[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[April 14, 2007]
[Pages 414-415]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
April 14, 2007

    Good morning. This week, I extended an invitation to congressional 
leaders of both parties to come to the White House so we can discuss the 
emergency war funding our troops are waiting for. When we meet on 
Wednesday, I look forward to hearing how Members of Congress plan to 
meet their responsibilities and provide our troops with the funding they 
need.
    Supporting our troops is a solemn responsibility of all elected 
officials in Washington, DC. So 68 days ago, I sent Congress an 
emergency war spending bill that would provide the vital funds needed 
for our troops on the frontlines. But instead of approving this funding, 
Democrats in Congress have spent the past 68 days pushing legislation 
that would undercut our troops. They passed bills that would impose 
restrictions on our military commanders and set an arbitrary date for 
withdrawal from Iraq, giving our enemies the victory they desperately 
want.
    The Democrats' bills also spend billions of dollars on domestic 
projects that have nothing to do with the war, such as funding for tours 
of the United States Capitol and for peanut storage. And after passing 
these unacceptable bills in the House and Senate, Democratic leaders 
then chose to leave town without sending any legislation to my desk.
    The Senate came back to Washington earlier this week, but the House 
is still on its Easter recess. Meanwhile, our troops are waiting for the 
funds. And to cover the shortfall, our military may be forced to 
consider what Army General Pete Schoomaker has called ``increasingly draconian measures.''
    In the next few days, our military leaders will notify Congress that 
they will be forced to transfer $1.6 billion from other military 
accounts to make up for the gaps caused by Congress's failure to fund 
our troops in the field. That means our military will

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have to take money from personnel accounts so they can continue to fund 
U.S. Army operations in Iraq and elsewhere.
    This $1.6 billion in transfer comes on top of another $1.7 billion 
in transfers that our military leaders notified Congress about last 
month. In March, Congress was told that the military would need to take 
money from personnel accounts, weapons, and communications systems, so 
we can continue to fund programs that protect our troops from improvised 
explosive devices and send hundreds of mine-resistant vehicles to the 
frontlines. These actions are only the beginning, and the longer 
Congress delays, the worse the impact on the men and women of the Armed 
Forces will be.
    I recognize that Republicans and Democrats in Washington have 
differences over the best course in Iraq, and we should vigorously 
debate those differences. But our troops should not be trapped in the 
middle. They have been waiting for this money long enough. Congress must 
now work quickly and pass a clean bill that funds our troops, without 
artificial timelines for withdrawal, without handcuffing our generals on 
the ground, and without extraneous domestic spending.
    When you live in Washington, it's easy to get caught up in the 
complexities of legislative procedure. But for the American people, this 
is not a complicated debate. When Americans went to the polls last 
November, they did not vote for politicians to substitute their judgment 
for the judgment of our commanders on the ground. And they certainly did 
not vote to make peanut storage projects part of the funding for our 
troops.
    The American people voted for change in Iraq, and that is exactly 
what our new commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, is working to achieve. And they expect their elected 
leaders to support our men and women on the frontlines, so they have 
every resource they need to complete their mission.
    We owe it to the American people and to our troops and their 
families to deliver our full support. I will continue working with 
Republicans and responsible Democrats to do just that. I call on Members 
of Congress to put partisanship on hold, resolve their differences, and 
send me a clean bill that gets our troops the funds they need.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:35 a.m. on April 13 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 14. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
April 13, but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In the 
address, the President referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.