Bruce Braley

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chairman, this amendment is a simple, commonsense amendment that requires the President to submit a report to Congress on the long-term costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On June 28 of this year, Chairman Murtha sent a Dear Colleague letter out talking about this very problem and the need to make sure that we are being given accurate information. We have now been engaged in the war in Afghanistan for almost 7 years and the war in Iraq for over 5 years, and the Bush administration has yet to submit a long-term estimate for the costs of the war. The administration has not submitted a cost estimate, despite a statutory reporting requirement for fiscal years 2006 through 2011 that was required in the fiscal year 2005 defense appropriation budget. As someone who took great interest in the Iraq Study Group report and the massive commitment to the future of Iraq in both blood and treasure, I looked forward to the publication of the Independent Review Group report that was issued in the wake of the Walter Reed Building 18 fiasco. One of the things that was recognized in that report was the fact that the Nation must recognize that there is a moral, human and budgetary cost of the war. When we engage in armed conflict, we must recognize those costs and be prepared to execute on those obligations. The Independent Review Group's report, chaired by General Togo West, also identified the four signature wounds of this war: Traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, increased survival of severe burns, and traumatic amputations. Mr. Chairman, despite the fact that the Bush administration has not provided the required cost reporting, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has published a study talking about these exact costs, not just the long-term medical costs, but the cost of rebuilding our military in the book ``The $3 Trillion War.'' One of the things we know is that young men who are severely injured, many of them age 19 or 20, are going to have permanent injuries from these signature wounds, many of them over a life expectancy that may stretch out 55 or 60 years. We also know that there are life-care plans used by medical economists and prosthetic needs analysis that are used to determine what those long-term costs are. The American people, the American taxpayers, deserve to know what these costs will be. We have already spent $700 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the people of this country deserve to know from the Department of Defense what these long-term costs are going to be over the lifetime of these wounded warriors. For that reason I have asked that this amendment be included as part of the defense authorization bill to address the long-term and hidden costs of the war. And those are reflected in the testimony of Lieutenant General Chip Rodman at the Independent Review Group hearing that we held in oversight who said, we recognize the cost is immense, and it is our moral obligation to address those issues. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 362, I was unaware of the two-minute vote and just missed recording my vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' Amendment No. 31 Offered by Mr. McGovern

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chairman, I have great respect for my friend and colleague from California, and I would just like to point out that this is already a subject that has been considered by the Department of Defense. When we had the hearings in association with Walter Reed and the independent review group, top medical Army officers admitted that they have the capacity using the numbers that are available to make the types of projections that are being considered by this bill. The two scenarios that we are talking about are based upon illustrative scenarios that the CBO has already used and estimated the long-term costs of this war. The third estimate allows the administration to base their cost estimates on their own parameters, including the operational costs, the reconstruction costs, the costs to government contractors, private military security firms, and providing lifetime health care and disability benefits for veterans. We know this is done on a daily basis in the private sector, because these types of projections are made for people suffering these very same signature wounds who are injured in automobile collisions and then taken care of by Federal dollars.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chairman, at this time I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch).

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I offer an amendment.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 320 and 321, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on No. 320 and ``nay'' on No. 321. Appointment of Conferees

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding results achieved by the Wapsie Valley Warriors volleyball team at the State volleyball tournament in Cedar Rapids this past fall. Wapsie Valley and Holy Trinity were tied at two games apiece going into the final match. With the game tied at 12, Wapsie Valley got a big hit from Carly Wehling and a tip by Eryca Hingtgen to get a match point at 14-12. Holy Trinity fought off the match point with a spike, but Wehling finished out the game with her 13th and final kill of the match. The third ranked Wapsie Valley (39-1) won the first two games and withstood a Holy Trinity comeback to earn a 27-25, 26-24, 22-25, 20-25, 15-13 victory and their second straight Class 1A State volleyball championship. I congratulate the Warriors on their hard fought victory. Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Warrior volleyball team, both on and off the court, and I am proud to serve them in Congress.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding results achieved by the NU High School Boys Basketball team at the Iowa State Boys Basketball tournament in Des Moines this past winter. The last quarter would see five lead changes with the last lead change coming with two minutes left in the game. Travis Ellerbroek hit an NBA range three-pointer to take the lead for the final time and win the class 1A State boys basketball title. I congratulate the Panthers for winning the Iowa Class 1A State championship. This exciting victory is the first for Coach Paul Elser who wrapped up his first season with the Panthers. Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Panther boys basketball team, both on and off court, and I am proud to serve them in Congress.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding results achieved by the Wapsie Valley Warriors football team at the State Football Tournament in Cedar Falls this past fall. Falling short in last year's championship game, the Warriors were determined to not let history repeat itself once again. The top ranked Warriors (13-0) would not disappoint, pushing to a 22-14 win over the Lawton-Bronson Eagles. For twelve Warrior seniors, it didn't get much better than that. I congratulate the Warriors for winning the Iowa class A state championship. This hard fought journey to the championship title gives Wapsie its fourth state title in history and its first since 1997. It is especially rewarding with the added pressure of a number one ranking from the season's outset. Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Warrior football team, both on and off the field, and I am proud to serve them in Congress.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding results achieved by the Don Bosco wrestling team at the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament in Des Moines this past winter. Don Bosco rolled to its third straight Class 1A title with a stunning 81 point win over New London/WMU. This win set a new class record with 175.5 points. Also celebrating his third straight win was Bart Reiter, a junior, who became a three-time state champion and joins only 13 other three-time winners this decade. I congratulate Don Bosco for winning the Iowa Class 1A state championship. The last team to win three in a row was Lisbon from 1988- 1990. Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Don Bosco wrestling team, both on and off the mat, and I am proud to serve them in Congress.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding results achieved by the Waverly-Shell Rock wrestling team at the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament in Des Moines this past winter. Waverly-Shell Rock took all the drama out of the Class 3A team finals by winning the State title a day early. Needing just one win to wrap up the title, Waverly-Shell Rock's 112-pound freshman, Cody Caldwell, pinned his opponent in 4 minutes and 45 seconds. The Go-Hawks went on to win three more. Waverly-Shell Rock wrapped up the State Tournament by breaking the State record for team points in a State Tournament dating back to 2001 and became the first team to break the 200-point mark in a State meet. I congratulate Waverly-Shell Rock for winning the Iowa Class 3A State championship. Waverly-Shell Rock's last title came in 2005. Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Waverly-Shell Rock wrestling team, both on and off the mat, and I am proud to serve them in Congress.

Mr. BRALEY

Mr. BRALEY. of Iowa. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 261 and had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, the price of gasoline is now averaging over $3.60 a gallon. House Democrats are working to provide some relief, but we face stiff opposition from the White House and congressional Republicans who have opposed every single energy bill that we have brought to the floor this year. When it comes to energy, the GOP doesn't want to work with us. They simply want to say ``no.'' When Democrats voted to repeal unnecessary subsidies to big oil companies so we could instead invest in clean, renewable energy, Republicans overwhelmingly voted ``no.'' It didn't matter that the legislation would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lower prices at the pump and create new, green jobs. They still preferred the status quo. When Democrats passed the Energy Price Gouging Act to punish those who take advantage of these record prices by increasing them even further, Republicans overwhelmingly voted ``no.'' Madam Speaker, Democrats understand the hardship that families are facing every time they go to the gas station, and that is why we've passed six bills that would provide real relief to consumers. It's time Republicans realized that ``no'' is not an energy strategy.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Deere and Company for placing 4th among more than 1,000 companies in the annual ``100 Best Corporate Citizens'' list, compiled by CRO magazine. I'm proud to represent John Deere facilities located in Waterloo, Dubuque, and the Quad Cities in my district. John Deere has a long history in Iowa. Iowa farmers were using John Deere plows to break the prairie in 1837 before Iowa even became a State. In 1918, John Deere purchased the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company which transformed the company into a national leader for farm machine production. In fact, the ``Waterloo Boy'' tractor is displayed at the Smithsonian. In the 1940s, Deere expanded by building an industrial equipment factory in Dubuque. John Deere is the world's leading manufacturer of agricultural and forestry equipment and today employs around 47,000 people worldwide, and nearly 10,000 of them are in my district. I'm proud to have such a John Deere presence in my district, and I'm pleased that the company scored high in the areas of climate change, human rights, and philanthropy. I commend Deere and Company for all it has done in Iowa and the country. Go green or go home.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 224, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Chairman, on rollcall Nos. 213 and 214, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' Amendment No. 15 Offered by Mr. Foster

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5919, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act. It is essential to reauthorize this program before it expires on October 1, 2008 and to implement the updates to this program included in the bill. As the Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology, I understand the importance of this program to small businesses who want to turn their raw ideas into innovative solutions. I want to thank Small Business Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez and Ranking Member Chabot for their work on this legislation. I am continually impressed by the ability of the Small Business Committee to work in a bipartisan manner on legislation that benefits U.S. small businesses. Based on their track record, it is no surprise this bill passed the Small Business Full Committee by a vote of 22-0. The SBIR Program provides grants to help small businesses through the critical initial stages of product development. The SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act will address national security priorities and economic development. It will also help in the development of life- saving medical technologies, therapies, and products. Small Businesses are a primary source of innovation and they can keep us on the forefront of technological advances. I am pleased this bill includes language that will increase participation of small businesses from rural areas, and from minority- and women-owned businesses. Increased participation will also increase competition. It is important to ensure that taxpayer money is being used to fund the best opportunities for advances in technology. Funding the research we're trying to create is a key objective of this program. I am also pleased this bill increases the size of maximum awards for the SBIR Program. The current limits have not been raised in 16 years. The SBIR Program is a critical source of funding for early stage research and development and the awards need to be realistic for developments in science and technology. The SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act will provide small businesses with the funding and guidance they need to succeed. These small businesses are a big part of the solution for helping us emerge from the difficult economic conditions we face today. It will also ensure these businesses remain competitive in the global environment they must now compete in. We must give these businesses the support they need to grow. I encourage my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, American families and businesses are paying a heavy price for the Bush administration's failure to enact a comprehensive energy strategy. Families are now paying an all-time record high of $3.50 for regular gasoline, and that's more than double the cost when President Bush took office in 2001. Last year Democrats worked in a bipartisan fashion to pass the Energy Independence and Security Act, which is expected to save American families between $700 and $1,000 per year at the pump. But there's still much more that needs to be done. Last month the House passed legislation that would take billions in taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil and instead give them to renewable energy companies who are investing in the energy solutions of the future. This makes sense. After all, the big five oil companies continue to reap record profits. Why do they need handouts from this government? Mr. Speaker, if President Bush and my friends across the aisle are serious about providing some relief to the American consumer, they should reconsider their opposition to this legislation.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend and my hero, Mark Smith, and to congratulate Mark on his retirement as President of the Iowa Federation of Labor. Over the past 34 years, Mark has been a fierce advocate for Iowa's working families. He started as an instructor at the University of Iowa Labor Center in 1974; was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Iowa Fed in 1979, and served in that position until he was elected President of the Iowa Federation of Labor in 1997. Mark has dedicated his life to the cause of working men and women in Iowa. Protecting the rights of workers has been a long and difficult struggle, and no one has given more time and energy to the cause than Mark Smith. Mark is living proof that one person can make an enormous difference in the lives of thousands of individuals. Many of the people he helped never knew what he did for them and never had a chance to thank him personally. I stand here today on their behalf, because I want Mark to know that nameless people here are honoring his lifetime of heroic efforts. His lifetime of service leaves a legacy that challenges future generations of labor leaders to continue his efforts to further the cause of working families. Mark may have retired from office, but he will never retire from his real passion, speaking out against injustice and pushing people to do more to take care of each other.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings had during the recess be printed in the Congressional Record and that all Members and former Members who spoke during the recess have the privilege of revising and extending their remarks.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Well, as our good friend and colleague from Arkansas Marion Berry would say, That dog don't hunt. This is a classic example of what we've seen over and over and over again from procurement decisions that are being made that have an adverse effect on American taxpayers. And I think if you go back to the beginning when they set up the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, that it was set up with the intent of using Iraqi assets to rebuild the country and to shift the dependency from the government or from the United States back to the Iraqi people through the oil revenues that we're talking about. And we've seen in committee hearings here photographs of Ford trucks full of pallets that had $250 million in cash per pallet that were part of a $2.1 billion one-day transfer of cash to the Iraqi government, the largest single transfer of cash in U.S. history. And that was part of a transfer of cash that led to $9 billion of missing money that was supposed to be part of the initial reconstruction of Iraq. Then the idea was to use those Iraqi oil revenues to pick up the responsibility and complete the work of rebuilding Iraq. And instead, we know that one of the big challenges the Iraqi government has faced is coming to some agreement on the division of oil revenues, and that's been a major obstacle to rebuilding the country and bringing about national reconciliation. And who is paying the tab for that? U.S. taxpayers. That is why the issue we're talking about is so important. Because when U.S. taxpayers are bearing the burden of this war, it has an enormous ripple effect throughout our economy because one of the things we know is that when we have these ever-growing trade deficits with countries like China, which is our principal creditor, it makes it very difficult to keep the economy in this country rolling along providing the types of goods and services at a reasonable rate; and that has an enormous impact throughout the economy. And I'm sure as we get further into this, we will have some real examples of the enormous impact on various sectors of the U.S. economy from the burden that we are all responsible for. But I have to tell you, the idea that you mentioned about shifting the burden in H. Res. 111, I can tell you this is an enormously popular bipartisan idea. In fact, last weekend in my home State of Iowa, the Des Moines Register interviewed every member of the Iowa congressional delegation, Republicans, Democrats, Senators, Representatives, and everyone was unanimous in their sentiment that is exactly the one you expressed in your resolution. It is time for the Iraqis to pick up the tab for their own well-being and let the American taxpayers focus on the enormous economic problems we're dealing with at home: The bailout of Bear Stearns, the subprime mortgage crisis, all of the things that you work on every day in the Financial Services Committee. And because of that unique role that you play here in Congress, I think you have some special insights that probably would be very enlightening to the people watching tonight and the people of this country about what you're dealing with on a daily basis that's being impacted by this ongoing financial commitment.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. One of the things that we face every year is something called an emergency supplemental, which is a request from the President for billions of dollars of additional funding to fund the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, I would just ask my colleagues, and I'll pose this first to you, Mr. Hall. Where I come from in Iowa, an emergency is something that is unexpected and unanticipated that you can't plan for. But I am at a loss to understand why, after being in Iraq longer than we were engaged in the Civil War, after being in Iraq longer than we were engaged in World War II, we continue to face emergency supplemental funding requests for these wars, when the Department of Defense and the Pentagon and the President have to know how much they anticipate when they send their budget down for us to consider.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Well, I thank my friend for the opportunity, and also the opportunity to spend time with two of my good friends tonight talking about very, very important issues. We've focused primarily on the impact of the war in Iraq and the cost of the war on the domestic economy here in the United States. But when I look at my friend from New York and I look at my friend from Florida, two States that really symbolize a growing connection between our domestic economy and the global economy, one of the things we know is a lot of the issues we've talked about tonight all come back to something we all are charged to do when we swore to represent this country, and that is to provide security. Now that may be security from harm, from foreign interests. It may be economic security. But it all comes together. And we know that many developing countries, the addiction to energy needs is what keeps them suppressed in reaching greater levels of economic stability, and that's why oil and the pursuit of oil has played such an important role in the last 100 years in the world economy. By exporting our knowledge about renewable energy, about new emerging economies that can be shared and applied in the global economy, I think we can give a great gift to the American people in the return of a safer world, a more secure world, and a world where we have the ability to be able to predict with greater certainty what the current economic trends are going to be and set economic policies, with the assistance of the administration and the Federal Reserve, to address these crises before they become the full-blown crises that we have been talking about on the floor tonight. So I look forward to working with my friends and my other colleagues here on both sides of the aisle in trying to provide some guidance and direction as we get our hands on this very important subject.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I'd like to thank my friend from Florida and also my friend from New York. We did have a very enlightening trip to Nogales, Arizona, and the Border Patrol and Customs agents that we spoke to were all, I think, doing a fantastic job of trying to deal with a very difficult situation. But one of the things that trip emphasized to me is we often talk in this body about the cost of providing border security, the cost of providing national and international security. And what we know is that the Pentagon traditionally publishes reports that provide this body that we serve in their estimate of the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. And we've seen those figures. We've viewed some of those figures with skepticism. And we've talked about what the published costs of this war are. But what we don't talk enough about is what we talked about in repeated hearings in the wake of the Walter Reed fiasco. And I was fortunate enough to be serving on the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, when we had that first hearing out at Walter Reed. We talked to the highest ranking Army and Department of Defense medical officers. We had a follow-up hearing after the independent review group chaired by General Togo West presented its recommendations for the wounded warriors project. And I repeatedly pressed the top ranking Army medical officers on that very question; what are the hidden costs of the war that the American people aren't hearing about? And I'm glad my friend from New York brought this up, because there is so much going on beneath the surface that the American public doesn't hear about. If you take the average life expectancy of a 19-year-old male, which is representative of who we're sending to Iraq right now, you will find that under the published U.S. life tables, those young men have a life expectancy of approximately 55 years. Now, when they come back in unprecedented percentages with life- threatening injuries that we will be responsible for caring for the rest of their lives, there is an enormous economic cost that we aren't hearing about. And so I look forward to the opportunity to discuss with my colleagues tonight what some of those hidden costs are, and what the American people need to be thinking about as we look at the overall economic impact, not just throughout our economy, but on the long-term burden we're placing on our children and our grandchildren to provide these deserving veterans with the best possible medical care that we can. Before I get to that though, I want to talk a little bit about what we're giving up right now, through the amount of funding that we are committing every year to the conflict in Iraq because, just for Fiscal Year 2007, we know that this war is costing, under the most conservative estimate, $137.6 billion. So the American people may wonder, well, what would that actually provide if it wasn't going to Iraq? Well, for 40 million people in this country, that would provide comprehensive health care. Now, think about that. We know that right now there are nearly 47 million Americans without health insurance. So that cost alone would almost completely eliminate that gap. We know that that cost that we're spending this year in Iraq would hire 2.2 million elementary school teachers, provide affordable housing for over a million different housing units, and provide 142 million homes in this country with renewable electricity. And to break that down into a smaller level, I represent the First District of Iowa. The taxpayers I represent in the First District have paid, to date, $770 million in one congressional district alone, as their share of the cost of this war. What would that mean back in the First District of Iowa? Well, it would hire almost 19,000 public safety officers. It would hire almost 17,000 music and art teachers. It would provide 126,000 full tuition university scholarships at public universities, and build 86 brand new elementary schools. So when we talk about the actual financial burden that we are facing every day because of the rising cost of this war, it is enormous. And Congressman Klein, maybe you could talk a little bit about what you've heard from the people you represent in a different part of the country, where there are different needs, but also very similar problems that taxpayers you represent are facing.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Would the gentleman yield for a question?