[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 136 (Tuesday, September 30, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H8997]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IRAQ SUPPLEMENTAL

  (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, I rise today to draw my 
colleagues to a singular uniting factor, and that is that we all 
support United States troops that now are facing danger in Operation 
Iraqi Freedom. With that in mind, I am quite willing to support the 
expenditures requested by the administration solely to support our 
troops and the necessities that they require in order to protect their 
lives. But the American people deserve an answer, Mr. Speaker, and we 
should not vote in totality for the $87 billion. It is a sham if we do 
so without explaining to the American people, one, an exit strategy, 
two, what is the United Nations resolution that will require us to 
coalesce around the concept of allies helping us in the democratization 
and reconstruction of Iraq? How many troops will we get from our 
allies? How much money will they expend?
  And, Mr. Speaker, we need a full accounting by the administration on 
what they have spent the money for. I will be filing legislation to 
separate out the vote, voting for the moneys for our troops without 
question, but demanding an explanation from this administration before 
we vote any moneys for reconstruction.
  What are the oil revenues going for, Mr. Speaker? And I would say 
this, that we spent only $7.5 billion in the Gulf War. Why? Because we 
had a legitimate and solid alliance with our allies across the world. 
This is a mistake in the way we are doing this. We should not vote for 
the $87 billion in totality. We must separate out the vote, and I ask 
my colleagues to vote for this legislation.

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