[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 11, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3165-H3166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE IRAQ WAR IS COSTING US OUR FUTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, this week, the Senate finally passed the 
latest of the Iraq war supplemental funding. The $82 billion package 
brings the war's total cost to date, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, to 
$300 billion. This month will be the 2-year anniversary of the 
President's speech on the U.S.S. Lincoln announcing, ``mission 
accomplished.''
  So what has ``mission accomplished'' and $300 billion got us so far? 
We have defeated Saddam Hussein's regime, yet we find ourselves marred 
in an endless occupation. This past January, we witnessed a successful 
election in Iraq, yet progress on developing a functioning government 
has been slow at best. Terrorism and insurgency are as strong as ever 
and continue to be escalating at certain times. Today, we saw that in a 
very serious way with more than 79 Iraqis killed in a terrorist act. 
Over the weekend, we lost again a number of our fellow citizens, 
bringing the total of U.S. soldiers killed to nearly 1,600 and 12,000 
wounded. The economy in Iraq is stalled. The civil society cannot form 
a consensus, and millions of Iraqis remain without the basic services 
and functions of a civil society and government.
  Our brave men and women are fulfilling their obligation and their 
duty to the United States Armed Forces and continue to fight valiantly, 
but the battle has taken its toll. As I said, nearly 1,600 fellow 
citizens have been killed. These are brothers and sisters, sons and 
daughters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles and Little League 
coaches and members of churches and other parts of their community who 
will no longer be with us. And more than 12,000 soldiers have been 
wounded. The strain is so great that recruiters for the Armed Forces 
cannot meet their enlistment goals. Last month, the Army alone missed 
its recruitment goal by 42 percent. The Pentagon now says they are 
stretched so thin, it would be difficult for the Armed Forces to meet 
other obligations should they need to do so.
  Mr. Speaker, Operation Iraqi Freedom was a war of choice, and as 
President Kennedy once said, to govern is to choose. One can only hope 
that this choice is the right choice. In fact, while we have been 
fighting in Iraq, North Korea multiple times over the last 2 years has 
crossed red lines that have existed through Democratic and Republican 
administrations and has flaunted those goals. While we have been tied 
down in Iraq, North Korea's situation has gotten far worse.
  Mr. Speaker, every other President in the history of the United 
States, when this Nation has gone to war, has thought about America 
after the war: how to build an America on the shoulders of that 
military victory so that victory overseas is also a victory here at 
home; how to build a stronger America for tomorrow.
  Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War not only envisioned 
reconstruction but he envisioned a transcontinental railroad, 
envisioned land-grant colleges. President Roosevelt lead the Nation 
through the Great Depression in World War II, and he then in the 
closing days thought of a GI Bill and, 11 months before the close of 
the war, signed a GI Bill into law, allowing millions to buy a home and 
receive a college education. President Eisenhower, in the days of the 
Korean War, envisioned an interstate highway system. President Kennedy, 
during the struggles of the Cold War and Vietnam, envisioned a man on 
the moon and saw that America could envision something greater. Every 
President in every Congress throughout our history during the days of a 
war has thought about how to bring that victory home and mean a victory 
for the American people, not just a military victory.
  So what do we have in these days of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan? 
President Eisenhower envisioned an interstate highway system; we have a 
President who is talking about vetoing our highway bill.

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  President Roosevelt thought of a GI bill, thought how to build 
America after the war. This President has eliminated and canceled 
vocational training programs and cut Pell grants, as well as President 
Johnson, during the days of the Vietnam signed into law the Medicaid 
legislation. This President's budget cuts $10 billion from Medicaid. 
All this because we are sagged down having added in the last 4\1/2\ 
years a little over $2 trillion to the Nation's debt. Our dreams for 
America are limited now, and literally weighed down by a Nation, by a 
debt that has been accumulated over the years that we cannot see an 
America with not only an interstate highway system, but we should have 
a broadband system for all of America to move it electronically forward 
into the future. It is the debt that is weighing us down and this, 
unlike in past military victories, this country has not seen the 
victory overseas to bring it home and make sure that all of America is 
also victorious.

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