[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SMART SECURITY AND FUNDING PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, between the $81 billion supplemental 
appropriations bill passed by the House yesterday and the outrageous 
budget resolution that came on the floor today, the Bush 
administration's funding priorities are dangerous, dishonorable, and 
downright hazardous to the safety of our Nation. The $81 billion 
supplemental and the fiscal year 2006 budget will do little more than 
continue the President's arrogant foreign policies, particularly his 
shameful misadventures in Iraq which have made Americans much less safe 
over the past 2 years by creating a new generation of terrorists whose 
common tie is their hatred of the United States.
  The supplemental appropriations bill that passed the House yesterday 
underscores the lack of planning and arrogance that have characterized 
this war. $200 billion will have been appropriated for Iraq after this 
latest bill clears through the Senate. That is about $675 for every 
man, woman, and child.
  The most disturbing thing about the President's request for more Iraq 
funding is the lack of accountability. Why did Congress approve another 
check for a mission that has been so badly botched? Who is being held 
accountable for the misuse of the $150 billion we appropriated over the 
last 2 years? By once again funding the war in Iraq through a 
supplemental spending bill, the Bush administration is continuing to 
pull a fast one on the American people. Instead of spending billions to 
build permanent bases in Iraq, our funds should go towards the National 
Guard and Reserve forces who have left their families and their homes 
to serve their country and who have been abandoned as sitting ducks in 
Iraq.
  Despite the President's solemn promise to fight terrorism, the Bush 
administration has overwhelmingly concentrated the country's resources 
on developing bigger and more expensive weapons at the expense of other 
more suitable security tools which will truly keep Americans safe. Even 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has stated that there is $22 
billion of waste in the Pentagon's budget every year.
  The fiscal year 2006 budget that passed the House today is just the 
latest example of questionable Republican spending priorities. This 
budget wastes billions of dollars in outdated Cold War-era weapons 
systems that fail to address America's true security needs. We do not 
need millions of dollars for the outdated F-22 fighter jet which the 
military no longer relies on during combat. We do not need millions of 
dollars for a new generation of nuclear weapons, the so-called ``bunker 
buster bomb,'' and we certainly do not need another $8 billion for a 
missile defense system that has never been proven to work.
  The proper response to the supposed threat of a missile attack from 
North Korea is not to build a multibillion-dollar missile defense 
system. We should be addressing this situation through aggressive 
diplomacy and country-to-country talks. Certainly the nonmilitary 
approach will not cost the United States taxpayers $8 billion a year, 
and ultimately the non-$8 billion approach will keep America safer. In 
fact, if the Bush administration spent even 1 percent of the time on 
diplomacy that it does on trying to develop a missile defense shield, 
we would probably be on good terms with Iran and North Korea by now.
  We need a new approach to security that places a greater emphasis on 
nonmilitary security. Only by shifting our spending priorities 
accordingly will we be able to address today's true security 
challenges. That is why I have developed a SMART security platform for 
the 21st century. SMART is a Sensible, Multilateral American Response 
to Terrorism. SMART security will ensure that our spending priorities 
match the security threats that we face.
  Madam Speaker, this Congress needs to stop signing blank checks to a 
fiscally reckless administration. If we are going to spend billions and 
billions of dollars, let us at least spend it on the people who deserve 
it, the brave troops in the field who have sacrificed so much for their 
country. Let us spend it on our Nation's veterans, like 24-year-old Tim 
Goodrich who came to my office yesterday and shared stories about his 
service in Afghanistan. One of Tim's friends was supposed to come with 
him, but he was so troubled by his experience in Iraq that he was not 
able to make it to our meeting because he has trouble sleeping at 
night.
  Let us spend it on the 32-year-old naval officer who was in my office 
who had no prior experience in rebuilding war-torn regions before he 
was put in charge of the reconstruction of an entire city in Iraq.
  This officer told me he couldn't in good conscience recruit Iraqis to 
work on his projects, because he knew their lives would be in danger if 
they worked with the American military.
  It's time we honor the commitment of young veterans like Tim and 
others by providing them the resources they need and deserve, and by 
promising not to send our military in harm's way unless the very 
security of our nation depends on it. It's time to refocus our fiscal 
priorities on the true security needs of the American people.

                          ____________________