[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 148 (Tuesday, October 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE AND FOR THE 
              RECONSTRUCTION OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, 2004

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                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN F. TIERNEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 16, 2003

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3289) making 
     emergency supplemental appropriations for defense and for the 
     reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes:

  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman, today we are debating this 
Administration's request for an $87 billion bailout occasioned by its 
failed planning--or lack of planning for post-war Iraq. We are asked to 
pass this $87 billion despite the fact that the Bush Administration has 
not articulated a coherent and workable underlying strategy to 
accomplish our mission and bring our troops home safely and soon. It is 
either unwilling or incapable of doing so.
  The only way Congress can ensure for the American people that such a 
strategy exists and that it has a reasonable chance of success if by 
using its power of the purse. We are dealing with an Administration 
that already has a nearly $400 billion Department of Defense budget and 
that has already received one supplemental appropriation for some $63 
billion. Yet it fails to explain how or why our forces had tens of 
thousands of men and women without the proper Kevlar breast plates, 
Humvees without proper armor, and rancid water for 80 percent of the 
troops, or how those conditions continued, even after they knew in June 
that people were dying and being injured.
  In addition, the Administration, in its zeal to get all the money now 
so it will not have to come back in 2004's election year to report to 
the American people, insinuates that a vote against this bailout is a 
vote against our troops and a vote to ``cut and run.'' Nothing could be 
further from the truth. The Administration's own figures show that this 
is just another dissembling of the facts. According to the nonpartisan 
Congressional Research Service, the Pentagon can stay in Iraq another 6 
months without an additional penny in funds. But we have been prevented 
from seeking accountability from this administration as it asserts a 
need for ``emergency funds.''
  Mr. Chairman, this Congress has a moral and practical responsibility 
to modify and condition these funds, and it is time to reject this 
``rubber-stamped blank check'' and insist on the alternative that the 
Democrats want to put forward, but the majority and the administration 
have prohibited it from seeing the light of day.
  We must work to re-align the funds for necessary equipment and 
quality of life matters that the Administration failed to do; reform 
the Contract provisions to eliminate cronyism concerns-like no-bid, 
cost plus Halliburton deals; eliminate outrageous and unnecessary 
projects and over spending that comes at the expense of domestic needs; 
consider other funding options to lessen and leverage U.S. investments, 
entice foreign cooperation and have it share some costs through its oil 
reserves. We should do all this-and foremost, we should only approve 
this bailout if the Administration presents a coherent and workable 
underlying strategy to accomplish our mission and bring our troops home 
safely and soon.

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