[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[House]
[Pages 28578-28579]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               OCCUPATION IN IRAQ SOAKING UP U.S. DOLLARS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, for the past 5 years, the administration 
has underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act to the tune of more than 
$50 billion. This has robbed millions of children of the education they 
will need to succeed in the 21st century, and it is robbing America of 
the brain power we need to stay competitive in the global economy.
  Those of us who believe it's a bad idea to shortchange our kids and 
our Nation begged the administration to fully fund the No Child Left 
Behind Act, but our pleas were ignored. That is one of the reasons I 
was so outraged last week when the White House requested $46 billion in 
supplemental funding for its occupation of Iraq. That $46 billion, 
Madam Speaker, is almost identical to the amount that the 
administration has underfunded No Child Left Behind. In fact, the 
administration announced its request at a press conference. In that one 
short press conference, they asked for virtually the same amount for 
Iraq that it has been denying to our Nation's schools for nearly 6 
years.
  And while the administration has demanded that every school in 
America show adequate yearly progress on its learning benchmarks or 
they will be punished, punished financially for the most part, it has 
allowed the Iraqi Government to show virtually no progress at all when 
it comes to meeting its benchmarks for peace.
  And education is not the only crying need that is being ignored. The 
opportunity costs of the occupation are actually incalculable. The 
occupation is soaking up dollars we need to meet so many of our 
domestic challenges. If we really want America to be secure, we must 
invest in child care, we must invest in health care, sustainable 
energy, the environment, law enforcement, community and economic 
development, medical research, real homeland security, et cetera, et 
cetera, et cetera.
  But the administration believes that policing a centuries-old civil 
war in Iraq trumps all other needs. The American people do not agree 
with this administration's priorities. They want action, they want real 
solutions to our domestic problems, and they want to

[[Page 28579]]

fight a real war on terrorism, not the phony war on terrorism the 
administration is fighting in Iraq.
  When the President signed the No Child Left Behind Act, Madam 
Speaker, he said it was the most important piece of legislation most of 
us will ever work on. The education of our children is far more 
important to the future of our country than an endless and 
counterproductive occupation of another country.
  That is why Congress must finally stand up to the administration and 
say no, no to supplemental funding that would bring our total spending 
in Iraq this fiscal year alone to $160 billion. Madam Speaker, that's 
over $13 billion a month, or nearly $450 million per day.
  Almost exactly a year ago, the American people sent us to Congress to 
end the occupation of Iraq. It's time that we do it. We must use our 
power of the purse to fully fund the safe, orderly and responsible 
redeployment of all of our troops out of Iraq, and that includes the 
withdrawal of all of our military contractors as well.
  As if one occupation army weren't enough, these independent 
contractors comprise a second occupation army that is angering the 
Iraqi people and actually making life much harder for our very own 
troops.
  Madam Speaker, we can't afford to keep throwing money into the 
bottomless pit of Iraq. That appears to be what our leaders in the 
White House want us to do. But their policy is bankrupting all of us 
politically, economically, and morally. It is time that we come to our 
senses; it is time to end this madness.

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