[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 32181]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     NO BLANK CHECK FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ WITHOUT INPUT FROM CONGRESS

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, while our troops continue to perform 
heroically in Iraq, President Bush's troop surge has not lived up to 
its promise of producing essential political reconciliation.
  As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I helped lead the 
opposition to our involvement in Iraq in the first place because I felt 
that we should let the weapons inspectors do their jobs before rushing 
into a preemptive military strike.
  After our Iraq policy failed, and the rationale for going to war was 
invalidated due to the absence of weapons of mass destruction, we're 
told that the so-called military surge would help bring about a 
political solution in Iraq. That has not happened. Senior military 
commanders have indicated that the inability of the Iraqi Government to 
achieve political reconciliation is a greater threat to our troops than 
the insurgency in Iraq.
  Many of us here in Congress believe that the Iraqi Government will 
not begin to address the political reconciliation until it is clear 
that our troops are coming home.
  Last month, House Democrats once again passed a bill that provided 
our troops with $50 billion in funding and a strategic plan that brings 
them home. We must bring our troops home. We demand a change in the 
direction in Iraq.

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