[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8375-8376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE McGOVERN-JONES AMENDMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, like most of my colleagues, I had the 
opportunity to speak to a number of veteran groups on Memorial Day in 
my district. As always, I was very humbled when I stand before those 
who have fought for this Nation and the families whose loved ones did 
not come back from wars.
  I would like the House to know that when I talked about the McGovern-
Jones amendment to get our troops out of Afghanistan, the statement 
received very strong applause, showing the very strong support of the 
veterans of the Third District for getting our troops home from 
Afghanistan. After my comments, I had many of these veterans come up 
individually who wanted to talk to me, expressing their support and 
telling me that they agree with McGovern and myself.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the 26 Republicans who voted in 
favor of the McGovern-Jones amendment last week. I believe we came 
within 11 votes of passage. Mr. McGovern and I will continue to fight 
until there's a definite plan to bring our troops home before 2015.
  Bin Laden is gone, and there is zero al Qaeda presence in 
Afghanistan. We have done our job.
  In closing, I would like to quote Leslie Gelb from his May 9 article 
in The Wall Street Journal: ``Afghanistan is no longer a war about 
vital American security interests. It is about the failure of America's 
political elites to face two plain facts: The al Qaeda terrorist threat 
is no longer centered in that ancient battleground, and the battle 
against the Taliban is mainly for Afghans themselves.''
  Mr. Speaker, I have with me, as I have many times--the true cost of 
war is those who die, and those who lose their arms and legs, and those 
who are paralyzed and blind for the rest of their life. Beside me is a 
very, very frank picture of war. It is an Air Force honor guard at 
Dover Air Force Base with the officer in charge saluting the transfer 
case that is covered with the American flag.
  I would say, Mr. Speaker, to both parties, how many more have to die 
in the next 4 or 5 years before we as a Nation and we as a Congress 
wake up to the fact that Karzai is a corrupt leader? He has a corrupt 
government. We are spending $8.2 billion a month to prop him up. And 
yet, Mr. Speaker, on this floor of this House, I've been part of many, 
many debates where people

[[Page 8376]]

are saying, well, we've got to cut the senior citizens, we can't keep 
their programs going; we've got to cut the children so they can't get 
milk in the morning at school.
  We make sure that Karzai gets his $8.2 billion every month in 
Afghanistan for what we can't even account for.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. McGovern and I will again this summer have an 
amendment on the floor to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. And I 
will say to the moms, the dads, the wives, and the husbands who have 
lost loved ones in Afghanistan, you have won the war. The war is over. 
Bin Laden is dead, and al Qaeda does not exist in Afghanistan anymore.
  So, Mr. Speaker, before I close, as I do always on the floor, as I 
look at this poster with the flag-draped coffin, I will ask God to 
please bless our men and women in uniform. I will ask God to please 
bless the families of our men and women in uniform. I will ask God, in 
His loving arms, to hold the families who have given a child dying for 
freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I will ask God to please bless the 
House and Senate, that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for 
His people and this great Nation. I will ask God to please give wisdom, 
strength, and courage to President Obama, that he will do what is right 
in the eyes of God for this Nation.
  And I will say three times, God please, God please, God please 
continue to bless America.

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