Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I started wearing pink ties, because we had the whole goddess thing going on.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. While we are hitting on the war, I think it is important for us to maybe go back and reevaluate why the Democrats have the position of redeploy out, wind this thing down, and I think it is important for us to go through some of the numbers. Mr. Meek had already mentioned the number of troops killed. We have had another nine that were killed in the last couple of days, and our hearts and prayers go out to all the families that have been affected by this and who have lost soldiers over there. The most heartbreaking thing we have to do is go to these funerals and see a 20-year old kid who has been married for a year with a 7-month-old son or daughter. It is heartbreaking when we don't even know what winning is. Ask the President. What is winning this war? What does that mean now? We can't really get an answer from the President. But a couple of things, why we think the President and his policies have made this situation worse. The number of insurgents in Iraq in 2003 was 5,000. The number of insurgents in Iraq in March of 2007 is 70,000, all Sunni, mostly Sunni. What I love now is the President is starting to say, Mr. Speaker, ``bin Laden is now saying we need to attack Americans in Iraq. See why we got to stay there?'' No kidding. Right? No kidding. Bin Laden? Of course. We have 150,000 soldiers in a war zone. Of course, bin Laden is going to say go hit them over there. But the problem is that we are creating more terrorists. And if you are trying to win the hearts and minds of people, okay, the number of civilian casualties in Iraq since the invasion, estimates range from 54,000 to 76,000. Those are innocent civilians in Iraq. Do you think we are going to be able to go over there and win their hearts and minds if we are killing innocent civilians with the bombs we are dropping? This needs to be won diplomatically. When it needs to be won diplomatically, it becomes very difficult when you have 50,000 to 75,000 civilian casualties. One more thing, and then I will wrap my portion up here. The average daily number of daily attacks by insurgents in July of 2003 was 16 daily attacks in 2003. The number of daily attacks by insurgents between November of 2006 and February of 2007, 149. From 16 to 149. We are aggravating the situation. We are making it worse, and the surge is making it worse. I yield back to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. All we really have to do is talk to some of the soldiers who are over there and who have come back, which I'm sure most of us have. And when they explain what's going on on the ground, it's mind-boggling to think in cities of 140, 150, 160, 170,000 we've got American troops, for example, on the west side of the city, with 1,000 Iraqi troops on the west side of the city, and 1,000 on the east side and 1,000 Iraqis; 2,000, 4,000 total for the whole city, 2,000 of the 4,000 being American. How are you going to control a city of 170,000 people? And a surge of an extra 1,000 or 2,000 is not going to make a difference. It's going to make it worse. This surge is not the first time we've tried this. This is like the fourth time, and every time that we've tried a surge in certain areas there has been an increase in the number of daily attacks, not a decrease, because it incites the area, and you still don't have enough. And we've all said from the beginning, if we went in there with 3- or 400,000 troops, where we were able, after the statue fell, to secure the State, to secure the country of Iraq, that would have been a different story, and all the looting was going on and the museums and everything, and then Secretary Rumsfeld said, well, they're just blowing off steam. At that point, you lost control and it went all downhill from there. But my point is that you talk to these soldiers who are on the ground, and they see that they can't handle this situation the way it is and that the only way to do it is through diplomacy, is to try to patch up some of these political problems, which gets worsened because of the innocent civilians that are dying in Iraq, which makes them not like us.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Take your time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate it, and you're absolutely right. And we have got an obligation to do that, and the ramifications of this war are being felt all over. And one of the regrets that we have had is that we continue to run up this huge budget deficit in order to pay for the war. And it's time for us to start challenging those people who have been doing well, those people that this primarily has been the burden of this war, has primarily been the responsibility of those families and those soldiers who have been fighting in it, and the burden that they have faced has been much greater than anyone had anticipated. And so I think it's important for us to also recognize in our supplemental bill what we have been able to do and what we have tried to do with some of this additional money. Almost $2 billion for defense health care for those soldiers who are serving their country currently, that we put an extra couple billion dollars in there above the President's request to deal with the health care issue for those who are serving their country right now in this most dangerous time. We also added an almost additional $2 billion for veterans health care and made sure that we are taking care of our veterans when they come back. We are going to see a tremendous surge in veterans health care when these soldiers get back home, and we want to make sure that they have the resources necessary to do that. We don't want this to be a country that promises you before you go to war all kinds of Cadillac coverage and then when you get back you're left on your own. The Democratic Party had attempted to fix that through the supplemental process, and again, that bill was vetoed. $500 million in there for post-traumatic stress disorder, which is going to be a huge problem given the kind of environment that these kids are fighting in. $500 million in there for brain injuries, again a major problem with those soldiers who are coming back injured. We're trying to take care of our veterans, and we're doing a good job, but we keep getting this process and these bills vetoed by the President of the United States, and it is very important that we begin to recognize that this can no longer be a stumbling block. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, the Democratic-led Congress, in our budget authorization bill several weeks ago, put in there the largest increase for veterans spending in the history of the veterans administration. We are trying to take care of our veterans, and we are doing it in spite of what the President is trying to do by consistently vetoing our bills. We are putting the money forward, we are asking for some accountability, we are taking care of our veterans, we are taking care of our soldiers, we are making sure that they don't leave to go over to Iraq without the proper body armor, the proper Humvee, up-armored Humvees, and the proper amount of rest. Our soldiers are getting worn out by continuously extending their tours, by sending them back second, third, fourth tours, their families are having problems, high divorce rates. We are seeing it all over. It's time for us to refocus. Then, when you look at who else is being affected by this situation that we have in Iraq, you are also seeing the issue with the National Guard readiness. We have seen, unfortunately, over the last couple of weeks, because of the natural disasters and the tornados, especially in places like Kansas, where the National Guard does not have the equipment, in many instances they don't have the manpower to try to deal with the issues that they are facing in their own State. There are so many issues that are being affected. Let me just share with you some of these problems that we have and what we are trying to do to address that. We put in, in the last supplemental bill, $2 billion not requested by the President for a new strategic reserve readiness fund, of which $1 billion is for Army National Guard equipment shortfalls. We are trying to address it. The President vetoed that too. So bad enough you are vetoing health care for our soldiers, you are vetoing health care for our veterans to the tune of $2 billion; you are vetoing veterans health care for post- traumatic stress disorder; you are vetoing health care for those soldiers who come back with brain injuries. You are also vetoing an extra $1 billion for Army National Guard equipment. I mean, come on. We are trying to move this process forward. You know, it's a typical D.C. move, that if it's not your idea, we are against it. You know, if I didn't come up with it, I'm against it. That has been the President's attitude. We can't have it, because it's not us that is suffering; we are in air conditioned quarters. We got offices, cars, nice meals, you know. Our families are here with us. It's the soldiers who are suffering, and their families who are suffering, bearing the brunt of this war. This is Lieutenant General Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau: ``The Governors are rightly concerned that while the personnel part of the Guard has never been better, never been more ready, the equipment piece to the National Guard back here at home has never been less ready, and they are trying to resolve that obvious disconnect. The message is clear what we have, and the budget does not produce the level of readiness that they feel comfortable with.'' Just being admitted. That's being admitted by the chief of the National Guard Bureau. This is the Government Accountability Office report from 2007, just a couple of months ago in January. This is a nonpartisan bureau that we have here: ``The high use of the National Guard for Federal overseas missions has reduced equipment available for its State-led domestic missions. At the same time it faces an expanded array of threats at home.'' Reduced equipment available for our National Guard; our soldiers, not having the proper body armor; our Humvees not properly up-armored; our soldiers not getting the proper rest; our veterans not getting the kind of health care that they deserve; our defense, our soldiers in the Defense Department, not getting the level of health care and attention that they need and that they deserve; and an American public that wants this war to be over. Sixty percent say that it was a mistake to go in the first place. We have an obligation to respectfully and orderly wind this war down and begin a surge of diplomacy in the Middle East, asking our neighbors in the Middle East, asking the United Nations to take part in a peace- keeping effort in Iraq, making sure that our soldiers are there and the periphery, a certain number, to make sure that we are still in the region to a certain extent to protect against some kind of Iranian influence. I yield to my good friend, who I know has been very busy tonight. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to honor your commitments. I yield to my good friend from Florida.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Let's look at what we are just trying to do. All we're saying is we're going to give the President, he wants $100 billion and we're saying we want to give you $30-some billion, and then D.C. lingo, fence the rest of the money in, the other $50 or $60 billion, until he comes back, the President comes back to us in July and is able to articulate to the United States Congress and the American people and the world what exactly the progress has been. And if you have progress, then you will be willing to come and make that argument to us here. And then we will have another vote, and we will decide if we are going to release the rest of the money or do something else, begin winding it down even quicker. But I find it very disturbing, Mr. Speaker, that the President of the United States is not willing to come to the United States Congress, created by Article I, section 1 of the Constitution, the people's House, and articulate why our soldiers are still in Iraq, why we're not having success, why benchmarks aren't being met, why the Iraqi soldiers aren't being trained. You come back to the United States Congress and you tell us what the situation is, and then we control the money, and if there's progress we will give you more. If it continues like it's been going, we're going to give you enough to get these kids back home.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate it. Use www.Speaker.Gov to access our Web site. E-mail 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. Mr. Meek, as always, it is an honor, a pleasure, and a privilege to just share this floor with you, my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Absolutely. We have another thing to add to the list of the promises that were made that we rehashed here many, many times. When you look at we are going to be greeted as liberators, we only need $50 billion, we can use the oil for reconstruction, you know, all of these things that were told to us before the war that ended up not being true, we have something that we can add as we have seen this week, May 12 edition of the news, and comparing it to this statement that the President made on the Iraqi government, New York Times, January 28, 2005, ``But asked if, as a matter of principle, the United States would pull out of Iraq at the request of a new (Iraqi) government, he said,'' the President said, `` `Absolutely. This is a sovereign government.' '' May 12, 2007, fast forward, majority of Iraq lawmakers seek timetable for U.S. exit. Majority of Iraq's parliament members signed a petition for a timetable governing withdrawal of American troops. The American people want us out. The Iraqi parliament wants us out. Seventy percent of the Iraqi citizens think it is okay to shoot an American soldier. This President is the only one in the world who thinks it's a good idea for us to stay there, and it's the same person who told us this slew of inaccurate data, information, tactic, strategy 5 years ago. So we are trying to fix this problem, and we are having a heck of a time getting past this President. And he is the President and he does have the veto power, but he needs to recognize we want accountability. He's not getting a blank check, and this is not going to be an open- ended war.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Well, I appreciate you coming down and articulating that. And it's been consistent since we've gotten in with the first 100 hours as to what we're doing now, what we plan on doing, what we've passed out of this House, what we've passed out of this House sometimes on several different occasions. And if you look at the two major supplemental votes, you look at, you know, what did we do in the first one is we put timelines in there, deadlines in there, date certain we're going to get out of there. And you stated, I think, so articulately, that the Iraqi soldiers, if they know we're going to be there, then they're going to continue to rely on us. And if you leave the training wheels on the bike, you're never going to learn how to ride on two wheels. And it's time to take the training wheels off, Mr. Meek.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Just to think about the lack of planning and details for the whole deal, as these Iraqi troops are supposed to stand up, we are supposed to stand down. That is why in our supplemental we said let's work something out. There was no exact formula, but as one brigade of Iraqi troops are trained to the level the President certifies, we bring one home. If the whole premise of the President's policy was as they stand up, we stand down, he has been saying that for such a long time, and that was in our supplemental bill that we passed a couple of weeks ago. I know our good friend Steve Israel from New York and Ike Skelton have been promoting this idea for a long time, and that was in there. That is the kind of thing that the Democrats are doing. But to focus on the lack of planning, not to beat a dead horse, but we now have soldiers over there who are in charge of two, three, 400 Iraqi soldiers. One person that I know who is in charge of 400 Iraqi soldiers, do you know how many interpreters he has to communicate with?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. One. He has one interpreter to help him communicate with 400 Iraqi soldiers. Now these are all of the things that were not accounted for before we went into this place. That's what we are saying. There is a time and a place for military action. Afghanistan is the one we all cite, where they were harboring the al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. But now we have put these soldiers in a position where they are losing their friends. They are in dangerous situations. They don't know how long they are going to be there. Their tours keep getting extended, and you can't keep doing this to our soldiers. And then you have a natural disaster in the United States and you don't have enough Guardsmen and -women to address the local problem. Let's fix this. Let's work together to fix this problem and let's work with the President. Let's work with the members of the minority party in the House and the Senate to say let's start winding this thing down. That's what we want to do, and that's how I think we are going to begin to regain some credibility in the world. We are actually going to be pro-troop, pro-soldier by getting them out of a position that they can't survive in. We see the death tolls going up and we see what's happening at Walter Reed, and when you look at what we were able to do, immediate funding for the troops for the next 60 to 90 days and an evaluation of how we are doing, is that too much to ask? I yield to my good friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be before the House of Representatives once again with the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) to share with the American people and our colleagues some of the issues that are facing the United States of America today, and that I think will have ramifications for the future of this country. The past few weeks here have been very exciting as we continue to try to press the President of the United States to find his way in Iraq and begin the withdrawal of our troops. I think it is important for the American people to recognize the position of the majority party in the House of Representatives and the position of the majority in the United States Senate represented by Speaker Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid in which we are trying to begin the process of winding down the war in Iraq and expanding the global war on terrorism. The war in Iraq does not have anything to do with the war on terrorism, and we hear from the President consistently that if we don't fight them over there, we are going to have to fight them over here. I think it is important for us to recognize that only 2 to 3 percent of the people fighting in Iraq are al Qaeda. We are in the middle of a civil war in a country that 70 percent of the citizens of that country in Iraq believe it is okay to shoot American soldiers. That is where we are in the middle of this civil war, a religious civil war between religious groups and ethnic factions in which Americans in many instances are the targets of this civil war now. We have seen in the last 4 months, Mr. Speaker, the deaths of more Americans in that 4-month period than any other 4-month period during the war. It is getting worse by the day. Many of us continue to talk to soldiers who come back and go back and forth, and they are very discrete with us and they share with us information that they are maybe not willing to say publicly. But if I have heard it from one soldier, I have heard it from 15 or 20 from my district and around the country who I have talked with. And they inevitably say: What is winning? What is winning this war? We ask the President time and time again: What does winning mean? We are beginning to try the process that the President keeps vetoing of winding this war down. When you have a scenario where you have a couple thousand or 3,000 or 4,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in cities of over 100,000 trying to secure and trying to find out who these insurgents are when they all dress in civilian clothes, they all drive civilian cars. No one has a uniform on. No one is driving a tank. This is a guerrilla war that we are in the middle of. It is becoming very, very difficult for us to secure it. I believe we have missed the opportunity to secure that country because we lack troops. I don't want to take all of the time up tonight. I know Mr. Murphy is such a courteous New Englander that he would probably let me, but I think it is important that the citizens of this country know that the Democratic Party is trying to end this war. We want timetables. We want accountability, and the one thing that we are saying to the President of the United States, two things, this is not going to be an open-ended war and you are not getting a blank check. I yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Can I share with the American people and our colleagues one more? First, I thought it was interesting, and our crack staff here, the President gave his speech in front of the Jefferson Memorial. We've got a great quote, 1789, when Jefferson wrote a letter to Madison talking about war. ``We have already given one effectual check to the dog of war, by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who are to spend to those who are to pay.'' And I think it would be appropriate, if Mr. Bush is going to use President Jefferson as a backdrop, that he should recognize at least his philosophy on some of these issues. But a quote from General John Batiste, retired general. Today, and this is on his response to the President's veto. ``The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the Nation to defeat worldwide Islamic extremism is tragic.'' ``We deserve more from our Commander in Chief and his administration.'' That is Major General John Batiste, retired general. It has been a pleasure being here with you today. I hope this week, with the leadership of Leader Pelosi, that we continue to stand strong behind the American people. And you can be assured, Mr. Speaker, that when Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are there tomorrow negotiating that they will be representing the will of the American people, the 65 percent of the American people that want a deadline to get us out. 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov for any e-mails that the Members may want to send us. The charts that we have here, some we showed tonight and some we didn't, are all on our Web site www.speaker.gov/ 30something. And, again, the e-mail address is 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That is right.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And let's be clear about this whole issue of deadlines. There was a deadline that came out of the House version, for the political junkies that are paying attention, Mr. Speaker. There was a hard deadline that came out of the House version, not in the Senate version. And the compromise that just went to the President had the goal, just the goal of maybe getting out of Iraq. No hard deadline, just the goal, because we knew that he would veto a hard deadline. And as much as we don't like it, he is the President of the United States. But there is the goal of leaving. This President, Mr. Speaker, can't even think about the goal of getting out of Iraq. He doesn't even want to talk about it. There is no deadline in this supplemental that he just vetoed, no hard deadline at all. The language said, the goal of getting out. So let's be very, very clear. Now, when people ask, well, why do we need to get out. People I think feel why. There's a lot of really good examples, not just from Democrats as some of our friends may like to think, but from a variety of others. Here's what is happening in Iraq, as the Washington Post reported, ``A department of the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office is playing a leading role,'' this is the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office, playing a leading role ``in the arrest and removal of senior Iraqi Army and National Police Officers, some of whom had apparently worked too aggressively to combat violent Shiite militias, according to U.S. military officials in Baghdad. Since March 1, at least 16 Army and National Police Commanders have been fired, detained or pressured to resign. At least 9 of them are Sunnis.'' So now they are removing police and military people that are cracking down on the wrong, somehow the wrong group of terrorists. And some folks say this is not like Vietnam. How about Senator Hagel, leading Republican, conservative. I read today he had an 85 percent rating from a conservative think tank. So he is clearly a conservative Republican. He just got back from Iraq. Here's what he says in Mr. Novak's column of yesterday, or 2 days ago. ``This thing is coming undone quickly, and Maliki's government is weaker by the day. The police are corrupt, top to bottom. The oil problem is a huge problem. They still can't get anything through the parliament. No hydrocarbon law, no deBaathification law, no provincial elections.'' That's Chuck Hagel, our friend in the Senate, our colleague in the United States Senate. Republican from Nebraska; 85 percent conservative rating from a conservative group here in Washington. We're saying that we need to change direction, Mr. Speaker. We're saying that the Iraqi government has had over 4 years to try to piece this thing together, and that we've done all that we can do. And the American people do not want to lose any more soldiers to this war. And we want a deadline. We want to get out. We want to get out with respect. We want to get out with dignity, we want to get out and protect our troops. But it turns out that the presence of the United States in Iraq is inciting violence. We're inciting the civil war. We're the ones being attacked, as well as others around. And in April, it's been the sixth highest month of American soldiers getting killed in the entirety of the war. Let's fix this. Let's go in a new direction. This is not time for bravado. This it not time for ego. This is time for the American people to come together and the Congress to come together, the President to recognize that this has not worked, and for us to try to re-establish some level of credibility in the world. And this President needs to listen to the will of the American people. And I want to make one final point, because we have this tremendous debate in the country that is not always framed the right way. But I want friends who we run into in the street, and someone says I'm pro- choice and I'm pro-life, and I think we're all pro-life. But the debate has been framed as such that pro-life Americans take their role and their issues very seriously. And I find it extremely ironic, as a pro-life Democrat who voted for the partial birth abortion bill, that this President has two vetos. His one veto is on stem cell research, because that's a pro-life issue. And his second veto is to continue a war in which thousands of American soldiers have been killed and injured, and in which tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens, innocent, many of them, have been killed. And by keeping this open-ended, by keeping this open- ended, we know that there will be more death and destruction. So I find it ironic that this President has two vetos; one pro-life, supposedly, and the other pro-war. And how they reconcile that on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, I'll have no idea. But I think it is important for us to recognize how sometimes dysfunctional the philosophy, Mr. Meek, of this President and this administration has been. And so, let's, on the anniversary of ``Mission Accomplished,'' and recognizing the failures of the past, let's do what Americans do, and that's fix the problem. Americans are full of problem solvers, and that's what we do in this country. We fix things, whether it's the car or the computer, or the truck, we fix things. And I hope that the President will find it in his heart to sit down with Speaker Pelosi, to sit down with Leader Reid and the leadership from this Congress, and draw on the knowledge of Ike Skelton, the Chair of our Armed Services Committee, who's been in this institution, I think, over 30 years. Draw on the knowledge of Jack Murtha, who's been in this Congress almost 40 years on the Defense Appropriations Committee. And stop listening to those people who got us in this situation. I yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate that, and I think you are exactly right. There was a misrepresentation of the facts of the legislation that was put forth to the White House. I think it's important for us, for us to go over in a snapshot of what the supplemental bill did that the President just vetoed. What this bill did was increase by $1.7 billion the amount of money that was going to defense health care for the troops. What it did was it increased veterans spending by $1.7 billion above what the President wanted. We tried to make law the benchmarks that the President set up for progress in Iraq on January 10, his benchmarks, and he vetoed that. Now, the President is vetoing his own statements, if that is not confusing enough. The key component of this piece of legislation is the piece that says that our troops can't leave here and go to Iraq if they don't have the proper body armor, if they don't have the proper equipment, if they don't have Humvees that are up armored, and if they don't have the amount of rest that they need. That is what the President just vetoed. I think this is a pretty sad day in American history when you have the President of the United States trying to win a PR battle and using the troops as hostage. Those are not my words, those are the words of General Paul Eaton, who just said, after the statement, this is what he is saying on the President's veto, ``This administration and the previously Republican controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and the Marine Corps by their failure to pass the necessary funding language. This time, the President of the United States is holding our Soldiers hostage to his ego. More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war--alone--without their President's support.'' Terrorism around the globe is up 25 percent. Stop doing what you are doing to make terrorism increase by 25 percent. Enough of the scare tactics that if we don't fight them there, they are going to come here and get us. The same scare tactics that they have been trying to employ for the past 5 years, this is the same group of people who told us, as was stated earlier, that the oil money would be used for reconstruction, it would only cost $50 billion, and now we are upwards of some $500 and some billion after the 2008 budget, going to be greeted as liberators. All of the statements that have been made in the past 5 years have been wrong, colossal mistakes. The same people that said the mission was accomplished are the same people that are now telling us we don't want any timetables, we don't want any deadlines, we don't want any goals for when we maybe should possibly, at some point, get out of Iraq and redeploy out. We don't want any of that. They expect, after all these mistakes, all of these blunders, that somehow we are going to trust them. I am sorry, but you know what? Between now and when the President decides it's time to get out, how many more soldiers are we going to lose? How many more kids are we going to go up and see at Walter Reed who have brain injuries and post-traumatic stress? That's the difference between today and a year from now. That's the difference between a deadline and an open-ended war, kids getting killed and innocent Iraqis getting killed. You know, I think that this is the height of arrogance that this veto showed by the President.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Can I interrupt you and just make a highlight? In the President's speech today he said that the incident levels are down.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I hear you too.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I totally agree with you. I think the first step for most people who find themselves in a massive hole and going in the wrong direction, or following someone who continues to lead them down the wrong road, is to not follow that person any more. What the Democratic Congress has provided is what the American people sent the majority of the Democrats down here for in November, and that is to take this war in another direction, take our foreign policy in another direction. That is what this supplemental bill has done. The American people wanted us to take care of the veterans, and we increased $500 million for post-traumatic stress disorder, $500 million additional for brain injuries, that is what the American people wanted, for us to fix the veterans's problem. They wanted to make sure, they got tired of hearing about kids over there without body armor. So we made sure that no kid could go over there, or soldier or adult who is going to Iraq will not be over there without the proper equipment, body armor, up-armored Humvees, the proper rest when they get back, for over a year, let them rest. We gave the American people what they wanted, and what the troops deserved. To have that vetoed by a President who has been wrong on every single major foreign policy and domestic issue over the past 6 years doesn't make any sense to the American people, and it certainly doesn't make any sense to us. You look, and it's getting better. You hear this all the time, it's not getting better. It's not. If it was getting better, do you think you would have this uproar from the American people? Do you think you would have all of these new Members of Congress if things were getting better? In a report that just came out, National Counterterrorism Center, terrorist incidents in Iraq rose by 91 percent from 3,468 in 2005 to 6,630 in 2006 and getting worse. Innocent Iraqis are getting killed all the time, and they believe it's because the American soldiers are there, because the American presence is there. That is what they believe, and we are saying we need to redeploy out of these major centers and stop policing a civil war. That is exactly what's happening. One of the things we wanted to do in the supplemental that the President just vetoed is hold the Iraqi government accountable for training their own soldiers. You know, the President has always said, when they stand up, we stand down. Then they keep telling us that the Iraqi soldiers are standing up, but we are not standing down, which means they are not standing up. We wanted to put benchmarks in there so that the Iraqi soldiers would have to meet them or were leaving. Now, you can't give people open- ended situations in which they can get out of. All we are trying to do is hold the Iraqi government responsible. I don't like saying it, because I didn't support this war from the beginning. To go in there and knock everything around and then say you are not doing what you are doing, but the bottom line is, if you do not get yourself trained, if you do not, as a country, get your police force ready, and your military ready, we can't stay here forever. And, Mr. Speaker, I don't think that is too much to ask. And the response from the President through his Secretary of State, Secretary Rice, signaled Bush's opposition to, ``Any war spending bill,'' check this out, ``that penalizes Iraqi's government for failing to make progress.'' We are not going to punish them for failing to make progress. Are we in a therapy session here?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I will be happy to yield.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 252, recognizing the 45th anniversary of John Glenn and his historic 1962 orbital flight aboard Friendship 7. I commend my colleague, the Honorable Zach Space for his efforts on this resolution and am honored to be an original cosponsor. John Glenn's orbital flight and his many extraordinary achievements in war and peace are appropriately enumerated and memorialized in this resolution--and it is an amazingly long account. Without doubt it is an unsurpassed record of accomplishment that includes six Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and the only Ohioan to serve four consecutive terms in the U.S. Senate. At Cape Canaveral on February 20, 1962, John Glenn blasted into space and became the first American to orbit the Earth. After several excruciatingly long launch pad delays, people all over the world and every school child in America heard Scott Carpenter's lift off directive--Godspeed John Glenn--soon to be followed by the cool voice of the pilot: ``Roger. Zero Gs and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around. Oh, that view is tremendous!'' As he reached an altitude of 162 miles at a velocity of 17,500 miles an hour, the excitement quickly turned to tension and apprehension when the flight instruments indicated that a loose heat shield threatened a safe return. While the capsule skated back through the atmosphere, Friendship 7 reported a real fireball outside. To our great relief the plume of parachutes and splashdown told us that after a nearly 5 hour flight, Glenn was safe and sound back on Earth. On February 26, 1962, John Glenn was received with a standing ovation before a Joint Session of Congress in this chamber. Parades in Washington, New York, and New Concord, Ohio, soon followed. Friendship 7 is now prominently displayed in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum near Orville and Wilbur Wright's 1903 Flyer, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and Apollo XI. John and Annie Glenn celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on April 6th. Annie is a true American hero for her extraordinary personal efforts to overcome stuttering. Her public efforts to help others with speech and communication disorders are nationally recognized. She received the first national award of the American Speech and Hearing Association for inspiring those with communicative disorders. The National Association for Hearing and Speech Action annually presents the Annie Glenn Award to an individual achieving distinction despite a communication disorder. She is a national treasure. In 1941, John Glenn was on his way to Annie's organ recital at Muskingum College when he heard over the car radio that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. His patriotic public service began shortly thereafter when he volunteered for military service and continues today through his work at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University. In a lifetime of accomplishment he found in adventure and challenge he met with courage. John Glenn is an American hero. He has proudly served his Nation as soldier and statesman and he still likes to fly. I join my colleagues in urging the passage of the resolution.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Robert D. Fitzer, a longtime clarinetist, music educator, and community activist in the Mahoning Valley. Robert Fitzer was born in Youngstown, Ohio to former YSU Dana School of Music faculty members James Fitzer and Dolores Severino. By the time he was in 8th grade he was a member of the Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra. He studied clarinet at Northwestern University, where he was a member of their Symphony Orchestra and their Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Robert studied at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria and in the International Festival Institute in Round Top, Texas. He has also received coaching in chamber music by Grammy-award winning cellist Yo- Yo Ma. As a musician, Bob Fitzer has performed at Carnegie Hall, recorded Grammy Award winning music, and collaborated with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has performed on motion picture soundtracks, Broadway shows on tour, and with rock bands such as Yes and Styx. He has performed with the United States Navy Band and the Blossom Festival Concert Band. Bob also served as soloist in 2004 with the Youngstown State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Bob Fitzer has been a faculty member at YSU's Dana School of Music for 11 years. He teaches a studio of 24 clarinet majors and has formed clarinet choirs, trios and quartets. He has also served on the faculties of Trinity University in San Antonio and Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In addition, he also conducts classes at his private clarinet studio in Youngstown. Bob Fitzer has also been involved in the community life of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley. He has served as president of the Citizens League of Greater Youngstown and as a volunteer counselor at the Help Hotline Crisis Center. From 1995 to 2001 Bob Fitzer was co-host of WYSU's Commentary Cafe radio show. During that time I was granted the honor of being one of his guests. Bob Fitzer spent a lifetime contributing to the art that this world so desperately needs. Currently, Bob Fitzer needs the comfort of that art and the friendship of his friends as he fights cancer. Bob, we wish you well and we pray for you and we hope you find the comfort and friendship that you have so freely provided for others throughout your life.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Margaret Nicholas, a member of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, Branch #227 in Warren, OH. Mrs. Nicholas was named a Fraternal Most Valuable Participant for the week of October 2, 2006. These Fraternal MVP's embody a spirit of generosity, dedicating their time to the betterment of their communities through their charitable endeavors. The HRFA was founded 110 years ago, with the mission to preserve, promote, and support the cultural, religious, and linguistic traditions of Hungarians in America. Mrs. Nicholas has long been active in the Warren branch of the HRFA, currently serving as the Branch Manager. Over the years, Mrs. Nicholas has been involved in many charitable activities, among them assembling care packages for troops serving overseas, which she has done since the days of the Vietnam War. Over the past two years, she has helped deliver over 4,000 cookies to the VA hospital in Brecksville, OH for the annual Join Hands Day. She is deeply involved in her church, helping to cook sausages to raise money for missions, organizing a vacation bible school, as well as serving as both a deacon and an elder. I would like to commend Mrs. Nicholas on her outstanding devotion the improvement of the lives of people, not only in her community but across the country and around the world.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Well, I think the American people will be very glad when they see this budget. They are going to be very glad over the past couple of weeks and really over the past 100 days of all of the accomplishments led by Speaker Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn and Rahm Emanuel and John Larson, and really the amazing leadership we are getting from our leadership in our caucus and the real teamwork on behalf of our freshmen Members and the different aspects of our caucus. I have never been prouder to be a Democrat than in the last couple of weeks on this floor and to pass that resolution last week that is going to get us out of Iraq responsibly, invest in our veterans, make sure they get the kind of health care they need, the first 100 hours, where we began to bring some fiscal discipline to the House, cut student loan interest rates in half, repairing student loans, invested in alternative energies, invested in the stem cell research and some great advances, creating new sectors, raising the minimum wage, all of this was done in the first 100 hours. When you add to that the supplemental and the $1.7 billion and the billion dollars for vets and the additional $1.7 billion above the President's request for health care for our soldiers, and you add this budget of $50 billion that is going to go to poor kids to make sure that they get health care so they can go out and get up on their feet and go to school healthy, ready to learn and move forward and get a good job and pay taxes and advance their families forward, break the cycle of poverty, these are the kind of investments that we are making, increasing the Pell Grant to $4,600. Key investments. So I am proud of what has been going on here, and it has been a pleasure to rekindle this kind of debate that we have, and I really appreciate your friendship. With that, do you have any closing comments? I am going to wrap it up here. 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. If anybody wants to e-mail or see any of the charts we have had, you can go to www.speaker.gov/ 30something.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am sorry to interrupt you, but we are leaving tomorrow, and I will not see you till after the Final Four where the Florida Gators and the Ohio State Buckeyes may have a rematch, and I just want you to know everybody in Ohio is looking for some revenge.