[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3736-3737]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         BRING OUR TROOPS HOME

  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, tomorrow this House will begin a debate on 
Iraq. This is the first of a series of debates that we must have on the 
House floor. It is a resolution. It reflects President Bush's plan to 
escalate the occupation of Iraq, and it will be a clean up or down 
vote.
  I commend the Democratic leadership for providing a time for every 
single Member of this body to come to the floor and have their say. If 
you support escalation, you vote ``yes.'' If not, you vote ``no.'' I 
will support the legislation as a very important first step in this 
debate.
  But after that, Congress must go on record in opposition of the war 
in general. First we have to go on record in opposition of escalation, 
and then we must change our course and lay out a plan to bring our 
troops home. There have been many, many ideas, both inside and outside 
of Congress, to plan for an end to this occupation of Iraq.
  Few are as comprehensive as H.R. 508, the Bring the Troops Home and 
Iraq Sovereignty Act. I introduced this bill last month and have 34, 35 
cosponsors today, with more interest expressed every single day.
  H.R. 508 will end the occupation of Iraq within 6 months of passage. 
It will accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi military and 
security forces while preparing to bring our troops and contractors out 
of Iraq safely.
  It will commit to working with the international community to assist 
the Iraqis in rebuilding and in reconciliation if they agree and want 
us to be there. H.R. 508 will fully fund the health care commitment to 
our returning veterans. Additionally, the bill revokes the President's 
Iraq war powers, prevents the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq, 
and returns the oil rights to the Iraqi people.
  We owe it to our brave men and brave women in uniform and to the 
Iraqi people to bring our troops home now. Let us be honest, the Iraqis 
don't want us there. They view us as an occupying force. They want to 
be strengthening their security forces, and they want to establish a 
reliable and dependable infrastructure and provide for their most basic 
needs like sanitation, health care, and education.
  We can assist them; but in the end, Iraq must belong to the Iraqi 
people. Having learned from our past, we will never turn our backs on 
the returning troops, those who have been put in an unimaginable 
position. They have seen death; they have seen destruction up close, in 
a way many of us will never understand. They are returning with scars, 
both visible and invisible. The least we can do is fulfill our 
commitment to them by fully funding the medical services they have been 
promised. This is not a gift we are giving them. This is a right, this 
is an entitlement.

[[Page 3737]]

  So I rise tonight, and I will rise again during the three days of 
debate to signal my support for the upcoming resolution as a very 
important first step: my support for the troops and their promised 
benefits, my support for the American people, who want our troops home.

                          ____________________