[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13095]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    THE PRESIDENT SHOULD HAVE SUPPORT OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING WAR

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, in 2002 this House gave the President a 
blank check to go to war. He has gone to war on a very, very shaky 
basis in Iraq.
  Last night, with 10 minutes' debate, we extended the presidential 
blank check to Iran.
  Every morning as I come into my office, I pass the pictures of 75 
members of the military from Washington State who have died. How many 
more are going to die in the war in Iran? We need more than 10 minutes 
to debate that.
  When this country went to war in Vietnam and we extended the war to 
bombing Cambodia, there was no debate on this floor about that issue. 
There should be debate, and the President should have a vote of the 
Congress. They left off the roof with that escalation in Vietnam. 
They'll do it again if they don't have the support of the Congress.

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