[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10167-10169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           IRAQ SUPPLEMENTAL

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am here to speak on the floor today 
because American lives, American security, and America's future are on 
the line in Iraq. The American people know it. They sent a clear 
message last November. The Iraq Study Group has told us. They gave us 
honest assessments and recommendations to move forward in Iraq.
  Generals have spoken out. General Casey told us in January:

       The longer we in the U.S. Forces continue to bear the main 
     burden of Iraq's security, it

[[Page 10168]]

     lengthens the time that the government of Iraq has to make 
     the hard decisions about reconciliation and dealing with the 
     militias.

  General Abizaid told us in November:

       I do not believe that more American troops right now is the 
     solution to the problem.

  Colin Powell has talked about it. He said:

       I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into 
     Baghdad for the purpose of suppressing this communitarian 
     violence, this civil war, will work.

  The numbers speak for themselves. More than 3,300 Americans have died 
in Iraq and nearly 25,000 have been wounded. A few days ago, 9 more 
U.S. soldiers were killed in a bombing, and 20 more U.S. troops and an 
Iraqi soldier were injured.
  Americans have heard the military experts, they have heard the Iraq 
Study Group, they have seen the sacrifice of our troops and their 
families, and now they are demanding a change in course. But, sadly, 
the President refuses to listen. He is ignoring the military experts, 
the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and the American people.
  It is clear the Iraqi civil war requires a political solution, not a 
military solution. Our servicemembers have done everything we have 
asked them to do. They deserve better than to be stuck in the middle of 
a civil war.
  Four years into this war--starting the fifth year--the President is 
still tossing around heated rhetoric while trying to convince the 
American people that Democrats do not support the troops. I reject that 
rhetoric, and I call on him to put politics aside and begin to put our 
troops first. We can all agree, it is long past time for that.
  Now is the time to show our troops we support them with the funds and 
supplies and armor they need but that we also support them enough to 
change direction when the current course simply is not working.
  Now is the time to show our troops we respect our military, and we 
refuse to decimate the world's finest fighting forces through extended 
deployments, limited time at home, and the destruction of valuable 
equipment in another country's civil war.
  Now is the time to show our troops their lives mean more than an 
open-ended commitment to an Iraqi Government that has repeatedly failed 
to meet deadlines and take ownership for their own future.
  Now is the time to show our troops we understand that America needs 
them, not in the middle of an Iraqi civil war but in places such as 
Afghanistan, where al-Qaida is growing in strength.
  And now is the time to show our troops their Government is about more 
than promises and rhetoric. We must stand together to say we will meet 
the needs of our injured servicemembers and our veterans who have paid 
the price for this administration's failure to plan for the war and its 
aftermath.
  Congress is moving forward now to pass a supplemental bill that shows 
our troops they come first. All the President has to do is sign on the 
dotted line. Unfortunately, because the Bush administration failed to 
plan and failed to understand the centuries' old tensions in this 
region, we now, more than ever, need a political and diplomatic 
solution in Iraq.
  As the past 2 months have brutally revealed, the escalation is not 
working. The civil war has intensified and our troops are stuck in the 
middle of sectarian violence and find themselves the target of 
insurgent attacks. It is hard to argue that the situation on the 
ground--both for our troops and for Iraqis--has gotten better.
  Last Wednesday, the New York Times reported:

       Bombs ripped through the streets of Baghdad killing at 
     least 171 people in the deadliest day in the capital since 
     the American-led security plan for the city took effect two 
     months ago.

  Two days ago, the Boston Globe noted:

       The deaths raised to 85 the number of U.S. servicemembers 
     who died in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for 
     American troops since December, when 112 died.

  According to the Associated Press:

       Outside the capital, 1,504 civilians were killed between 
     Feb. 14 and Thursday, April 12 compared with 1,009 deaths 
     during the two previous months.

  It is time to transition our mission in Iraq from that of policing a 
civil war. Our troops are trained for combat, not for refereeing 
warring factions with a long and complex history. It is time to focus 
on strengthening America's security and bringing our troops home.
  Transitioning the mission should center on three realistic and 
achievable goals for our military: Training and equipping Iraqi 
security forces, conducting targeted counterterrorism operations, and 
protecting our remaining U.S. forces and interests in Iraq.
  The second part of the equation is a surge in diplomatic and 
political efforts. This is a necessary task the President has refused 
to undertake. America alone does not own the keys to Iraq's future. 
Iraq's neighbors must help as well. They should play a larger role in 
training the Iraqi military and police and in reconstruction. They 
should play a larger role in convincing Iraqis they must make 
compromises and take responsibility for their future. Without a 
targeted and serious regional effort to stabilize Iraq, the country's 
future will remain in question.
  The cause of continued insecurity and destruction has not been our 
military, but, rather, the political and policy failures of a President 
who has hid in his bunker and stubbornly refused to pursue a strategy 
needed to bring stability to Iraq.
  As we all saw vividly in November, the American people have lost 
patience with the President's go-it-alone strategy. It is simply 
wrongheaded to continue on with an open-ended commitment to an Iraqi 
Government that has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines and to take 
responsibility for their own country.
  The supplemental bill we will send to the White House requires the 
President to send a report to Congress by July 1 of this year 
certifying whether Iraq is meeting responsible benchmarks. The American 
people deserve to know if the sacrifices made by our troops are being 
met by the Iraqi Government.
  Specifically, the American people deserve to know if the Iraqi 
Government has given U.S. and Iraqi security forces the authority to 
pursue all extremists, including the Sunni insurgents and the Shia 
militias.
  The American people deserve to know if Iraq is making substantial 
progress in delivering necessary Iraqi security forces for Baghdad and 
protecting those forces from political interference.
  We deserve to know if Iraq is intensifying efforts to build balanced 
security forces throughout Iraq that provide evenhanded security for 
all Iraqis.
  Specifically, we deserve to know if the Iraqi Government is making 
substantial progress in meeting reconciliation initiatives, including 
enacting laws to equitably share oil revenue among all Iraqi regions, 
whether they are adopting laws for provincial and local elections, 
whether they are reforming their laws banning members of the Baath 
party from public service, and whether they are shouldering the cost of 
reconstruction through allocation of oil revenue.
  Those are reasonable benchmarks Americans should require of Iraq if 
we are asking our young Americans to put their lives on the line. That 
is why Congress is about to send this supplemental request to the White 
House with language that begins the phased redeployment of our troops 
no later than October 1 of this year, with a goal of removing all 
combat forces by April 1, 2008--with the exception of those who will 
remain to train and equip Iraqi security forces, to continue targeted 
counterterrorist operations, and to protect our remaining U.S. forces.
  From sending our troops to war without critical armor, to housing 
them in squalor at Walter Reid, to leaving them to fend for themselves 
when they need mental health care, the Bush administration has utterly 
failed our servicemembers, our veterans, and their families.
  As we rightfully change the mission of our troops in Iraq and prepare 
to redeploy, we cannot--and we must not--forget about our veterans when 
they come home. Nowhere is that failure more apparent than in the 
handling of

[[Page 10169]]

what will one day become known as the signature wound of this war: 
traumatic brain injury. It is now estimated that 10 percent of Iraq and 
Afghanistan veterans have suffered traumatic brain injury during their 
service in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the biggest problems with 
traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is that it is an unseen wound. Often, 
because of that, it is misdiagnosed. In too many cases today, unless a 
servicemember is involved in an IED incident and is bleeding, he or she 
is not documented as even having been involved in that explosion, if he 
was 100 yards away or 200 yards away. So as a result, the actual number 
of OIF and OEF veterans with TBI could be even much higher than the 
statistics today even indicate.
  Now, I know many of us are familiar with ABC News anchor Bob 
Woodruff's experience with traumatic brain injury. I personally was 
moved by Bob's struggle with his injury. His family had unrelenting 
hope for his recovery, and their ongoing work toward triumph was so 
apparent throughout this horrible situation. Bob Woodruff has seen a 
tremendous recovery from his horrendous injury, but I fear the care he 
received has not been duplicated today for thousands of other troops 
with similar injuries when they have returned home.
  He detailed for us several cases of soldiers who were suffering from 
injuries, not unlike his own, and the lack of care they received when 
they left flagship care centers for our smaller, local hospitals.
  Our wounded warriors and our veterans have faced massive budget 
shortfalls. They have faced horribly long waiting lines and sickening 
hospital conditions. But this administration continues to be reactive 
to this problem to this day. It is time for that posture to end. Taking 
care of our troops, taking care of our veterans, taking care of their 
families has to be a part of the cost of this war.
  When it comes to caring for our troops and our veterans, this 
administration--from the White House, to the Pentagon, to the 
Department of Veterans Affairs--has consistently waited until 
conditions reached a critical stage before taking action to remedy 
them.
  In this supplemental conference report we are sending to the 
President, Congress is saying: Enough is enough. We are finally 
providing more funding for our troops than even the President himself 
has sought. The bill we are sending includes over $100 billion for the 
Department of Defense, which I should note is nearly $4 billion more 
than the President's request for our troops. We provide critical 
funding for vehicles that will help our troops be protected from these 
horrible IEDs.
  This military has also been brought to the brink by a President who 
has, time and again, extended their tours and called upon our National 
Guard and Reserve to join combat brigades in Iraq. This supplemental 
bill will rebuild our overburdened military and calls for an end to the 
deployment of nonbattle-ready troops. It provides $1.8 billion for the 
VA to provide first class health care to our wounded and $2.5 billion 
for military health care.
  For the last 4 years, this administration has conducted this war with 
little regard for the tremendous strains it is placing on the VA, on 
our veterans, and their families. Today, we are putting an end to their 
neglect. The days of ignoring our wounded warriors as a cost of this 
war are over.
  As the President acknowledged in a speech last September, our 
terrorist enemies are more dangerous than ever. On that point, the 
President is correct. Unfortunately, he fails to acknowledge that 
terrorists are rapidly growing and gathering strength outside of Iraq, 
and he fails to acknowledge that having our forces in the middle of a 
civil war is making Iraq sap our ability to combat terrorism in other 
parts of the globe. It is clear that terrorist cells with heavy anti-
American bents are gaining power and continue to grow in places such as 
Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we turn a blind eye to those anti-American 
cells and focus only on Iraq, the consequences for America's future 
security are dire. By redeploying our forces, we can reconcentrate on 
the war on terror. We can devote our resources toward pursuing those 
who would do America harm.
  As we deal with the situation overseas, we cannot neglect our needs 
at home. That is why the supplemental bill provides $1.8 billion for 
veterans health care; $20 million to repair Walter Reed Hospital; $6.9 
billion to repair the gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina, long past 
due; $650 million for the SCHIP children's health program; and $2.25 
billion to secure our homeland, a vital need--securing our ports and 
borders, transit security, screening for explosives at airports--vital 
needs that are included in this bill.
  Somehow the White House is claiming that all of those investments are 
unnecessary. I think most Americans would disagree. I know most 
Americans want us to take care of our citizens at home.
  In recent weeks we have heard some false claims about the 
supplemental that I want to take a moment to correct. First of all, we 
are moving this bill to the President at a rapid pace. In fact, we are 
moving even faster than the Republicans did last year and the year 
before that.
  Secondly, we are doing our job in meeting the needs at home. Anyone 
who thinks that domestic needs should be ignored in an emergency 
supplemental ought to look at the last four supplementals, all written 
and passed by a Republican Congress signed by a Republican President.
  The emergency supplementals approved by Republican Congresses in 
2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 included funding for domestic needs. 
Interestingly, during those years, the President never complained about 
domestic funding in supplementals.
  As our Government spends billions in Iraq, I believe it is our job to 
also meet our needs at home. If the President vetoes this bill, he is 
going to have to explain to the American people why he is delaying 
funding to our troops overseas, why he is blocking funding to care for 
our injured troops, why he is ignoring the will of military experts, 
the Iraq Study Group, and the American people. He is going to have to 
explain why he is ignoring the needs of our hard-hit communities that 
are struggling to recover and why he is standing in the way of security 
needs at home that are so critical.
  Congress has agreed to a supplemental bill that shows our troops they 
come first. The President has repeatedly reminded Congress that he is 
the Commander in Chief and he is the one with the authority to make the 
military and policy decisions that impact not only our troops and 
veterans but the well-being of our gulf coast, our borders, and the 
future of America's security. The President is alone in his bunker. If 
he truly cares about getting this funding to our troops as soon as 
possible and providing them with the supplies and the health care and 
direction they deserve, he will quickly sign this bipartisan 
supplemental bill.
  Mr. President, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is just a short distance from 
Capitol Hill, but if the President vetoes this sensible legislation to 
give our troops a successful path forward in Iraq, then he is miles 
away from the will of the American people whom he serves.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wisconsin is 
recognized. Only 1 minute remains on the Democratic side.

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