[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 165 (Monday, October 29, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H12136-H12137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OCCUPATION IN IRAQ SOAKING UP U.S. DOLLARS
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, for the past 5 years, the administration
has underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act to the tune of more than
$50 billion. This has robbed millions of children of the education they
will need to succeed in the 21st century, and it is robbing America of
the brain power we need to stay competitive in the global economy.
Those of us who believe it's a bad idea to shortchange our kids and
our Nation begged the administration to fully fund the No Child Left
Behind Act, but our pleas were ignored. That is one of the reasons I
was so outraged last week when the White House requested $46 billion in
supplemental funding for its occupation of Iraq. That $46 billion,
Madam Speaker, is almost identical to the amount that the
administration has underfunded No Child Left Behind. In fact, the
administration announced its request at a press conference. In that one
short press conference, they asked for virtually the same amount for
Iraq that it has been denying to our Nation's schools for nearly 6
years.
And while the administration has demanded that every school in
America show adequate yearly progress on its learning benchmarks or
they will be punished, punished financially for the most part, it has
allowed the Iraqi Government to show virtually no progress at all when
it comes to meeting its benchmarks for peace.
And education is not the only crying need that is being ignored. The
opportunity costs of the occupation are actually incalculable. The
occupation is soaking up dollars we need to meet so many of our
domestic challenges. If we really want America to be secure, we must
invest in child care, we must invest in health care, sustainable
energy, the environment, law enforcement, community and economic
development, medical research, real homeland security, et cetera, et
cetera, et cetera.
But the administration believes that policing a centuries-old civil
war in
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Iraq trumps all other needs. The American people do not agree with this
administration's priorities. They want action, they want real solutions
to our domestic problems, and they want to fight a real war on
terrorism, not the phony war on terrorism the administration is
fighting in Iraq.
When the President signed the No Child Left Behind Act, Madam
Speaker, he said it was the most important piece of legislation most of
us will ever work on. The education of our children is far more
important to the future of our country than an endless and
counterproductive occupation of another country.
That is why Congress must finally stand up to the administration and
say no, no to supplemental funding that would bring our total spending
in Iraq this fiscal year alone to $160 billion. Madam Speaker, that's
over $13 billion a month, or nearly $450 million per day.
Almost exactly a year ago, the American people sent us to Congress to
end the occupation of Iraq. It's time that we do it. We must use our
power of the purse to fully fund the safe, orderly and responsible
redeployment of all of our troops out of Iraq, and that includes the
withdrawal of all of our military contractors as well.
As if one occupation army weren't enough, these independent
contractors comprise a second occupation army that is angering the
Iraqi people and actually making life much harder for our very own
troops.
Madam Speaker, we can't afford to keep throwing money into the
bottomless pit of Iraq. That appears to be what our leaders in the
White House want us to do. But their policy is bankrupting all of us
politically, economically, and morally. It is time that we come to our
senses; it is time to end this madness.
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