[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H4202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FUTURE OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, after 16 years, $800 billion, over 2,000 
Americans killed, and 20,000 Americans severely wounded in Afghanistan, 
it is time that the House of Representatives has a debate on our future 
involvement in Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, let me remind you again: We 
have been there 16 years, and nothing has changed at all.
  H.R. 1666 is a bill introduced by John Garamendi from California and 
me. All this bill does is to say that the House of Representatives, 
after 16 years, will have a debate on the future involvement of our 
country in Afghanistan.
  Obviously, Members of Congress can vote for this bill or against this 
bill. We are just saying that, after 16 years, it is time for the 
Congress to meet its constitutional responsibility and to have a debate 
on the future of America. We owe this to our military. We owe it to the 
taxpayers of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, we have 300 Members of Congress today that were not here 
in 2001. 2001 was the last time we had a debate on this floor of the 
House, a meaningful debate, on the future of Afghanistan. In fact, the 
Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Kulack, now retired, has been 
one of the biggest supporters of mine in saying that it is time for the 
American people to put pressure on their Member of Congress to say 
debate the future of Afghanistan and maybe to put pressure on our 
Congress to say it is time to come home from Afghanistan.
  I have Camp Lejeune Marine Base in the Third District of North 
Carolina, which I have the privilege to represent. I have talked to 
many, many marines who have been to Afghanistan, and, Mr. Speaker, 
almost every one of them will tell you: Nothing is going to change. 
Many of those marines I am talking about, Mr. Speaker, have been there 
three, four, and five times.
  Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires. Why in 
the world are we continuing to spend our money, but, more importantly, 
our young men and women, over in a country that will never change no 
matter what you do? It is a tribal nation. It is a nation that will 
never change.
  That is why I hope my colleagues in Congress will join John Garamendi 
and me in H.R. 1666 that only asks the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, 
to let us have this debate on the floor of the House. After 16 years, 
we owe it to the military, and we owe it to the taxpayers to say that 
we are listening to the taxpayers and our military. Let's debate the 
future of America in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to ask God to please bless our men 
and women in uniform, to please bless the families of our men and women 
in uniform, to ask God in His arms to hold the families who have given 
a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I ask God to please 
bless the House and wake the House up that we will debate the future of 
Afghanistan. And I will ask three times, God, please, God, please, God, 
please, bless America.

                          ____________________