chair would ask all menus to please take the conversation from the book so that we may proceed with business you know jonathan calhoun mr speaker i yield myself five minutes today we mark an ominous anniversary it was five years ago today that president bush signed the congressional authorize authorization to use military force in iraq as we have learned since that authorization was based on fatally flawed information congress in the american people were told that we needed to go to war against saddam hussein because he had weapons of mass destruction but there were no nuclear bombs or biological weapons now five years later more than thirty eight hundred u s service members have been killed more than twenty eight thousand have been injured and the u s taxpayers have spent more than four hundred fifty billion dollars and iraq is in shambles today we're considering a different resolution the purpose of today's resolution is simple to end the abuse of the classification process and to demand the truth about corruption in iraq we must stop the pattern of dissembling and the misuse of classified information president bush is now asking taxpayers for an additional one hundred  fifty billion dollars to support the war and to support the iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki but he is not being honest about the level of corruption in the maliki government just as it did five years ago the bush administration is hiding the truth while seeking hundreds of billions of dollars and placing our troops in danger we cannot allow this to happen we frank i gather that the offensive words are that he is not being honest in what i intend to say is that the bush administration is not being honest and i think that remove objection misspeak or i have no objection as long as the admonishment of the chair would be that in fact there is a caution as to disparaging or appearing to disparage the office or the person of the president or the vice president under our rules hiding the truth while seeking hundreds of billions of dollars and placing our troops in danger and we cannot allow this to happen we need answers to some very important questions how corrupt is the maliki government our top officials in iraq stealing billions of dollars to fund insurgents who are attacking killing our troops is corruption undermining the chances for political reconciliation secretary of state rice says she will answer these questions only on one condition every member of congress who hears the answers has to keep the answers secret well that's an outrageous abuse of the classification system earlier this month the former head of the iraqi commission on public integrity judge radhi testified before the oversight committee he told us that corrupt iraqi officials had stolen a staggering eighteen million dollars and used part of that money to fund terrorists he told us that when he tried to track down who was responsible well thirty one of his investigators were brutally assassinated and his own family living in the green zone was targeted twice with rocket attacks and he gave us copies of secret orders that prime minister maliki personally issued to protect his allies including his own cousin from corruption investigations and prosecutions judge radi special inspector general stuart bowen and controller general david walker all told us that corruption is so entrenched in iraq that it is jeopardizing our troops and our mission but when we asked the state department for unconscious fire documents about the extent of corruption in the maliki government secretary rice retroactively classified them and when we asked the embassy officials what they knew about corruption she ordered them not to respond secretary rice has made public statements praising the end i corruption efforts of the maliki government and he himself she praised and she even praised the corrupt interior ministry but when we asked embassy officials in iraq whether her public statements were accurate they said they were not allowed to respond unless we agreed to keep their answers secret mr speaker five years ago abuse of classified information got us into this war it's time for these abuses to end and that's why we ask all members to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time gemma from virginia thank you speaker i yield myself such times i may consume i rise today to speak on a thread seven thirty four a resolution about corruption in iraq corruption the theft of public resources for private gain saps the life out of everything it touches the fact official corruption has long undermined government effectiveness and public confidence in iraq and throughout the middle east should come as no news to anyone but no one believes rampant corruption is inevitable or tolerable in iraq republicans don't support corruption democrats don't support corruption so the pace and reach of our efforts to help the iraqis prevent deter investigate and punish corruption in their struggling democracy should be one thing perhaps the only thing about our policy in iraq that we can agree on but we were never given the chance to agree the language of this resolution has never been considered by any committee why not just last week for house committee chairman wrote to secretary of state for cooperation in finding solutions to corruption in iraq and for those committees apparently have an interest in the issues raised by this resolution but none of ever considered this language why not because this resolution is just the latest find in the frantic search for proxy and he war votes that the leadership has staged to feed an increasingly restive left wing of their party unable to prevail directly they ignore in order and nibble around the edges with symbols surrogates and a sense of congress resolutions and this political environment it almost doesn't matter how we vote since the resolution means so little but accomplishes even less but fairly or not as has been voiced by several members on the other side a no vote will be portrayed as pro corruption that's unfortunate and it didn't have to be that way both the committee majority and the state department have gone out of their way to politicize the discussion of corruption in iraq this resolution cherry pick statements from our hearing testimony and tries to pick a fight with the secretary of state over access to certain information i offered a substitute to try to bring some balance and perspective to this resolution but it was rejected by the majority in the rules committee i'll talk more about that substitute later for its part the state department's process for answering our inquiries about any corruption assistance to iraq has been sluggish and poorly thought out when requested documents failed to show up we didn't demand a committee vote on subpoenas the chairman decided to send to the department it's a separation of powers issue the committee has a right to timely and meaningful access to information about executive branch programs and operations that apartment then classified information already irretrievably in the public domain as a result of that decision they felt compelled to limit open discussion on what everybody already knows about corruption in iraq had the state department list witnesses are hearing said to the committee what ambassador satterfield said in today's washington post broadly speaking about the iraqi government political will to fight corruption we might not have needed to consider this resolution at all nevertheless this is obviously not into reports it's a transparent attempt to draw the secretary of state in a highly visible but completely avoidable conflict with the oversight committee was the house being asked to resolve in this resolution that we should know the extent of corruption in iraq that it was wrong to retroactively classify to draft state department reports that never been reviewed for sensitive information before that it's an abuse of the classification process to withhold brought it on verified assessments of a foreign government by low level state department employees and that a directive limiting discussion of potentially sensitive matters to a closed meeting setting should be rescinded let me take them one by one the phrase the extent of corruption in iraq is use several times in truth it's code for the unspoken conclusion that if we only knew the real level of corruption we'd all conclude a rock and never stand on its own but contrary to what this resolution implies it's no secret there is widespread corruption in iraq we can see that it's sadly well documented from the scandalous oil for food program in the one nine hundred ninety s the present day diversion of oil revenues corruption is a critical concern of the united states government to the iraqi government and to the imp brocky people no amount of hand wringing or feigned indignation can avoid the hard truth the united states not bring corruption to iraq and it won't stop when we leave and no spreadsheet or corruption clock will ever give us the real time cost of bribes and the real time cost of graft there focusing on the extent of corruption rather the extent of any corruption efforts be trey's a desire to publicize corruption not help fix it on the class of the creation question in all honesty i have my doubts whether the state department reports should have been classified a sloppy process in baghdad lake them there on the internet right now it's probably counterproductive to try to put that genie back in the bottle the department simply should have said the report got out our mistake but they represent only the collected anecdotes and flavor added by the authors and were not official policy statements the united states could have avoided a fight of that kind of we did the whole fight over classification on the question but they didn't do it on the question of withholding information there's a difference and in my judgment an important difference between hiding information and simply exercising appropriate caution and good management in deciding who makes official statements about u s relations with another sovereign state and where those statements are made more determined to be aggrieved than informed the committee refused repeated efforts and offers to question the witnesses in a setting that could permit us to discuss sensitive and classified information if anything constructive comes out of passing this resolution i hope with the refocus in reenergized state department anticorruption efforts in iraq they needed that may might not be the goal of all those that are voting for this resolution but it's my goal in voting for it and it's the only power of positive outcome that i can see i reserve the bound to my time for california mr speaker i'm pleased to yield four minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts mr tierney oversight responsibilities and demand that the executive branch provide to us the materials we need to make reasonable determinations as to whether or not there's an extent of corruption in iraq with respect to what is going on there but also whether or not our state department other agencies are doing all they should do to build up the capacity of the iraqi government to be able to combat corruption in december two thousand and six and again in july of two thousand and seven the united states embassy in iraq produced two reports that weighed on those issues and corruption and iraqi government would have shown us some capacity whether or not the united states was doing enough about it they were max sensitive but i'm classified and they were widely distributed within the united states government and they were even posted on the internet in september  oversight committee requested copies of those two documents rather than provide them in their own classified forum the state department decided to retroactively classify them in essence keeping them from public view from public debate the state department classify these documents all really after the committee requested that they be produced and they gave this task to an official who told the committee he had never ever his life then requested to review for classification before incredibly the state department and retroactively also classify key portions of a general accountability office report that was issued to the oversight committee at a public hearing on october fourth now david walker of the control the general testified in open session that this general accountability office report addressed corruption in iraq and the failure of united states agencies to properly support capacity building efforts in iraqi ministries this is not about just deciding how much corruption there was and laying that it's about deciding whether or not there have been sufficient capacity building e iraq ministries to prevent corruption mr walker issued the report copies were handed out to the press and it was posted on the internet but after the hearing the state department classified those portions of the report that addressed iraq's commitment or lack of commitment to fighting corruption and yesterday the state department claimed in a letter to congress that they classify the general accountability office report prior to a first official publication but in fact when we checked with the general accountability office they said that was not true the state department reviewed this report before it was released they confirm that it contained no classified information it was not until after the report was released at the public hearing that the state department retroactively classified it secretary rice may not want the public to know what the general accountability office found when it investigated whether the biology government is committed to fighting corruption or they do not want the government to know whether or not the government is actually working hard enough to build the necessary capacity to stop and check corruption in iraq but it's a gross abuse of the administration's powers to retroactively classify these fine things and the findings of the state department's own embassy officials at the do it retroactively classification cannot be allowed to happen primarily because people think they're going to be embarrassed whatever government may be embarrassed congress has to exercise its prerogative here and do the proper oversight for the protection of our troops and of the public's interest testimony was a some eight hundred billion dollars in corruption was occurring in iraq and that was without going into the oil ministry where significant for the corruption was believed to happen testimony was that monies from that collection were going to fund militias who in turn were placing their focus in targeting united states troops that this congress investigate whether or not through a review of these documents and other sources we are making enough efforts to build the capacity in iraq to make sure that that corruption stops and that act troops are men and women and service are not being targeted by mili funded through corruption mr speaker this is an important matter this is the prerogative of this house this should not be about partisan politics or protecting the home team this should be about making sure that we protect our troops and the public interest and you'll back to balance my time  kick out of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in particular the chairman of the committee and he was my ranking democrat for six years and during those six years we investigated the illegality of the clinton administration or the illegalities and took place and he blocked and defended the administration as i would expect him to do because he's a democrat every single time but the thing that interests me is he's talking about corruption in our state department and we sent out over one thousand subpoenas and he and his side try to stop us at every turn in the road to get to the bottom of corruption during the clinton years we had over one hundred people in the administration and associated with the in this race and either take the fifth amendment or flee the country we had pictures of of them up on the wall people that would not testify that had memory loss we said there was an epidemic of memory loss at the white house people were leaving the country people were taking the fifth amendment they wouldn't give us any information they blocked us time after time after time for four years and so tonight or today here they are on the floor talking about corruption and being blocked by the state department when they are the authors of this process they're the ones who did it for four straight years protect bill clinton and his administration when there was no question about corruption in that administration we sent five criminal referrals to the justice department during the time i was chairman and they and their colleagues in the justice department and the head of the justice department blocked us at every step of the way every step of the way every turn in the road and here they are today complaining about our state department during a time of war trying to deal with the problems over there and they're alleging a cover up blockage and everything else you know there's nothing so right this as a person as a lady of the evening who's reformed and so i just want to say to my colleagues tonight this is another example of you coming to this floor complaining about the administration blocking you when you did it for four straight years you did it every day you did it every night and now you complaining because we're trying to do something about the war in iraq and we're stopping you from getting some information that you think is absolutely essential where were you when we were investigating clinton why did you want that's of the come out why did you try to get out one more minute they did exactly what they were accusing this administration doing and they did it in spades they helped they helped when people wouldn't testify they stuck up for them when people took the fifth amendment they stuck up for them when people from the administration came down here to testify and couldn't remember anything they helped block the testimony coming before the committee and so today there are complaining about the very things that they did for four straight years and during a time of war so mr waxman i just want to say one more time i really appreciate your your reformation and i appreciate you changing i'll i'm happy you're seeing the light but i don't know why you didn't do it when you when i was chairman i yield back the balance my time  california mr speaker i just want to point out that the mr burton who was chairman of our committee issued thousands subpoenas he received millions of pages of documents he had hundreds of hours of depositions a investigation that has been widely regarded as irresponsible and reckless i'd like to now three minutes to the gentleman from maryland to speak on this resolution so much mcnish three minutes thank you very much being arrives in support of age whereas seven thirty four resolution expressing our dismay at the withholding of information relating to iraqi corruption which i have co sponsored by all accounts iraq was a corrupt state at the time of the us invasion and unfortunately it remains today the nonpartisan group transparency international finds that the iraqi government is the world's third most corrupt country more than four years after saddam hussein was ousted in an october fourth hearing of the oversight and government reform committee listen to the heart wrenching testimony of judge  former commissioner of iraqi commission on public integrity during his tenure and the judge uncovered up to an eighteen billion dollars in funds that were lost as a result of corruption rather than receive the accolades for his efforts however judge wry face severe retaliation instead he told us of the horrible atrocities that he and his family and his staff suffered at the hands of those who aim to stifle was struck by rockets and harassment eventually reach the point that he was forced to flee his own country this is not the sort of environment that leads to the free and democratic iraqi society that president bush is so fond of invoking we cannot achieve a victory an anorak as long as we allow corruption to continue unchecked unfortunately officials of the u s department of state do not appear to agree following our hearing the department retroactively classified reports in portions of reports that detail problems with iraqi corruption these actions represent a blatant attempt to manipulate the classification process to stave off bad publicity  very sad reality indeed i find it ironic that our own government is engaging in obstructing practices in an attempt to cover up the truth about corruption in iraq i urge all of my colleagues to join us in sending a very strong message to the investigations this is i think something american people should know there's no question about that that there are particular concerns go the particular content of the resolution chairman i've discussed this i would yield four minutes to the five minutes to the gentleman from california m eissa five minutes thank you mr speaker thank you mr ranking member the chairman of this committee cannot have it both ways mr speaker and the speaker of the house cannot have it both ways in their blind hatred for this administration and the president they would have you believe on tuesday of last week that you must believe the department of the ministry of interior in iraq and you must believe that the veterans now serving for blackwater murdered in cold blood seventeen iraqis who were unarmed defenseless simply for the sport of it on tuesday that's what erik prince had to deal with on the orders of the speak of speaker pelosi and dealt out by chairman waxman that was tuesday by thursday we were looking at what we see here today that the administration was covering up so much corruption particularly the corruption of that in the ministry of interior speaker i'm going to vote for this resolution not because it's flawless it has its understandable flaws but i'm going to vote for it because in the whereas it says whereas the independent commission on security forces of iraq chaired by general james l jones retired reported on september sixth two thousand and seven that and corruption are persuasive are pervasive in the ministry of interior and cripple the ministries ability to accomplish its mission it goes on and on to make the point i'm making just as the majority has already made mr speaker and that is that in order to believe that combat veterans special forces veterans green berets and special forces seals now out of the military and back in harm's way in iraq working for blackwater in order to believe that they murdered in cold blood defenseless civilians at an intersection just for sport well to write well just after a bomb went off you have to believe the ministry of interior and mr waxman would have had the committee believe that on tuesday but by thursday of course we have the cover up of such rampant corruption and yet in the very very resolution we have an independent commission headed by a distinguished former general say you know one certain terms there is rampant and widespread corruption and that has not been taken back by the administration so it's your speaker what i would say is mr and the speaker of the house nancy pelosi cannot have it both ways they cannot go after our troops in harm's way are contractors serving in those capacities similar most of them if not all of them veterans they cannot denounce every aspect of this war how we got there and when we got there and then say but this group is so corrupt we must leave the previous speaker mr speaker went out of his way to say the third from the bottom  corruption is iraq never mentioning that burma was below that burma managed to be one of the two at the very bottom your speaker with the majority have us pull out our representation and support in burma and leave to those who already are the victims of corruption and even more corrupt government or would they given that this administration in their view is not doing enough say we should do more we should gage we should spend the money insisting on transparency and reform mr speaker i'm voting for this resolution because in fact i believe the majority and the minority should agree that there is corruption corruption so widespread in iraq as to for the minister of interior to frame men and women in harm's way in order to get them out of the way and i do not want this body and this congress to be a party to framing americans who are putting their lives on the line as patriots in iraq so i ask that people supported on both sides not because mr waxman isn't trying to have it both ways but because in fact there is corruption in iraq and hopefully at some point he will begin to believe loyal americans over those very corrupt and ities that he denounced as in other parts of his resolution but that i yield back in california mr speaker i don't i rise in support of the resolution one much put this debate in perspective the administration certainly helped to create the in iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction but iraq did have one thing that's very valuable and that's oil the administration helped create the war they created a coalition provisional authority and they helped to create the malik government now they're withholding information and classifying previously on classified information again no w m d's in iraq but while i maintain this is all been about oil the administration looks the other way on corruption pressure putting pressure great pressure on the maliki government at this very moment to privatized twenty to thirty trillion dollars worth of iraqi oil assets now they can classify all they want over at the white house but this is still about oil they can't classify nearly thirty eight hundred deaths of our soldiers they can't classify one million deaths of innocent iraqis they can't classify that the war will cost up to two trillion dollars they ca classify that they're borrowing money from china to fight a war against iraq this war's been based on lies we agree we should all abide by the rules of the house we should also abide by the united states constitution that's why i support this california is recognized mr speaker i would like to now yield to the gentleman from massachusetts mr lynch a member of our committee three minutes jennifer massachusetts recognized for three minutes thank you mr speaker i want to thank general from california from yielding i think it is important that the american people understand what is exactly going on here this is not about the clinton administration it's not about blackwater just i just want to touch on a few facts here number  one four hundred fifty billion dollars has already been committed by this president and his administration toward the war in iraq and recently the president has come back to us with a request for an additional one hundred fifty billion dollars also be spent in i q among other things on schools roads bridges power plants water treatment facilities not not in the united states but in iraq now congress our responsibility here we have the power of the purse and the power of the purse is not simply the power to warp on the purse but it also includes the duty the obligation to inspect appropriations and to inquire whether or not this this country this government who has had the benefit of if if the bill goes through it will be six hundred billion dollars we have the duty to inquire whether that government is corrupt and we received several reports  from the special inspector general for iraq reconstruction mr stuart bowen indicates there is widespread corruption there is a commission headed by general james jones united states marine corps indicating there's widespread corruption in iraq i'm on the government and again by contrast the general walker who indicated again there is widespread corruption in iraq and we have requested in response to those reports testimony  documents from the state department and they have said no they have said no they would not testify they would not give us documents that channon mr waxman had to join with the committee w and they would joined in by my respected colleague from from virginia mr davis who will agreed that he would support the subpoenas as well however they did not give us all the documents and the witnesses came forward but refused to testify as to the level of corruption in iraq they've denied congress the access to the information we need there's a strong irony here and  inescapable to me the state department has retroactively classified two reports by its own officials regarding iraqi corruption and you know it's ironic the name of the office inside the us embassy that wrote these reports is the office of accountability and transparency they have refused to give us information they are the ones who are supposed to be teaching the iraqi government how to be more transparent how to be more accountable to their own government and what about the other report the state department classified basically has hidden from the american people who issued that one the government accountability office the statement retroactive get you're getting it with a minute the general from message is recognized one more minute thank you mr chairman thank you mr speaker if this were not so serious it would be laughable these offices were set up with the express mission of calling the government to account not only the government of iraq but also the government the united states and this effort to classify them this information has been been done for the express purpose of saving the maliki government from embarrassment because of the allegations of corruption regarding their officials so here we are supposed to be exploiting democracy but what we're doing here now is covering up for a corrupt government at the expense of the american people and the irony runs deep the bush admission ministration says we're interactive spread democracy in the rule of law but instead it appeals that we are indeed complicit with the corruption that's going on in the in the government and i question how it makes america look not only to iraqis but to our own citizens i believe it does render us complicit it harms our core mission it does not win the hearts and minds of the iraqis it loses them that is made by the resolution that talks about the need to disclose in open session facts which would deal with corruption and i'm quoting including allegations that investigations were thwarted stifled for political reasons and that that classification should be rescinded i've looked at mr butler's testimony to the committee i've read it i've got it in front of me he talks a great deal acknowledges that there is corruption in this in the iraqi government has arisen practically every government in the middle east to some degree he talks about that he also said that he would be happy to talk about details concerning the any any political moves to to avert investigations into corruption he would be happy to talk about those details in a classified session so he gave that opportunity as i understand it to the committee and the committee didn't take him up on it and i would just say mr speaker that that the sources and methods are important if there was a there was a secret conversation that went on in the in the iraqi government and that secret conversation was listened to by somebody who then rela that to the u s government or u s officials laying that out for the public without going into classified session would not be would not be good for for american intelligence operations and this committee could understand what you're saying about sources and methods and we understand that under some circumstances talking about it in public session might be harmful but we asked the representative from the state department question such as whether the government of iraq could i have another thirty second minute gentleman from companies recognize i think the gentleman feeling what i have in front of me mr chairman is the actual testimony of mr butler who said that who says yes that apartment status devoted considerable effort and resources helping courageous iraqis establish mechanisms and procedures to investigate and prosecute corruption he says it's it's fair to say we probably do not have a program in the ministerial capacity development area that does not seek to build an environment in which corruption is less prevalent he goes on to talk about what has been done so he doesn't gauge you on this issue of corruption i think you could have gone to a classified session as was invited by the by  the by mr butler or you could have gone to a classified session and he invited you to do that and he would give you the details on that particular conversation and incidentally the particular conversation you're talking about is the one is manifested in your resolution it's not this statement that you've just given me it's the one that's in your resolution and you could have had him do that in private be happy oh who speaks for the state department at certain times and how do you want the statement is going to be is very important in just want to point out that we asked of mr butler from the state department question such as whether the maliki government is working hard to improve the corruption situation so that he can unite his country and we were told he could not answer that question unless we went into closed session which would mean that if he entered it in closed session it would be national security violation for any of us to report his response that was what was so offensive they did not want to even discuss in a broad broad kinds of questions which go to the nature of our bilateral relations with iraq how how they're doing and what our efforts are doing and how whether we're succeeding and stopping the corruption in iraq which is jeopardizing our mission and endangering our troops i'd like to now yield three minutes to the gentleman from kentucky mr yarmuth general from kentucky it's like general mr speaker last week lieutenant general ricardo sanchez who led our forces in iraq when the vast majority of the american public had yet to turn against the war emphatically agreed with those of us who criticized the invasion and occupation from the start and calling the situation a nightmare lieutenant general sanchez referred to the unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership but from what i've seen from my seat on the oversight and government reform committee with all due respect to the lieutenant general he's wrong the administration isn't failing to implement the strategic leadership needed to bring peace to the region and protect our young men and women are risking their lives in iraq they're refusing david walker u s comptroller general said that widespread corruption is robbing iraq of the resources to develop the government and its funding the very insurgency we are fighting rather than working to end or amend this catastrophe the state department has instructed its officials not to cooperate instead of using the stabilizing route rebuilding iraq report direct the fire the problem they classified it retroactively giving the impression that honest information is seen by administration as politically embarrassing rather than constructive regardless of how they see it they owe it to the american people not to ignore factors that endanger our soldiers jeopardize iraqi stability and squander upwards of eighteen billion dollars due to corruption in today's terms that's two and a half years of health care for four million children through s chip but this isn't merely a case of ignoring crucial information our government is actually covering up the  rampant corruption which inspector general bowen has referred to as a second insurgency with article one of the constitution our nation's founders protected us against this abuse by calling for a representative government with all legislative powers vested in the hands of a congress by defying that mandate the bush administration is defying the american people and so i call on the president to return to those constitutional principles by dropping the veil of secrecy and restoring the open honest government invasion b framers demanded by the people and depended upon by our soldiers saying supporting our troops is one thing but following through with actions is something entirely different that means admitting our deficiencies so that we can correct them for the thirty eight hundred twenty eight lawyers we've lost in iraq and for the more than six hundred sixty thousand serving there today on the ground i urge my colleagues to support it just read as a threat seven thirty four and call on the administration to level with us and support our troops abroad and you'll back germany as bank balance of time the gentleman from virginia is recognized i yield myself five minutes let me just add that diplomatic official diplomatic statements even under oath in congressional testimony critical of foreign governments have consequences criticizing foreign governments through official statements of our government when you're trying to get them to comply with other things have consequences criticizing specific ministries which were some of the questions asked have quansah consequences within a fragile political framework of the iraqi current coalitions and for one reason or another the state department felt that at least in an open forum they felt constrained to make appropriate statements however i click it's clear from the amount of testimony and the volume of testimony in the substance of the testimony that we heard that there has been corruption in iraq for a long time it continues it will probably continue after we leave and it's something that this congress the american people need to know about and we can address it here in the house floor this resolution was introduced dealing with corruption in iraq in the state department's attempts to cover up the extent of the corruption or i should say alleged attempts to disclose various witnesses that appeared before our committee over the last several years to discuss the affairs of iraq along with the chairman i participated in those hearings to i listen to what the witnesses had to say and i share his concern about the extent of corruption in iraq and i hope every member does but i'm concerned about the way that these statements are being portrayed the statements by the panels of expert witnesses who appeared before our committee because in this resolution it only paints half the picture i offered to work with the chairman to come up with a resolution that in my judgment paints a more complete picture of the extent of corruption in iraq but the offer was an accepted i then in good faith filed an amendment with the rules committee that accepted basically the resolution that was presented by the chairman but added some additional whereas unresolved clauses i thought provided a more accurate bipartisan perspective on the extent of corruption in iraq for example the chairman's resolution quote stuart bowen the special inspector general for iraq the reconstruction is stating before the committee on october fo that the rising tide of corruption in iraq cindi's the construction and maintenance of iraq's infrastructure deprive people of goods and services reduces confidence in public institutions and potentially ates insurgent groups reportedly funded by graft derived from oil smuggling or investment with the chairman's concerns about this particular statement by mr bowen and included the same statement in the amendments that we proposed but i also added an additional quote made by mr bowman at the hearing that says iraq has a history of corruption in the united states did not bring corruption to iraq and it will not be gone when we look whenever we leave he said that but apparently that proposed addition didn't fit the theme of what the majority trying to this week additionally turns resolution puts david walker the well respected comptroller general  united states is stating before our committee that widespread corruption undermines efforts to develop the government's capacity by robbing it of needed resources some of which are used to fund the insurgency i concur with the chairman's the concerns about that statement made by mr walker something we want the world to know congress should be aware i included the same statement in the m m s i proposed but i also added an additional quote by general walker at the hearing that says none of us should underestimate the challenges of the stablish ing strong and transparent government institutions in the wake of a dictatorship where corruption was woven into the very fabric of gover and none of us should underestimate the challenge of rooting out corruption in a combat zone even one where violence is diminishing as we have seen over the past six months apparently this proposed addition also fail to fit the majority tidy little box for discussion this week another example the resolution highlights the fact that the state department struck the officials not to answer certain questions my amendment included the same languages the chairman's but added an additional whereas that to acknowledge the fact that the state department council concerned about specific assessments regarding the government's capacities of iraq ministries and ministers made in an open setting and that these statements could affect the united states bilateral relationship with the government of iraq and could put in danger the lives of americans of our allies repeatedly offered to make united states government officials and employees available to respond to questions regarding potentially sensitive or classified information including foreign government information in an appropriate secure setting where we wouldn't be endangering lives but that truthful statement went too far as well to include in this resolution the resolution also states that the state department retroactively classified two reports on corruption in iraq prepared by the office of accountability and transparency in the united states embassy in iraq i included the same whereas clause but simply added an additional where asked to explain that the original leak report was an internal  published unedited an unapproved draft report on corruption in iraq that as described by one u s embassy baghdad employed has been embellished with anecdotes for flavor the report had not been properly reviewed and vetted for classification purposes before the clip majority that was not interested including that explanation for why the state department chose to classify the report you know myself an additional minute gemma's recognized finally my memory would have included all but one of chairman the chairman's resolve clause and then added a handful of additional clauses to paint a more accurate picture of the extent and cause of corruption in iraq for example i proposed to add a it's off cos it stated it is not an abuse of the class of the cation process to protect from unauthorized disclosure of information contained in draft internal unedited unpublished and unapproved reports that recently may be expected to cause harm to the national defense or foreign relations the united states like all the previously discussed additions i propose apparently this istm assessment went too far which leads me to the unfortunate conclusion that the resolution we're considering today is not a substantive resolution intended to achieve a bipartisan consensus on the important issue of corruption in iraq which we all agree on it is intended to politicize and politically measure put it's put forth by the majority with no intention of trying to reach constructive steps to improve us anticorruption efforts and is that enough for members to oppose this press release asking masquerading as serious legislation that is for each member to decide it's for me i'm going to support the resolution with those john has expired the john from california is recognized mr speaker i'm pleased that to yield to the gentleman from connecticut mr murphy three minutes gentleman from connecticut is recognized for three minutes you very much mr chairman mr speaker i think it's important to say today that the conversation about corruption in iraq this isn't theoretical it's not hypothetical it's not just about numbers or statistics corruption in iraq is real it has a face and frankly it's no secret to those iraqis who are picking up their newspapers and their media outlets every day and finding out the corruption that is rampant there and so i think it's worthwhile just for a second to talk about the face of corruption in iraq this is salam al maliki the former iraqi minister of transportation he's also the prime minister's cousin he was accused of abusing his official position to purchase real estate at a fraction of its value but the prime minister issued an order barring barring his case from being referred to court i want to now introduce you to our ham alstom ari he was the iraqi minister electricity who was convicted in iraq of the abuse of national funds it he escaped from the green zone with the help of u s contractors he's now living if you can believe it in chicago running his own business and traveling around the world and finally this is has  he was the minister the iraqi minister of defense accused of embezzling almost a billion dollars that should have been spent on weapons and vehicles for the iraqi army iraqi courts reportedly have audiotapes of his deputy discussing payoffs to various officials conviction he also fled the country and he's now living in europe or the middle east mr speaker this is just the tip of the iceberg but this administration doesn't think the american people should be concerned or even know about this by refusing to answer questions and retroactively call us find corruption reports this administration's prove once again that they either don't trust the american people or they know their case for continuing this war is so weak that they have to obfuscate the facts on the ground and now government contractors are getting into the game two weeks ago  prince the c e o of blackwater security refused to decline to disclose to this committee his salary or the profit margins of his company despite the fact that blackwater makes ninety percent of its money off of u s taxpayers this cannot stand mr speaker and i for one i'll never support another war funding authorization that doesn't provide for the redeployment of forces out of iraq but for those on this floor who do support this war i plead with you to at least demand accountability for the billions of weights the dollars that we've thrown at the iraqis do not stand here on the house floor telling us that we cannot afford to heal children throughout the united states of america if we aren't even asking questions and getting the appropriate document documentation that we require on the billions of wasted dollars in iraq i yield back the balance of my time time the gentleman from virginia can i ask how many speakers the majority has we have two more us speakers that we have in the chamber at this time we have requests for todd i would like to reserve the balance of yielding and also for his leadership as chair of the committee for insisting that congress exercises the constitutional responsibility of oversight of the executive branch the classification process is meant to protect state secrets not to cover the administration's failed policies the american people and congress deserve honest answers about the extent of corruption in the iraqi government and to what extent corruption is fueling the insurgency and in danger in danger in our troops we deserve to know if our troops are dying to support a corrupt regime propped up with the united states tax dollars but when the government reform committee does start to ask those questions the state department turned around and classified key sections of the report in testimony in a democracy we do not run away from the facts we do not classify information just because it's embarrassing unfortunately this administration has shown an alarmingly lack of interest in the facts this incident looked more like the same it looks more like the same kind of stuff we have seen coming from this administration that really wants to continue to keep our young men and women in harm's way knowing full well that this is a civil war that cannot be won militarily my colleagues to support transparency and accountability and condemn this abuse of the classification process and to support this resolution thank you and i thank you again for your leadership the time of the gentleman has expired at this look the question is why is the bush administration not want to see this information about corruption in the iraqi government and one thing is clear it's not that we're hiding something from the iraqis that they don't already know they know about the problem in fact we had judge roddy from the iraqi government who had been thrown out of his job because he was uncovering corruption testify so if it's not the iraqis were trying to shield this information from why is it and it's pretty clear that the administration doesn't want the american people to hear it and i think they're finally understanding that their position is untenable now just yesterday the state department sent a letter saying and i quote there is no department directive prohibiting officials f providing congress any information relating to corruption in iraq well that's just flatly false and in fact we have a copy of the directive right here before the committee began its hearings we asked for some state department officials to come before the committee and talk about corruption issues well the night before they came before the oversight committee they were given this directive and here's what it says right here these are the areas which are redlined that means these are the topics that they're not allowed to talk about in public broad statements assessments which judge or characterize the quality of iraqi governance or the ability slash determination of the iraqi government to deal with corruption including allegations that investigations were thwarted stifled for political purposes and it goes on it's very clear that the state department did not want their representatives coming before the committee to tell the truth about iraqi corruption and they since then when there are fish kills actually came before the committee during the hearings they were fused to answer questions the broadest kind of questions let me give you an example of questions that ambassador lawrence butler the deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs said he couldn't answer whether the government of iraq currently has the political will or capability to root out corruption within its government that's an important question for the american people whether the maleki government's working hard to improve corruption thank you mr speaker another question that was put to the state department representative in the committee whether prime minister maliki instructed or up structed any anti corruption investigations in iraq to protect his political allies these are important questions to answer for the american people these are questions that go to the heart of whether or not the policy in iraq is succeeding or failing they go to the heart of the question about whether the billions of dollars that taxpayers in this country have put in iraq are being put to good use or where they're squandered through waste abuse and corruption so mr speaker this resolution simply says let's not play games here let's not play games with the truth let's not try to hide the facts of the american people the people  iraq know well the problems that they're having with respect to corruption and in fact some of their leaders have put their lives on the line and had to flee iraq when the government said they were getting too close to the truth but the people here need to know the truth and the state department and the bush administration should not be using games to try and hide the facts and hide the truth from the american people on a very important issue thank you mr speaker i'm a gentleman's expired the gentleman from virginia is recognized well thank you let me start by saying look i think the state department when this draft was leaked made a mistake in trying to reclassify this and put the genie back in the bottle it should have said this is an official this has problems and gone ahead i think it would have made it a lot easier for everybody secondly look let's get real for the state department to make official pronunciations about a nother government in particular ministries can have its diplomatic challenges and i respect the right of the administration in some of these instances to refrain from saying what the majority would like them to say having said this i think the state department when they go tell the washington post things that they wouldn't tell this committee gives me some problem and puts me on the side of voting for this resolution rather than defending the state department i want to thank the chairman for his oversight hearings on corruption in iraq i think it's entirely appropriate i think he is certainly within his bounds in the right to get the information from the department of state and i hope in the future the be more cooperative in terms of turning over some of the information to the committee instead of just turning over the newspapers with their own slant that's not the way this work we are a separation of powers we are he separate branch of government here in the legislat branch that wants to be part of these discussions now this resolution could have been about a strong bipartisan consensus calling attention to the corruption in iraq urging the state department to step up its efforts to fret out official corruption but it's not think what the resolution is just the latest as i said before the latest find in the search for a proxy antiwar votes that the lead the ship on the other side has stage to feed an increasingly restive left wing of their party unable to prevail directly they ignore regular order they nibble around the edges with simple surrogates and sense of congress resolutions having said that i'm going to vote for this resolution it's not the resolution i would have put forward we would have liked to have had more input i hope  we move down the road on a number of war issues we can work across the aisle to try to bring some consensus and real change to what's going on in iraq instead of putting up a document such of this that are drafted by one party but i would urge support for the resolution i thank the chairman for his oversight hearings and i will you back jenna from california is recognized mr speaker i wish we had as everyone signed off on every word in this resolution but i think the members of understand what this resolution does it says to the state department don't go with a double standard you can say publicly positive things about the iraqi government but you can't see say things that are on theirs that may be negative about them and we're not thomas specific statements but general statements as well this is speaker we're in a war in iraq not everybody in this country is making a sacrifice for that war but those who are being called to make a sacrifice are called to make the maximum sacrifice they are giving up their lives potentially the rest of us are paying through deficit spending billions and hundreds of billions of dollars but if we are going to ask people to give up their lives in this war what we owe them is to know the truth not propaganda but the truth about what this iraqi government is doing that may enable them to accomplish the goal that we have said we wanted to accomplish in iraq and that is to reach out bring about reconciliation in iraq and a government that has the credibility for  own people if this government in iraq is so corrupt that our state department won't even tell us about it i have to wonder whether we can ask our brave men and women to risk and to give their lives to support that iraqi government i urge the passage of this resolution i move the previous question all time for debate has expired and pursuant to house resolution seven forty one the resolution is considered read and the previous question is ordered the question is on adoption of the resolution of those in favor say aye those opposed no the ayes have it mr speaker i make a point of order that a quorum is not present i asked for a recorded vote the gentleman from california objects to the vote on the ground the quorum is not present and makes a point of order that a quorum is not present a quorum is not present under the rule of the asian naser ordered members will record their votes by electronic device suing to cause eight and clause nine of rule twenty this fifteen minute vote on adoption of house resolution seven forty one will be followed by five minute votes on the motion to suspend the rule and pass h r twenty two ninety five as amended and the motion to suspend the rules and agree to h conrad's one eighty two this will be a fifteen minute