Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. 2206, U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropri

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2206, U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' CARE, KATRINA RECOVERY, AND IRAQ ACCOUNTABILITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 24, 2007)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, some might see this Iraq supplemental as a victory for President Bush in his never-ending quest to secure open-ended, unaccountable funding for his disastrous policy in Iraq. If so, it is a hollow victory.

We can debate why and when our Iraq policy turned into the disaster that plays out every day in Baghdad and Dyala. But that debate really doesn't matter anymore, because the President's policy is a failure. And no amount of funding, with or without conditions, can fix it. The only thing that matters now is when and how we end this disaster, and when we bring our uniformed men and women safely home to their families and communities.

Our troops did their job. They achieved their mission. They ended the brutal reign of Saddam Hussein, and confirmed for the world that there never were any weapons of mass destruction.

They weren't sent to Iraq to take a bullet on behalf of the sectarian religious factions hellbent on civil war.

Mr. Speaker, this supplemental only postpones the inevitable. After hundreds of billions of dollars; after more than 3,400 soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen have lost their lives; after nearly 1,000 U.S. defense contractors have been killed; after more than 25,000 uniformed men and women have been wounded or maimed; after tens of thousands of American veterans returning from Iraq will be suffering from the trauma they experienced in combat for the rest of their lives; after hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children have been killed and millions more have been traumatized by the violence and horror that now marks Iraqi daily life; after the destruction of towns, villages, communities, neighborhoods and infrastructure, we still come back to the same place, the same stark question.

Mr. Speaker, how and when is this war and our military occupation of Iraq going to end?

The Middle East is going up in flames. Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks remain strong and intact. Their recruitment is growing. Meanwhile, America's standing in the world has never been lower.

I ask each of my colleagues, when and how are we going to get out of Iraq? When will each of us be able to tell the families in our districts that their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, will finally be coming home?

Mr. Speaker, unbelievably, the President doesn't even want his own policy priorities tied to a time line for removing our troops in Iraq. He wants no accountability on the readiness of our troops, or whether they are adequately trained and equipped. Just show me the money. That's all he wants.

Mr. Speaker, I simply can't support it. And I will vote against this blank check of a supplemental.

Mr. Speaker, let me just conclude with a few words about the rule. This is not a satisfactory conclusion to the weeks-long debate over funding the war. But the sad reality is that the Senate is too timid and the President too irrational. There was no one with whom the House could forge a genuine compromise to hold the President accountable for the lives he is willing to sacrifice and the money he seeks and move us closer to bringing our troops home. And we do not have the votes in this House, sadly, to override a veto.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Obey for their persistence and their courage in trying to end this tragic war.

The rule before us ensures that we do not walk away from this debate or the decision to remove our troops from Iraq. Under this rule, the House must vote on removing our troops from Iraq before any further supplemental funding can be approved for the war.

So let's be clear. Those of us who oppose this war will be back again and again and again and again until this war is ended.

Mr. Speaker, from the White House to our military field commanders, everyone, including the Republican leader of this House, has said that September is the tipping point. Well, we will vote, and we will vote in September. And we will decide, and I pray that we will then bring our troops home.

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