[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10868-10869]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          CONGRESSWOMAN WOOLSEY'S 400TH SPECIAL ORDER ON IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today, first of all, to pay tribute to 
a true champion for peace and justice, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. Her 
leadership is reflected in the fact that today marks the 400th occasion 
on which she has spoken on the House floor against the ongoing war in 
Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.
  Today is really a landmark not only because of Congresswoman 
Woolsey's outstanding commitment to ending the wars we are engaged in, 
but also because she is my good friend. And she will be retiring at the 
end of this term. I was truly honored to be by her side when she 
announced her retirement after 20 years of bold and visionary service 
in this House and serving her district. It was a bittersweet occasion. 
But I know she will do wonderful things in the next chapter of her 
life.
  Congresswoman Woolsey should really be commended for being an 
unparalleled leader and a guiding light, a truly guiding light in 
Congress for peace, for SMART Security, and for justice.
  Madam Speaker, I would also like to thank Congresswoman Woolsey for 
her unwavering leadership and commitment to end the unsustainable wars 
in Iraq and Afghanistan. She introduced the very first resolution 
calling for us to bring our young brave men and women home from Iraq. I 
believe she pulled together then, what, 130 votes maybe for that 
resolution? And I want to remind you, this was a time when this body 
was, quite frankly, very timid in its opposition to the war.

                              {time}  1040

  She broke that silence, and I have to thank you for that very 
historic moment, Congresswoman Woolsey. Now we must ensure that the 
45,000 United States troops and our military contractors who remain in 
Iraq leave Iraq at the end of this year, as stated in our Nation's 
Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq.
  Congresswoman Woolsey's fight to end these wars is directly tied to, 
really, the impasse that we are facing over our Nation's debt limit, 
which we are discussing today. She has tirelessly reminded this body, 
time and time again, that in order to pay for these wars, the United 
States has taken on incredible debt. This reckless spending and 
resulting debt are now being used by many in a dangerous political game 
which threatens the economic future of our country.
  Allowing our government to default on this Nation's legal obligations 
would threaten every American's economic security, it would devastate 
people's retirement savings, and it would cripple an already struggling 
housing market.
  The truth is, and Congresswoman Woolsey always reminds us of this, is 
that raising the debt ceiling should be really a very simple thing. 
This should be a straightforward vote to allow the United States 
Treasury to fund all of the programs and obligations of the entire 
government that are already in the law, very simple.
  Republicans in the House have already passed a $9 trillion increase 
in the national debt. And now, instead of working to fund the programs 
that they already voted to authorize, Republicans are playing a high-
stakes game of chicken with the safety and security of every single 
American so that they can protect the massive tax breaks for the super 
rich, Big Oil and, of course, hedge funds. They have taken an 
incredibly irresponsible position that protecting tax breaks for the 
super rich and Wall Street is more important than protecting the United 
States Government and Main Street from defaulting on our debt.
  And, again, Congresswoman Woolsey has been a leader in protecting 
Social Security, and I want to remind all of us today that Social 
Security and Medicare did not create the national debt, and that is 
really unconscionable to ask our most vulnerable communities to be the 
ones who must bear the burden of balancing our budget.
  It was the Republicans who told us that the financial markets would 
regulate themselves. In return, what did we get? The financial crisis.

[[Page 10869]]

  It's the Republican politicians who keep telling us that tax cuts pay 
for themselves and create jobs. In return, we have a huge deficit and 
an unacceptable unemployment rate. And it was Republicans who told us 
that we could fight two wars while giving more tax breaks to their rich 
friends.
  Of course, Congresswoman Woolsey for years and years and years had 
reminded us that, first of all, the wars did not need to be fought, 
but, secondly, they were morally and fiscally wrong. In return, now we 
will end up paying a cost of nearly $6 trillion by borrowing the money 
and adding this to the tally of our Nation's debt.
  Now, unfortunately, Republicans are blaming their debts on the most 
vulnerable Americans. Even now they continue to drive our Nation closer 
and closer to the brink of disaster just to protect massive tax breaks 
for billionaires.
  So once again, in closing, I am proud to stand here with 
Congresswoman Woolsey as a member of the triad. She is working to end 
our Nation's wars and will continue to do so to promote national 
security and to protect our seniors and our children, our working 
families and the most vulnerable Americans.
  Thank you. We owe you, Congresswoman Woolsey, a debt of gratitude.

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