Walter Jones

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his leadership on this amendment even though I cannot support it. All I can say is, here we go again, committing our resources--both troops and money--to a conflict that can easily become a war without end. ISIS is more an immediate threat to the Middle East than to our Nation. Where is the greater Middle East commitment to combat this threat? Why are they not providing the greater commitment of resources to defend their own countries? Is it not ridiculous that the United States borrows money to buy friendship, to buy arms, and to train those who could today be our friends but tomorrow be our enemies? A former commandant of the Marine Corps recently asked me this question, and I now ask the House of Representatives: Are we simply arming and training another Taliban? That is from a former commandant of the Marine Corps. We all agree this is a difficult and challenging issue, but a strategy with no end state is a failed strategy, and I am concerned that the commitment we make today will become an ongoing commitment for which we truly do not grasp its consequences until it is too late. That is what my concern is and the concern of the American people. I think about the $1.7 trillion we spent in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think about the 4,000 Americans who gave their lives, the 30,000 wounded, the 100,000 Iraqis who were killed--and here we go again. I don't care if the President is a Democrat or a Republican. This is a failed policy, and it will be proven to be a failed policy. I close with this, Mr. Speaker. I listened to Mr. Rangel very carefully. This is a quote from Pat Buchanan: Is it not an act of senility to borrow from the world to defend the world? It is absolute senility.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, to begin my short statement today, I would like to read you a recent headline from The Washington Times: ``Golden Hammer: U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghan soybean project.'' The first few sentences of this report read: ``Call it the great American soybean heist, the latest tale of U.S. taxpayer abuse to emanate from Afghanistan. Despite clear evidence that Afghanistan's arid soil was a bad place to grow soybeans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $34.4 million tying to establish the crop in that country, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction.'' Mr. Speaker, here we go again, talking about the waste, fraud, and abuse of American resources in Afghanistan. Yesterday I spoke on the House floor in memory of three members of the United States Army who died as a result of their service in Afghanistan. The deaths of these three men represent my greatest concern with our servicemembers continuing to remain in Afghanistan: that more and more of our men and women in uniform will be killed and wounded. The loss of life and limb is far more important than the money that is being wasted. However, Mr. Speaker, our country is in a dangerous financial situation. In addition to the soybean report, I want to read three more headlines that accentuate the waste of our taxpayer money in Afghanistan. From CBS News: ``Is the Pentagon wasting taxpayer money in Afghanistan?'' From the Center for Public Integrity: ``The U.S. military was no match for Afghanistan's corruption.'' And from the World Affairs Journal: ``Money pit: The monstrous failure of U.S. aid to Afghanistan.'' Mr. Speaker, how much more can the poor American taxpayer continue to spend on a failed policy in Afghanistan? I cannot emphasize enough that we have children, senior citizens, and veterans here at home that desperately need our assistance, yet we run out of money for their programs because we refuse to make cuts to the funds that are being funneled overseas, and especially in Afghanistan. I say to the administration and to Congress that it is time to fix America's problems, not Afghanistan's problems, and not the world's problems. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want, again, to mention the three Army soldiers who were killed last week on July 25: Staff Sergeant Benjamin G. Prange, PFC Keith M. Williams, and PFC Donnell A. Hamilton, Jr. Mr. Speaker, beside me, I have poster after poster of the cost of war. As a young kid named Tyler Jordan--this is actually from 2003, our early days in Iraq, a very unnecessary war--his father was a gunny sergeant named Phillip Jordan, and he was killed, and here is Tyler being given the flag that was folded after it was taken off his father's grave. I don't know how many of these three names I just mentioned--I know one family, he had two little girls, maybe they got a folded flag--but it is time for Congress to wake up. There is no need to have our young men and women overseas giving their life and limb and to see the money wasted overseas in fraud, waste, and abuse when we can use it right here to fix America's problems. Please, God, continue to bless our men and women in uniform; and please, God, continue to bless America.

Mr. JONES

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.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the House is debating H. Con. Res. 105. I want to thank the Republican leadership for working with Mr. Jim McGovern, Barbara Lee, and myself and our staffs to get this language so that we could debate it today. As James Madison said: ``The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.'' Unfortunately, we in Congress have for too long abdicated our constitutional responsibility to authorize the use of military force. This began, for me personally, with my vote for the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, which is one of the biggest regrets during my tenure of Congress in voting for that. With that vote, we gave up our constitutional authority on one of the most important decisions a Member of Congress can make: the decision to send American men and women into war to possibly die. Madam Speaker, it is my hope that one day, we in Congress will repeal the 2001 and the 2002 AUMF. Until that time comes, I believe that today represents a strong step toward reclaiming the constitutional power that we each have and are entrusted with, to make decisions about going to war or declaring war. I cannot emphasize enough that no decision is more important for a Member of Congress than a vote to send young men and women to fight and to die for our country. The main text of this resolution is simple. The President shall not deploy or maintain United States Armed Forces in a sustained combat role in Iraq without specific statutory authorization. Madam Speaker, this is what Madison meant when he said, ``The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.''

Mr. JONES. The legislature is us, the Congress. This is a monumental step toward reclaiming our constitutional authority. In closing, I want to thank Representatives McGovern and Lee and all my friends in both parties who have fought with me for the right of Congress to declare war. For years, we have been calling for a debate on the floor of the House with regard to the use of our military. I also want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel and their staffs for this opportunity today. May God continue to bless our troops, their families, and may God continue to bless America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor again to talk about the waste of American taxpayers' money in Afghanistan. Just last week, we in the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, along with other DOD officials, regarding the Department's request for an additional $58.6 billion to be used overseas, primarily in Afghanistan. While speaking to Mr. Work, I mentioned the following three headlines, which, I believe, accurately describe the American situation in Afghanistan: the headline from CBS News, ``Is the Pentagon wasting taxpayer money in Afghanistan?''; from the Center for Public Integrity, ``The U.S. military was no match for Afghanistan's corruption''; then from the World Affairs Journal, ``Money Pit: The Monstrous Failure of U.S. Aid to Afghanistan.'' All of these reports detail a shocking misuse of the American taxpayers' dollar with little to no accountability. My question to Mr. Work was this: How can the Pentagon, in good conscience, request this money given the waste, fraud, and abuse that we continue to see with American resources in Afghanistan? Mr. Speaker, this is money that we could be using right here in America to care for our many wounded veterans, to rebuild our country, our schools, our roads, our infrastructure, and yet, every day, we continue to spend billions and billions overseas with, as I said earlier, just little accountability. As my good friend Pat Buchanan has said: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' Let me repeat that one more time: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' I would even insert the word ``stupidity'' instead of ``senility,'' and it would sound this way: ``Is it not a symptom of stupidity to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' Mr. Speaker, beside me, I have a poster of a young Army soldier who lost both legs and an arm. This was from the front page of our Raleigh paper, Mr. Speaker--the News & Observer--about 5 years ago. Why do I have it on the floor today? Four weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed at Bethesda. I saw three Army soldiers from Fort Bragg, which is not in my district, but I chatted with them. All three had lost one leg in Afghanistan. My main purpose of going to Walter Reed was to see two marines from Camp Lejeune who had been severely wounded, but I thank God I had a chance to talk to the three soldiers and to thank them for their gift of their legs for our country. As I went over to the young marine from Camp Lejeune, who was 23, he was like this soldier in the poster. The young marine had lost both legs and an arm. I looked in the face of his father, who probably was 50 or 51 years of age, and all I saw was pain and worry and trouble in the eyes of the father because, like this young soldier who had lost both legs and an arm, you can only hope the best for their futures. The second marine I saw from Camp Lejeune had stepped on a 40-pound IED and had lost both legs. He has a wife--I did not meet her--and an 8-month-old baby girl whom I did not meet, but he was very proud of his wife and his child. I wonder what his future is going to be? I can only hope the best--that God will look after all of these men and women who have given so much for our country. It brings me back to this, Mr. Speaker: Congress needs to have debates and to stop wasting money in Afghanistan, because it costs our soldiers and their families so much--the lives, the limbs--and there is nothing we have to show for it but pain and a waste of money. May God bless America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, and I want to thank him for being a leader on bringing to the floor of the House not only this resolution asking for a vote about bringing our troops home from Iraq, but also the way that he speaks about the fact that 17 million American children go home at night hungry. That is another issue, I understand that, but it all ties in. When we continue to not debate whether we should be sending our young men and women to die, we are shirking our constitutional responsibility that we, in this Congress, have raised our hand to swear that we will uphold the Constitution of the United States, but we don't do that, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to war, and I blame myself. In 2003, I bought the lie that was told by the previous administration about the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had and how he was going to use that against the American people. That misinformation that was given by the previous administration caused us to go into Iraq, and I voted to give the President at the time--President Bush--the authority to bypass the Constitution. It is called the AUMF, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and I regret that and will until the day I die because I gave up my constitutional responsibility to debate and to vote on whether we should go to war or not, and that was the constitutional responsibility of this Congress and of me being a Member of Congress. Mr. Speaker, I have beside me a poster of a funeral. It is a military funeral where a soldier has given his life for this country. His wife is there with her sunglasses on, holding the hand of her little girl who can't quite understand why her daddy is dead, why her daddy is in a flag-draped coffin. That is why we need to be on this floor, as Mr. McGovern and Ms. Lee have said, to debate whether we continue to allow the President--in this case, President Obama--to use the War Powers Act to send our troops into Iraq, and yet, we sit here idle. We don't even hardly debate the issue of war when we are going to pass millions and billions of dollars to be spent by our military overseas. It does not make any sense. I want to say about my own side, I regret that my side, the Republican Party, we have become the war party now. It is not so much the Democrats who were the war party during the Vietnam war. Now, it is the Republican Party. I am a great supporter of Pat Buchanan. I love his position on foreign policy and his many articles. This is from a recent article that he wrote. Pat Buchanan says: It is astonishing that Republicans who threaten to impeach Obama for usurping authority at home remain silent as he prepares to usurp their war powers to march into Syria and back into Iraq. Are Republicans now prepared to sit mute as Obama takes us into two new Middle East wars on his own authority? This is what Mr. McGovern and Ms. Lee and I are trying to say. It is time that this Congress start speaking out. We listen to the American people when it comes to war, and the American people are tired. They are worn out. A recent survey actually said that 71 percent of American people said that the first intervention in Iraq was wrong. It was a mistake. It should never have happened, and yet that is why I admire you, Mr. McGovern, and Ms. Lee and the others who are willing to speak out on this. Just a couple of other points I want to make--people always say those who wrote the Constitution, they maybe really better understood more than we do, and yet they didn't have the sophistication that we have today in the wars that we fight, but that brings me to a letter from George Washington to James Monroe: I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation has a right to meddle into the concerns of another, that everyone has the right to form and adopt whatever government they like best to live under themselves. That is George Washington in 1796, in a letter to James Monroe. Again, I think about the fact that I, along with other Members of Congress, gave away my constitutional right to declare war when we gave to President Bush the authority to use military force. That in itself is something, again, being repetitive for just a moment, I will always, always regret. Another quote, this one by James Madison, and this is Mr. McGovern's point: The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature. We are the legislature. It is our responsibility to meet our constitutional duties. Mr. McGovern, I have signed over 11,000 letters to families and extended families in this country since we went into Iraq because I have asked God to forgive me for listening to the misinformation and the distortions by the previous administration to go into Iraq. That is my pain, and I will live with that pain. I am on the floor with you today--and Ms. Lee who has already spoken--to say thank you for taking the lead in trying to force this Congress to have a debate. I am not going to restate what Pat Buchanan has said, but I will say to my own side many times: Why do you sit idly by when you complain about Mr. Obama and spending, spending, and we have already spent $1.5 trillion in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we are still spending money in Afghanistan? We will for 10 more years because of a bilateral strategic agreement, but what we are trying to do today is to say that we are not going to make another mistake in Iraq. That is why I am pleased to join with you today in this effort to make the American people aware that we do care. We want the American people to contact the Members of Congress and say join in this concurrent resolution, this privileged resolution, to bring a debate to the floor of the House.

Mr. JONES. Mr. McGovern, thank you very much. I want to pick up on a few things you said just a few minutes ago. Iraq is in total chaos. It is kind of ironic. In 1983--I found a photograph of Donald Rumsfeld who was a special envoy sent by President Reagan to thank Hussein for what he had done to try to defend Iraq against the Iranians. That brings me to where we are today and why this resolution that you have sponsored is so important. I have the former Commandant of the Marine Corps who, for the last 6 years, has been my adviser on Afghanistan, simply because I don't have the military background, and he is a very dear friend of mine. I emailed him a week ago and asked him: What do you think about all of these advisers going to Iraq, something you were just talking about? He emailed me back and he said: We should not put boots on the ground. He further stated: It is a Middle East issue that needs a Middle East solution, not more troops. That is why, again, your resolution, and our resolution needs to be debated. A couple of other points, very quickly--after I found out that I had been misled with the first war in Iraq, I contacted Lieutenant General Greg Newbold because he wrote an article for Time magazine. I want to read just a little bit of it very quickly. General Greg Newbold was director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 to 2002 and describes himself as ``a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq, an unnecessary war''--Mr. McGovern, unnecessary war. He wrote an insightful editorial for Time in April 2006 titled, ``Why Iraq was a mistake.'' I want to share a paragraph from his article because it is so appropriate of what we are trying to do today and what we are trying to do with this resolution to force Congress to meet its constitutional responsibility about sending our young men and women to die. In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem ``Won't Get Fooled Again.'' To us, its lyrics invoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. He further stated: Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: The Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again. We were fooled to go into Iraq. I am with you. I know Mr. Obama came out against the Iraq war--and I want to thank him for doing that--when he was a Senator, but you are right, it is not the administration we are talking about today. It is the role of Congress and our lack of fulfilling our constitutional duty. One last point, very quickly--four weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed hospital. I was told that two marines from Camp Lejeune in my district had been severely wounded, so I went to Walter Reed hospital. As I go into the area where they teach them how to walk without legs, on prosthesis--they teach them how to use the artificial limbs to pick up a spoon--I met three Army guys from Fort Bragg, which is not in my district, but in North Carolina. All three had lost one leg each, each one of them. Then, Mr. McGovern, when I went over to meet the young marine from Camp Lejeune, 23 years of age, and he is on what they call an exercise mat about 3 feet off the floor--he has lost both legs and an arm. I never will forget his father's eyes. They were the saddest eyes I have ever seen on a man in my life. I saw pain. I saw worry. Here is his son, both legs gone and one arm gone, 23 years of age. The second marine that I saw from Camp Lejeune had lost both legs by stepping on a 40-pound IED in Afghanistan. The more that we have troops in Iraq, the longer they stay, there will be someone killed or wounded before it is over. That is why your resolution--that is why it is necessary for my party, the Republican Party, to stop being the war party and being the party that wants to defend the Constitution. My party needs to allow us to have this debate that you have introduced. As I leave, I want to thank you for giving me a little bit of this time today. I want to thank you for your friendship. I want to thank you for what you do for America. I want to thank you for what you do for our military. I want to thank you for what you are trying to do for the House of Representatives to say we have an obligation. No kid should ever die again if the Congress is not willing to follow the Constitution and demand a declaration of war and have that debate and that vote, so I thank you so much for giving me this time, and may God continue to bless our men and women in uniform.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor today because I believe that Congress must put an end to the waste of American lives and taxpayer dollars overseas. Recently, President Obama requested $500 million to train and arm Syrian rebels. In his editorial, ``Congress Can Stop Obama's Ramp Up to War,'' Pat Buchanan made an excellent point, saying: Before Congress takes up his proposal, both Houses should demand that Obama explain exactly where he gets the constitutional authority to plunge us into what the President himself calls ``somebody else's civil war.'' Buchanan goes on to comment: Syria has not attacked us. Syria does not threaten us. Why are we joining a jihad to overthrow the Syrian Government? Mr. Speaker, Iraq is another country in which America has again become involved to the detriment of our best interests. A former commandant of the Marine Corps, who has been my adviser for the past 6 years, stated in a recent email to me, ``We should not put boots on the ground.'' He went on to say that the situation in Iraq is ``a Middle East issue that needs a Middle East solution,'' not more American troops. Unfortunately, there are currently 750 American boots on the ground in Iraq, with authorization from the President for up to 770 in the future. As our involvement in Iraq escalates, I am reminded of another important point made by Pat Buchanan: It is astonishing that Republicans who threaten to impeach Obama for usurping authority at home remain silent as he prepares to usurp the war powers--to march us into Syria and back into Iraq. Last August, Americans rose as one to tell Congress to deny Obama any authority to attack Syria. Are Republicans now prepared to sit mute as Obama takes us into two new Middle East wars on his own authority? Mr. Speaker, Marine Lieutenant General Greg Newbold wrote an insightful editorial for Time in April 2006, titled, ``Why Iraq Was a Mistake.'' From 2000 until 2002, General Newbold was director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and describes himself as ``a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq--an unnecessary war.'' In closing, I would like to quote a paragraph from General Newbold's editorial regarding the distortion of intelligence that drew America into the Iraq war in the first place: In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar war anthem, titled, ``Won't Get Fooled Again.'' To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: The Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again. Those are sad, sad words. We have been fooled again. Mr. Speaker, we in Congress have the responsibility, based on the Constitution, to never get fooled again, but too many times we do not uphold our constitutional rights. I believe the words of Pat Buchanan and Greg Newbold articulate the many reasons that no President should bypass Congress and the Constitution to send our military into combat. Mr. Speaker, before closing, I have a photograph from the Greensboro News-Record. Here we go again in setting up our men and women in uniform that possibly could get killed in a foreign country. Mr. Speaker, this is a group of Army soldiers bringing a flag-draped coffin off of a plane. Please, God, don't let us forget that those in uniform are our children, and we must protect them by meeting our constitutional responsibility. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform, please bless the families of our men and women in uniform, and please, God, continue to bless America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, shortly before the July Fourth break, we had three marines from Camp Lejeune, which is in my district, who were killed during combat operations in Afghanistan: Staff Sergeant David H. Stewart, Lance Corporal Brandon J. Garabrant, and Lance Corporal Adam F. Wolff. May I, at this time, extend my deepest sympathy to the families of these three brave marines. Mr. Speaker, recently much attention has been given to the chaos building in Iraq. However, we must not forget that there is still chaos in Afghanistan. In June of this year, I visited Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. I met three soldiers from Fort Bragg who had lost one leg each in Afghanistan. I met two marines from my district at Camp Lejeune. One marine, 23 years old, had lost two legs and an arm. His father, from Louisiana, was standing beside his exercise mat, which is about 3 or 4 feet off the ground. To look in the eyes of the father, to see the pain, the sadness, and the worry about the future of his 23-year-old son, I cannot describe today on the floor of the House. I don't know the words to describe the pain I saw in the eyes. Then I went to see the second marine from Camp Lejeune, who in February of this year stepped on a 40-pound IED and lost both legs. I could only look at him and hope for the best as he told me about his wife and his 8-month-old baby girl. Mr. Speaker, beside me today, I have the photograph on this poster of two young ladies whose father was Sergeant Kevin Balduf, stationed at Camp Lejeune. The little girls' names are Eden and Stephanie. They are standing at the grave site of their father. Sergeant Balduf and Colonel Palmer--Sergeant Balduf, again, was stationed at Camp Lejeune and Colonel Palmer at Air Station Cherry Point, which is also in my district in eastern North Carolina--were sent to Afghanistan to train Afghans to be police officers. The night before Sergeant Balduf and Colonel Palmer were killed, Sergeant Balduf emailed his wife, Amy, and said, ``I don't trust them. I don't trust them. I don't trust any of them.'' The next day, he and Colonel Palmer were shot and killed by the Afghans they were trying to train. Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan is not worth the treasure or the blood that has been spent there over the last 12 years. We have no more business thinking we can change the Middle East, because history has proven Afghanistan and Iraq will never change, no matter what. Iraq was an unnecessary war. It was manufactured intelligence by the previous administration. It was an unnecessary, unjust war where 4,000 Americans were killed, 30,000 were wounded, and 100,000 Iraqis were killed themselves. Mr. Speaker, I will close today by quoting a man for whom I have great respect, because he and I agree on our foreign policies. His name is Pat Buchanan: Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world? We in Congress continue to spend money over in Afghanistan--and now Iraq--from money that we borrow from other countries. It makes no sense. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I say to Stephanie and Eden: Your father was a hero. He will never be forgotten. I will say to all the families and the children of those who lost loved ones: Your loved ones will never be forgotten. They have done so much for this country. May God continue to bless America and may God continue to bless those in uniform, and may God continue to bless America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, last week, I voted against the Defense Appropriations bill because of $79.4 billion included it included in OCO funding. During the amendment process, I joined many of my colleagues in both parties in voting to stop funding the war in Afghanistan after 2014. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in this effort, and I am on the floor of the House today because the American people are frustrated with the administration and with Congress for continuing to spend taxpayer money overseas in unnecessary military interventions. I share this frustration with the American people. Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the House an article in the Daily Journal Online titled ``No End for Afghanistan's War on the United States Taxpayer''--``No End for Afghanistan's War on the United States Taxpayer,'' which states: John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, may have taken Uncle Sam and shaken him by the lapels last month, but the media missed it. Americans, however, need to hear how Sopko, in an address at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., laid out why Afghanistan remains ``relevant''--and a cause for outrage--for every U.S. taxpayer and policymaker. In short, Afghanistan is on life support, and Joe Citizen is its permanent IV. These are the words of John Sopko. This article goes on to say: SIGAR, on the job since 2008, has produced 118 audits and inspection reports and made 23 quarterly reports to Congress. Nothing seems to penetrate the Capitol dome, however. Mr. Speaker, this brings me to a quote by Pat Buchanan, with whom I agree strongly on foreign policy issues: Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world, so we can defend the world? How appropriate a statement is that? We are a debtor nation that has to borrow money every year to pay the debts of our own Nation, and we borrow money to spend overseas in foreign areas. It makes no sense. That is why I am so disappointed that, last week, we were unable to put a stop on the waste, fraud, and abuse of the American taxpayer money in Afghanistan. Now, when we also must consider the collapse of Iraq, I am reminded of a quote from our country's first President, in a letter from George Washington to James Monroe, and I quote Washington: I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation has a right to intermeddle in the concerns of another, that everybody has a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under themselves. Mr. Speaker, beside me is a poster of military carrying the casket of an American soldier killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I bring this to the floor because, this past weekend, we had three marines from Camp Lejeune--which is in the district I represent, the Third District of North Carolina--three marines in the engineering battalion in Afghanistan helping to build roads in Afghanistan. The three were shot and killed. That is why I continue to join my colleagues, and both parties come to this floor and to say to the Congress: you are not listening to the American people, the American people are sick and tired of their sons and daughters dying in foreign lands, borrowing money from the Chinese to pay for that development in those foreign lands, and we continue to have more and more losing their life and their limbs. It is time for the Congress to listen to the American people. They are the ones that elect us to come here to represent their views and their interests, and we are not listening to them as it relates to Afghanistan. I pray for our men and women in uniform, their families, and pray for the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. Two weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed Hospital. I was told that two of my marines from Camp Lejeune had been severely wounded in Afghanistan. The first marine I saw was 23 years of age. He had lost both legs and an arm. His father was there from Louisiana, and I saw pain, I saw worry, I saw sadness in his eyes. The second marine I saw had stepped on a 40-pound IED and lost both legs. He was telling me about his little 8-month-old daughter and his wife. They were not there, but I heard that. I know that these service dogs are making a difference in the life of the wounded, whether it be mental or it might be physical. This $3 million, when we are spending billions in Afghanistan, it would be a sin and a shame if we cannot find the $3 million to put into this program to make sure that those who have given so much have a little bit of support and a little bit of pleasure in having a loving animal that has been trained to give support to that person that has given so much for this country. I hope that this amendment will be accepted.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, along with other Members of Congress, I attended a classified briefing on the swap of our soldier for the five Taliban leaders. I won't go into that, but I did have an opportunity to make a comment to the presenters. I made a comment regarding my concern about the bilateral strategic agreement, known as BSA, and the fact that we continue to spend money in Afghanistan that we borrow from foreign nations. Mr. Speaker, beside me today, I have a cartoon that was created by Mr. Milt Priggee, and it makes a point very well. It has Uncle Sam pointing out saying: I want you. Then the language beside it says: To understand that if you can't afford to take care of your veterans, you can't afford to go to war. Well, that makes my point very well because we seem to find all the money we need for Afghanistan to waste, and we know that waste, fraud, and abuse is worse today than it has ever been in the 12 years we have been in Afghanistan. I would like to quote from the Daily Journal Online. The title is, ``No end for Afghanistan's war on the U.S. taxpayer.'' I want to read two paragraphs from this online article: John Sopko, the inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), may have taken Uncle Sam and shaken him by the lapels last month, but the media missed it. In short, Afghanistan is on life support, and Joe Citizen is its permanent IV. From your pockets, Uncle Sam has taken $103 billion to build Afghanistan so far. By the way, that figure doesn't include the cost of war- making. That is more money than we have spent on reconstruction for any one country in the history of the United States. Mr. Speaker, I just heard the Congressman from Connecticut talking about the infrastructure of his State, as well as America, and the poor shape it is in, but yet we find all the money we need for Afghanistan, so we can build their roads, so that the Taliban can blow up the roads. It makes no sense. Mr. Speaker, SIGAR, on the job since 2008, has produced 118 audits and inspection reports and made 23 quarterly reports to Congress. I have read a few of these, certainly not all, but all you have to do is hear Mr. Sopko speak or read some of the reports from his organization, and you will be disgusted, as I am disgusted, with the stupidity of continuing to find money for Afghanistan while we cut programs right here in America. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed Hospital. I knew there were two marines who had been injured in Afghanistan from my district, Camp Lejeune, which is in the Third District of North Carolina. I happened, while being there, to meet four soldiers, one a colonel from Fort Bragg, which is not in my district, but in North Carolina. All four had lost at least one leg. Then when I met this young man from Louisiana, who is a marine from Camp Lejeune, his father was standing beside him. He had lost both legs and an arm, and he is 23 years of age. I looked in the eyes of the father, who could not have been more than 50. I saw pain. I saw hurt. I saw worry about the future of his son's life, missing two legs and an arm. Why are we still sending troops to Afghanistan? Yes, we are going to cut the troops, but we are going to keep 9,000 to 10,000 there. The Taliban will still go after them and try to blow off their legs and kill them. Mr. Speaker, I want to quote Pat Buchanan, who I have great respect for, particularly on foreign policy, because he and I agree: Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world? Let me repeat that: Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world? Mr. Speaker, I would put one word in there. I would change ``senility'' to ``stupidity,'' and I will read it now: Is it not a symptom of stupidity to be borrowing from the world, so we defend the world? Mr. Speaker, again, Uncle Sam is saying, Don't spend money overseas when you have got problems right here in America and our veterans are not being adequately cared for. Mr. Speaker, it is time to end the spending in Afghanistan. It is time to stop sending our troops over there to be killed and have their legs and arms blown off. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask God to continue to bless America and bless our men and women in uniform.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor today to express my disappointment that my colleagues and I were prevented from offering an amendment to the NDAA dealing with the constitutional responsibility of Congress to declare war. Like many Members of Congress, I had the opportunity to speak at events on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday on Memorial Day weekend. Every time I spoke, I mentioned my frustration that the McGovern-Jones amendment was not able to be brought to the floor for debate and a vote. However, I was pleased that Adam Schiff's amendment to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was passed by Congress in 2001, was at least brought up for a debate. However, I was disappointed that the Schiff amendment was defeated, because no President should have the authority to send men and women to war without action from Congress. According to CRS, the AUMF has been invoked in 30 known instances by Presidents Bush and Obama for the purpose of deploying troops. This represents an abdication of our constitutional responsibility. Yesterday I had the honor of visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Mr. Speaker, I have beside me a poster of a triple amputee. This gentleman gave his arm and both legs for our country. Yesterday at Walter Reed, during my visit, I had the privilege of talking with several of our Nation's heroes who have lost limbs, double amputees and triple amputees. Mr. Speaker, those lost limbs as well as other injuries, both physical and mental, are why I had veterans approach me at Memorial Day events to say that they agree that Afghanistan is not worth the blood that has been shed there. Furthermore, they agreed with me that Afghanistan is not worth America continuing to borrow money from foreign nations, driving up further the debt of our Nation to fund President Karzai's corrupt government when we have a multitude of problems and needs right here in America. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close my comments by quoting Pat Buchanan, and I believe this describes our situation in Afghanistan: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so that we can defend the world?'' I am going to repeat that one more time. ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so that we can defend the world?'' Mr. Speaker, we are a debtor nation. We can't even pay our bills without going into the international markets and borrowing money to pay last year's bills. It is time that this Congress understands that we need to come back to America and rebuild America. We need to be smart with our foreign policy. We need to be smart with our men and women in uniform. And as I look at this poster one more time, Mr. Speaker, when I saw that 23-year-old young man from Camp Lejeune, which is in my district, yesterday and his father, who is probably about 50 or 51, and the young man has both legs gone and an arm, I looked in the eyes of the father, and what I saw was pain; what I saw was worry; what I saw was sorrow. We in this Congress need to follow our constitutional responsibility and never send our young men and women to war unless we debate it and we declare war on the floor of the House.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. I could not agree more. How in the world can the Congress of the United States, which has an obligation to declare war, continue to abdicate its right to debate our young men and women going to Afghanistan to die? We have already spent over $1.5 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq was an unnecessary war. The previous administration intentionally manufactured the justification. It was absolutely unnecessary. And all we are asking-- and that is why I will vote against the rule. There is much in this bill that I will vote for. But as the gentleman from Massachusetts says, this is a bipartisan amendment. I have signed over 11,000 letters to families and extended families who lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. This past weekend I signed four letters. I am not trying to single myself out, but I feel the pain of my mistake of giving the authority to the previous President to bypass Congress to send our young men and women to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. McGovern is right. If President Obama believes it is necessary in the next couple of years to increase the numbers, then let him come to Congress so that we can meet our constitutional responsibility and vote either ``yes'' or ``no,'' and then, with pride, know that we did what the Constitution required. Next Wednesday, I will go to Walter Reed at Bethesda to see three marines who were severely injured in Afghanistan in the last month. I don't know how severely they are. It might be legs are gone. It might be brain injuries. Yet, we, in Congress, continue to abdicate our constitutional responsibility to these young men and young women. I will tell you that the marines down at Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point, which is in my district, are sick and tired of this involvement in Afghanistan. One last point. The former Commandant of the Marine Corps has been my adviser for the last 5 years on Afghanistan, and he has said: Why doesn't Congress understand history? You will never change Afghanistan. No matter how much blood or money you send to Afghanistan, you will never change it. I am disappointed in the Rules Committee. So many, and every one of them, Republican and Democrat, I have the greatest respect for. But not to allow us to debate whether a young man or young woman from America should die or lose their legs, their arms, or their mind is a disappointment and a failure of this House of Representatives not to follow the Constitution. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for the time.

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding. You know, it is kind of amazing that many of us on my side are considered conservatives. I hope that I am considered a conservative. Pat Buchanan has written so many articles about the new war party. The new war party is the Republican Party. It is the Republican Party because of the reason that Mr. McGovern is talking about today. We sit here and we allow all these other spending issues involving our military, and much of it they deserve: pay increases, taking care of their families, doing the good things for our military. But when it comes to sending our young men and women to give their life and limbs, we don't debate it. We just don't debate it. I don't know if the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned the Congress about--do they control Congress? I don't know. I haven't checked the campaign finance donations from the military industrial complexes. But something has changed my party from understanding our constitutional responsibilities. Nothing is more important--nothing in the House of Representatives is more important than sending a young man or woman to die for this country. If this amendment allows us to have a debate on whether that young man or young woman should give their life, then we owe it to the families of America. This amendment that Mr. McGovern and myself and Ms. Lee and Mr. Smith and Mr. Garamendi offered is very simple. It just says that after 2014, if the President decides that he needs to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan, then we will vote on it. Do you know how pathetic this is that we are asking for this? A few years ago, President Obama proposed to the Afghan Government-- President Karzai, who is a crook--that we will have an agreement, that we will stay there 10 more years, and that we will send them $2 billion or $3 billion a month just to take care of their needs in Afghanistan. This, when we are cutting food programs for children, senior citizens, and we can't even fix the potholes and can't fix the bridges in America. And then you will not allow us to have a debate on our responsibility, based on the Constitution, that a young man or a young woman who would die for this country or lose a leg, an arm, or their mind, that we can't have a debate? What a pathetic time for the House of Representatives.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, last week in a hearing of the Armed Services Committee, we listened to the concerns of Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army, General Ray Odierno. They appeared before the committee to tell us about the serious problems facing the United States Army, specifically, the difficult budget situation the Army is currently facing. It was my intention to ask the following question regarding the funding that is being cut from the Army: Why are we continuing to spend billions of dollars in Afghanistan when the money could be going to support our servicemembers? As I did last week, I would like to read a short paragraph from the World Affairs Journal entitled, ``Money Pit: The Monstrous Failure of U.S. Aid to Afghanistan.'' The article states that, in 2012, the United States budgeted $11.2 billion for Afghan military training, with another $5.8 billion for 2013. The article goes on to say: In Afghanistan, a big problem is illiteracy. Almost 3 years ago, when Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell IV, took command of the NATO training mission, he noted that ``overall literacy'' among Afghan military and police stood ``at about 14 percent.'' How can an illiterate policeman read a license plate, the General asked, how can a soldier fill out a form, read an equipment manual? Now, even though these concerns have been on the table for years, the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction said in last summer's report: The literacy rate of Afghan security forces as a whole is 11 percent. Again, I want to repeat that, in 2012, the United States budgeted $11.2 billion for Afghan military training, with another $5.8 billion for 2013. Madam Speaker, for the United States to continue funding these Afghan security forces would be a mistake. It would put our servicemembers' lives in danger, and it would waste the American people's hard-earned tax dollars. Why are we, in Congress, not putting a stop to this abuse, especially considering this money flows freely overseas with little to no accountability? Last Friday, I had the privilege of speaking to around 100 people at an event in my district, and truly, almost everyone agreed with me that spending money we do not have in Afghanistan is a waste. Every nation that has tried to govern Afghanistan has failed, and this is no exception. It is my hope, along with my colleague, Jim McGovern, who has continuously worked with me on this issue, that the House leadership will allow debate on this failed policy in Afghanistan this spring or summer. We need to take the money that we are spending overseas, and we need it to benefit our own security forces and the problems facing the American people here at home. When I look at the bridges and the potholes and education and other needs in America and we are cutting those programs, why do we continue to borrow billions of dollars from foreign governments to prop up the Afghan leadership? It is nothing but a failed policy. In closing, I ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform, to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform, and I continue to ask God to continue to bless America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am on the House floor today to bring attention to an article from the World Affairs Journal, titled, ``Money Pit: The Monstrous Failure of U.S. Aid to Afghanistan.'' This is an eight-page article documenting case after case of American tax dollars being wasted in Afghanistan. I would like to bring one specific example to your attention, keeping in mind that many more months have now passed since this article was published and these figures are now even larger. In a recent quarterly report, the U.S. Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction said that when security for aid workers is figured, the total amount of nonmilitary funds Washington has appropriated since 2002 is ``approximately $100 billion''--more than the United States has ever spent to rebuild a country. Since then, Congress has appropriated another $16.5 billion for ``reconstruction.'' And all that has not brought the United States or the Afghans a single sustainable institution or program. As I traveled through the Third District of North Carolina last week, I spoke on this subject many times and was met with frustration from the audience at the waste of taxpayer money in Afghanistan. When I went on to explain that the Afghan Parliament was able to vote on the bilateral strategic agreement that we are in the process of finalizing with Afghanistan, but we have not even debated the issue in the House, the individuals with whom I spoke were incredibly disappointed in Congress. Mr. Speaker, we cannot blame the American people for wanting a vote on this agreement, which will spend billions of American dollars in Afghanistan with little to no accountability over at least the next 10 years. This is not a partisan issue. Congressman Jim McGovern and I have signed a letter asking the leadership of both parties for a debate on the expenditure of tax dollars to prop up the corrupt nation of Afghanistan. To further explain why this debate is necessary, I will briefly read two more examples from the ``Money Pit'' article. The Special Inspector General's office, widely known as SIGAR, noted that for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years the United States has been providing Afghanistan, practically the most corrupt nation on Earth, with $1.1 billion in fuel for the Afghan military--even though the United States has made no effort to determine how much fuel the military actually requires. The article goes on to cite a GAO report, stating that for $130,000, Afghan contractors built a large shower/bathroom facility, ``without holes in the walls or floors for plumbing and drains.'' What's more, the walls were constructed of ``crumbling cinder blocks.'' The report named insufficient oversight. Mr. Speaker, it is time that we bring to a close the era of waste, fraud, and abuse of the United States' resources overseas and in Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, I hope the leadership of both parties will allow this Congress to debate whether we should stay in Afghanistan for 10 more years. If the Parliament in Afghanistan can have that debate, why can't the United States House of Representatives? In closing, I would like to ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform and their families. I will close by saying we have spent enough blood and treasure on this failed policy in Afghanistan. Let's debate the issue and stop spending the taxpayers' money in Afghanistan.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, I am on the floor again today to talk about Afghanistan--the absolute waste of life and money. A lot of people don't realize this, but if you go back to 2001, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have spent over $1.5 trillion, which averages out to about 11.2 million tax dollars paid every hour by the American people. In today's national paper, the USA Today--and other headlines--the headline is this: ``Obama to Karzai: Time running out for security deal.'' Madam Speaker, based on recent polls, this would be good news for the American people if we would not continue this relationship with Afghanistan. It is nothing but an absolute waste of the taxpayers' money, and the American people are sick and tired of it. A recent poll last week by Gallup showed that almost 50 percent of the American people believe that the war in Afghanistan was a mistake to start with. I can honestly say this: If it was not a mistake to start with, it is a mistake now that we continue to support and spend money on a corrupt leader named Karzai. Madam Speaker, as I listened to the Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel yesterday talk about financial pressure on our military and the budget that he will be supporting that Mr. Obama has proposed, I wonder why we in Congress are not allowed to debate on the floor of this House--and I am not talking about the Senate now--whether we believe that we should have a 10-year agreement with Afghanistan. Again, we are talking about spending anywhere from $3 billion to $4 billion a month. It is borrowed money from the Chinese and Japanese, and we continue to raise the debt ceiling because we cannot pay our own bills. It is time for the Congress to speak out on behalf of the American people and say enough is enough. To be clear, this agreement that President Karzai has adamantly refused to sign, as The Washington Post reported earlier this week, during a December visit to Kabul, Hagel suggested that the late- February NATO meeting--meaning this week--was a cutoff point for Afghan President Karzai to sign the bilateral strategic agreement that sets the terms for a post-2014 U.S. presence. Madam Speaker, we cannot any longer police the world. We can hardly afford to pay our own bills without going to foreign governments to borrow money. Madam Speaker, it is time for Congress to reach out and to say that we listen to the American people. When we are talking about not even being able to take care of our veterans, and we are going to cut programs for children and senior citizens, and even our veterans are in jeopardy of getting the benefits that they have earned, it is time for the American people to put pressure on Congress to have this debate that many of us in both parties would like to have, quite frankly. Madam Speaker, I have beside me a photograph of a young man named Eric Edmundson. Eric, in 2005, was in a Humvee that was hit by an IED that exploded. Eric has been in the national Wounded Warrior Project ads across this Nation. Eric is like so many of the wounded. We just don't really think about them every day, but we should. Eric has a wonderful wife. His mom and dad were able to retire to New Bern, North Carolina, which is in my district, and help Eric have a quality of life. Madam Speaker, I can honestly tell you that we have got so many veterans that we are going to need to take care of who earned the right for this government to take care of them that we are going to have a tsunami that is going to hit this Congress in a few years, and we are going to wonder how in the world can we give these wounded and their families what they have earned and deserve. Madam Speaker, it is time for this Congress to put pressure on the leadership of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to force a discussion and a debate on the future of our financial involvement in Afghanistan. With that, Madam Speaker, I am going to ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform. I ask God to please bless the wounded, to bless the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I ask God to please bless the House and the Senate, that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for God's people, and to please bless the President of the United States, that he also would do what is right in the eyes of God for America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am on the House floor today to share with my colleagues several recent headlines from our national papers. From The Washington Post on January 30: After billions in U.S. investment, Afghanistan roads are falling apart. This article goes on to describe the Afghan road network, built with U.S. tax dollars, as a ``$4 billion project that was once a symbol of promise in post-Taliban Afghanistan but is now falling apart.'' Another headline from January 30 from The New York Times: U.S. aid to Afghanistan flows on despite warnings of misuse. This report informs us that two global firms hired by the United States 3 years ago have found that none of the 16 Afghan ministries can be counted on to keep American aid from being stolen or wasted. Most recently, this week Reuters published an article titled, ``U.S. aid plan seeks to shield Afghanistan from end to war economy,'' which details a new initiative from the U.S. Agency for International Development that would spend almost $300 million to prop up the Afghan economy. Mr. Speaker, the common factor in these articles is that each describes in alarming detail the absolute waste of American tax dollars overseas. How can we in good conscience tell the American people we are going to continue to send their money to Afghanistan for 10 more years under the Bilateral Strategic Agreement that the United States is currently negotiating with President Karzai? I hope President Karzai will not sign the agreement. It would be the best thing to happen to the American taxpayer. Ironically, today or tomorrow we are going to raise the debt ceiling. This is after already raising it by $230 billion in October of 2013, with $30 billion reserved for Afghanistan. This is not right or fair to the American people. We need to stop the insanity in Afghanistan, which could be done if the leaders of the House and Senate would allow Members of both parties to bring bills related to this issue to the floor for a vote. In addition to the money we are spending, how many more American lives must be lost overseas before Congress decides to act? We cannot continue to waste American money and precious lives in this manner. It is time to end the abuse of the American resources in Afghanistan. With that, I will ask God to continue to bless our men and women in uniform and their families, and ask God to please continue to bless America.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Chairman, the bill we are considering this morning includes a provision that would repeal excessive restrictions on public access to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Even though the seashore is paid for by tax dollars, current regulations have restricted access to the recreational area that is owned by the taxpayer. The elected officials of Dare County have verified that the regulations have damaged the economy in the area, which relies heavily on tourism. The last thing that we need in eastern North Carolina--and across the country--is governmental regulations stifling job creation and economic growth. This bill would overturn the current rule, while restricting access to the seashore, and reinstitute the National Park Service's 2007 Interim Management Strategy to govern visitor access and species protection at Cape Hatteras. The Interim Management Strategy was backed by a 113-page Biological Opinion issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which found that it would not jeopardize piping plover, sea turtles, or other species of concerns. Please support this legislation. Let's protect the species that need to be protected, but let's also protect the rights of the taxpayer. This bill finds the balance between the two.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I came to the floor to speak about the bilateral strategic agreement and the fact that President Karzai has refused to sign the proposal offered by the administration. Since we have been in Afghanistan, 2,285 Americans have given their lives for our country, and 19,514 have been wounded. The time has come for Congress to understand history. From the days of Alexander the Great, to the British, to the Russians, no one has ever changed Afghanistan. The American people are tired of the cost of war, both life and money. As I said yesterday, it is my hope that, in early 2014, the leadership of the House will permit a debate and a vote on the agreement that will obligate our country to Afghanistan for at least 10 more years. I realize that the vote will not change the agreement, because the President does have the authority, but this will give us a chance to represent the people of America who, the majority, are opposed to this agreement. It is unacceptable that we will continue to spend billions of dollars at a time when, according to Special Inspector General John Sopko, the waste, fraud, and abuse is worse in Afghanistan today than it was 11 years ago. We in Congress continue to cut funding for programs for the American people, but we refuse to withhold one single dollar from Karzai in Afghanistan. No wonder the American people have given Congress an approval rating of 9 percent. It is time to end the senseless waste of American lives and American money in Afghanistan. I want to thank Roger Simon for his editorial in today's Politico, and I would like to read the last paragraph of his editorial. He writes: Is this the neighborhood we want to stay in? And fight for? And throw more money at? We have achieved our goals in Afghanistan. We have won. It is time for our troops to come home. If we stay for another decade, our good war could come to a very bad end. So, again, Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that when we get into 2014, that both parties will come together and say that we need to debate on whether this agreement for 10 years is worth one life or one dollar. And I believe it will be a vigorous debate. I think it will be good that the American people can see that we hear them as it relates to this war in Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I have got a poster from the Greensboro News & Record dated February 27, 2011. It is the military carrying a flag-draped coffin off the back of a plane. How many more young Americans will have to go and walk the roads of Afghanistan and be killed and lose their limbs? I hope that my colleagues in both parties will join those of us in both parties who want to have this debate on Afghanistan in 2014. Mr. Speaker, I will close now by asking God to please bless our men in uniform, to bless the families of our men and women in uniform, and God to hold in His arms the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, during the Thanksgiving break, I wrote a letter to President Obama, which I would like to submit for the record. The letter respectfully reminded the President that President Karzai continues to thumb his nose in the eyes of the American taxpayer. We have seen many news articles reporting Karzai's refusal to sign the bilateral security agreement that this administration has proposed, an agreement that would obligate United States money and United States troops for at least 10 more years in Afghanistan. In an Associated Press article printed in my State paper, titled, ``Afghanistan President Delays Deal,'' the subtitle goes on to read, ``U.S. says it will pull out troops if security agreement isn't signed.'' Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that the House will encourage the President to pull our troops out and stop spending money that we do not have in a country that does not even want our help. Furthermore, it is my hope that the House and Senate leadership will, in 2014, allow Congress to vote on this issue of the bilateral strategic agreement. Mr. Speaker, it is wrong that the Afghan Parliament may vote on whether they want this agreement with the United States, but the House and the Senate that represent the American people can't even have a debate and vote on the will of the American people. I know that the American people want this debate to take place. Hopefully, in 2014, the leadership of the House will at least let us have this debate on the floor of the House. Mr. Speaker, if you could have traveled with me during the break last week, you would have heard many people in the Third District of North Carolina who said to me that they are outraged that we will continue spending money in Afghanistan at a time when we have so many financial needs at home. It is absolutely unacceptable that a single American would give his life or limb overseas without the approval of Congress. It is absolutely unacceptable that the American taxpayer would give money to a corrupt regime while young and old alike go hungry here in the United States. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to the President: Pull the troops out and bring them home now. There is not one thing history says we will ever change in Afghanistan, and nothing, history says, will change in Afghanistan. It is time to end this senseless waste of American lives and American money in Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, this poster beside me was in the Greensboro newspaper where Mr. McGovern and I had written a letter saying it was time for us to pull our troops out. Mr. Speaker, this poster says ``News & Record, Greensboro, North Carolina, February 2011.'' That's 3 years ago. We are still there, and we are talking about 10 more years. Let Congress debate. Let Congress speak. Let Congress vote the will of the American people. Mr. Speaker, I ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform and to bless their families, and please, God, continue to bless America. November 26, 2013. President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. President: I write today due to the ongoing discussion between the United States and Afghanistan regarding a 10-year Bilateral Security Agreement to allow our troops to remain overseas beyond 2014. After reading today's Washington Post article titled ``Karzai tells Susan Rice of more demands for accord extending U.S. troop presence,'' I once again urge you to reconsider your stance on U.S. relations with Afghanistan. This agreement will obligate billions of American tax dollars and expose American troops to further danger overseas--all while meeting President Karzai's ever-growing list of demands. After 12 years, billions of dollars, and President Karzai's continued disrespect for the United States, many in the House and Senate believe it is time to end our commitment to Afghanistan. However, despite the risks involved, the agreement will not be brought before Congress for a vote. It is a sad day when the Afghan government has voted on the agreement, but that opportunity has been denied to the United States Congress. Mr. President, I have seen many people and spoken at many events while at home in Eastern North Carolina, and I have received nothing but support for my position that this agreement is entirely unacceptable. I respectfully ask you to take the wishes of the American public into consideration and oppose the Bilateral Security Agreement with Afghanistan. Sincerely, Walter B. Jones, Member of Congress.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am again on the floor today because our Nation has failed to heed the warning of George Washington, who told us to beware of foreign entanglements. We have lost over 4,474 Americans in Iraq and 2,276 Americans in Afghanistan. In both of these wars combined, 46,720 of our servicemembers have been wounded. Furthermore, the American taxpayer is spending $10.45 million every hour to pay for the cost of the war in Afghanistan since 2001. Mr. Speaker, let me repeat that. We are spending $10.45 million an hour just to pay for the money spent in Afghanistan since 2001. Despite these facts, we are now entering into a long-term agreement that, at best, is a failure--at best is a failure. It is with great disappointment that I share an NBC article, entitled, ``Endless Afghanistan? United States-Afghanistan Agreement Would Keep Troops in Place and Funds Flowing Perhaps Indefinitely''-- perhaps until 2024. I would like to read a short paragraph and submit for the record a few additional excerpts. While many Americans have been led to believe the war in Afghanistan will soon be over, a draft of a key United States-Afghan security deal obtained by NBC News shows the United States is prepared to maintain military outposts in Afghanistan for many years to come, and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces. Mr. Speaker, George Washington was right. Afghanistan is an impossible situation. History has proven that it is impossible. The Bilateral Security Agreement will only serve to endanger American lives and squander taxpayers' money. I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in standing up for the American people in opposition to the signing of this agreement. Mr. Speaker, the President has the constitutional right to enter into the agreement. We have no oversight on the agreement itself, but we can put a resolution on the floor and let the Congress debate and let the American people know that we realize what we are doing in Afghanistan, instead of continuing to pass budget bills to fund Karzai. Mr. Speaker, I have got a little poster here of Karzai. The man is a corrupt leader. All he is doing is taking the taxpayers' money and becoming richer and richer. Mr. Speaker, the funny and sad thing about this in the poster--it is a cartoon--there is a poor American soldier standing behind Karzai, who is at a money machine, and it says the thoughts of the soldier: I would like to make a quick withdrawal from here. To the American soldier, I am sorry to say, if we don't do our job in Congress, you will be there until 2024. The American people need to call their Members of Congress and say that we do not accept this agreement to keep our troops there until 2024. If you can't stop it, at least have a debate on the floor of the House and pass a resolution to say this is what the American people want to see: no long-term agreement with Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank God for blessing our troops and blessing America. Excerpts for the Record from NBC News Article ``Endless Afghanistan? US-Afghan Agreement Would Keep Troops in Place and Funds Flowing, Perhaps Indefinitely'' While many Americans have been led to believe the war in Afghanistan will soon be over, a draft of a key U.S.-Afghan security deal obtained by NBC News shows the United States is prepared to maintain military outposts in Afghanistan for many years to come, and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces. The wide-ranging document, still unsigned by the United States and Afghanistan, has the potential to commit thousands of American troops to Afghanistan and spend billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. The document outlines what appears to be the start of a new, open-ended military commitment in Afghanistan in the name of training and continuing to fight al-Qaeda. The war in Afghanistan doesn't seem to be ending, but renewed under new, scaled-down U.S.-Afghan terms. The deal, according to the text, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2015 and ``shall remain in force until the end of 2024 and beyond.'' The document doesn't specifically say how many U.S. and NATO troops would remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Afghan officials tell NBC News they hope it will be 10 to 15 thousand. U.S. officials tell NBC News the number is closer to seven to eight thousand, with an additional contribution from NATO. Factoring in troop rotations, home leave, and breaks between deployments, the service of tens of thousands of American troops would be required to maintain a force of seven to eight thousand for a decade or longer. The anticipated costs would likely run into the billions quickly. [T]he United States shall have an obligation to seek funds on a yearly basis to support the training, equipping, advising and sustaining of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, again I am on the floor today to talk about the ongoing discussion between the United States and Afghanistan regarding a 10-year bilateral strategic agreement to allow troops to remain overseas beyond the year 2014. Multiple news organizations have reported that talks on the agreement have stalled because of the unwillingness of the Afghan Government to let the American military search Afghan homes. Two senior Afghan officials went so far as to tell The New York Times that the negotiations had reached a profound impasse. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit for the Record a letter that I have written to the President of the United States regarding this issue. This agreement will force the United States to continue paying trillions of tax dollars to support the Afghans' President Karzai, a corrupt government which we cannot afford any longer. As it is, taxpayers in the United States have been paying $10.45 million every hour for the cost of the war in Afghanistan since 2001. Let me repeat that. Taxpayers in the United States have been paying $10.45 million every hour for the cost of the war in Afghanistan since 2001. This is unacceptable, especially at a time when this national debt is at an astounding $17 trillion and when we have been forced to make deep budget cuts in the United States. Just this past weekend, tornadoes in Illinois killed six people. Last year, we watched the devastation on the east coast that resulted from Hurricane Sandy. These national disasters represent only one area in which we could use the money that we are sending to Afghanistan to help the American people right here. In addition, the bilateral strategic agreement will expose our troops to considerable dangers and will risk the loss of additional American lives, all without the approval of Congress. At the very least, we in Congress should vote as to whether we agree with this agreement or not. It is not required by the Constitution, but we who oversee the spending of the taxpayers' money should demand that the leadership of the House in both parties have a vote, if nothing more than a resolution, that we do support this bilateral strategic agreement or we do not support it. Mr. Speaker, I am here again today with my poster that is just such a sad commentary on Afghanistan. It is the cartoon of a little Mr. Karzai drawing money out of a money machine--which is being paid for by the taxpayers, by the way--and his comment is, ``I am just making a quick withdrawal.'' Sadly, too, behind him is an American soldier whose thoughts are this: ``I would like to make a quick withdrawal from here.'' Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to wake up and take care of America's problems and not Afghanistan's problems. A 10-year agreement is unacceptable and we need to come together in a bipartisan way to send a message to the administration that we do not support this agreement, and we come together, Republicans and Democrats. I would close by asking God to please continue to bless our men and women in uniform and ask God to please continue to bless America. November 18, 2013. President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. President: I write today due to the ongoing discussion between the United States and Afghanistan regarding a 10-year Bilateral Security Agreement to allow our troops to remain overseas beyond 2014. Multiple news organizations have reported that talks on the agreement have stalled because of the unwillingness of the Afghan government to allow the American military to search Afghan homes. Mr. President, this agreement will force the United States to continue paying trillions of tax dollars to support Afghan President Hamid Karzai's corrupt government. This is unacceptable, particularly at a time when the national debt is an astonishing 17 trillion dollars and we have been forced to make deep budget cuts at home. More importantly, allowing our troops to remain in Afghanistan exposes them to considerable danger and risks the loss of additional American lives--all without the approval of Congress. At the very least, a vote should be allowed to ensure that Congress exercises its constitutional responsibility of oversight of the expenditure of taxpayer money. Considering these points, I implore you to reconsider the Bilateral Security Agreement and prevent both the loss of precious American lives and the waste, fraud, and abuse of American money overseas. Sincerely, Walter B. Jones, Member of Congress.