[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 DEMOCRATS' IRAQ SUPPLEMENTAL BILL DENIES PRESIDENT AN OPEN COMMITMENT 
                            AND BLANK CHECK

  (Mr. BUTTERFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, this week Congress will vote on an 
emergency war spending conference report that fully funds the war and 
our troops, and yet the President is still threatening a veto. The 
President's problem with the bill is Congress' strong message that we 
are not going to allow the war to go on indefinitely.
  In years past, the President has dealt with Republican-controlled 
Congresses, which simply rubber-stamped his requests, despite countless 
mistakes in Iraq. Last November, the American people demanded a change.
  Last month the Congress acted and brought a serious change to our 
policy in Iraq. We demanded that the Iraqi Government meet the 
political and economic benchmarks that the President himself outlined 
earlier this year and set timelines for withdrawal if those benchmarks 
are not met.
  Defense Secretary Gates himself, last week, said that the timelines 
we passed here in Congress and the pressure that our legislation exerts 
on the Iraqi Government is having a positive impact. Our legislation is 
already impacting the events in Iraq. The President should allow this 
to continue by reconsidering his threat to veto the legislation.

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