[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 25, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H4053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IRAQ TIMETABLE AND FUNDING, CONGRESS NEEDS TO PASS CONFERENCE REPORT

  (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. Madam Speaker, nine more soldiers are dead, 
and our soldiers can claim victory in Iraq. Madam Speaker, even after 
losing thousands of American lives and spending billions of taxpayer 
dollars, the Bush administration continues to demand an open-ended 
commitment of American troops in Iraq with no exit plan and no 
strategy.
  But this Democratic Congress, the leadership of Speaker Pelosi, 
understands the responsibility of war. We understand the commitment to 
the American people, and, yes, we understand the needs of national 
security. Retired military officers support our plan and the new 
direction for Iraq to begin to redeploy our troops to begin to bring 
them home.
  Secretary Gates has gone to Iraq trying to stop the bleeding, but he 
believes that congressional debate is helpful, and he has said that the 
clock is ticking. Can the Bush administration understand that? The 
Pentagon has confirmed, through a Congressional Research Service 
report, that the President's comments about us stopping funding, the 
Congress stopping funding, is absolutely wrong.
  We need to save lives. We need to restore the confidence and the 
leadership in Iraq, but we need to claim victory for our soldiers. They 
have done their job. It's time to bring them home now.

                          ____________________