Phil Gingrey

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank my friend from New York for his support of this resolution. And again, I want to thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. Dingell, for allowing this to be brought to the floor under suspension and for his support, and for the support of the majority staff, and also to my distinguished colleague, the ranking member of Energy and Commerce, Representative Barton, and the minority staff. I urge all of my colleagues to support the resolution, as Representative Towns just said. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, today the residents of Floyd County, Georgia are saying goodbye to a native son who died while bravely serving his Nation in Iraq. Sergeant William Elliot Allmon was killed in action on April 12, 2008 outside of Baghdad, after his vehicle encountered an IED, an improvised explosive device. Last night, I joined Sergeant Will Allmon's family, friends, and supporters at his visitation to honor the life of this brave soldier. He was remembered as a man of the highest character whose receipt of two Army commendation medals, an Army achievement medal, a combat action badge are testament to the supreme sense of duty he felt to his country and to his brothers in arms, his comrades. Most importantly, he was remembered as a first-born son, a father, and grandson whose contagious smile brought a sense of warmth to those in his presence. Born and raised in Floyd County, Georgia, Will joined the National Guard at age 17 before going full active duty in 2003. After serving one tour in Iraq, and even being wounded, Sergeant Allmon selflessly decided to return to the war zone for a second tour, from which his unit will return home this summer. His whole mission in Iraq centered on keeping his fellow soldiers safe, risking his life for the sake of others. Sergeant Allmon served as a combat engineer for the Army, where he specialized in building protective structures for friendly forces and destroying protective structures for the enemy. I think his mom put it best when she said, ``He was a leader who was looked up to by other soldiers. He was a loyal soldier who went beyond the call of duty.'' Sergeant Allmon leaves behind his wife, Jennifer; his 3-year-old son, Damien; an 11-year-old stepson, Jason Luke Johnson; his mother, Donna Fortune; his father, William Allmon; his grandfather, Leonard Allmon; and grandparents, Billy and Joann Phillips. Mr. Speaker, my prayers go out to his family and my deepest gratitude goes out to Sergeant Allmon for his selfless sacrifice for this Nation, and I ask all Members, and I know they will, join me in honoring the distinguished memory of Sergeant William Allmon.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to our Nation's Capital as part of his official papal visit to the United States. During this 6-day trip to Washington, D.C. and New York City, the Holy Father, who serves as a wondrous example of faith and leadership, will help Catholics and all Christians renew their faith by delivering mass to tens of thousands of people. I was honored to have the opportunity to attend mass with the Holy Father at the new Nationals Stadium here in D.C. this morning. And, Madam Speaker, it was truly a blessed event. Despite his relatively short tenure, Pope Benedict XVI has emerged as a vocal and effective leader for Catholics throughout the world. Over the past 3 years, His Holiness has stressed the need for a return to fundamental Christian values in response to what many see as the world's sloping trend toward secularism. As Pope, he has focused on the importance and sanctity of human life, especially the life of the unborn, an issue that's very important to me, both as a member of the Catholic Church and as a Member of Congress. But every American, regardless of party affiliation or religious belief can find hope in his message of freedom and justice for all people. Madam Speaker, as a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marietta, Georgia, I humbly welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the United States as he continues to spread his message of faith, love and service in Christ.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I rise on National Health Care Decisions Day in support of health organizations all over the country who are educating the public about what it means to have an advance directive, or a living will. Mr. Speaker, advance directives allow individuals to maintain control of their health care decisions even at the end of their lives, regardless of the circumstances that they may face at that time. It is crucial for individuals to understand the options that presently exist so that they may convey their end-of-life medical wishes accurately and effectively. Accordingly, I have introduced a resolution, H. Con. Res 323, supporting the goals of the National Health Care Decisions Day, which has garnered broad bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. Mr. Speaker, this bill does not express what those end-of-life medical decisions should be, rather, it simply encourages Americans to educate themselves about these very difficult issues and to talk about them with their loved ones. I want to thank the more than 100 Members of Congress who have already joined me in cosponsoring this resolution. And of course I look forward to it being considered on the floor very soon. And I encourage all Americans to set aside time to have what may very well be one of the most important conversations a family can have.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule and the underlying bill, H.R. 5719. As we are all aware, today is April 15, and once again Americans from all across this land and from all walks of life must fork over their hard- earned income to the IRS. So to ease the burden on the taxpayer, the House Democratic leadership, under a closed rule, no opportunity for amendment, brings up this so-called Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act. However, Mr. Speaker, anyone who takes a good, hard look at the language in the bill, they might not think today is April 15 but rather April Fools Day. In fact, this legislation should really be entitled the ``Tax Evader Assistance and Simplification Act.'' For example, this legislation will provide assistance to those who just don't feel like paying their taxes by eliminating a successful debt collection program that my friend from Texas just mentioned. Instead of lowering taxes for hardworking Americans of over half a billion dollars, this majority would rather give a tax break to these tax evaders to the tune, Mr. Speaker, of about $600 million. And, unfortunately, to pay for these tax-evader protections, this bill targets what? Health Savings Accounts and the millions of Americans who are trying to take control of their own health care decisions. This legislation will cost those Americans who use HSAs, as my children do, nearly $500 million. It effectively works to destroy market-based solutions in order to force government-run health care down the throats of the American people. Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier that this bill makes today seem more like April Fools Day. Well, that moniker already belongs to April 1; so perhaps we can just call today ``Thank a Congressional Democrat Day.'' I would say to the American people if they are happy that this Congress today will basically give away $600 million to tax evaders, thank a congressional Democrat. If they are happy with the fact that this Congress has done nothing to repeal the deplorable death tax, thank a congressional Democrat. If they are happy with the fact that this Congress has refused time after time to extend the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 when our economy needs it most, thank a congressional Democrat. If they are happy with the fact this Congress has for 2 straight years passed budgets that included the largest tax increase in United States history, thank a congressional Democrat. And if they look forward to the prospect of writing an even bigger check to the IRS next year than they did this year, well, you guessed it, they can thank a congressional Democrat. Mr. Speaker, I again ask all my colleagues, Democrat and Republican, to oppose this rule so this bill can be amended to provide real assistance to the American taxpayer. But if this rule passes, I call upon them to oppose the underlying ``Tax Evader Protection and Simplification Act.''

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. I thank my colleague from Louisiana, my fellow physician, for yielding. It's great to be here with two fine Texans, my classmate Judge Carter and also Mr. Conaway, and talk about this important issue, because this is a very important week. Representative Conaway and I both serve on the House Armed Services Committee, and my colleagues, Madam Speaker, as you, of course, know, you are a member of the committee as well, that we heard from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker here on the House side. The Foreign Affairs Committee did as well yesterday, the same thing on the Senate side. It was also just unbelievable the negative approach and attitude that so many members of our committee, this body, the other body, the majority party, had toward them in September, saying, you know, this surge is too little too late, the war is lost, it's a hopeless cause, there's nothing that you can do militarily, and, besides, there are all these benchmarks that the Iraqi Government has not met, and it's a failed state, we need to bring the troops home. Well, thank God we did not bring the troops home at that time. Here we are, 10 months later, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker returned and reported to the Congress. Almost every, indeed, every measure, every metric that you look at, they presented to us in chart form. Dr. Boustany has one of those charts with him tonight in regard to the decrease in civilian deaths. He may want to talk about that later, but there is no question that in regard to security, tremendous, tremendous progress has been made. We are getting on top of this thing, and General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker both said that. There were questions from Members, particularly on the Democratic side of the aisle, on the House Armed Services Committee, to suggest that while there was progress made militarily, there was none, no progress made politically. These points were addressed, these questions to Ambassador Crocker, about, well, how about all these benchmarks that we asked for back in September? Well, you know, the fact is the political surge, my colleagues, has been just about as successful as the military surge, and the progress that we have made, and Congressman Conaway talked about that just a little bit earlier in regard to de-Ba'athification, and he explained what is meant by that, and I know my colleagues understand that, to bring these people back in, the Sunnis that didn't have jobs, they had no way of surviving other than maybe getting paid to do bad things to our troops and to their Shia countrymen. It was important that the Iraqi Government do that. The Iraqi Government scheduled provincial elections, which are now scheduled for October of this year, that the Iraqi Government do something in regard to oil sharing to actually have legislation in place that spells out that just because the oil in the country of Iraq happens to be located in maybe a Shia area or a Kurdish area, that the Sunnis still, as fellow Iraqis, should have a share in that revenue. Well, de facto, they are doing that. Ambassador Crocker basically told us that of the 18 benchmarks, 12 of them have now been met, and that of the additional 6, there is significant progress on 4. Anyone that suggests that there is not progress made politically just has to have a willing suspension of disbelief, as someone in the other body quoted, I think, last year and actually said that, too. I wonder what she would say today, based on these statistics, to ignore these metrics, would require the willing suspension of brain power. It is clear as the nose on your face, but yet certain people refuse to believe it. What distresses me too now is those Members who want us to come home are using a different argument. They are saying not only that we've spent too much money but also making this statement, and if my colleague will bear with me for a couple of more minutes, they are making the statement that our troops are tired, they have been there too long, the equipment is wearing out and that, God forbid, there may be another conflict that's just going to break out somewhere in the world, which does occur, I guess, on average, maybe every 5 years. They are saying that for that reason, totally ignoring what success we have achieved on the ground, that we really have victory almost in the palm of our hands. It's not there yet, it's fragile. We all admit that. But let's bring them home and prepare them for the next conflict. Well, my colleagues, they may be, these troops that Judge Carter, Mr. Conaway and Dr. Boustany talked about, these personal anecdotes that they gave tonight, in talking about the enthusiasm, the morale and the patriotism of these troops, if you bring them back home when they are just on the cusp of victory, having left, then, 4,000 of their colleagues dead, men and women, and probably 25,000 severely wounded, they come home without a victory, like Judge Carter says, with a white flag rather than Old Glory, I don't care how much you rest them, I don't care how much you re-equip them, I don't care how much you give them, more manpower or reset them, when you send them to this next contingency, I am going to ask them how hard they are going to fight. What's their morale going to be like then? I think that's what this is all about. I think that's what the American people need to understand and that's what our colleagues in this body need to understand. We cannot let public opinion polls and political pressure, because of an upcoming election, drive the decisions that are so important to the safety and security and the well-being of this country. I think it's clear, it was very clear to me. I had this very question written out that I wanted to ask General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. Unfortunately, as my colleagues know, if you are down on the lower row, Madam Speaker knows that, a lot of times they don't get to you before the clock runs out. I did submit this for the Record. I would like to know the answer to that question, I think the answer will be just as exactly as I expect. We can't worry about the next battle, we have got to win this one first. I wanted to make those points to my colleagues. At this point I will yield back to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. GINGREY. If the gentleman would yield just for a second, just to follow up on what Judge Carter said, yes, this rally he was talking about was over on the Senate side in the park. John McCain, of course, was there and got such a round of applause and appreciation for his stance, his service, his patriotism, his service, his suffering during the Vietnam war. I stood on the dais with my fellow Members in a bipartisan way, there were Democrats there as well. I felt real proud. I looked at these young veterans for freedom, just looking at their faces, one of them in the back had a sign, and the sign said ``General Petraeus, he is General Hooray Us,'' General Hooray Us is a take on what the New York Times did last year when General Petraeus came in anticipation of his testimony, ran that article. Of course, the New York Times didn't run the article, but it printed it. I think MoveOn.org or one of these organizations ran the article, half page, full page that said, ``General Petraeus or General Betray Us,'' a sad point in our history. God bless these veterans for freedom.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I thank you. And it's indeed an honor to be here tonight to talk with my colleagues about something that's going on in the world today that is of huge import. And no, I'm not talking about who was the victor in the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament. I'm not here to talk to my colleagues about who might be the winner this year of the American Idol contest, as we get closer and closer and that draws the interest of so many of television viewers throughout the country. What I'm talking about tonight, Madam Speaker, is probably the most important thing that this country has on its plate in a long, long time, and that is the situation in the Middle East and what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and how important that conflict is, not just to this country and its citizens, but the region in the Middle East and, indeed, the entire world, Madam Speaker, as we continue to wage, as we have for the last 5\1/2\ years, this battle, this war against global terrorism. And ground zero, Madam Speaker, make no mistake about it, ground zero is in Iraq. Today our commander there, of the multinational force Iraq, General David Petraeus, and the United States Ambassador, Ambassador to Iraq, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, are here in Washington, D.C. to testify before both the United States Senate and in this chamber, the United States House of Representatives, to the Armed Services Committee of both the House and the Senate, and to the Foreign Affairs Committee of both bodies. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker spoke to the Senate today in a full, long day of testimony, and they will be speaking tomorrow to the House committees that I just mentioned. Madam Speaker, along with yourself and many other very fortunate Members of this House of Representatives, I do serve on the Armed Services Committee, and I certainly look forward to hearing from these two great men who have served so well and for so long in a difficult part of the world, and also to have the opportunity to ask some questions, and I'm sure some of them will be tough questions, hard questions for Members of both political bodies, both the majority and the minority. So, as I say, this opportunity tonight, on behalf of my party, the Republican minority, to take this hour and talk about this and try to explain to my colleagues that this is really, we are at a critical point in this war in the Middle East. And we have an opportunity, as I've felt for a long time, as I felt last September when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker first came before the committees and explained that the surge that we enacted in January of 2007 is, indeed, working. And what they said last September is that we need to give it a chance. Indeed, if you made an analogy to a sporting event, you might say that we're in the fourth quarter of a tough game, and at times, indeed, January of 2007 and several months before that, it did appear that we were losing. Members of this body and the other body in leadership positions made some pretty drastic statements, even to the extent of saying the war's lost, it's hopeless, it's a hopeless situation; we need to just pack up and come home. But General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, last September told us, no, that is not the case because we did change courses. We listened to the recommendations of the Iraqi Study Group, co-chaired by a very prominent Democrat and Republican, and we listened very carefully to their recommendations in regard to what needed to be done. And this surge of about 30,000 additional troops has certainly given us the opportunity to regain control and get the upper hand against these Islamic extremists and thugs that could, and would, and are determined not only to destroy Iraq, but to make that country the base of their support. And, yes, of course I'm talking about al Qaeda. Anyone who thinks, Madam Speaker, that Iraq is not ground zero now for al Qaeda simply is ignoring the words of Osama bin Laden. So we are, as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said, we are at a very critical point. And today, the evidence will show, and during this next 45 to 60 minutes of time that me and some of my colleagues on our side of the aisle will have to discuss this, we are going to present the evidence that we are succeeding. We have not won yet, but we're ahead in the fourth quarter, and this is certainly not the time to pull our team off the field and say, well, you know, they're tired, they're stressed; the ranks are thin. It's cost us too much money. And hey, you know, we may have some conflict break out somewhere else in the world, and we have to be ready for that. Maybe 6 months from now, maybe a year from now, maybe 10 years from now. So this approach, strategy of giving up something that we have almost won, after sacrificing 4,000 killed in action, and closer to 20,000 of our brave men and women severely wounded, and an untold number, maybe as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have also given their lives for the cause, it makes no sense to this Member, Madam Speaker, that you would give up at such a critical, crucial time. So what we're going to talk about tonight is really four things. I want to concentrate on four things. And as I say, hopefully, a number of my colleagues will be able to finish up their previous engagements and be here with me on the floor, because these Members are members of the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States House of Representatives. And they, Madam Speaker, know of what they speak. And what we're going to do is break it down, as I say, into four areas of discussion. The first area would be to talk about where are we today? What difference has a year made? Actually, it's a little more than a year. January of 2007. But it took until October, just this past fall, to get all of the additional troops and their support, logistical support into the theater. And you really couldn't expect a lot of change in the battle until we got the full force of those 30,000 additional troops. And you, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues, we all refer to that as the surge. And this was what was recommended by General Petraeus. And so we're going to talk about it, what a difference a year makes, and talk about some of the statistics about overall violence and progress. And the statistics don't lie. You can't put spin on numbers. Numbers are what they are. And I think the numbers, when we finish this special order hour, Madam Speaker, I think my colleagues will agree that by any standard, any parameter, any metric that I talk about, you'd have to say that the surge that was essentially envisioned, planned by General Petraeus, is, indeed, working, maybe even far better than he expected. And the second thing that I'll talk about is, what would victory look like? You know, we're on track. We're not there yet. I think it would be presumptuous, maybe even naive of me to say that we have victory in our grasp, or to suggest that the mission is over, we won. No, we're not there yet. And I think the violence that broke out recently in Basra, the second largest city in Iraq, after Baghdad, the port city where every drop of oil that's taken out of the ground, those 2\1/2\ to 3 million barrels a day from the reserves in the country of Iraq, they flow out of that port at Basra. And there's been a lot of violence there. And, you know, that's some disappointing news after we have had a string of several months of good news and great statistics. But we know from that little wake-up call that there's still a lot of work to be done. Unfortunately, as has been the case in so many conflicts throughout the course of the history of our country, we have had to take the lead so many times. And we have had strong allies, certainly, the Brits have been a great ally of ours throughout history, and continue to be. But the fact is that they're citizens are, they're not as supportive, maybe, from time to time, as we would like for them to be. And it's very difficult for their parliament to keep troops as part of our multinational force. There are some in Basra, but something like a thousand British troops were removed from that critical area, which they have had responsibility for since day one of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A lot of those troops were brought home for political reasons in September of 2007, and it weakened our situation in Basra. We are paying the price today, I think, because of that, but we will talk about these statistics, and we will certainly talk about what victory would look like. The third point that I am going to ask my colleagues to discuss, and I will discuss as well, is the fact that despite these overwhelming statistics and the progress that we've made, there are Members in this body, in this town, the media, voices, that say and continue to say, it is not worth it. It is not worth it. It is not worth the lives that we have sacrificed. It is not worth the money that we've spent. Even achieving victory is not worth it. We need to bring the troops home and spend that money on social welfare programs, on health care for everybody, and maybe a $5,000 tax rebate for every man, woman, and child in the country. There are other things that we could do to spend that $10 billion a month that this war is costing us. Now, I want to talk about that, and we will get into it. And then lastly, and maybe most important tonight, we will talk about the consequences of failure, the consequences of withdrawal, which I am absolutely convinced, if done prematurely, will lead, inevitably, to failure. So we will conclude by talking about the consequences of that. And I think, as my colleagues listen, it will be quite sobering to them as they think in their mind and understand, and this is an intelligent body of 435 great Americans, of people who have served this country well and representing their districts well, but sometimes we need a wake-up call. Sometimes we really, Mr. Speaker, need a wake-up call. And that's why we do these Special Orders on both sides of the aisle. But tonight, I don't think there really is anything more important to talk about than the situation in the Middle East, and I'm proud to have this opportunity, and it's a great honor and a privilege. I see my colleague from Tennessee, one of my classmates who joined with me in the 110th Congress. We were both elected in 2002. We both had served, me in the State of Georgia, she in the State of Tennessee, in the General Assembly; and we are part of a proud group of, I think there were 53 freshman back in 2003 as we got here. And we all, I'm sure, felt like we had the answers to all problems and that we were going to solve all of the country's problems and the world's problems. And I can tell you that we haven't, but we haven't given up, and we will continue to work hard. So it's an honor to be joined now by the gentlewoman from Tennessee, my good friend and outstanding Member, Marsha Blackburn.

Mr. GINGREY. The gentlewoman remembers, I think we all remember, hopefully, that last year the Congress asked for the Iraqi government to meet certain benchmarks. And this is exactly what Representative Blackburn is talking about now in regard to certain laws that their parliament would need to pass. It was sort of like a, you know, we'll only continue to help you if you promise by a date certain that you will have provincial elections, that you will pass a de-Ba'athification law, which essentially meant that those Sunnis, those brave soldiers that we are calling now and referring to as sons of Iraq, and as I say, mostly Sunnis, that they would have an opportunity to be included, maybe to be officially a part of the Iraqi security force. So the government had to get over the fact that there was this rivalry, if you will, between the Shias in the majority and the Sunnis in the minority and the Sunnis led by the brutal dictator. Saddam Hussein had suppressed, oppressed, murdered so many of the Shias for so many years of his reign of terror that it's difficult to all of a sudden reach out an olive branch, but that's what we asked them to do in regard to de-Ba'athification, and I think it's important. And also asking them to share the oil revenue with all parts of the country, not just where the oil is found in the oil-rich Kurdish region but also in the west where there's very little oil and in the south as you have sharing. So that's what the gentlewoman is talking about, and I yield back to her. I just wanted to say that, and I'll make this one last point before I yield back, if the gentlewoman will bear with me just a second. It was said that those benchmarks needed to be met before we would provide additional troops and security and help stabilize things on the ground. But you couldn't have an effective parliament, an effective government until the people on the ground, in the towns, in the villages felt that their new government that they voted for could protect them, that had the ability, had the military strength, had the training that they felt secure and that they could go forward with this government. So the provision of security on the ground was first and foremost, and that's what the surge was all about. I yield back to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.

Mr. GINGREY. And I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee for those very intelligent remarks and understanding of what is going on. She has added so much to this hour. We're getting into the final third of our time. And I'm very pleased that one of my colleagues, a freshman, it's hard to believe, Mr. Speaker, indeed, that he is a freshman because his wisdom is far beyond that. He serves with me on the Armed Services Committee. He will be there tomorrow when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testify to us, to the House Armed Services Committee. At this point, I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Colorado, Representative Doug Lamborn.

Mr. GINGREY. Well, I thank the gentleman from Colorado for being with us. And I hope that if time permits, he can remain with us for some of the additional time. I would be happy to yield to him if you'll just let me know. But, again, he is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and indeed, he knows of what he speaks. Mr. Speaker, and my colleagues, the testimony today that went on with the Senate Armed Services Committee was very telling. We are all busy on this side of the Capitol with committee meetings and other responsibilities, so you don't have the time to sit there glued to the television set and watch every single member ask questions of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. But I was able, on occasion, to hear some of the dialogue and the exchange. And I want to share just a little bit of that, Mr. Speaker, with my colleagues at this time. And this poster, this slide that I have, you can reference what I'm talking about. Senator Lindsey Graham, the senior Senator from the great State of South Carolina where I spent most of my youth, I live and represent Georgia proudly now, but Senator Graham, formerly a Member of this body, the House of Representatives, and now serving so well in the United States Senate, asked this question of General Petraeus: ``Is it fair to say that when Muslims will stand by us and fight against bin Laden, his agents and sympathizers, that we're safer? Is it fair to say that?'' And General Petraeus's response: ``Absolutely.'' It only took one word, my colleagues, ``absolutely,'' we are safer. And Ambassador Crocker responded this morning in a similar manner, and let me give his quote: ``In the little over a year that I have been in Iraq, we have seen a significant degradation of al Qaeda's presence and its abilities. Al Qaeda is our mortal and strategic enemy. So to the extent that al Qaeda's capacities have been lessened in Iraq, and they have been significantly lessened, I do believe that makes America safer.'' And this is the direct quote from Ambassador Crocker's testimony this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee. We will get into now the third point that I said, Mr. Speaker, at the outset of the hour that I wanted to emphasize, and that's the question of is it worth it? Despite the progress that we have talked about tonight that General Petraeus told the Senate this morning, there are those who would ignore that progress and still as they did last September. Maybe it was a more credible argument then. Of course, they were making it before the surge had even gotten there, not really giving it much of a chance. But today to argue for immediate withdrawal and to give up, to snatch defeat literally from the jaws of victory, that's basically what they're saying: It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's time to quit. And this is what General Petraeus said this morning, another quote, and I share it with my colleagues: ``I do believe it's worth it. I took on the task,'' and just like General Petraeus he would say this, ``the privilege of command of Multi-National Force Iraq because I do believe that it's worth it and I do believe the interests there are of enormous importance, again, to our country, not just the people of Iraq and the people of that region, and the world.'' That's a quote taken from General Petraeus's testimony this morning. I am pleased at this time, Mr. Speaker, to yield to another one of my classmates, the gentleman from Iowa, Representative Steve King. Representative King is not only on the Armed Services Committee, but I do believe he's on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. And he is extremely knowledgeable about foreign affairs, about national defense, about so many critical issues. So it's indeed a pleasure to welcome this evening another of my classmates, the distinguished gentleman from Iowa, Representative King.

Mr. GINGREY. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I will yield right back to the gentleman, but I think his point is just so well taken. This morning, I started the day at 8 o'clock in the morning with a rally in the park on the Senate side, and it was organized by a group called Veterans For Freedom, Vets For Freedom. And 400 of them, 400, were there to give us that very message that Representative King is talking about, that it is worth it, it is worth it, and to beg us, literally to beg us. And I am sure, my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, you will be hearing from them. We will all be hearing from them. I did today. The members from Georgia that are part of the Veterans For Freedom are here, and they're going to make sure that we hear that message loud and clear. And I yield back to my friend.

Mr. GINGREY. Well, again, I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee. And I would like to reemphasize the statistics that she was talking about that we said at the outset, Mr. Speaker, of this hour that we're going to talk about what a difference that a year makes and present those statistics, how particularly violence has decreased. And Representative Blackburn has already talked about that. But I would ask my colleagues to reference this first slide in regard to its title. This is a little difficult to see in the back of the Chamber, but ``Civilian Deaths.'' And it is amazing, if you look at this top line going back to January of 2006 and then coming forward almost to present day, March of 2008, and you see that about the time of the surge, that peaked the civilian deaths. We're talking about on an almost monthly basis, 4,000 civilian deaths. I think if you follow the line down, that would be about January or February of 2007. And in March of 2008, at the far side of the chart, you're looking at a number just slightly over 600. So to go from almost 4,000 deaths to 600. And I have some additional charts to basically show the same thing, again, the statistics that we promised to present at the outset of the hour, to show you what a difference a year makes. And this slide, my colleagues, says ``High Profile Attacks,'' basically explosions. And the blue line is the total. The next, I guess you would call that the brown graph, is car bombs. The red is suicide car bombs. And then on the bottom is suicide deaths. But this is a total. And that's where the rubber meets the road in these statistics. And again, about a year ago, you were talking about attacks occurring in the range of 125 a day. And until this recent outbreak in Basra, they were down to about 40 a day. So, again, as I said at the outset, by any measure, by any parameter, any metric you want to take, the success of the surge is obvious.

Mr. GINGREY. I thank the gentleman from Iowa so much for being with us. As we rapidly approach the conclusion of this hour, I wanted to make a few other points. The gentleman from Iowa spoke of it when he said we are not there for their oil. We are not there for their land. We're not there for anything except to try to bring a democracy to the Middle East. And you think about the history of this country in other battles that we have been in, in World War I in Belleau Wood, in World War II on the beaches of Normandy, or in the Argonne Forest, in the Korean war, in the rice paddies of Vietnam or the sands of Iwo Jima, whom were we fighting for, and what did we ask for in return? We were fighting for other people as much as we were fighting for ourselves, and the only thing that this country asked for in return was a little bit of dirt to bury our dead. We don't bury our fallen soldiers anymore on foreign soil, but that's really all we ever asked for. The 4,000 that we have lost in this battle, how can we possibly turn our back on them? How can we turn our back on the Veterans For Freedom that I talked about that we met this morning? And, Mr. Speaker, I have sufficient time, and I hope you will allow me to read these 25 names from my district, the 11th of Georgia, who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in this conflict to bring a little bit of democracy to the Middle East. And let me read quickly, Mr. Speaker: Sergeant Michael Hardegree from Villa Rica; Lance Corporal Samuel Large, Jr., also from Villa Rica; Specialist Joshua Dingler from Hiram, Georgia; Sergeant Paul Saylor from Bremen; Captain Hayes Clayton from Marietta, my home; Private First Class Jesus Fonseca, Marietta; Lance Corporal Stephenen Johnson, Marietta; Airman First Class Antoine Holt, Georgia; Sergeant Brian Ardron, Acworth; Private First Class Marquis Whitaker from Columbus; Staff Sergeant John McGee, Columbus; Sergeant First Class David Salie from Columbus; Corporal Tyler Dickens, Columbus. Staff Sergeant Rickey Scott, Columbus, Georgia; Corporal John Tanner, Columbus, Georgia; Sergeant Thomas Strickland, Douglasville, Georgia; Spec. Marvin Camposiles, Austell; Spec. Benjamin Bartlett, Jr., Manchester, Georgia; Lance Corporal Juan Lopez, Whitfield; Private John M. Henderson, Jr., from Columbus; First Lieutenant Michael Fasnacht, from Columbus; Lance Corporal Kristopher C. Warren, from Resaca; Specialist Justin Johnson, from Rome, Georgia; First Lieutenant Tyler Brown, president of the student body at Georgia Tech, died in Iraq, from Atlanta, Georgia; Jack Hensley, a civilian contractor from Marietta, Georgia was beheaded by the brutality known as al Qaeda. Mr. Speaker, as I conclude my time, again, I thank you for allowing me to read those names. And my colleagues, I hope that some of those families are listening because I pledge to you we will not turn our back on them. They have paid the ultimate sacrifice. You are continuing to pay the sacrifice, but God bless you for the support of this commander in chief and with your patience and our determination here in Congress, we will give victory a chance, and we will achieve victory. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

Mr. GINGREY. I will be glad to yield. I will make one further point, and then I will yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee. These success stories you don't see on the nightly news. I think it was Ann Murray that sang a very famous hit a number of years ago, and I think the title of that was ``A Little Good News Today.'' You don't hear about good news because, by definition, it's not news. It's only mayhem and violence and killings and rapes and people putting their children in the trunk of a car and leaving them there for a day as a disciplinary action for some minor infraction. These are the kind of things that are on the front pages of our newspapers and on the 24-hour news service. They only talk about it when there's violence. Unfortunately, there's not much credit given to a little good news, in fact, a lot of good news. I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, this morning I was honored to join with Senator McCain and other Republican and Democratic Members of both the House and Senate to welcome over 400 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan that were here for a rally in support of all those who are risking their lives on the front lines in this global war against terror. This morning's rally marks the single largest gathering of Iraq and Afghan veterans since the war began. Make no mistake, these heroes were gathering in support of victory, not a politically driven withdrawal, which would ensure defeat. These veterans are so committed to success in Iraq and Afghanistan that they have formed a nationwide group, called Vets for Freedom, with a mission of educating the American public and Congress about the importance of achieving success in this global war on terror and what the failure to do so would mean for our Nation's security. Every Member of this body should, this week, meet with these veterans, talk to them, learn of the benefits of their firsthand experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the words of the Vets for Freedom, it is time to put ``long-term national security before short- term partisan political gain.'' Again, I thank the Vets for Freedom, as well as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, for their great service to this country.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. GINGREY

Mr. GINGREY. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I will continue to reserve the balance of my time. But if the gentleman needs some time from our side, we will be glad to yield it to him.

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, I will continue to reserve my time.

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, I will continue to reserve my time. Mr. Chairman, may I ask how much time is remaining on both sides?

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, the men and women of our Nation's fire services are among the very first responders to an extraordinary wide range of accidents, injuries, and disasters. And the gentleman from New Jersey, he knows as well as anybody in this body. He was right there. His district's right there, very close to the scene of 9/11. And I think that his amendment is very, very appropriate because this was a fire caused by a terrorist attack. Unlike the Murrah Building attack at Oklahoma City, which was an incidence of domestic violence by our own, if you will, homegrown terrorists, this situation that occurred on 9/11 is the reason why I'm sure the gentleman from New Jersey has brought forth this good amendment. And he is so right to point out that firefighters will also be the first to the scene when many of these catastrophes happen. Hopefully, it won't occur in this country again. We've been blessed. I think there has been a lot of hard work on the part of this Congress and this administration to protect our country on our soil from another terrorist attack. Thank God so far it hasn't happened. But that doesn't mean you don't train for and prepare for it. And those firefighters that went to work that day, they were well trained, but I'm sure they weren't expecting a terrorist attack. And in such an event like that, their first job, of course, always is to heroically save lives. But fire services will also act to minimize the damage and property loss that a terrorist strike or ensuing events may cause. I mean, as the amendment addresses, there may be biological weapons of mass destruction, and there could have been, right behind the two planes, maybe another plane with a terrorist coming into the city in parachutes with nuclear or biological weapons, a sarin gas attack. God knows what could have happened in the subways of New York City. So the United States Fire Administration works hand- in-glove with other components of the Department of Homeland Security, and Chairman Thompson is here on the floor right now, to ensure that our Nation's fire services have access to the best training and resources available. So I'm proud of the U.S. Fire Administration's work to date to improve our resiliency and our preparedness, yes, for terrorist events, natural disasters, and, of course, the daily accidents and fires that occur in communities across the country. Mr. Chairman, I wholeheartedly support the gentleman's amendment. I urge all my colleagues and expect all my colleagues to support his amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve my time.

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim time in opposition. However, we are very supportive of the gentleman's amendment, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 4847, the U.S. Fire Administration Reauthorization Act of 2008 reauthorizes USFA's activities in training, fire education and awareness, data collection, research and standards development and promotion. This legislation also authorizes $291 million in Federal funds for fiscal years 2009 through 2012 for the USFA. This authorization level, Mr. Chairman, is consistent with previously authorized levels and it only includes a very modest growth in funding that is capped at 3 percent in any of the fiscal years for the bill. Mr. Chairman, as the lead Republican sponsor of this legislation, I am pleased to have worked with my colleague from Arizona, Mr. Mitchell, over these past few months to bring this bill, H.R. 4847, to the House floor today. I am also pleased that this bill has gone through the regular order process. That is a refreshing phrase, Mr. Chairman, but I am certainly pleased that it went through regular order. In fact, in October, the Science Committee's Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, of which I am the ranking member, we held a hearing on reauthorizing USFA, and H.R. 4847 was unanimously reported out of our subcommittee earlier this year. On February 27 of this year, the full committee, the full Science Committee, reported the bill after accepting both Republican and Democratic amendments that I think have improved the bill. The mission of USFA is to limit economic and life loss ``due to fire and related emergencies, through leadership, advocacy, coordination and support.'' This organization provides vital assistance in the areas of training, fire education and awareness, and it awards grants to a number of our local fire departments across this country. We all have them in every district of all 435 Members. These activities have made a substantial impact over the last 30 years. Mr. Chairman, it is important to note that because of the work of the USFA, smoke alarms are now standard issue in residences across the country. Over a million firefighters have received advanced training, and firefighter equipment and safety continually improves. USFA should be proud of its record of achievement. However, it is also clear that certainly there are still improvements that can be made. In the last 10 years, deaths related to fires have decreased by approximately 25 percent, from nearly 5,000 in 1996 to 3,675 in 2006. Although that decrease in fire-related deaths is commendable, the United States still has one of the highest death rates from fires in the industrialized world. Additionally, despite decreases in the numbers of fires, direct damage costs are increasing and have surpassed $10 billion per year. The number of fires have gone down, but the damage from them has gone up to $10 billion per year. In an average year, Mr. Chairman, fires caused as much damage in the United States as have hurricanes. The reauthorization of USFA will allow the agency to continue to improve our preparedness and to reduce our vulnerability to fires. Unfortunately, last year we saw wildfires that literally ravaged southern California, and we need to develop a more cohesive way of combating these fires. I am happy to see that this legislation specifically addresses the issue of fighting fires in what we refer to as an urban-wildland interface by implementing methods to better respond and prepare for fires that move from wildlands to suburban and indeed urban areas. Furthermore, Mr. Chairman, I am particularly pleased that this legislation now includes an amendment that I offered at full committee. It will allow the USFA administrator to perform studies related to the management of emergency medical services at the scene of a fire. Our brave firefighters, men and women, are called upon to extract victims from car crashes, building fires or collapses, and other emergencies, so it is critical that patients receive consistent care under medical direction. While I do not expect USFA to pursue studies into the medical care EMS patients should receive, I believe my amendment, which was accepted by the full Science Committee, will give the administrator the authority to conduct studies into training, system design, on-scene patient management while making sure to work with appropriate Federal agencies and existing medical services in these local communities. Mr. Chairman, the current bill is an important and well-crafted step forward for the USFA, and it represents months of diligent work by both the majority and the minority members and staff of the Science Committee. I want to make sure to commend the great staff of both the minority and the majority. This legislation has been a bipartisan accomplishment of our committee. That is pretty much standard practice in the Science Committee, I am proud to say, Mr. Chairman. And it is being supported not only unanimously by the committee, but by a number of fire related advocacy groups, including the Congressional Fire Services Institute, the International Association of Arson Investigators, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Firefighters, the International Fire Service Training Association, the National Fire Protection Association, the National Volunteer Fire Council, and the National North American Fire Training Directors. Mr. Chairman, I could go on, but my staff didn't list any more. I certainly want to say, Mr. Chairman, this is an outstanding bill and I urge all my colleagues to support it, H.R. 4847, because this bill will enable the USFA to continue its record of achievement, as well as prepare firefighters for the challenges that they will undoubtedly face in the future. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.