on this day signed nancy pelosi speaker of the house of representatives  went to the author of the house of january for two thousand and seven the chair will now recognize members from the list submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to thirty minutes and each member other than the majority and minority leaders in a minority whip limit it to five minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon mr bloom an hour for five after five minutes the largest humanitarian crisis in the world is continues to unfold in iraq over four million displaced people more than the crisis in the darfur two million or more have fled their country and the rest displaced within they have flown to syria to jordan throughout the middle east it is brutal not just for the refugees themselves and the displaced people but it places a great strain on the host country late last summer ambassador ryan crocker pointed out the problems that this refugee crisis is posing for the united states itself when he expressed deep concerns that if we don't do a better job of helping to protect the people who feel that they their lives are at risk because they've worked for the united states that we turn our back on them when they flee the country that they will be less willing to work with us and we won't be able to rely on people who make such a difference in terms of services of interpretation and guiding and providing essential services for united states activities in iraq i have been deeply concerned about this problem over the course of the last year finding out how far we've fallen short of the mark when i was working with a group of high school students in oregon and returning us oregon national guard troops who were fighting to try and bring back to the united states their interpreter a young woman who had been marked for death in iraq because of her cooperation it was frustrating over the course of the months that we worked with them because really i had no good explanation to these young people the guard and the high school students about why it should be so hard for the united states to help people who helped us it is not just people who are  helping who would help the united states who've fled the country it's not just those that are concerned about sunni and shia violence the maybe in ancient people a small christian sect are are caught in the crossfire of this civil war in iraq and they are at risk of being wiped out in their entirety well having been inspired by young oregonians having been inspired of course by the example of kirk johnson a former aide staff member who chronicled the plight of over six hundred people at risk of whom less than ten had been resettled we in produced legislation to try and deal with the mismatch between the scope of the problem and the limited resources the united states government has put into addressing it indeed after we won the war in iraq the situation became worse on the ground and we witnessed the explosion of this crisis for two thousand and five and two thousand and six the numbers of people we helped were minuscule out of the four million people who've left their homes we allowed one hundred ninety eight iraqis in the united states in two thousand and five two thousand to in last year almost entirely people who were being reunited with their families who had been made refugees in hundred ninety one there were glimmers of hope this year with the administration promising first twenty five thousand people which was the same number that the prime minister of sweden told me sweden who didn't have any soldiers in this fight sweden was willing to accept later the number fell to seven and thousand and then ultimately we only let eighteen hundred iraqis in throughout the entire last fiscal year and that was after a last minute rush because the first six months we'd only allowed sixty nine there is good news however because there due to an amendment that was adopted  the floor of the house and senate for the defense appropriations bill authorization bill largely taken from provisions in our house legislation we're actually going to be able to make some real progress will be able to process some of these refugees in the country up until now people have been forced to leave iraq even though we have the largest embassy in the history of the planet they had to leave we have an opportunity to to put to increase to five thousand a year those people who are risk because they've helped us these are important steps and i hope they are approved but much more needs to be done first we have to actually given the billions that we've spent in iraq that we can't even account for we also frankly need to scale arc it is important it is important for us to scale our commitment to what elements to make sure that we meet the humanitarian crisis the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee ms blackburn for five minutes thank you mr speaker mr speaker i rise today to respond to my colleagues remarks from last week that technically the troops are funded right now as if the bottom line on the budget report is sufficient for some in this chamber to ensure that our war fighters have all the resources the say need well war is a serious business mr speaker and we are indeed a nation at war our men and women in harm's way don't have time for our political games or technicalities clever wordplay isn't going to turn d o d from red to black there is nothing technical about the risk our war fighters face every day they are not fighting an enemy that technically wants to do us harm instead they are fighting a lethal terrorist network actually bent on spreading real islamic  totalitarianism in iraq and across the globe mr speaker the success of the surge strategy in iraq is not making things technically better we are seeing actual results and real improvement on the ground even the most liberal newspapers edm it that the improvement is real i e d attacks are not technically down they are actually fewer in number fewer bombs being placed to attack our troops and our iraqi allies casualty rates are not technically down we are actually losing fewer americans as the security conditions improve these improving conditions are not technically creating reconciliation a rockies across the country are really beginning to bridge age old divide as day unite to secure their future by playing political games with vital war finding we are not technically sending a message to our war fighters in harm's way we are actually putting all of the progress that they have made in very real jeopardy mr speaker is that a message we choose to sin my own constituents civilians and soldiers alike work at fort campbell home of the hundred first airborne this holiday season two brigades of the hundred first are serving in afghanistan and two more in iraq they are supported by the men and women at fort campbell and their families are embraced by the citizens of clarksville imogen re county tennessee this christmas if we don't actually provide d o d the funding they need my constituents will begin to get furlough letters in the mail there is nothing technical about being laid off there is nothing technical about being told that in sixty days you won't get a paycheck it is very real before this chamber actually adjourned so that we can spin happy and comfortable holidays with our families i would ask my colleagues to please remember these constituents of clarksville tennessee who are actually in harm's way in iraq and afghanistan and who are actually worried about being laid off next year i urge my colleagues not to return home until we actually give the troops the very real funding that they need our men and women are not technicalities they are indeed our sons our daughters our neighbors our constituents they are the bravest among us they need our support and they deserve a congress who will honor their service and who will do our job thank you mr speaker i yield the balance the much time gentleman yields back persona to clause twelve a of rule one the chair