[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23655-23656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           IRAQ SUPPLEMENTAL

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to speak on the subject of the 
supplemental budget. Eighty-seven billion dollars is indeed a lot of 
money. Yet, building democracy in the Middle East, building an ally in 
the Middle East, another ally, would be very, very helpful to United 
States interests and to the big picture of world peace.
  I hear from a lot of my Democrat friends that, well, I'm going to 
support the troops and cleverly just support that portion of the budget 
which goes directly to the troops, which would be about two-thirds of 
it, some 60-plus billion dollars. How can you support the troops and 
then not let them complete their task by trying to rebuild the country 
and the infrastructure? It does not make sense. If you are going to 
support the troops, you have to support their mission.
  I would love any of my colleagues who have such doubts about the 
importance of what we are doing to come down to the Third Infantry 
Division in Hinesville-Fort Stewart, Georgia, and talk to some of the 
troops who have been there, who have spent 6 to 8 months of their lives 
there in the last year and look them in the eye and say, you know what, 
I do not like what you

[[Page 23656]]

are doing. And you know what, I am going to support your expense, your 
room and board, but I am not going to help you rebuild this nation that 
you lost your friends over.
  I just want to say, that is an open invitation to any Democrat or 
Republican if you want to come down and talk to people who have been on 
the ground.

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