Supplemental Appropriations for the War in Iraq

SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - May 05, 2005)

(Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, President Bush and the Republican leadership in the House are asking us today to vote again on a huge appropriations bill to fund the Iraq war without any oversight. I do not understand how we can be asked to vote on another huge appropriations bill to spend money in Iraq, and yet we do not have any oversight, any hearings to determine what the costs are and what the money is being spent on.

Yesterday I talked about how there have been renewed reports about how our soldiers are not properly protected. There is no exit strategy. What are the overall costs of this war? And what does it mean when we continue to go into deficit and do not have money to pay for domestic programs without having an exit strategy or even any defined strategy of what our goals are in Iraq?

As was mentioned earlier today by other speakers, we know that we went into Iraq for the wrong reasons. The weapons of mass destruction were never found, were never there. Yet no one within the Bush administration or within the Republican leadership basically tells us what the reason is, why we are remaining, how long we are going to be there or what the cost is going to be.

I do not think we should be voting on this bill today until we have answers to those questions.

http://thomas.loc.gov