Feingold Amendments

Floor Speech

FEINGOLD AMENDMENTS -- (Senate - February 26, 2008)

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this afternoon we will indulge in a little bit of nostalgia with another vote on the Feingold bill to cut off funds for our troops in Iraq. I don't know what our friends on the other side expect to accomplish, but if past experience is any guide, we already know the outcome.

Last May, 67 of us voted against the proposal to cut off funds for our troops in the field. Mr. President, 4 months later, 70 Senator s--3 more--voted against it the second time. Two weeks after that, 68 Senators voted against it for a third time. And in December, 71 of us--more than three-fourths of the Senate--voted no once again to cutting off funds for troops in the field.

So the outcome of the final vote on the Feingold bill is obvious: The Senate is on record not once but four times that it will not cut off funds while our troops are in the field.

All the more so will we oppose it when the fight in Iraq, by all accounts, is showing clear-cut tactical progress, and now, at last, some important political progress is also apparent over in Iraq.

This bill does give us an opportunity--an opportunity to step back and highlight the remarkable progress that has been made in Iraq since the first time our friends proposed cutting off funds last May. It gives us a chance to highlight why we were wise to reject it even when the outcome in Iraq was unclear, much less now when progress is clearly being made.

Two months ahead of another visit by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, we should acknowledge the heroic sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the important turnaround they have achieved in Iraq on behalf of the American people. The brave Iraqis who have stood with them also deserve our praise. All of this is in our Nation's long-term security interests.

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