[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9565]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FUNDING FOR THE IRAQ WAR

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the President said, ``If 
Congress fails to pass a bill that I can sign by mid-April, the Army 
will be forced to consider cutting back on equipment, equipment repair 
and quality of life initiatives for our Guard and Reserve forces.''
  Today, though, the Pentagon reports it has enough money to pay for 
the war in Iraq through June. So despite the doomsday reports from the 
White House, our military leaders are confident we have sufficient 
funding while we debate a new direction for the war in Iraq.
  Then the President said that the timeline for redeployment that was 
part of our funding would undermine our troops and send the wrong 
signal to the enemy. Yesterday, Secretary Gates said our debate here in 
Congress has had a positive impact by ``communicating to the Iraqis 
that this is not an open-ended commitment.''
  Mr. Speaker, this is not the time for scoring political points or 
posturing and positioning. The President should know that after 4 years 
of chaos and bloodshed, the American people sent Democrats to 
Washington to bring a new direction to our Iraq policy.
  Today, thousands of American troops find themselves in the middle of 
someone else's civil war, backing an Iraqi government that has yet to 
stand up for itself.
  Democrats are calling for a new direction in Iraq.

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