[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14901]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 ATTACHING IRRELEVANT SPENDING TO THE IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN SUPPLEMENTAL

  (Mr. WITTMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, the current debate over the Iraq and 
Afghanistan supplemental is a perfect example of what frustrates 
Americans about Washington. The folks in my district and across the 
country want Congress to pass a clean funding bill for the troops, 
plain and simple. They certainly don't want us playing politics with a 
bill to fund men and women currently in harm's way. Yet that is exactly 
what some in Congress are trying to do, using the oldest trick in the 
book by attaching billions of dollars in barely relevant spending to an 
emergency war funding bill. But it's not just the American people that 
we're frustrating with these political games. How must Congress look in 
the eyes of those that we have sent to fight on our behalf? This body 
should not attempt to tie troop funding to controversial programs. 
Furthermore, we must refrain from the temptation to squander limited 
funds on objectives unrelated to the combat efforts in Afghanistan and 
Iraq. How do we claim to be responsible stewards of the taxpayers' 
money when Congress can't pass an emergency supplemental for our combat 
forces without loading it up like a Christmas tree?

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