[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7079]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       MANDATE FUNDING TO BRING OUR TROOPS HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Last October, on the 10th anniversary of the war in 
Afghanistan, I visited Arlington West--a moving memorial to Americans 
who have died in that war.
  Every Sunday, on the sands of Santa Monica Beach, volunteers have put 
up a cross for every soldier who has lost his life in that war. As the 
number of dead has grown, they have only been able to put up one cross 
for every 10 soldiers. 1,843 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in 
Afghanistan. We've had 17,000 casualties.
  The defense bill today, in its current form, slows down the effort to 
withdraw our troops when we should be speeding it up. That's why I have 
cosponsored legislation with Barbara Lee that would mandate that any 
Afghanistan funding be used only to bring our troops home. Without such 
a change, I cannot vote for this bill. I don't want to go back to 
Arlington West only to see them adding more crosses.

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