[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 162]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1430

 THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE SHOULD LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE: BRING OUR TROOPS HOME 
                            FROM AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, this week as the 112th Congress begins, 
there is a lot of talk from the Republicans about ending business as 
usual and doing things differently than before. But for all the 
supposed change afoot, there's one critical matter on which the new 
majority is fully embracing the status quo--the war in Afghanistan that 
is now nearly a decade old. This war has been going on so long that 55 
percent of my colleagues weren't here when it started.
  We've heard plenty about changing the House rules, about changing the 
way we conduct the Nation's business, about changing the relationship 
between the government and the people. We've even heard about how a new 
law that will provide affordable health care to all Americans is 
somehow the greatest threat to the Republic and the constitutional 
order.
  But on the subject of war--a disastrous war that has taken the lives 
of more than 1,400 Americans in Afghanistan and cost taxpayers some 
$366 billion--the new congressional majority is interested in no change 
whatsoever.
  In his speech yesterday, Speaker Boehner spoke of giving government 
back to the people. In his speech he talked about honesty, 
accountability, and responsiveness. Look, if he meant that, he should 
be listening to the 60 percent of people who believe the war in 
Afghanistan is not worth fighting. A clear majority of Americans 
realize what so many in Washington refuse to acknowledge--that this war 
represents an epic failure, a national embarrassment, and a moral 
blight on our Nation.
  On this matter of life and death, this issue that will determine how 
history judges the United States, most of the Representatives in the 
House, in the people's House at that, have told the people that their 
point of view doesn't matter, that we know better than what they know. 
As usual, the people are way ahead of their policymakers, just as they 
were 4 years ago on Iraq. They may hear reassuring platitudes from 
Washington about how we're on track, but they can see the news for 
themselves. They can see that the security situation is in decline, 
that casualties are up, that the Taliban is strong, and that Afghan 
governance is ineffective at the very best and corrupt at the worst.
  So I can't think of anything more patronizing than to tell them not 
to worry their pretty little heads about the war, that us grown-ups in 
Washington have it all taken care of. We're not bowing before them, 
Madam Speaker; we're sticking our finger in their eyes.
  Do we truly believe it's about them and not us? Do we truly believe 
that we are caretakers whose only legitimacy derives from our employers 
who elected us? If that's true, then it's time for the Representatives 
of the people's House to start listening to the people.
  With that, it's time to bring our troops home.

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