[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13377]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, this past Friday was a monumental day in the 
House of Representatives as we finally had a debate on the merits of 
sending U.S. troops back into the conflict in Iraq.
  Again, I thank the House leadership and the Foreign Affairs Committee 
leadership for working with Representatives McGovern, Lee, and myself 
to bring H. Con. Res. 105 to the floor, and I thank the 370 Members who 
voted in favor of this resolution.
  H. Con. Res. 105 states very simply:

       The President shall not deploy or maintain United States 
     Armed Forces in a sustained combat role in Iraq without 
     specific statutory authorization for such use enacted after 
     the date of the adoption of this concurrent resolution.

  Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that we will have other debates on the 
Constitution and the role of Congress in deploying our military, 
including a debate on repealing both the 2001 and 2002 AUMF.
  There is no decision more important than a vote to commit a young man 
or woman to war to potentially give their life for our country. That is 
one reason that I am opposed to President Obama's decision to allow 
U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan. While he says that we are 
withdrawing our troops, the fact remains that 32,800 members of the 
American military remain in harm's way in Afghanistan at this very 
moment.
  We have all read and heard the reports from Special Inspector General 
for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko, which details rampant 
waste, fraud, and abuse of American resources.
  We in Congress continue to propose cuts to domestic programs that 
assist our veterans, children, and senior citizens, yet there are no 
cuts to the money that is being funneled overseas to prop up a corrupt 
Afghan regime.
  One would think that we would learn from history. No amount of blood 
or treasure will change Afghanistan. It is what it is, like it or not. 
It is what it is.
  As I close, I want to mention three members of the Army who died on 
July 25 as a result of their service in Afghanistan. I also want to 
thank ABC News for faithfully honoring our fallen servicemembers. The 
names of the three fallen Army members are Staff Sergeant Benjamin 
Prange, PFC Keith Williams, and PFC Donnell Hamilton.
  Why, you may ask, do I continue to speak against the war in 
Afghanistan? Because American servicemembers are still dying.
  Mr. Speaker, I have a poster beside me on the floor today that 
probably gives a better example of war than even I do with my words. It 
is a little girl holding the hand of her mom as the United States Army 
is getting ready to start the caisson. The little girl is wondering why 
her father is in the casket draped by an American flag.
  These are the costs of war. We must always carefully consider where 
we are going to send our young men and women overseas to fight and give 
their life.
  Mr. Speaker, with that, I will close by asking God to please bless 
our troops, God to please bless the families, and for God to continue 
to bless America.

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