[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1508]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   WORKING FOR A SAFE AND SECURE IRAQ

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with my 
colleague from Texas. We must really approach violence, wherever it is, 
and I thank him for his words.
  Mr. Speaker, so many of us as Members have confronted families who 
have lost loved ones on the battlefields of Iraq. We realize that not 
one of those fallen soldiers would in any way step away from their 
duty. So today I rise to thank them.
  But because of their commitment to their Nation, I believe as policy 
makers we have a commitment to them, and it is imperative that this 
body and the other body not engage in nonbinding resolutions, when the 
American people have asked us to bring our troops home, when the 
President of the United States has not begun to consider alternatives 
such as political diplomacy, when there is no recognition that the 
Congress is an equal branch of government and can in fact cease the 
funding.
  We must have a new direction. We must have a safe and secure Iraq. We 
can work for both, but we must have the respect and mutuality of the 
three branches of government.

                          ____________________