[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23808]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           VOTING AGAINST PAYMENT FOR RECONSTRUCTION IN IRAQ

  (Ms. WATERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I am not going to support the President's 
request for $87 billion to continue the war in Iraq. We asked him to 
continue the inspections, he chose to do a preemptive strike. And now 
he is telling us that we have got to pay for the reconstruction of 
Iraq. I am not going to support that. They told us that the oil that 
they would get, revenues that they would get from Iraq, would support 
the reconstruction. Now, we have colleagues coming on the floor, 
telling us what a wonderful job they are doing and showing us bookbags 
that they have for the children of Iraq. I want the Members to know 
children in my district do not even have books to put in bookbags, and 
we have Members on the other side of the aisle who do not support more 
Federal funding to local school districts. They say it is a local 
school district problem.
  Give me a break, Mr. President. The covers are off. He has mismanaged 
this war. He has made promises. The only one who is benefitting from 
this war is Mr. Cheney's company, Halliburton, that is getting 
contracts that were not competitive. The President will not get a vote 
from me for $87 billion.

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