[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 146 (Friday, October 17, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H9620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RUSHED DEBATE ON SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION INAPPROPRIATE

  (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, this morning we discovered 
that one more MP lost his life in the midst of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 
I heard yesterday the majority leader say ``our war.'' This war was 
rendered by a resolution of this House, but not by a Constitutional 
vote under the Constitution that required this Congress to declare war. 
This war was rendered on the premise of weapons of mass destruction and 
the fact that the United States of America was under imminent attack. 
We found both of those to be fallacies and untrue.
  Mr. Speaker, today we are asked to abrogate our responsibilities as 
Members of Congress and do a circumscribed debate on issues important 
to the future of this Nation. I spent time with those young women and 
men on R&R from Iraq. Their courage has not been diminished, but their 
morale has been obliterated. Eleven of them have committed suicide. 
They recognize they do not have the proper equipment that they need; 
and I respect the appropriators for doing the best they can, but this 
rush to judgment in this debate on this particular appropriation is not 
appropriate. If we are to stand with the troops, we should be debating 
this through the weekend, and we should talk about the quality of life 
and provide them the resources necessary. This is a travesty and a 
farce because we are not doing what we are supposed to do, in 
supporting in the fullest way our U.S. troops by a thoughtful 
deliberative process of debate.

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