Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, 2008

ORDERLY AND RESPONSIBLE IRAQ REDEPLOYMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - November 14, 2007)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4156, the Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act. This bill will begin the long-overdue withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Yesterday, the President vetoed the Labor and Heath and Human Services-Education appropriations bill, which is the bill that provides funding for the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, Low Income Home Energy Assistance, the Education Department, Pell Grants, and educational programs for the disadvantaged. He vetoed this bill because it contained a 2 percent increase over his request--an increase of $10 billion in a Labor HHS bill of roughly $600 billion. The President opposes even a 2 percent increase in the funding for these programs.

Meanwhile, the President has requested almost $200 billion more for his failed war in Iraq. That would make the total cost of the war in Iraq so far to over $600 billion and climbing, with no end in sight. President Bush's refusal to change course in Iraq is shocking, his failure to allow adequate rest for our soldiers between tours of duty is outrageous, and his demand for another $200 billion blank check for his war in Iraq while vetoing LIHEAP for the poor, education for disadvantaged children, Pell Grants for college students, and research into cures for life threatening disease is simply unacceptable to this House. What a misplaced set of priorities.

Instead of the blank check for an endless war, this bill requires President Bush to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq within 30 days. Instead of unfairly sending inadequately equipped soldiers on multiple tours of duty, this bill prohibits the deployment of any troops who are not fully equipped and trained. And at the same time, this bill provides the necessary funds, in full, to our troops who are still in harm's way.

Our Republican colleagues must make a choice: will they stand with President Bush's attempt to throw more money and more young men and women into the mess in Iraq, or will they join with Democrats seeking a bipartisan agreement on redeploying American troops out of Iraq?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to specifically note a provision of this bill, which I wrote, to bar any funds in this bill from being used for the gruesome and indefensible practice of extraordinary rendition. I would like to commend and thank Chairman OBEY and Chairman MURTHA for again including this language, as they have in every defense appropriations and supplemental appropriations bill this year. Through the use of extraordinary rendition, as well as abusive interrogation techniques and extrajudicial incarceration of so-called ``enemy combatants,'' President Bush has largely forfeited the mantel of human rights champion which the United States has carried for so long. We must reclaim the international moral high-ground if we are to cure the root causes of terrorism around the world, and we can start by banning extraordinary rendition.

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