Providing For Consideration Of Conference Report On H.R. 2346, Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, there is much good in this conference report on the FY09 supplemental. I support the IMF monies and I certainly support the funding to respond to the H1N1 flu virus.

But I will vote ``no'' today on the final bill for the same reason I voted ``no'' on the original supplemental. This supplemental is primarily a war funding bill. It includes a huge escalation of our military involvement in Afghanistan: an escalation without benchmarks, conditions, or most importantly, without an exit strategy.

I hope all my concerns about Afghanistan are wrong. There is a different team in the White House no--who I believe are trying very hard not to repeat the mistakes of the previous Administration.

President Obama and others have said there is no military solution in Afghanistan, only a political solution. I believe this, too. So I am very concerned when we put billions of dollars building up the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan without a clear mission and without an exit strategy.

Just as I insisted that the Bush Administration provide Congress with clear benchmarks and an exit strategy for Iraq, then we should the same with this Administration for Afghanistan.

I am not advocating an immediate withdrawal of our military forces in Afghanistan. I understand that our humanitarian mission may have to be protected in the near term. All I am asking for is a plan. If there's no military solution for Afghanistan, then please, tell me how we will know when our military contribution to the political solution has concluded.

I suspect that the votes are in place to pass this supplemental conference report. But I am deeply concerned. I'm concerned that we are moving ahead with a significant military escalation in Afghanistan without any real debate or any sense for how we will eventually bring our troops home.

Some have suggested that we have that debate at some point in the future. I respectfully disagree. I am not and never will be an advocate for ``cutting and running'' from Afghanistan. But we need to provide the American people and the people of Afghanistan a clearly defined mission, which includes a clearly defined plan for departure.

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