Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to House Amendment to Senate Amendment to H. R. 2764, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO HOUSE AMENDMENT TO SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2764, THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 (CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008) AND FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.J. RES. 72, FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 2008 -- (House of Representatives - December 19, 2007)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, I have no problem with the rule. I do have a problem with the underlying bill, which provides the President with another blank check in support of his Iraq war policy, but I stated I think very clearly my concerns about that.

Other than a few closing remarks, I am going to reserve my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, this matter was debated previously. It is obviously a critically important piece of legislation. I made some points about it before. I am not going to repeat my points at this time. I hope we can move to other very pressing matters before us today.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, as of today, 3,893 of our bravest men and women have lost their lives in Iraq. Tens of thousands more have been wounded. They have lost limbs, lost their sight and suffered severe brain injuries. We have spent half a trillion tax dollars, none of it paid for. When is enough enough? When will this Congress finally reflect the will of the American people and begin to bring our men and women in Iraq home to their families? I hope it is today. I think it can be today.

As I mentioned earlier, Madam Speaker, in today's Washington Post the U.S. military has found that the strongest point of agreement among all Iraqis across all sectarian and ethnic groups is the belief that the United States' military invasion of their country is the primary root of the violent differences among them and that the departure of ``occupying forces,'' their words, is the key to national reconciliation.

Madam Speaker, I include today's Washington Post article for the Record.

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