[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14146]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   A CALL FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE HOUSE

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning in a continuing call 
for responsible leadership in this House.
  It has now been 107 days since the President called for Congress to 
produce a supplemental bill that will adequately fund the war on 
terror. And after more than 3 months of political theater and 
grandstanding, we have a leadership that hasn't produced anything. A 
bill will come before us today, hopefully that will fund the troops, 
and quite simply this will hurt our men and women in uniform.
  These are not my words but those of a sergeant first class from 
Tennessee serving in Iraq who wrote to me recently. She has said this, 
and she is frustrated with some of the things in Iraq but is committed 
to her duty. And I would like to quote from her letter.
  She writes, ``I believe that before Congress keeps pushing to get us 
out of here just to get their sons and daughters home, they need to 
take a step back, talk to the soldiers.'' She continues, ``I have lost 
several good friends, brothers and sisters in arms, to this place, but 
I do not want my children to come back here and clean up this mess if I 
had the capability to take care of it myself. I know that if we pull 
out now, the next generation will be right back here to finish what we 
did not, because too many people are worried about their own political 
agenda. I am proud to be an American soldier, doing my job to protect 
my country and help others.''
  God bless this soldier, and God bless all who with her serve.

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