[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H8290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT ON ADMINISTRATION'S REQUEST FOR $87 BILLION

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, all of us who have had the 
both pleasant and unpleasant experience of seeing our wounded young at 
our military hospitals, pleasant because they are so brave and so 
encouraging, and unpleasant because we see lives that have been so 
severely damaged, want us to be successful in the rebuilding and the 
democratization of Iraq. But I think it is imperative that the 
oversight responsibilities of this Congress be used now more than ever 
before maybe in our history and, that is, to determine the utilization 
of the administration's request of $87 billion.
  It would be unconscionable for us to move forward on this request 
without understanding and persisting that the United States secures a 
U.N. resolution to include our allies both in burden sharing in the 
amount of money and troops, that we have a detailed exit strategy and 
we begin to work with our NATO allies, that we have full public 
congressional hearings for all of America to hear on the basis of the 
existence of the weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons, and 
finally, Mr. Speaker, that we protect and take care of our returning 
soldiers and veterans, as well as their families.
  We hope that we can vote on this, but we must vote on it separately 
and not together.

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