[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18336]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    BRING OUR TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ

  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, we are back from our Fourth of July 
district work period, but our homecoming has not been a particularly 
happy one because we have received even more bad news from the 
occupation in Iraq.
  Yesterday the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported 
that the cost of the occupation has soared to $10 billion a month, 
which will add up to half a trillion dollars, thanks to the 
administration's decision to send more troops and escalate the 
occupation.
  Ten billion dollars a month. I pulled out my calculator. I did some 
division and found that $10 billion translates into $23 million per 
month per congressional district. Yes, the President is sending a bill 
to our constituents in every district every month that says you owe $24 
million and you had better pay up because if you don't, I will borrow 
the money and stick your children and your grandchildren with the bill 
plus plenty of interest. And I am going to send you another bill just 
like this one every single month from here on.
  Now, some people call the spending on the war the ``burn rate.'' But 
America doesn't have money to burn. Not when we have critically 
important investments to make in places that really make a difference 
for our country, like education; health care; the environment; energy 
independence; and homeland security, including better security at our 
ports, at our airports and giving first responders the tools they need 
to keep our communities safe.
  And here is what disturbs me the very most about this burn rate: 
while the administration throws good money after bad in Iraq, it wants 
to roll back health coverage for kids right here in America. Those are 
the wrong priorities. They are the wrong values.
  Let's ask ourselves what are we getting for our $10 billion a month. 
We are getting an Iraq Government that isn't meeting any of the 
benchmarks. We are contributing to a refugee crisis that has already 
forced at least 4 million Iraqis out of their homes with tens of 
thousands leaving every month. And we are stretching our military to 
the breaking point.
  Today, the Army announced that in June it missed its recruitment goal 
for the second month in a row. It appears that parents, alarmed about 
the bloodshed and never-ending nature of this occupation, are 
discouraging their children from signing up. Isn't it ironic that our 
involvement in Iraq is turning out to be a bad recruiting tool for the 
United States but a great recruiting tool for al Qaeda and other 
terrorist groups?
  I am encouraged, however, that a growing number of my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle are turning against the occupation. But at 
the same time, the President gave a speech today in Cleveland that 
showed he isn't budging an inch from his failed escalation strategy. He 
said that Congress ``should wait'' for General Petraeus's report on the 
surge in September before making any decision about Iraq, while 
admitting at the same time that September is a meaningless goal. That 
is outrageous. The American people didn't send us to Congress to sit 
around and wait to do nothing. They sent us here to end the occupation, 
and that is what we must do.
  I have proposed a bill that would achieve that, H.R. 508. It would 
fully fund bringing our troops home safely and soon. It would 
accelerate international assistance for reconstruction and 
reconciliation in order to keep Iraq as peaceful as possible. And it 
would use diplomacy. It would use diplomacy, not war, to achieve 
political solutions to regional problems.
  We will have a golden opportunity in the days and weeks ahead to 
chart a new course. I urge my colleagues to heed the call and listen to 
history and listen to the American people and to bring our troops home.

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