Executive Session

Floor Speech

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Mr. SCHUMER. I thank my friend and colleague from Vermont for yielding me time. I will speak for a brief moment on this nomination and then talk a little bit about Iraq.

First, I will oppose the nomination of Jim Nussle to OMB Director. Why? Because our country is in a new world and a new time and a new place. Our health care system, our education system, and our infrastructure are lagging, and those who put continued tax cuts for the very wealthy above rebuilding America are at the wrong time, in the wrong place. That is what Jim Nussle has done. I understand it is a heartfelt belief of his.

We Democrats have adopted a more responsible position of pay-go. We Democrats believe, yes, we must restore our infrastructure, both physical and human, in America to stay great. And with an OMB Director who remains rigidly wedded to the policies of the past, tax cuts to the very wealthy above everything, above rebuilding our schools and restoring health care and getting our bridges and roads built--we are headed in the wrong direction. So I must vote against him and urge my colleagues to do the same.

IRAQ

Now, I rise today to discuss the situation in Iraq and the continuing efforts of this administration to paint a rosy picture, to cling to straws when the situation on the ground suggests just the opposite.

I first thank my colleague, JACK REED, who has done great work on MILCON, veterans affairs, which we have just considered, and for his work on Iraq.

Some have argued that the surge in Iraq is working, but all you have to do is look at the facts to know that is not the case. The President went to Anbar Province, which at the moment he is touting as a measure of success, but we all know what has happened in Iraq. You push on one end of the balloon, and it pops out on another. Anbar may be a little better; other places are worse. And the fallacy of Anbar is just amazing. Are we placing our faith in the future in Iraq on a handful of warlords who at the moment dislike al-Qaida more than they dislike us? And they certainly dislike us. What kind of policy is that? What are the odds that 6 months from now, the fragile and perilous situation in Anbar will reverse itself and collapse? We heard about success in Baghdad, we heard about success in Fallujah, and we heard about success in this province and that province, and it vanishes.

Success vanishes like the wind. Why? Because the fundamentals in Iraq stay the same. That is, that there is no central government, that the Shiites and the Sunnis and the Kurds dislike one another far more than they like any central government, and that dooms our policy in Iraq to fail. When the President began the surge he said it was to give the Government breathing room, to strengthen the present Government. We have more troops there, more military action, more deaths this summer, more than any other, and the Government is weaker. So why isn't it apparent to the President and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that the stated goal of the surge is failing? Because the goal is not a military goal but, by the President's own words, it is to give the Government of Iraq greater strength, breathing room, as he put it. That Government, by just about every standard, is worse off than it was before.

Again, Anbar Province? Because a few warlords, tribal leaders are now on our side for the moment, even though they are not loyal to us, they don't like us and they dislike the central government, that is why we should continue the present course in Iraq? It makes no sense.

What happened to the great call for democracy in Iraq? Are the tribal leaders in Anbar Province our apostles of democracy? Of course not. I admit that is realpolitik. That is fine. But it is not going to solve the problem.

If you look at the benchmarks, today the independent GAO report due to be delivered to Congress showed little progress being made in meeting the 18 military and security benchmarks set out by the Congress. A draft report showed that only three of the benchmarks had been met. However, over the weekend, the Pentagon revised the draft GAO report and now, miraculously, an additional four benchmarks were ``partially met.'' Despite the apparent efforts by the Pentagon to edit this independent report, it will take much more than a red pen to correct the failures of the President's Iraq policy. So the surge by the President's own stated goal is failing. The Government is weaker. The fundamentals on the ground are the same. There is no loyalty to a central government.

The temporary stasis in Anbar Province is not because of the surge but because the surge was unable to protect these tribal leaders from al-Qaida.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). The time of the Senator has expired.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent for an additional 30 seconds.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. SCHUMER. The bottom line is very simple. We are worse off today in Iraq than we were 6 months ago. The position of America, democracy, stability continues to deteriorate. If there were ever a need for a change in course in Iraq, it is now.

I yield the floor.

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