[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11000]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       IRAQ TIMETABLE AND FUNDING

  (Mr. BRALEY of Iowa asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, even after losing 3,200 American 
lives and spending billions of taxpayer dollars since declaring 
``Mission Accomplished'' 4 years ago, the Bush administration continues 
to demand an open-ended commitment of American troops in Iraq. 
Yesterday President Bush refused to change the course when he vetoed a 
bill that was supported by Congress, retired military generals and the 
American people.
  This Democratic Congress put forth a plan for a responsible end to 
the war consistent with our national security needs.
  Even Secretary of Defense Gates himself reiterated last month that 
congressional debate was helpful. He delivered the message to the Iraqi 
Government that the clock is ticking on U.S. operations there. 
President Bush's veto yesterday lets the Iraqi Government off the hook 
and shows the President plans to keep our troops there indefinitely.
  Mr. Speaker, the days of rubber-stamping the President's war 
proposals are long over. The President is going to have to learn to 
work with the Democratic leadership on this Congress so that we can 
find a way out of Iraq soon, and so we can provide our troops with the 
resources they need.

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