; that the American public was running thin on its support, and in fact is not supporting this war.

But, frankly, the Congress has taken the position that we won't say that, and the President vetoes a bill that said that, a bill that required performance so that the millions that the American public, the billions that the American public, the $500 billion-plus that the American public has dug from their pockets, will be responsibly met by the Iraqi Government.

Thus, Mr. Speaker, this legislation holds the President and the Iraqi Government accountable by fencing off 52-plus of the $95.5 billion provided to the Defense Department until released by subsequent legislation.

What is there to fear from this Congress as we oversee whether or not there is a turn from an unsuccessful implementation of a policy to a successful policy? Perhaps that fear is that that corner will not be turned, and therefore this vote may be at risk.

Before this additional funding is released, however, the President must report to Congress by July 13 regarding the success of the Iraqi Government in meeting security and political benchmarks. General Petraeus has said there is no solution but a political solution, and the only people who can accomplish a political solution are the Iraqis themselves.

What do we ask for? Disarming militias who are killing our men and women, enacting legislation to equitably share oil revenues. There will be no resolution without that. Reforming the debaathification process, which says to literally tens of thousands of people, we know you were Baath members, but you really weren't in politics, so you can come back and do the work to build this society. Without that, we will not succeed and our men and women will pay the price, as they are paying the price every day.

Lastly, providing for provisional elections. We are fighting for democracy. We are investing in democracy. That is what we are told. But we haven't amended the constitution and we are not providing for the provincial elections that were promised. If that is the case, the Iraqi people are not going to think democracy is on its way.

Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States himself has stated that our commitment in Iraq is not open-ended. That is what this legislation says. If you think it is open-ended, if you think there should be no benchmarks, if you think the American taxpayers' money ought to be spent without seeing results and without the carnage to our troops decreasing, then vote against this.

To this we say, no more. No more blank checks. Not after more than 3,370 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq and more than 25,000 have been injured. Ten percent of those lives have been lost in the last 4 months. Not after the American taxpayer spent nearly half a trillion dollars. And not after 4 years of egregious misjudgments by this administration, from ``mission accomplished,'' to ``the insurgency is in its last throes,'' to ``Iraq will fund its own reconstruction.''

Every Member in this body, every Member, hopes and prays that the current troop escalation succeeds, that the Iraqis stabilize and secure their country and that our troops can return home safely. Why should you fear waiting 60 days and making another judgment as to whether that is occurring? That is our responsibility.

We swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States which says that we are the policymakers. But there is little reason for optimism when the violence in Iraq continues unabated and progress on the ground is somewhere between illusive and nonexistent.

The two-step funding approach in this legislation effected by Mr. Obey and Mr. Murtha is not only appropriate, it is imperative. Even the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has stated, ``I think the time to look at where we are is late summer.'' This is a few days before that, and we will continue consideration into that late summer that Senator McConnell talks about.

We cannot want to succeed more than the Iraqis. They must take the lead in restoring stability and securing their nation. And the Iraqi Parliament must not go on vacation while American men and women are fighting and dying for them.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, support this bill. Let us forge a new direction in Iraq and implement a policy and design to succeed.

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