Dave Obey

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee). (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I would like to read excerpts from a letter about Iraq. It reads as follows: ``I am deeply concerned about Iraq. The task you have given me is becoming really impossible . . . incompetent Arab officials are disturbing some of the provinces in failing to collect revenue. We have overpaid almost half a million [dollars] on last year's account, which it is almost certain Iraq will not be able to pay this year, thus entailing a Supplementary Estimate in regard to a matter never sanctioned by [the legislative body]; a further deficit, in spite of large economies, is nearly certain this year on the civil expenses owing to the drop in revenue. I have had to maintain . . . troops at Mosul all through the year in consequence of the Angora quarrel: This has upset the programme of reliefs and will certainly lead to further expenditures . . . In my own heart, I do not see what we are getting out of it. ``I think we should now put definitely . . . to the Constituent Assembly the position that, unless they beg us to stay and stay on our own terms in regard to efficient control, we shall actually evacuate before the close of the financial year. I would put this issue in the most brutal way, and if they are not prepared to urge us to stay and to cooperate in every manner, I would actually clear out. ``Surveying all the above, I think I must ask you for definite guidance at this stage as to what you wish and what you are prepared to do. The victories of the [opposition] will increase our difficulties throughout the [region]. At present, we are paying . . . millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano out of which we are in no circumstances to get anything worth having.'' That is a letter written by Winston Churchill in 1922 to David Lloyd George. I would suggest not very much has changed since then. I do not know if the timetable in this bill is exactly the correct timetable or not. What I do know is that I intend to vote for every responsible action that I can take that will increase pressure on this administration and on the government of Iraq and the politicians of Iraq so that they both finally understand there must be a change in policy; there must be a recognition that our troops do not have the capacity to produce the political compromises that are necessary to end this carnage. That power is only in the hands of American politicians and Iraqi politicians. It is about time we get about the business of using it and insisting that the Iraqis use it. I would urge support for this proposition. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. OBEY. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, I do not know why we should be surprised that we are divided as a Nation when in fact we have an administration whose governing principle has been to govern by dividing. I would simply observe that there are some Members of this body evidently and some members of the administration who are willing to fight to the last drop of somebody else's blood. We are not, and that is why we are here with this proposal today. I now yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, this recommittal motion is something that we have seen for approximately 5 minutes. I think it is a dubious proposition to be voting on something this serious with less than 10 minutes of consideration. But upon a cursory reading of it, it is apparent that the purpose of this proposition is simply to prevent people from voting on the underlying bill. It is designed to gut the bill by adding two additional conditions that would enable our troops to stay in Iraq indefinitely. Those conditions make reference to the regional security of the Middle East and the national security interest of the United States. That language is so broad that virtually any deployment of any armed force could be justified under that language. It is obvious that would in fact essentially gut the proposal, and so I would urge a ``no'' vote on the motion to recommit. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 387, I call up the bill (H.R. 2206) making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include tabular and extraneous material on H.R. 2206.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 6 minutes. Let me start by saying what is not in this bill. There is no money in this bill for agriculture, there is no money for western wildfires, there is no money for western schools. All of that will be in the next bill, which will be considered separately. Mr. Speaker, this bill is our response to the President's request for $100 billion in additional funding for the civil war in Iraq, after he vetoed the Congress's first attempt to deal with that problem. What the bill does is to provide roughly $40 billion in funds that are needed for the troops. We provide $30.5 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We provide additional funding for training of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers. We provide $3.5 billion for defense health, a number of these items we are providing the President has not asked for. We are providing, for instance, for the full $3.1 billion for base realignment. That is money which he asked for last year, but not in this bill. We are also asking for $1.8 billion for veterans health care, which he did not ask for. We are asking for $2.2 billion for homeland security to strengthen our ports, our border and our cargo security. We are providing $660 million to defend this country against the flu pandemic, which could kill many more Americans than have died in Iraq if we get hit with that flu. This is money the administration itself asked for 2 years ago. We are also, in addition to that, asking to finish a number of jobs left over from the last Congress. We are asking to finish the construction, the job of cleaning up the mess after Hurricane Katrina. We are also trying to restore 40 percent of the cut that the previous Congress, last year, made in the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program in light of the higher energy prices that are rising every day. And we are providing, roughly $400 million in order to keep some of America's poorest kids from losing their access to health care. In addition to that, we are fencing the remaining funds that the President has asked for, for Iraq, and we are fencing that money, just as we did in 1984 when the MX missile issue was in dispute. And that money is being held until the President issues three reports. By July 13, he needs to issue a report defining the progress Iraq is making in meeting the benchmarks which the President himself laid out several months ago. And we also ask him to submit a second report outlining whether or not any of those benchmarks have actually been achieved. And then, in addition to that, we are requiring a monthly report on the combat-ready status of Iraqi military units. When the Congress receives those reports, it will then have about a week and a half before it has to consider, under expedited procedures provided in this bill, it would have to consider, essentially, two questions. The pending question before the House would be whether or not the remaining funds should be released so that the President, essentially, gets all of his money with no strings. The second proposition to be voted on is whether or not that money should instead be used to simply reposition our troops out of a combat role in Iraq. We make certain exceptions, the same exceptions that we had in the bill the last time it was before the House. And I would simply say, Mr. Speaker, that I think we guarantee that the administration has a fair, clean shot at getting the result it wants; and I think those in this Chamber who want a different result and want to see a new policy in Iraq, will get a clean shot at their preference. What we are, in essence, doing is giving the President about 60 more days to make his case before those votes occur. I think that is eminently fair to him, and I think it is eminently fair to those of us in the Congress who disagree with his position. We are trying to find a way to reach a final decision on these matters, even though many of us in this body very strongly disagree with the President's package. With this package, we will have compromised, now, on three very major items. We will have compromised on the initial Murtha principles with respect to military unit readiness by providing a waiver for the President. We have also compromised with respect to the time line, because we have kept in our national bill that he vetoed, we retained the initial date by which troop repositioning was supposed to begin. But the final close-out date was left very much an open-ended affair. That was a huge concession to the White House. And now, in a third concession, we are offering a way for the President to get the rest of his money. All he has to do is issue these three reports and then go to the Congress and try to persuade the Congress that his case is better than those who have a different view. That is a straight, fair way to deal with the problem. And I would urge a ``yes'' vote. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Speaker, it is not the majority party that is in a hole. It is the U.S. policy toward Iraq that is in a hole. It is not the majority party that is in disarray. Last time I looked, the headlines said that there was a bunch of Republicans going down to the White House yesterday to tell the President that the jig is almost up on his Iraqi policy. The gentleman says we should fully fund the troops. We have provided $4 billion more for the troops than the President asked for. We are fully funding the troops. What we are not fully funding is a bankrupt policy in Iraq. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. What the gentleman is telling the House is that he thinks his accounting principles are more important than providing additional veterans medical care. He is saying his accounting principles are more important than providing the funding for base closure. He is saying his accounting principles are more important than port security, cargo security, and border security. He is saying his accounting principles are more important than defending this country from a pandemic flu epidemic. He is saying his accounting principles are more important than providing a bunch of kids in this country with the health care they need. And then he squawks about the tunnel in the Capitol. The fact is what we are doing is protecting workers who were exposed to life-threatening asbestos. That is what we are doing. So the gentleman may like the ad that we hear for the accounting company. He may have a passion for accounting. I would much prefer if he had a passion for people.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sestak).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Let me simply point out to the gentleman that in the last session of Congress, it took the Congress almost 110 days to respond to the President's request. Let me also point out that the first 30 days of this session were occupied because, while he was majority leader, we never managed to pass a single domestic appropriation bill, and we had to finish his unfinished business, which took the first 30 days of this session. Let me also point out that we have had two meetings with the administration. We have laid out a number of compromises. I have laid out, frankly, to the administration that we are pursuing a two-track strategy. We asked them what concessions they would put on the table. They still have not put a single concession on the table in their conversations with us on this side of the Capitol. So absent that, we have no choice to proceed except sit here like a bunch of potted palms waiting for a miracle. Not many miracles on this House floor. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished majority leader, Mr. Hoyer.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished Democratic Caucus chairman, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished Speaker of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. OBEY. Could I inquire of the gentleman from California how many speakers he has remaining?

Mr. OBEY. We have only one remaining speaker, so why don't you proceed? Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. OBEY. I have no idea what any Member put out by way of press release, and I claim no responsibility for any statement made by any Member.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remaining time to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha), the distinguished chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.