[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 155 (Thursday, October 30, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H10211-H10214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3289,
EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE AND FOR THE
RECONSTRUCTION OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, 2004
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the
Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 424 and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 424
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be
in order to consider the conference report to accompany 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. All points of order against the
conference report and against its consideration is waived.
The conference report shall be considered as read.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings)
is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate
only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Frost), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose
of debate only.
(Mr. HASTINGS of Washington asked and was given permission to revise
and extend his remarks.)
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 424 is a
rule providing for the consideration of a conference report to
accompany H.R. 3289, a bill making emergency supplemental
appropriations for defense and for the reconstruction of Iraq and
Afghanistan for fiscal year 2004, and for other purposes. The rule
waives all points of order against the conference report and its
consideration. The rule also provides that the conference report shall
be considered as read.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that in its particulars, the
conference agreement is largely consistent with the House passed
version of the supplemental. In the aggregate, the agreement provides a
total of $87.5 billion, which is $500 million above the President's
request. Of that sum, $18.6 billion is provided for Iraq relief and
reconstruction, which is $1.7 billion below the President's request.
Mr. Speaker, now that the House and Senate conferees have reached
agreement on this emergency supplemental, it is imperative that we move
without delay to make these funds available both to our troops in the
field and for the vitally important work of rebuilding Iraq.
Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support both the rule and the
conference report.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. FROST asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a supporter of our efforts to
replace Saddam Hussein's dangerous dictatorship with a stable and
democratic Iraq. But I am deeply concerned that the Bush
administration's stubborn refusal to be honest about Iraq has made the
reconstruction process more difficult, more expensive and more
dangerous.
Mr. Speaker, President Bush said it best earlier this week at a press
conference in the Rose Garden. In talking about the United Nations, he
said, ``Credibility comes when you say something is going to happen and
then it does happen. You are not credible if you issue resolutions and
then nothing happens.''
Well, that is exactly the situation President Bush has created for
himself, a growing credibility gap that could threaten our ability to
win the peace in Iraq.
Before the war, the Bush administration refused to prepare the
American people for the costly and deadly reconstruction effort they
are now witnessing. And whenever people like General Eric Shinseki let
slip the truth, that it would be very expensive and require lots of
troops, the administration publicly rebuked them, and then relieved
them of duty.
On May 1 of this year, President Bush dressed up in a flight suit and
had a pilot land him on an aircraft carrier so that he could declare
victory in Iraq. Since then, nearly 120 American troops have been
killed in action, more than before the President's May 1 victory
speech, and nearly 1,200 have been wounded.
In recent days, however, the Bush administration has reached a new
low in its well-documented PR campaign to spin Americans into believing
that the bad news coming out of Iraq these days is actually good news.
On Tuesday, President Bush defended his May 1 ``victory'' pep rally
by blaming the whole affair on the sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln,
as if he had somehow been the victim of the Navy's public relations
stunt. That is not only an outrageous charge, especially coming from
the man who runs the slickest White house PR machine ever, it is
utterly unbelievable. After all, back in
[[Page H10212]]
May, the Bush White House bragged to reporters that the President
himself helped devise the event, and the New York Times reported that
his aides ``had choreographed every aspect of the event.''
Perhaps most disturbing, however, was the President's response to the
series of sophisticated and deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers and
our allies earlier this week. Sitting in the White House with
Ambassador Bremer on Monday, President Bush tried to convince Americans
that this was actually a sign of progress, that it proved how
``desperate'' these Iraqi insurgents have become.
This is what he told reporters who asked about the bombings, ``Again,
I will repeat myself, that the more progress we make on the ground, the
more desperate these killers become.''
{time} 2200
That statement, Mr. Speaker, was literally incredible. When
terrorists can coordinate multiple, separate attacks to kill 35 people
and wound more than 230 people in just 45 minutes, it is a horrible
tragedy, one that indicates a very real security problem on the ground
in Iraq. And trying to spin it as good news simply undermines the
President's credibility and harms our effort to win the peace in Iraq.
Mr. Speaker, President Bush's credibility problem is such a serious
concern because America cannot afford to fail in Iraq. That is why so
many people took notice earlier this week, when Senator John McCain, a
Republican, who supports our efforts in Iraq and who knows as well as
anyone the lessons of Vietnam, said, ``This is the first time that I
have seen a parallel to Vietnam in terms of information that the
administration is putting out versus the actual situation on the
ground.'' It makes it harder to convince our allies around the world to
shoulder some of the burden for rebuilding Iraq. That forces American
taxpayers and American soldiers to bear the lion's share of the cost.
And that makes it harder to maintain public support for this expensive
and dangerous effort.
Mr. Speaker, that is why Democrats, and a few conscientious
Republicans, have tried to force the Bush administration to account for
the hundreds of billions of dollars it is spending in Iraq. And it is
why we have tried to force the Bush administration to stop making
American taxpayers pay the entire tab for this latest foreign aid
package. After all, before war, the American people were told that Iraq
was an oil-rich country that could fund its own reconstruction.
Obviously, Iraq's proven oil reserves have not disappeared and America
still has its own unmet priorities, like homeland security, education
and health care. But now the Bush administration insists that Iraqi oil
money can only be used to repay the debts that Saddam Hussein ran up to
build his war machine and that U.S. taxpayers have to foot the bill for
rebuilding Iraq. So Republican leaders have stripped out of this
conference report the Senate's loan language.
Mr. Speaker, U.S. taxpayers are already struggling under the mountain
of debt the Bush administration has run up. And there is no good reason
to force U.S. taxpayers to pay for President Bush's failure to convince
our allies to help. That is why majorities in both Houses of Congress
voted in favor of turning about half of the reconstruction grants into
loans. But sometimes, Mr. Speaker, it seems like President Bush does
not understand how seriously his credibility on Iraq has been damaged.
Unfortunately, as long as the Bush administration refuses to treat the
American people with more respect, it will become increasingly
difficult to achieve a goal we all share, winning the peace in Iraq.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4
minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart), a
valuable member of the Committee on Rules.
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, there are moments in
history where we know the decisions we are making will affect the world
in the future. Today we stand at such a moment, charged with the
enormous task of helping to rebuild Iraq. Our own history offers us
guidance about how to best rebuild a wartime adversary.
After World War I, Germany was soundly defeated and the parties
gathered in Versailles to negotiate the terms of surrender. The talks
came to a question of who was responsible for the aftermath. Was
Germany responsible? Should a country with a new government be burdened
by the debts of a defeated regime? Should they be responsible for
reconstruction or for reparations? We all realize how the reparations
inflicted upon Germany at that time created an atmosphere of despair.
We are also aware of how that atmosphere was exploited by the evil
monster Adolf Hitler. Mr. Speaker, we know how that story ended in
Germany, and it could end up that way in Iraq.
But after World War II, an alliance, once again scarred by battle,
sat across from debt-heavy and defeated nations, and the alliance did
not make the same mistake of 1918. The United States eventually
formulated a systematic recovery program that became known as the
Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was not entirely made up of U.S. aid.
It also called upon the European nations to eventually contribute to
their own recovery. Yet the first installment of $4 billion in aid
required great political will. At that time, $4 billion represented 13
percent of the entire budget. That act of congressional courage helped
to make Western Europe into a subcontinent of strong economies, strong
democracies and, thus, strong allies.
It is my belief that this assistance may allow a free and democratic
Iraq to become a beacon of hope in the Middle East. It will show the
people of that region that democracy is possible, that the United
States does not impose its will, only the ability for people to decide
their own destiny.
That is why I applaud President Bush for setting the course of
reconstruction in Iraq. Encouraging progress is already happening.
Schools are opening. Electricity is turning on. New currency is being
distributed. As the Iraqi people see continued progress in rebuilding,
we help keep Americans safe at home. In a section of the world that has
already imperiled too many lives, in a country whose previous savage
regime caused too much suffering and too many deaths, we in Congress
should be inspired by the lessons of our history to support an emerging
Iraqi democracy with our wisdom, our experience, and our resources.
The vote we are about to cast will have enormous repercussions. If
this assistance has the same effect that the Marshall Plan funding had
in Western Europe, it will help toward the creation of a stable,
democratic Iraqi government and a lifelong ally of the United States.
It is with that hope, Mr. Speaker, that I will support this
supplemental appropriation.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Hastings).
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the ranking member of the Committee
on Rules for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is Halloween and scary costumes are the order
of the day. What is going to be the scariest costume of them all? The
schoolteacher outfit with 60 children to teach? The small business suit
with the bankruptcy notice? Or the elderly costume with its inadequate
health care? Without a doubt, the desert camouflage uniform of the U.S.
military is the scariest costume of all. Without flak jackets,
traveling in nonarmored Humvees and without jammers to block incoming
bombs, United States soldiers were sent to battle unprepared for the
postwar hostilities they encountered and ill equipped to defend
themselves. And all of us have a responsibility to all of them. But
they are living a nightmare.
This is the consequence of rushing to war. Congress has been begging
the administration for a comprehensive plan to stabilize Iraq and an
exit strategy to bring our troops home. There has been no response.
Instead, President Bush has presented us a bill that we are voting on
soon demanding $87 billion, having not accounted in full for the $66
billion that was granted previously. The billions of dollars in this
supplemental are not intended to get us out of Iraq. They are intended,
in some respects, to keep us there, perhaps indefinitely.
Realize what $87 billion could buy. To get some perspective here or
some real-life comparisons about $87 billion and
[[Page H10213]]
how it could benefit the American taxpayer:
$87 billion is more than the combined total of all State budget
deficits in the United States. $87 billion is approximately the total
of 2 years' worth of all U.S. unemployment benefits. $87 billion is
more than double the total amount the government spends on homeland
security. $87 billion is 87 times the amount the Federal Government
spends on after-school programs.
The priorities of the President were those that in many respects were
stripped out; but to add further insult to financial injury, billions
of taxpayer dollars have been spent already on no-bid contracts for
major U.S. corporations. In yet another tall tale from the
administration, we were told that the funds for rebuilding Iraq must be
in the form of grants to encourage other nations in the donor
conference in Madrid the other day in rebuilding Iraq. Yet a total of
$18 billion was pledged at the Madrid donors conference last week and
$14 billion of that amount was in the form of loans. Therefore, there
is no overarching reason for providing this money only in the form of
grants.
It is fundamentally flawed logic to expect the American taxpayer to
incur a debt for problems America has not created. We are not
rebuilding an Iraq that we destroyed. We are rebuilding an
infrastructure decimated by Iraq's former dictator. What we owe the
Iraqi people is an opportunity for a democratic way of life, and it is
not unreasonable to expect them to shoulder the cost. Freedom and
democracy never come cheap. They are exorbitantly expensive in terms of
money and sacrifice. The continuing propaganda from the White House
regarding Iraq is distracting our attention from Afghanistan and other
countries.
In my view, everyone should vote against this measure.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Menendez).
(Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. MENENDEZ. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the conference report that this
rule seeks to bring to the House floor. During House consideration of
this bill, I pledged that I would not write the Bush administration a
blank check of the taxpayers' money for the $18.6 billion in
reconstruction funds for Iraq. I pledged not to write a blank check for
a plan with no exit strategy, no clear link to this supplemental, and
no details for after January of this coming year. I pledged not to hand
over $18.6 billion of the taxpayers' money to build Iraq's electricity
infrastructure when ours is not functioning here at home. I pledged not
to sanction the use of American money to modernize Iraq's medical
facilities and medical equipment when millions of Americans here at
home are living without health care. And I pledged not to spend the
American people's money to pay for that which we did not damage and
that which did not previously exist in Iraq. I pledged not to send
$18.6 billion in grants to a country that has the second largest oil
reserves in the world, worth approximately $7 trillion. Why should Iraq
not be expected to pay back this money? And I pledged not to add
another $18.6 billion to this year's deficit, estimated already at over
$480 billion.
Each of us in this Chamber has a responsibility to the American
people to demand an Iraq package that will not bankrupt future
generations. That is why the American people still support creating a
loan package for Iraq, not a grant. Iraq can and should pay back the
money for reconstruction with their future oil reserves. Period.
Evidently, I reached the same conclusion many of the nations and
organizations at the Madrid donors conference reached themselves. That
conference only produced $4 billion in grants and roughly $13 billion
in loans and trade credits, that amount toward a total estimated Iraqi
need of $56 billion over the next 4 years. So, Mr. Speaker, this is not
the last time that we will see moneys being brought by the
administration for Iraq. And why should the American taxpayer not be
paid back if the taxpayer in other countries, countries that did not
support this effort, will be paid back?
The consequence of this grant approach is that the American taxpayer
will pay more than he or she should, will pay more for Halliburton to
make more. The President's suggestion that bombings in Iraq are a
result of our success is outrageous. The bombings are a failure of our
postintervention planning, not a symbol of success. And though I
strongly support our American servicemembers and the money that is
going to them in this bill, made much better because of Democratic
efforts, I cannot in good conscience support this legislation.
I urge my colleagues to vote against the conference report.
{time} 2215
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Watson).
Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I stand here outraged because I am asked to
vote for a bill that would give $87 billion as a grant to a country
that has billions of barrels of oil buried underground in reserve. At
the same time, we have cut veterans services. I am outraged.
I am hurt, because our POW Shoshanna Johnson, the first African
American female ever to be a prisoner of war, was disregarded and given
30 percent disability benefit. Oh, yes, Jessica Lynch got 80 percent.
We should be ashamed. This young woman spent 22 days as a captive.
She told me that twice a week they would bring her a little bowl of
water to wash with. She is going to leave the Service, and what does
she have to look forward to? She was shot through both of her ankles,
and they are only going to award her 30 percent disability.
Is that the way we treat our service personnel as veterans? Is that
why we said to them, go into the Service, be all that you can be? We
sent them over there in harm's way, and they served us well. And now
they are coming home, and we are not serving them well, we are not
serving her well. But we can give a country thousands of miles away our
hard-earned tax dollars. There is something incredibly wrong with that.
I do not care what you snuck into the bill at the eleventh hour. I
understand the money for California's fires, how cynical, is in this
bill. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
So I am voting no. My veterans know I support them, my military
people know I support them. I have been over to Walter Reed, I have let
them see my face and know my support. So I do not have to play a game
and vote for this bill, when we have problems right here in our own
country.
We had an incident in Cannon, it was a failed system, because none of
us were notified as to what was going on over there.
I just want to say to my colleagues, let us be truthful and let us be
trustworthy, and let us treat the people of America right, and
particularly those that we sent into harm's way, by choice. We were not
attacked by Iraq. We chose to invade Iraq. Now, we are trying to
rebuild a country at the expense of our own domestic needs.
I cannot do it, and I hope you will not do it. Let us honor America.
Let us honor our own fighting forces. Let us take that money and put it
to their welfare after they leave that country and go home. Let us
welcome them in an American way, and treat them fairly. Let us vote no
on this rule.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise as one who voted for this
supplemental last week because of our troops. Our troops need this
help. We made the decision to send them into harm's way. They need the
bulletproof vests to save their lives. That is in this request. They
need the hydration systems to purify their water, so many of them are
having dysentery from the water over there not being purified. There is
so much, so we cannot turn our backs on our troops.
But we have a dilemma. The American people have a dilemma. The
American people are asking some questions of this administration and
each and
[[Page H10214]]
every one of us up here, Democrat and Republican, and that is this
question: Where is the accountability for this money, these funds, to
build Iraq?
I wish we could have set aside, and I worked hard to see if we could,
the money for our troops, the $67 billion, because that is another
question. I do not think there is anybody in this House that would not
vote to help our troops. But this House is in a convoluted state, just
like this whole country is in a convoluted state, because there is a
lack of accountability on this administration and this President for
the monies that go to rebuild Iraq.
There are serious questions. If we do not raise those questions, if
we do not answer those questions, it is not going to be so easy to come
back and get money the next time, because the American people, I am
here to tell you, have had it about up to here.
We are working with a country over there that is sitting on the
world's second largest oil reserves, which arguably could be one of the
richest countries in the world, and yet in this administration and in
this supplemental there is not one timetable, there is not one direct
amount of money that is going to get the oil wells producing, to get
the oil production up and running at capacity. That should be the first
business. Where is the money for that?
Why is there a cloud over the handling of this noncompetitive
business? The American people are asking these questions. Halliburton
and Bechtel, two companies, fine companies though they may be, but
should they have nonbidding rights to get the taxpayers' money?
The American people are asking these questions. We owe it to them to
ask these questions and get some answers. We have got to do it
together, not as Democrats and Republicans, but together. We as a body
must ask this administration to give the American people the
accountability and the transparency on where this $20 billion is going
and how it is going to be spent, or else we all will lose our
credibility, and that is something we must not do. The American people
are counting on us to ask the questions of this administration on this
money and get the answers.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned previously, I have been a supporter
of our action against Iraq, I voted for the supplemental, and I will
vote for this conference report. I will tell you that there are serious
questions that have been raised by Members on this side of the aisle,
and even some Members on the other side of the aisle, particularly on
the issue of whether all of this money, all of this $20 billion, should
be a grant, or whether at least a portion of it should be a loan.
These are serious questions. The House went on record and the Senate
went on record in favor of some of this money being a loan, but,
unfortunately, the conference committee did not see the wisdom in
taking that position.
Members have indicated and have served notice, and I believe Members
on the other side of the aisle should listen carefully, Members have
served notice that it will be much more difficult for the
administration next time they come to this body seeking more funds for
reconstruction.
Members have been willing to give the administration the benefit of
the doubt, even though they have very serious reservations, but I would
hope that this administration and the Members on the other side of the
aisle, before they return to this Congress asking for additional
billions of dollars, will take a long and hard look at this issue of
loans versus grants and take a long and hard look at the opinions of
the American people who are very concerned about unmet needs here in
the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Ackerman).
Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I did not intend to speak on this. In
listening and thinking this through, I feel compelled to take the well.
I am one of the few on this side of the aisle that voted with
President Bush the first time, as well as this President Bush, because
I thought it was important, the right thing to do, that those of us who
have said ``never again'' to tyrants must protect not just ourselves,
but other people as well, and step up to the plate, and that it would
be sinful not to do what we have to do in ridding the world of a
tyrant. I am not sorry that I participated in that, because, indeed, it
was the right thing to do, and remains so.
But things have happened and things have changed as we watch what has
evolved, as we watch an administration that ran for office and
continually talked about bringing morality back to government and
taking personal responsibility, and suddenly seeing the evolving of
what has happened here, which is truly mind-boggling.
Personal responsibility. Who knew what in the White House and when?
Personal responsibility. Things starting to go wrong.
Where is the plan? Those of us who supported the action always said
we were going to win the war. There was no doubt about it. You could
not find an oddsmaker in Las Vegas to say that Saddam Hussein was going
to win the war. The day, the amount of time, the casualties, that was
always a question.
But the question that we pressed in the Committee on International
Relations was, can you win the peace? What we have here is a Secretary
of War who has now become the Secretary of Peace, and he does not know
how to do it.
The President stood here in this House and said to us Members of both
bodies assembled, ``British intelligence tells us this.'' I think it is
what Nixon called ``plausible deniability.''
I never heard a President say someone else's intelligence told us
this. He was warned. He was warned by the CIA Director that that
intelligence was wrong. Blame the British. Blame the CIA Director.
Blame the brave men in the Navy on the Abraham Lincoln.
What happened to personal responsibility? Where is the plan? We have
been deceived; we have been lied to, we in the Congress and the
American people as well, and that is intolerable. People took the oath
of office to tell the truth. Where is the truth?
Indeed, this is a dilemma. We have so many American lives on the line
in that country, but the President owes us a plan. A company declares
bankruptcy for a half a million dollars, they have to have a plan. For
$87 billion, there should be a plan. What is the plan? Nobody knows the
plan.
``Trust us.'' Well, I have run out of trust in this administration. I
do not mind that the emperor has no clothes; I mind that the emperor
does not have a plan, because lives are at stake.
We want to protect our troops. Bring back a bill that would protect
the troops. We are not going to leave them hanging out there. But to
spend $87 billion, and nobody knows how, nobody knows why, nobody knows
where, nobody knows when, is something that is absolutely
unconscionable, and something in which I can no longer participate.
I will be voting no.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, we have no additional requests for time, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this rule so we can get
on to fund the very important operation that we have in the Mideast. I
just remind my colleagues that more than 75 percent of this bill goes
to make sure that our troops are secure in this theater.
{time} 2230
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________