[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25647]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           IRAQ AND THE 250TH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BATTALION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, usually, when I speak on the House floor 
each evening, I voice my concern about some of the Bush 
administration's woeful policies in Iraq. Trust me, there is no 
shortage of material to speak about.
  But tonight I want to boast a little bit. I want to share how very 
proud I am to represent the 250th Military Intelligence Battalion, an 
Army unit that returned home from Iraq today. They returned home to 
Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in California's 
Sixth Congressional District.
  I had the great pleasure to meet and enjoy dinner with the members of 
the 250th battalion this past September during my visit to Iraq. Their 
vigilance and dedication to the welfare of the United States is 
admirable. Everything they do, they do to serve their country. And I 
could not be more proud to represent them as their voice in Congress. 
They are truly American heroes.
  Unfortunately, the members of the 250th Military Intelligence 
Battalion and other military units that have served or are currently 
serving in Iraq have not always gotten the treatment they deserve from 
their government. Far too often, the Bush administration has failed to 
live up to its promise to the troops, whether it is denying them full 
veterans' benefits, sending them on second, third, and now fourth 
deployments to Iraq and/or to Afghanistan, or failing to provide them 
with the lifesaving body armor or equipment that they need. One thing 
is clear: This administration has failed our troops time and again.
  Sadly, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have been deployed 
to Iraq, and their families, were not the only ones affected by the war 
in Iraq. That is because just about every single American will suffer 
from the billions of dollars in budget cuts to important domestic 
programs since the U.S. invaded Iraq. These budget cuts are directly 
related to not only the tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, but also 
to the ludicrous spending for the military misadventures around the 
world of the civilian leadership, with the White House, the Pentagon, 
and this Congress making decisions that cost our country billions, in 
fact, $1 billion a week, actually. Anyone who thinks that the more than 
$200 billion that Congress has allocated for the Iraq war so far has 
not affected important domestic programs is just kidding himself or 
herself.
  In the last example and the very latest example, tomorrow, the House 
will vote on a reconciliation bill that would give tax breaks to the 
wealthy of $70 billion to $100 billion in tax breaks, while slashing 
safety net programs for the poor, programs like Medicaid, student 
loans, child support enforcement, and veterans' health care. This is 
just wrong.
  If he wants to get things right, President Bush and his 
administration would actually send a clear message that it has let the 
American people down, and now it is time to start anew. First and 
foremost, that means leaving Iraq.
  After all, the President's notion that we are fighting the terrorists 
in Iraq so we will not have to fight them here at home is pure 
nonsense. If that were true, how could the President explain the London 
subway bombings earlier this year? How could he explain the terrible 
bombs that went off at three hotels in Jordan earlier today, already 
killing over 50 people and wounding more than 100?
  Mr. Speaker, our troops and the American people have endured enough 
sacrifice. We need to end this war and bring our fine soldiers home. We 
need to give Iraq back to the Iraqi people through a range of economic, 
political, and humanitarian partnerships.
  The American people deserve better than a war that has destroyed the 
social safety net here at home, and the extraordinary men and women 
whom I met in Iraq certainly deserve better. In return for their 
unfailing loyalty, they deserve basic competence and integrity from 
their Federal Government. They deserve leaders as courageous as they 
are.

                          ____________________