[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12237-12238]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last night, the House of Representatives 
passed a new Iraq supplemental. So now it is our turn. We have to take 
the next step to pass our version of the bill that will go to 
conference. The House has done their job. We now have to do our job.
  We all know reaching consensus on a new bill to send to the President 
will not be easy. That is what the Republican leader and I were talking 
about right here.
  Passions run high on this issue--very high. But there is new reason 
this week to believe a bipartisan consensus in Iraq is emerging. It is 
what the American people want. A recent poll--in fact, it was from a 
couple days ago--shows 75 percent of Americans favor benchmarks and 60 
percent favor a timetable for reducing combat forces. It is what 
President Bush's own military advisers say we need, including General 
Petraeus, who has said this war cannot be won militarily. It is what 
Democrats have stood for with firm resolve throughout these entire 
negotiations.
  Now, in the last few days, we have seen our Republican colleagues 
move closer to our position. Over the weekend, the House majority 
leader, John Boehner, said:

       By the time we get to September or October, members are 
     going to want to know how well this is working, and if it 
     isn't, what's Plan B.

  That is a timetable. The President has objected to our timetables. He 
vetoed our bill with timetables in it. The Republican leader in the 
House--the No. 1 Republican in the House--has told the President if 
things are not OK in September or October, something else has to 
happen. That is a timetable.
  Senator Lott said:

       This fall we have to see some significant changes on the 
     ground.

  And days ago, Leader McConnell echoed those sentiments as well.
  Meanwhile, on Wednesday a broad coalition of Republican House Members 
expressed their dissent directly to the President. They went to the 
White House, spent an hour and 15 minutes with the President. One of 
them, Tom Davis of Virginia, called it their chance to confront a 
President who, as he put it, is in a bubble.
  In the spirit of bipartisanship, I am inclined to agree with that 
assessment. The President is in a bubble. He is isolated.
  Every day, the ranks of dissatisfied Republicans grow. But I wish my 
Republican colleagues--who now agree that President Bush's open-ended 
commitment has failed--would put some teeth behind their views.
  We have courageous American troops in harm's way every day. We lost 
another Nevadan this week. There may be a State that has lost more than 
the Presiding Officer's State, but I do not know what State that would 
be. The State of Ohio has suffered significantly in the loss of life.
  It is time for action. It is time to change course. It is long past 
due.
  But I would say the shift we are hearing from the Republicans, even 
though a little bit quiet, each day is getting louder and louder and 
louder. It is a welcome shift, and it is very encouraging. It gives me 
hope that in the

[[Page 12238]]

coming days, weeks, and months we will be able to work together with 
good faith and bipartisanship to give our troops and all Americans the 
new course they demand and deserve and the opportunity for our troops 
to come home.
  We are going to do our very best to come up with something we can 
pass here in the Senate, send to the House, and confer, have a 
conference. We will do that to the very best of our ability. But, as I 
indicated earlier, it is not going to be easy.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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