[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23463-23469]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 THE NATIONAL DEBT AND THE WAR IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, this evening, as on most Tuesday evenings when 
Congress is in session, I rise on behalf of the fiscally conservative 
Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of 47 conservative to 
moderate Democrats that simply want to come here, put an end to the 
partisan bickering, and restore common sense and fiscal discipline to 
our Nation's government.
  This evening, as we begin this hour-long conversation, we are going 
to focus on Iraq, and specifically we are going to focus on how your 
tax dollars are being spent in Iraq.
  You have heard a lot of talk this evening about Iraq. And I can 
assure you as long as we have our men and women in uniform in harm's 
way, we are going to support them. They are doing everything that has 
been asked of them and then some. My brother-in-law is in the U.S. Air 
Force. He has been in the region several times. My first cousin is in 
the U.S. Army, and he is in Iraq this evening. It has affected all of 
us in one way or another. We have all had family or friends serve 
there.
  This evening we are going to specifically focus on how your tax money 
is being spent in Iraq. For the last 5 years, the President has pretty 
much asked for a blank check, and if you ask him to be held accountable 
for how your tax money is spent in Iraq, he will tell you that you are 
unpatriotic. It is time that we stood up to this President and demanded 
the kind of accountability on how your tax money is being spent in Iraq 
just as we demand accountability from local and State governments when 
they receive a Federal grant. To put it another way, $16 million of 
your tax money is being spent in Iraq every hour; $16 million of your 
tax money is being spent in Iraq every hour. That is $16 million an 
hour that can't go to replace the bridge in Minnesota that fell. And, 
by the way, there are thousands more structurally deficient bridges in 
this country, and this should have been a wake-up call for all of us to 
get about the business of rebuilding this Nation's infrastructure and 
begin to invest in America again.
  Just in my congressional district during the month of August, some 
people think we go home and go on vacation for a month, but what we 
really do is we go home and see the people, which I think is an 
important part of this job. If you are going to represent folks, I 
think it is important you get out of Washington and you go home and you 
see them. And as I traveled my 29 counties and 150 towns in Arkansas's 
Fourth Congressional District, every town I went to I learned of a 
project, of a need. On the western side, they want to finish I-49, 
which can create jobs and economic opportunities. An interstate where 
construction started on it back when I was about 5 years old entering 
kindergarten. I am now 46 and have a daughter in college.
  When I go to the eastern side of my district, I hear a lot of talk 
about wanting to complete I-69, which was announced 5 years before I 
was born. In the central part of the district, I hear a lot of talk 
about four-laning U.S. 82, four-laning 167, how we need money to invest 
in getting off the Sparta aquifer and having more and more commercial 
and residential people getting their water from other alternative water 
sources. As I traveled and toured Millwood Lake, I learned about how 
this wonderful recreational lake, a lake that contributed to the 
economy, it is now becoming very difficult to fish in about a quarter 
of it and they are worried about the rest of it. Why? Because of the 
neglect. The neglect in our Nation's infrastructure, the neglect in our 
waterways, in our highways. And yet we continue to spend $16 million an 
hour of your tax money in Iraq. Mr. Speaker, I say it is time to start 
investing in America again, and we are going to talk more about that 
this evening.
  During the past 6 years, we have had a President that has given us 
the largest debt ever in our Nation's history, the largest deficit ever 
in our Nation's history, for the past 6 years, during the time that we 
had Republicans controlling the White House, the House and the Senate. 
We have passed a budget this year that will put us back in balance by 
2012 and will begin to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to 
our Nation's government.
  But this is what the new Democratic majority inherited in January: a 
debt that is $8,993,600,200,089 and some change. That is a big number. 
What does it mean? If you break it out and divide it by every man, 
woman and child living in America, including those born today, each one 
of us, our share of the national debt: $29,704. It is what those of us 
in the Blue Dog Coalition refer to as the ``debt tax,'' d-e-b-t, which 
is one tax that cannot be repealed, that cannot be cut. And that is one 
of the reasons that we are not able to invest in America's priorities, 
investing in our homeland, investing in our veterans, investing in 
education, investing in rebuilding America's infrastructure. No. We are 
too busy paying interest on this debt.

[[Page 23464]]

  Our Nation is borrowing about a billion dollars a day, but before we 
borrow a billion dollars today, we are going to spend a half billion 
today paying interest on the debt we have already got. That is above 
and beyond the $16 million an hour that we are sending to Iraq, much of 
which goes unaccounted for.
  So we are going to spend this hour addressing that and other issues 
surrounding Iraq. And I am absolutely delighted to be joined by a 
number of my Blue Dog colleagues. I mentioned there are 47 members in 
the Blue Dog Coalition, and I would like to take this opportunity to 
welcome the four newest members: Christopher Carney from Pennsylvania's 
Tenth Congressional District, Gabrielle Giffords from Arizona's Eighth 
Congressional District, Bart Gordon from Tennessee's Sixth 
Congressional District, and Zach Space from Ohio's Eighteenth 
Congressional District.
  At this time I am pleased to yield to a fellow Blue Dog, someone who 
has become very involved in this conservative-moderate Democratic 
movement on Capitol Hill, someone who is not afraid to take a stand for 
what is right, and that is my friend Joe Donnelly from Indiana's Second 
Congressional District.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Thank you, Mr. Ross.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor to have the chance to speak here 
again in the House.
  Almost $9 trillion in debt. I just came back from a month in my 
district, as Mr. Ross had indicated, going to see constituent after 
constituent, talking about issues of critical importance to them. And I 
met a good friend of mine named Jim Fleming from LaPorte, Indiana. And 
Jim's company makes defense aerospace products. And he said, Joe, we 
try everything we can. We employ hundreds of people. We work 
extraordinarily hard. And, Joe, we get beat out by China on bid after 
bid. Not even competitive with our prices but below our cost of 
production. And, Joe, what saddens me so much, Mr. Fleming said, is 
that we have over $1 trillion in debt to China. So I know when it is 
time for you to stand up, it is only made more difficult because of the 
debt that we have, a debt that we assumed because it was easier to do 
than to make the hard choices like the PAYGO system that we put in.
  We look at Iraq now. We have lost $12 billion that came in in 
currency in a plane, shrink wrapped, Mr. Davis, on pallets, never to be 
seen again once it came off of that plane. Think of what $12 billion 
could have done in help creating the Hoosier Heartland Highway in my 
district.
  We paid a gentleman Ahmed Chalabi and his group, the Iraqi National 
Congress, $300,000 every month for information that they basically made 
up in the back room over a Coca-Cola.

                              {time}  2130

  Just one more example: instead of probing and finding the answers, we 
just threw money away. And, Mr. Ross, think of what $300,000 could do 
in your district every month, or to my good friend, who you will see, 
Mr. Michael Arcuri, in his district in Utica. $300,000 could provide 
health care for an incredible amount of Americans.
  So we have come to this Congress to try to make sure, through our 
PAYGO system, that the debt goes no higher, that we start to reduce it, 
that in Iraq we get answers, answers that, instead of letting $12 
billion disappear, that those funds be used either in our district, or 
to provide up-armored Humvees and MRAP vehicles that will save our 
soldiers lives. Appropriate armored vests, the kind of things that will 
protect our soldiers, not feather someone else's nest.
  Mr. Ross, I'm proud to stand here with you tonight and have this 
opportunity.
  Mr. ROSS. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DONNELLY. Absolutely, sir.
  Mr. ROSS. You mentioned something that really piqued my interest, and 
that is making sure that we are providing our soldiers with the best 
technology in armored vests. And I want to thank you for raising that 
this evening.
  I've got a constituent in my district whose son is getting ready to 
go back for the second time, Arkansas National Guard, 39th Brigade, 
being asked to go back for a second time. And when you sign up for the 
National Guard, you're supposed to spend 1 year out of 5, and now they 
were there in 2003 and 2004, they're being asked to go back again by 
Christmas of this year or early next year. And he raises a very 
important issue. This is a constituent from Garland County in Pearcy, 
Arkansas, near Hot Springs, and that is, he wants to ensure that our 
men and women in uniform, his son, has the best armored body gear and 
protection available. There are a lot of tests going on right now; 
there is a lot of debate going on. There have been hearings on this in 
the Congress. But 5 years into this war you would think, if our 
government, if this administration is sending $16 million an hour of 
your tax money to Iraq, the very least they could do is ensure that our 
brave men and women, our soldiers that do everything that is asked of 
them, have the very best in body gear and protection.
  Mr. DONNELLY. There is no question, Mr. Ross, that when we look at 
our soldiers, nothing but the best is acceptable.
  As you mentioned the soldiers in your district, we just had, about 
three weeks ago, our South Bend, Indiana, National Guard unit head over 
to some of the most dangerous duty in Iraq. And, again, they went with 
their pride and with a determination to do well. And our job, my job, 
your job is to make sure they have the very, very best. And it's not 
appropriate to see money disappear, to see it wasted at the tune of 
$300,000 a month it was. To some gentleman who is making up stories in 
the back room when we think he's providing information. Our job is to 
make sure that the young men and women of Arkansas, New York, Indiana, 
Delaware, Pennsylvania and all our States have the very, very best 
armored equipment, armored vehicles. Their safety and their return home 
to their loved ones is the utmost importance.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman. And he makes some very good points.
  And regardless of how you feel about what's going on in Iraq, and I 
personally have voted three times for a new direction in Iraq, but one 
of the things that I think we can all agree on is that we need more 
accountability for how our tax money is being spent in Iraq. And we 
need to ensure that money is going to provide our men and women in 
uniform with the very best equipment that's available to them today, 
not what was the best equipment 5 years ago, but what is the best 
equipment today to best protect them as they perform their duty and 
service to our country. And that's one thing that we can all agree on.
  At this time, I'm pleased to introduce another fellow Blue Dog, a new 
Member in his first term in the 110th session of Congress who is 
rapidly and quickly becoming very involved and immersed in the fiscal 
issues of the Blue Dog Coalition, and that's my friend, Mr. Mike Arcuri 
from New York's 24th Congressional District, who just returned from a 
trip to Iraq.
  Mr. ARCURI. I thank my friend from Arkansas for yielding, and I would 
like to thank you for what you do for the Blue Dog Caucus.
  You know, the thing that first attracted me to the Blue Dog Caucus 
was the fact that they believe so strongly in fiscal responsibility in 
the pay-as-you-go idea, and the fact that we have to tighten our belt, 
we have to make some very difficult decisions. It's not easy when there 
are things that we need for our district and things that we know we 
need here domestically, and yet we can't spend more than we have. And 
it's no different than we would in our own home. You don't buy things 
that we can't afford. We can't enact legislation, we can't create 
bureaucracies that we can't pay for. And that's why I'm so proud to be 
a member of the Blue Dog Caucus.
  I did just return from Iraq just a few days ago. And I couldn't help, 
while I was there, noticing immediately the amount of money that we 
have spent in Iraq. You know, when you look at the fact that you ride 
along and you see that we have literally created, built whole cities in 
the middle of the desert,

[[Page 23465]]

in the middle of this expansive environment we have actually created 
cities and the amount of money, the amount of cement, the amount of 
wood that we've used to build these bases and the amount of material 
that we have there. I can remember that in one of the bases we pulled 
up to one area, it was huge, and there was nothing but electric 
transformers in a huge field; and those were transformers that they 
were using to put new electric and bring new power to different places 
in Iraq. And then we drove a little further and there was another area 
with nothing but Humvees and another area with nothing but bulldozers. 
And you can't help but realize just how much money and how much time 
and expense we're expending to rebuild Iraq.
  And during the course of our conversation while we were there, we 
were talking about some of the things to one of the members of the 
military, one of the things that they needed there. And I couldn't help 
but think back in my district in upstate New York, back in Utica, there 
are things that we need that we don't have. We need improvements to our 
airport that we don't have. We need improvements to our roads. And much 
like your district in Arkansas, we have been waiting for a connection 
between Utica and the city of Binghamton, a Route 12 extension. We've 
been waiting for years and years, since before I was born, for that; 
and still we talk about it. And yet we spend billions of dollars. You 
quoted the figure $16 million an hour we are spending in Iraq. We 
continue to spend it, and we've been doing it for years and years.
  And while we continue to spend that money, we continue to spend 
resources that are critical to us while countries like China are 
continuing to invest their money in their own economy, in creating jobs 
within their country. We need to be spending our money to create jobs 
in our country.
  And, you know, while I was in Iraq, the one thing that I was struck 
by probably more than anything else is the incredible job that our 
troops are doing. Anybody that you talk to that's been to Iraq, the 
first thing they talk about is the incredible job that our troops are 
doing. And I couldn't help but think that any just cause anywhere in 
the world that we ask our troops to perform and complete, I have utter 
confidence that they can do it. Our military is just an incredible 
organization. They do what is asked of them and much, much more. And 
they have done the same in Iraq. And I think that it's time that we 
give them more direction in terms of a mission and that we start to 
give the Iraqi people a little more ability to stand on their own. I 
think when we start to bring our troops home, when we start to allow 
them to stand up and handle their own affairs, they will do it, and 
they will do it in a good way and in a fine way and we will be there to 
help them.
  But, you know, there was a book written about 2,500 years ago by the 
Chinese general Sun Tzu, and it was called ``The Art of War.'' And in 
that he writes an interesting paragraph and he says that in any 
extended confrontation, regardless of how wise a nation's counselors 
are, no country can win in a prolonged war.
  This war has been prolonged far too long. It is time, I believe, for 
us to focus upon what is important here domestically, that we stop 
focusing on spending so much money in Iraq and we begin to focus again 
on the things that are happening here in this country. So I believe 
that it's time that we allow the country of Iraq to stand up for 
itself, and that we begin to bring our troops home.
  I thank you, and I yield back.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from New York for his insight on his 
recent return from a trip to Iraq.
  I was last there August 11, 2004, when we had the 39th Brigade from 
Arkansas' National Guard there. Now they're ready to go back, and I 
hope to be able to go back while they're there because the least we can 
do is go there when our troops are there from our respective districts 
and let them know that we support them and make sure that some of this 
millions of dollars is being spent on providing them the very best 
equipment that technology and money can afford to buy.
  What we're talking about this evening is the cost of Operation Iraqi 
Freedom. The gentleman from New York is absolutely correct, we need a 
new direction in Iraq. Basically, we're there fighting their civil war 
for them. And as long as they're shooting at us instead of shooting at 
one another, there is no incentive for them to learn how to get along. 
No one fought our Civil War for us, and I'm absolutely convinced that 
the only people that can decide the fate of Iraq are the Iraqi people.
  We have had a lot of victories there. We went there because of 
weapons of mass destruction. We now know there are no weapons of mass 
destruction. It's debatable whether there ever was or not, but that's 
an issue that we can debate all night. But hindsight is 20/20. We 
stayed until Saddam was removed from power. We stayed until he was 
brought to justice and executed. Clearly, he was an evil dictator. We 
have evil dictators all over the world, many of whom remain in power 
today. We stayed until a new Iraqi Government was installed. We stayed 
and tried to train their police and military force. And yet this 
administration continues to move the goal post on our soldiers. And so 
how many victories are they going to have to accomplish before we allow 
them to come home and allow the Iraq people to decide the fate of their 
own country?
  The cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom, this is one statistic that is 
not debatable. You want to know how well it's going? In 2003, we spent 
$53 billion of your tax money in Iraq. In 2004, that increased to $75.9 
billion. In 2005, that increased to $84.7 billion. In 2006, that 
increased to $101.7 billion. And in 2007, $135.2 billion so far. The 
administration is getting ready to come back here shortly for more. 
That's $11.3 billion a month, that's $370 million a day. You do the 
math. That's between 15 and $16 million an hour of your tax money going 
to Iraq and, as Congressman Donnelly mentioned, much of which is 
unaccounted for.
  At this time, I yield to my friend, fellow Blue Dog member from my 
neighboring State of Tennessee, and that's Lincoln Davis, an active 
member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition 
that's never afraid to speak his mind. We're glad to have him here with 
us this evening. And sorry about Tennessee's loss this Saturday. We're 
looking forward to playing y'all in football.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. You're starting us off on a bad note.
  It's good to be here this evening and to engage in conversation and 
dialogue certainly on the situation that we are in today in Iraq, and 
certainly in this country.
  I want to deviate just a little bit and talk a little bit about my 
study hall period. Folks say that Members of Congress had recess. When 
I was in school and we had recess, we played most of the time; but I 
can assure you for the last several weeks of the month of August I did 
a lot of traveling in the district I represent, listening to a lot of 
people, the chamber of commerce, business people, individuals on the 
street, country stores, wherever I might have been, restaurants, coffee 
shops. We talked about a lot of things. People are worried about the 
war in Iraq. People are worried about the war in Iraq to the point 
where we know we can't lose there or we can't allow this nation to go 
into anarchy, but how do we prevent that from happening?
  And as I listened to those debates and those dialogs, I realized that 
people were seriously concerned about what we're doing and how we're 
engaged. I hear people talking about whether we should have gone or 
not. That's legitimate, and I think historians, probably political 
scientists over the next several years, next decades and next centuries 
will obviously gauge that and will judge that. We can talk about 
whether the war was prosecuted right or not; and, quite frankly, I 
think there are some questions there as to whether or not this 
administration, Mr. Speaker, and whether this White House, Mr. Speaker, 
has engaged the way that would bring about a quicker resolution to 
where it would win much quicker in Iraq.
  But when I went home on Sunday, I drove back down through the 
Shenandoah Valley, down Highway 81, hit

[[Page 23466]]

Interstate 40, went across the Cumberland Plateau, and I realized what 
a beautiful Nation we have. When you look at those hills along the Blue 
Ridge down through the Shenandoah Valley and then the Cumberland 
Plateau near the Cumberland Gap and realize the beauty of this vast 
Nation that we have and the people who live here.
  I had an opportunity, my first day off, to spend about 7 hours 
fishing at a great warrior's old mill, Sergeant Alvin C. York, in 
Palmyra where I live.

                              {time}  2145

  Mr. Ross, I had an opportunity with my oldest daughter and two of my 
grandchildren to go fishing. We were going to spend probably a couple 
hours there. We wound up spending over 7 hours. The last day that I 
spent in my district, I did the same thing, not intentionally. My 
middle daughter called and came up on Sunday, and I spent, as I did my 
first Monday home, my last Monday home I spent fishing in the rivers 
there below Sergeant York's home in the mill pond. Now, Sergeant York 
was a great American hero. But we have had other great American heroes, 
as well, Eisenhower being one of them.
  I want to mention something about Eisenhower in just a moment. But 
first of all, I want to talk about what someone that America respects 
greatly said a few years ago. Clark Clifford and Richard Holbrooke 
wrote a book in 1991 called ``Counsel to the President.'' After Winston 
Churchill had made his ``Iron Curtain'' speech in Fulton, Missouri, 
they were traveling back on the train from Missouri. President Truman 
and many of his staff members had already retired for the evening. The 
three people who were basically sitting in the room at that time were 
Charles Ross, who was the press secretary for Truman, and Clark 
Clifford and Churchill. They talked about how our lives are influenced 
strictly by the accident of our birth.
  What Churchill said, and I am quoting him as quoted in the book, ``If 
I were to be born again, I would wish to be born in the United States. 
Your country is the future of the world. You have natural resources, 
the spirit, the youth, the determination, which will steadily increase 
your global influence.'' He was correct in making that assessment over 
60 years ago as he made this speech. He was correct then. And we are 
correct today to say that America's presence in the world today is 
recognized.
  But why has it changed? Why would a great Brit, who is considered the 
Brit's Britishman, say, ``If I were to be born again, I would love to 
have been born an American''? How many people in the world today would 
say that? I would say that because when God put my soul in the body of 
a woman who lived in America, it was a great blessing for me just to be 
born in this country. We have got to regain and recapture throughout 
the world that spirit that folks from nations abroad have seen in this 
country, and I think we can recover it, to where we are looked upon, as 
Ronald Reagan said, as that shining light of freedom that folks can 
look at and aspire to.
  We need an Eisenhower moment in Iraq. It has been said that after 
Eisenhower was elected President in 1952 that as he was ordered up he 
asked, as a general, from the military people in the field, the Army, 
if he could be able to have a few small planes that he would fly over 
South Korea and in parts of North Korea. It is also said, and his 
memoirs pretty much confirmed this, that after they landed he was 
silent for a few moments. And he basically said, We cannot win this war 
the way that we are fighting it, but we can't afford to lose it, 
either. We cannot win this war the way we are fighting it. He knew we 
would have to engage in a much greater, larger war that would include 
perhaps even China, which would have stretched America's resources and 
I think America's fiber to the breaking point.
  Eisenhower understood that we were in a war that we should not have 
been in. Now some will question what I am saying. But that was 
Eisenhower's comments. It is a war that we are not ready to win. It is 
a war that we can lose, and we can't afford to lose. In his first 6 or 
8 months of his Presidency, he brought about a resolution of a cease-
fire in Korea. Did we stay there? Sure, we have been. Will we stay in 
Iraq? Sure we will. Every resolution that we passed on this floor that 
calls for a date certain authorizes this administration and authorizes 
the Defense Department to keep adequate personnel in the field and 
military presence in the field to help protect the resources, the 
assets of this country and protect our friends in the area and to help 
train the troops and the soldiers of the armies, the policemen, and the 
civilians of Iraq. We will be there several years from now, just as we 
were in South Korea, as we were in Western Europe. It is how we stay 
that makes the difference. It is how we stay that will make the 
difference.
  The way we are there now I don't believe is the way we ought to be. 
We can no longer be the army for Iraq. We can no longer be the 
policemen in the streets, on the beat, providing security for the folks 
in Iraq. The Brits just pulled out. This great British leader named 
Winston Churchill, his country just pulled their troops out of Basra. 
Are we going to have a surge in Basra with American troops?
  Mr. Speaker, let's ask the President that. Is that our intention now, 
that we will have a surge and resupply the troops there? Because it 
seems in southern Iraq obviously there is a lot of turmoil, a lot of 
killings, basically a civil war between the Shias, now some folks say 
are happening. In northern Iraq where the Kurds are, we are not there 
operating as the army or the policemen on the beat. In northern Iraq 
where the Kurds are, they are providing their own autonomy.
  It is my opinion that the longer we stay in Iraq, the worse we will 
be. We need an Eisenhower moment in Iraq, not a General Custer moment, 
not a charge into the Little Big Horn to where we get destroyed. It is 
time that we reassess our situation in Iraq to a war that we win in 
Iraq.
  I am saddened as I watch TV. I am seeing Iraq being sold by TV 
commercials as if we are selling an automobile to the American public. 
That saddens me when I see some of our wonderful soldiers, and I 
applaud them, who are saying, We cannot cut and run. I agree with them. 
We can't cut and run. But we don't need to be selling this war on TV 
commercials as the right thing to do.
  The thing that we have not done, in my opinion, is that we have 
allowed Afghanistan to be left pretty much as an island to themselves. 
Oh, we are there. But just think what we could have done if we had 
spent the time and resources and kept the number of troops in 
Afghanistan that we moved to Iraq.
  It is my belief that Karzai would have probably been, and still may 
be, someone that we may call their George Washington. We now see 
troubles in Pakistan. We are now seeing countries in Central Asia after 
the dominance of the Soviet Union for many years, many are floundering 
around trying to figure which is the best route to go. Each feels, I 
believe, that democracy is the best route to take. Many are struggling 
with their democracies in Central Asia. Just think of what we could 
have done in Afghanistan if, in fact, we had stayed there, helped build 
that country to take out those that would do harm to them, to destroy 
Afghanistan. We could have helped build a democracy that I believe 
would have been infectious, and an epidemic of democratic nations would 
have been springing up all over to continue to bloom and to progress in 
Central Asia.
  It would have been infectious, in my opinion, in the Middle East, as 
well, and we would have seen I think the tumbling of the strongman-type 
governments. In every one of those countries surrounding Iraq, there is 
a strong person who runs those countries. If we had stayed and 
continued in Afghanistan, we would have seen, in my opinion, a much 
different Middle East than we see today and a much different Central 
Asia.
  One of the real problems we have today is I think even Pakistan would 
have seen the success in Afghanistan and might have wanted to move 
further in that direction. In fact, the

[[Page 23467]]

Taliban-type warriors and al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden did attack 
us. I keep hearing these folks from the side saying, If we don't fight 
them there, we will fight them here. What do you think happened on 
September 11? They were here. And we have forgotten who attacked us. It 
wasn't Iraq. It was Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. They are 
now, in some folks' opinion, in the areas of Waziristan and Pakistan. 
If, in fact, we allow, or if, in fact, Pakistan were to fall, guess who 
gets the nuclear weapons?
  So our foreign policy, in my opinion, needs to be revisited. All of 
us need to start being American Democrats and American Republicans, not 
right-wingers and left-wingers. It looks like we have chosen up sides 
here and we have started to listen to the talk shows on one side or we 
look at the liberal communications on the other side, and all of a 
sudden that is what drives us in this country. It is time we start 
being Americans again, American Democrats and American Republicans, and 
look at our failures. Eisenhower understood it. George Custer found it 
out. We don't need a Custer move. We don't need to have advertisements 
telling us we need to have a war in TV commercials.
  We need honesty, Mr. President. We need honesty. My request to you is 
that you have an Eisenhower moment, one of honesty. Let's get on with 
making sure we rebuild that area, put our troops out of the kill zone 
and stop requiring them to be the soldiers. Because if in Basra and 
southern Iraq and northern Iraq our troops are not there, and the only 
place where it seems the most violent actions that take place is where 
our troops are, that should tell us something.
  We need to be sure that we keep enough troops to keep Syria or Iran, 
or quite frankly even our friend called Turkey, from invading Iraq for 
their own beneficial gain and let Iraq work its problems out. It is 
time. We have given them a government. They have accepted their 
government. They have elected their government. It is time for them to 
start leading and taking on the responsibility. I call upon this 
President, this administration, and this Congress to work together to 
make that happen.

                              {time}  2200

  We have built and helped build in South Korea over a period of 30-40 
years one of the strongest democracies in the Asian-Pacific rim and 
Asia, the strongest economy called South Korea. It took a long time. It 
will take a long time to resolve the differences in the Middle East. It 
will take a long time to resolve the differences in Iraq. But we cannot 
do it the way we are doing it today.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. He 
raises an excellent point. All this started after 9/11, and we all know 
Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. We now have some 25,000 
troops in the Afghanistan region. Contrast that to be a quarter million 
troops in the Iraq region. Eighty-something percent of the people in 
Afghanistan want us there. Contrast that with Iraq. 71 percent of the 
Iraqi people don't want us there, and 60 percent of them think it is 
okay to kill a U.S. soldier. I believe it is time for a new direction 
in Iraq. Three times this year I have voted for a new direction in 
Iraq.
  Let me be perfectly clear: As long as we have got troops in harm's 
way, I am going to support them. As I indicated, my brother-in-law is 
in the Air Force. He has been in the region. My first cousin is in the 
U.S. Army and is back for the second time in Iraq right now.
  Back home in Arkansas, young people I have taught in Sunday school 
and duck hunted with will soon be going back for a second tour of duty 
in Iraq. I will be there every step of the way to support them. But I 
also want this administration and this Congress to give them a mission 
that is obtainable, one that will take them out of harm's way.
  I have had too many soldiers from my district die in Iraq. Just in 
the last few weeks, Specialist Donovan Witham from Malvern, Arkansas, 
gave his life in Iraq. Just a few days ago, I was able to spend some 
time with his family in their living room letting them know that his 
service to this country will not be forgotten. I will make sure of 
that. His family remains in my heart and in my prayers, as do all the 
family members of the nearly 4,000 troops that we have lost in Iraq.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we 
really need to make sure of is that the American public as they watch 
this Blue Dog Coalition group here talk tonight, every one of us to the 
``T'' comes from rural areas basically. We love America, we love our 
troops, we visit them.
  I have been to Iraq five times and Afghanistan twice. I went for a 
reason, to tell our troops thank troops thank you, we love you, we 
appreciate you. We pray that an umbrella of safety will be put over our 
troops. We work for those back home to be sure that their families are 
recognized and that our communities uphold them and undergird them.
  I don't want anybody to have a misinterpretation of what we are 
saying here tonight. This is about America, and it is not about TV ads 
that try to justify a war going on in Iraq. I am ashamed those things 
are on TV. We support our troops, and we will continue to do that.
  Mr. ROSS. I appreciate the gentleman joining me and his commitment to 
our brave men and women in uniform. I thank the President for going to 
Iraq. He was there, I think it was his third trip, he was there for a 
few hours. I spent a day in Iraq. You have been several times. I think 
it is important that we go and we let our soldiers know we support them 
and make sure some of this money over there is being spent on them and 
providing them the best equipment that money can buy. They deserve 
nothing less.
  But the type of folks that I think the President needs to spend a lot 
more time listening to are the type of Members of Congress that have 
served in the military, like Patrick Murphy from Pennsylvania. Patrick, 
not too long ago, was known as Captain Murphy and spent not a few hours 
in Iraq, but a few months in Iraq, nearly a year. Patrick Murphy from 
Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District, a fellow Blue Dog member 
who helped write H.R. 97, which is a bill endorsed by the Blue Dog 
Coalition to provide for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability to 
ensure that this $16 million an hour of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, 
which is going to Iraq, is being spent on our soldiers.
  With that, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Congressman-
Captain Patrick Murphy.
  Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the 
gentleman from Arkansas. It is an honor for me to be here tonight.
  I would like to say to the gentleman from Arkansas, that is exactly 
right. One of the things I plan on talking about tonight are really two 
things, the small business tax cuts that we established in this 
Congress this past May, and also the Iraq Accountability Act, because I 
think it is telling.
  There are a couple of housekeeping things if I may mention, Mr. 
Speaker. I know the gentleman from Tennessee was just speaking about an 
Eisenhower moment and talked about reaching out to those Americans from 
both sides of the aisle and letting them know about this common sense 
leadership we are trying to propose. What he mentioned was we need to 
listen and look at some common sense solutions. I think that is what 
people appreciate about the Blue Dogs. We are willing to reach across 
the aisle when need be to move our country in a new direction.
  I know there are a lot of folks back home I know, some of which are 
my wife right now. My wife Jenny is at home. I left this morning. I 
spoke at the Rotary Club and I was at a school for the first day of 
classes starting back today back in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Then I 
had a meeting, and then I rushed down here in Washington.
  It is an honor for me to be here tonight. It is tough as far as 
leaving your wife, and we are blessed with a 9 month old daughter 
Maggie Murphy, who we had her swimming out there yesterday. She was 
adorable.

[[Page 23468]]

  I know this is a different form of public service. I know the 
gentleman from Arkansas mentioned that I served in the military. I am 
very proud of my military service. I am very proud that I wore that 
U.S. Army uniform for the first time back in 1993, and now that we are 
here in 2007, I am proud to be a Member of Congress. This is a 
different form of public service, but one just as important. I know the 
sacrifices that we have to give up, leaving our families to come down 
here to Washington and then to go back home on the weekends. It is a 
tough schedule, but one that we promised to do to the best of our 
abilities.
  I know my colleague over here from New York, Mr. Arcuri, Mike Arcuri 
just got married the other day. I want to congratulate him on his 
marriage. I think he believes in what we all believe in, that we love 
our troops so much, I think he spent his honeymoon going over to see 
those troops in Iraq, leaving his new wife, Sabrina, to go over to 
those troops.
  We had a conversation on this floor tonight when we were voting 
talking about his trip over there, how he went and let those troops 
know, especially the ones that are from New York, from his district, 
that he cares about them, that he took the time out of his schedule to 
be there with them, to break bread with them and let them know that he 
is fighting for them here in Washington.
  I believe those troops understand what the stakes are right now. They 
understand that this United States House of Representatives, this body 
supports the troops 100 percent. We may disagree with our colleagues on 
the foreign policy and the foreign aspects of it, but never question 
the commitment and the honor that our troops are serving with. I 
believe that is why we all take time out of our schedules to let them 
know we care for them, to make sure that we draft the most effective 
policy to support them and do everything possible to make sure their 
families back at home know we are supporting them 100 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to talk first, because after I left that Rotary 
Club this morning and then I was at that opening day of school at the 
Abrams Hebrew School in Yardley, Pennsylvania. I went down the road to 
two small businesses that are in Yardley, Pennsylvania. My district, as 
you know are, is all of Bucks County, northeast Philadelphia and a 
small slice of Montgomery County.
  But when you look at Bucks County, there are 60,000 small businesses 
in Bucks County. Ninety-nine percent of our businesses are small 
business. And what we passed in this House, I am very proud about, is 
$1.3 billion in tax cuts for those small businesses. We did it not just 
writing a blank check and passing that debt that we talk about to our 
kids, we did it in a fiscally responsible way, the way that Blue Dogs 
believe, a pay-as-you-go system.
  Everyone is real quick to write tax breaks and tax cuts, but never 
figure out to how to pay for it. Just increase our debt. Increase our 
debt. When the President signs $1.7 billion in tax cuts, it sounds 
great. Everyone wants a tax break. I want a tax break. But how are you 
going to pay for it, Mr. President? Not on the backs of our kids. Not 
on the backs of the next generation. We need the pay-as-you-go.
  So when my daughter was born 9 months ago, when Maggie Murphy was 
born, she was born in Lower Bucks Hospital, she was born in this 
country owing $29,000 to our national debt. We owe $9 trillion in this 
country. A lot of that debt we owe to foreign countries, China, Korea, 
Japan. We borrowed $367 billion from Mexico.
  So that means per month, per month we average about $21 billion just 
to pay the interest on this debt. It is like a credit card. You have to 
pay interest on your credit card before you even get into paying the 
principal off. Per month we have to pay $21 billion in interest.
  To make a comparison, budgets are choices. Budgets are moral 
documents. Per month in the Federal Government we spend $21 billion 
just on the interest, but we only pay $5 billion on the Federal level 
on education. And to keep America more competitive, we need to invest 
in education. So that is why it is important that we partner with small 
businesses. That is what we do with the $1.3 billion in tax cuts.
  How it worked out, I had two business owners, one was a CEO, his name 
is Neil Matheson today, and when he started a business, he was the only 
employee. You fast forward it, now it is a 250 person business. They 
have 140 of those employees in my district, and I am proud that many of 
them live and work in Bucks County. I talked to him. And another 
president of a small business was Kevin Kruse.
  I talked to Neil Matheson and I talked to Kevin Kruse, and I talked 
to them about the challenges they faced before I was running for 
Congress and then I talked to them when I became a Member of Congress. 
We passed this, and they talked about how important this bill was that 
we passed.
  Per year, they commented, Kevin Kruse specifically commented, big 
corporations which employ Americans, big corporations can sell if they 
needed some money infusion, they can sell stocks or go public. Small 
businesses don't have that option. So they have to worry about their 
cash intake and their cash flow.
  So what Mr. Kruse said today when I was with him, he said this tax 
cut that the Democratic Congress passed, that the Blue Dogs championed, 
saves my business $13,000 more in deductions per year now because we 
established it through the IRS Tax Code through a pay-as-you-go system. 
That is serious money. That is serious money. That is why they stood 
with me today when we talked about it.
  Before I joined the House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker, I talked 
about more accountability and greater oversight in Iraq and over the 
Iraqi war operations. I am a proud Member of the Blue Dog Coalition. I 
have been calling for accountability in Iraq on the floor of this great 
body for 8 months now. In fact, some of my Blue Dog colleagues have 
been demanding common sense oversight on the floor of this House for 
more than 4 years before I even got here.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, the problem with these repeated calls for action 
is they seem to be falling on deaf ears down the road at 1600 
Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House.
  Mr. Speaker, the American public and our families at home are 
demanding some answers. Earlier this year we introduced House 
Resolution 97, to set up a Truman-type commission to track fraud, waste 
and abuse in Iraq. This was after the reports from the Special 
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction came to the House Armed 
Services Committee, came to the committee that I have the honor to 
serve on, and he said there is $9 billion missing and 14,000 weapons 
that are missing in Iraq. But recently, the Government Accountability 
Office, again, nonpartisan, came and reported that now the number of 
weapons that are missing in Iraq went from 14,000 to 190,000. Think 
about that; 190,000 weapons, and 110,000 of those weapons were AK-47 
rifles.
  Now, when I was in the military when I joined, I used to sing a 
cadence when you are running in the morning, we call it PT, physical 
training. The cadence said, ``Used to date a beauty queen; now I date 
my M-16.''
  See, you held that M-16 rifle to you as if it was your girlfriend or 
your loved one, because you can never miss it. When you are in the 
field at night and you fell asleep and you had a few hours to catch 
some shuteye, you tied it around your leg so no one would steal it from 
you.
  That is called accountability. That is what the Blue Dogs stand for. 
That is why I joined this organization when I came to Congress. I was 
honored to be selected and to be part of them.
  You think about 110,000 weapons just missing in Iraq. Just missing. 
Imagine those weapons in the hands of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia.
  The accountability is not happening in Iraq. It is not our troops' 
fault, it is the Iraqi people's fault, because they are not stepping up 
to the plate. You know, you lose a weapon in the U.S. military, you are 
probably going to be court-martialed. In Iraq, you are probably given a 
new one. That is a major

[[Page 23469]]

difference and one that we can't stand for.
  These rifles are like the ones I used to carry when I was in Baghdad, 
Iraq. When I was there four summers ago, Mr. Speaker, August was called 
fire month. The month of August in Iraq is called fire month because it 
gets so hot. Imagine our troops over in Iraq right now, in 130 degree 
weather, with all that equipment on, every day working their tails off 
to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, 
that oath that they took when they became members of our great 
military.
  You look back at January when the President made the decision to 
escalate our troops over there. I spoke out against it. I thought it 
was the wrong policy. But the President overrode our decisions in 
Congress and he said, just give us 6 to 9 months for a political 
solution.
  You look now, and I said then I am against the policy but I hope this 
surge works. I hope the escalation of troops works. I want our troops 
in Iraq to succeed. I spent months of my life there, and I care for the 
Iraqi people and I love our troops.
  But now it has been 9 months. Now you look at what is really 
happening. They said 6 to 9 months to allow a political solution to 
happen. Nine months later, you had the Iraqi Parliament take a summer 
vacation. Take a summer vacation, when our troops are fighting every 
single day.
  You had the Shia government that is in power now, before the Sunnis 
were in power, now it is the Shia, it is a democracy, they have to 
reach across the table and work with the Sunnis. They have got to put 
their personal beliefs aside for one Iraq.
  So the Shia leadership, President Maliki said, okay, we are going to 
reach these benchmarks. We are going to do these commonsense things 
that we pledged to do now for years. They still haven't done them. 
Things like sharing oil revenue with the Sunnis, they haven't done 
them.
  So what political solution do we have right now, Mr. Speaker? We have 
the Sunnis saying I quit. I quit. You don't see our troops quit. You 
see our troops standing up every single day.
  For those listeners at home, you make sure when you see a troop, 
whether it is in a restaurant or airport or train station, you don't 
have to give them a long speech. You might not agree with the foreign 
policy of the United States of America. But I ask my fellow Americans, 
Mr. Speaker, to make sure that you tell those troops when you see them 
out there in every day America, say thank you very much for serving our 
country. That is all you need to say. It means the world to them.
  I took my wife out, I had a date night the other night. I took my 
wife out, we went to Red Lobster. My wife's grandmother watched our 
little daughter. We went to date night, and, Mr. Speaker, after dinner 
she went to the restroom to use it at the Red Lobster.
  I am waiting in the car, and waiting to get into the Red Lobster was 
a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was there with his 
family. I took the keys out of the car. I ran up to him real quick. I 
was dressed not like a Congressman, I was just like a regular guy, just 
a regular shirt and I had shorts on him. I said to him, I said, hey, 
troop, I just want you to know that I appreciate your service to our 
country.

                              {time}  2215

  Then we started talking a little bit and at the end I told him I was 
a congressman and gave him my card. I said, If there is anything I can 
ever do, you let me know, and I will keep you in my prayers.
  He got choked up and said, Thank you, Mr. Congressman, I appreciate 
that.
  I told him, Just call me ``Patrick.'' You don't have to call me ``Mr. 
Congressman.''
  We have meetings in Washington on the Armed Services Committee. I am 
also honored to serve on the Intelligence Committee. We also have 
meetings of the Blue Dog Democrats. We talk about these things at the 
Blue Dog Democrat meetings. We care with every fiber of our being for 
these troops.
  Mr. Speaker, I was at a meeting with the Blue Dogs at 5:00, or 1700 
as they say in military time. I passed around a sheet talking about how 
can we take care of our troops.
  When troops get orders to deploy, sometimes they don't have a lot of 
time. Sometimes they have rent. Well, they don't need to have an 
apartment if they are in Iraq or Afghanistan for 15 months, so they 
want to break their lease. There is Federal law, there is the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, so they can break their lease. It is a 
commonsense bill that this Congress passed. There is a bill that says 
expand that now to allow our troops who have cell phones, a 1-year or 
2-year program, why not allow the troops to break their cell phone 
contracts. Their cell phones are from Verizon or Cingular, and they 
don't have cell phones over in Baghdad or in Afghanistan. That 
commonsense approach says let them break their cell phone lease under 
Federal law. That is the type of backing that they need.
  To get back to the Iraq Accountability Act, Mr. Speaker, you look at 
what this Iraq Accountability Act has done to shed light on fraud, 
waste and abuse. The report that I just mentioned about the 190,000 
weapons is a disgrace when you talk about accountability.
  Last month, there were a total of 73 criminal investigations related 
to contract fraud in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan; 73 criminal 
investigations. That is 73 investigations on contracts totaling $5 
billion. That is billion with a ``b,'' Mr. Speaker. The charges so far 
identify more than $15 million in bribes. If there is ever a time for a 
new direction in Iraq, now is the time, Mr. Speaker. If there is ever a 
time for accountability and oversight, now is the time, Mr. Speaker.
  And as long as my fellow Blue Dogs and I are here in the House's 
great body, we will keep calling, we will keep fighting for what 
American families and what American troops deserve, and that is 
civilian leadership that is just as smart and savvy as those troops on 
the ground.
  I want to thank again the gentleman from Arkansas, Mr. Ross, for 
allowing me to speak. I appreciate your leadership role with the Blue 
Dog Democrats.
  When I was home, Mr. Speaker, and I was talking to those families in 
Bucks County, many told me, Mr. Congressman, I like that are you a Blue 
Dog and that you are standing up for fiscal responsibility and you 
stand up for change. I like the fact that you stand up for a new 
direction. I like the fact that you talk about that $9 trillion in debt 
that we have right now and how it is immoral to pass it on to our kids, 
because it is. I like the fact that the Blue Dogs stand up and say you 
have a pay-as-you-go system, not a pass-the-buck system. That is what 
happened before. That's leadership.
  And, Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman from Arkansas, to my colleague 
from the great State of New York, it is a great honor to be among your 
midst as a fellow Blue Dog.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his insight as 
someone who has served in the war in Iraq as a captain in the Army, and 
we appreciate his service here in the Congress and his insight into 
helping us draft proposals like H.R. 97 to restore accountability and 
common sense on how your tax money is being spent in Iraq and ensuring 
that it is directed towards our brave men and woman in uniform and 
protecting them and keeping them safe.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for a new direction in Iraq, and that is what 
this Blue Dog hour has been about this evening. I thank my colleagues 
who have joined me.
  If you have any comments or questions, you can e-mail us at 
BlueD[email protected]. That is BlueD[email protected]. We stand here 
on behalf of 47 fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog members that 
make up the Blue Dog Coalition.

                          ____________________