[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[House]
[Page 34001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FUNDING OUR TROOPS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, the Pentagon said last week that layoff 
notices for Army employees could start going out the middle of this 
month.
  ``Merry Christmas, here's your pink slip'' may sound like a harsh way 
to greet an employee this time of year, but that is what the Defense 
Department will be forced to do with civilian employees and contractors 
in the run-up to Christmas.
  Because congressional leaders refuse to negotiate with the President 
to fund our troops in the field, the Department of Defense has been 
forced to cut spending in other areas in order to pay the bills for 
continued operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even as our troops have 
made major security gains in Iraq, the Democrat majority wishes to pull 
the plug by cutting the funding to support their mission.
  I believe we're sending exactly the wrong message to the men and 
women who serve in our Armed Forces: not funding our troops. Each day 
that goes by without such a bill is a failure of the leadership of this 
dysfunctional Congress.

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