speaker pro temporary on this day signed nancy pelosi speaker of the house of representatives ruler of the universe left our leaders with an understanding and discerning mind a listening ear a compassionate heart and insightful thought we thank you oh god for  free country and remember those who do not yet live in freedom we pray that the leaders of our kind three help those who suffer in the hands of others and come to the assistance of those held in captivity we thank you god for the confidence of the constituent planes in there like the word leaders this week in many communities we conclude the reading of the book of numbers and the end of the desert journey of the israelites we learn from their example that life is a journey let us make each day meaningful different than the one before helping others and moving towards a life of peace and freedom we ask god blessings upon the men and women who serve in the house of representatives may god bless you and guard you may god so you favor and the graces to you may god so you kind and grant you peace and let us all say i mean pursuant to clause one rule one i demand a vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal those in favor please say aye those opposed  twenty four the proceedings on the question are postpone the pledge allegiance today will be led by the gentleman from texas mr lampson please join me in pledging our flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america a serving as today's guest champlin chaplain after that opening prayer i might say that it's easy to see why our community is so graciously and well served by the rabbi her three year old daughter cameron elizabeth is also here with us today and we want to welcome her as well the opportunity for having visiting chapel and guests is very special as it allows religious leaders from different faiths to begin our day of legislative duty in august one rabbi fields will celebrate her first anniversary as rabbi a rabbi of congregation b'nai israel in toms river new jersey since one nine hundred fifty this synagogue has served as a place of worship and guidance for teachings of conservative judaism while offering multiple support and volunteer services for our community today the rabbi has over four hundred families in her congregation throughout her time both studying and serving rabbi the rabbi has received various awards and recognitions for contributions to preserving the jewish faith she is a recipient of the goldstein prize for jewish history and the rosalynn my little education award while she has numerous no noteworthy achievements the rabbi is particularly proud of her family she is married to jonathan fields and in addition to cameron elizabeth they have a one and a half year old son coby dove i appreciate the rabbi taking time for her busy schedule to visit washington d c in order to give the opening prayer in the people's house and i'm glad i have had the occasion to assist her to do so thank you m the chair will entertain up to ten requests for one minute speeches on each side of the aisle what purpose is a gentleman from oregon writes thomas recognize thank you mr speaker today we take another step in ending the war in iraq as we consider the measure to withdraw our troops by next april each day support for president bush's war crumbles as evidence mounts of the cost of this debacle ten billion dollars a month more lives lost and thousands of hopes and dreams shattered we who opposed this war from the start for the reasons played out every day on the front pages of our newspapers understand that the redeployment of two hundred thousand american soldiers and contractors in iraq will take some time to implement but that's no excuse not to start now as rapidly and responsibly as possible to get our people out of the crossfire of this religious civil war they've done all that they can all that we should expect of them i call on the  stop enabling the president instead to join us in supporting the strongest most direct measure possible not just to send the message of the president a message but rein him in and bring our soldiers home from this nightmare have attempted car bombings in london following these failed attempts terrorist struck the glasgow scotland airport this attack by two doctors in a flaming jeep cherokee doctors who have been sworn to protect life were arrested for attempting mass murder by incineration of innocent civilians in addition terrorist tell children captive in a mosque in islam about pakistan and in arcata homicide bomber in yemen murdered seven spanish tourist into your many guides while they were visiting a temple of the ancient queen of shiva recent events such as this are to learn americans that the global war on two there is some is worldwide threat and that iraq and afghanistan remain the central front of the battle as claimed by bin laden spokesman zawahiri instead of practicing party politics kind of a should rely on the leadership of our military leaders such as general david petraeus by stopping terrorist overseas our troops are protecting america's to thank chairman bob filner and members of his house committee on veterans affairs for holding a field hearing in new orleans on this past monday on the subject of rebuilding a new v a hospital in the greater new orleans area and that he has narrowed his search for the location of a new v a hospital to downtown the wall in site and to a site in adjoining jefferson parish for reasons of taking advantage of the synergies other relationship with tulane elegy medical schools to the new v a hospital and because of the savings in long term operational costs can be realized and several of the panelists recommended it all in sight as most beneficial to the care of our veterans mr speaker in the end it is important we put our veterans first when we've called on them to serve our country they have not asked us to wait they have responded to our nation's call to duty at great risk to themselves and to their families nearly two years after hurricane katrina struck we've already asked them to wait far too long it is now time to build a world class state of the art v a hospital in downtown the wall and and to do so in the attempt by the liberal majority leadership to drive a stake between the american people and the brave men and women fighting in the global war on terror today slightest attempt is called a precipitous with all the american people would like to let a cut and run our soldiers deserve the confidence of their leaders not second guessing arrogance by politicians half a world away the leadership thinks iraq us lost despite the fact that the new mission has sunk shan't signs of progress including the fact that half of baghdad has been secured the baghdad security plan general petraeus ambassador crocker are going to provide us a progress report in september but that's not fast enough for the liberal leadership they expected the new strategy to win over not they know that you don't find instant gratification in war one thing is certain surrender and failure in securing iraq hope catastrophic consequences for freedom the us and the iraqi people surrender would send the wrong message it will say the u popper's gentleman pennsylvania rise one gentleman is recognized i tried i can be in him disappointed in this bill we will vote on today intended to reduce u s troops in iraq it aims to begin the reduction and leave but however leaves an unspecified limited presence of troops in iraq by a deadline of april first two thousand and eight a level of troops and their mission to be determined by president bush it does no harm but how much good will might say it's a step in the right direction even with such significant limitations but i have concern congress is as it should be close to ending this tragic misadventure however ending this war is necessary but insufficient how we ended and by what means of even greater importance for our troops safety and our own security our congress intent upon mandating such a new security policy through force of law was a careful explanation to the country why and how it is to be done including dealing with what would occur in the aftermath we don't do that here i'll vote for this bill for it does no harm perhaps some good but i'll do so we luckily for it does little to define how and why within a strategic approach of a date within a year that we can redeploy from iraq and leave behind the possibility of an failed iraqi state we owe such an explanation since gentleman is recognized for one minute americans love to compete and to set records in fact people all over the world record their records in the guinness book of world records but there are some kinds of records called darwin awards for foolish behavior where people eliminate themself by doing something unusual one man took a pistol to decided to rob a gun store and got shot now to the democrats are not using a pistol but they have been setting some records they have set just one this year that is the largest tax increase in the history of the state it comes out to about two hundred ninety some billion but that means to the average household a three thousand dollars tax increase what household can can absorb a three thousand dollars tax increase in just one year alone unfortunately that's not the only record being set by the democrats they have doubled that record in terms of how much money they've spent over eight hundred billion which would come to six thousand dollars per family american people would be better if we didn't set records like that thank you after spending one hundred ninety five days in space she now holds the record for the longest duration spaceflight by old woman also after completing four space walks lasting a total of twenty nine hours and seventeen minutes she's a record holder for the most hours outside a spacecraft by a woman i was at the emotional s t s one seventeen crew return welcome a few weeks ago at johnson space center and saw firsthand how sunny's achievements serve as an inspiration to so many young people particularly young ladies interested in pursuing their dreams of space exploration she has shown them that if they work hard and are dedicated they too can one day the congress has ground to the halt we should kill pensions for members of congress convicted of a felony and after passing a shadow bill in january this action has completely stalled no action in february march april may or june now the real surprise despite promises of spending reform congressional leaders blocked efforts to stop funding the construction of the bridges to nowhere that's right democratic leaders in congress now support building the bridges to nowhere one structure connecting to an island with just fifty people the other to an island with only twenty two at a cost to the u s taxpayer of over a billion dollars only six months into a new congress and now congressional leaders do not want to kill pensions for congressional felons but do want to build the bridges to nowhere hundred two i was proud to spearhead one of the first state initiatives to enable working families to purchase private health insurance for their children five years later congress passed the state children's health insurance program s chip enabling every state to implement its own plan today six million american children have health coverage thanks to s chip we in congress are building upon the extraordinary success of s chip to extend it to almost nine million american children who are now uninsured the goal of ensuring all american children is within our reach yet instead of working with congress to reach this goal the president this week made it clear that health insurance for children is not important to him does the president really believe that america's children do not deserve quality ongoing health care does the president really believe that emergency rooms are the best place for primary care for children it is clear to just about every american that health insurance is expensive and for tomorrow many american families it is simply too expensive congress recognize the urgency of the situation and we move ahead on like the president to take this opportunity to cover every american child thank you and i yield back for whoppers jamel pennsylvania wri that gentleman is recognized as speaker earlier this week i hosted a screening of a documentary entitled india's hidden slavery film about contemporary slavery in india among the two hundred fifty million dollars each or untouchable the caste system has at the top the brahman or priestly caste the ruling class that includes politicians at the very bottom not even considered a caste below because they're too low the doll eats today in the world's largest democracy an unknown hidden system exist with people without basic human rights in contrast to the economic progress and some sectors in indian society below the surface is a society still wracked by caste with millions suffering and held hostage to a social structure that reinforces segregation poverty injustice and slavery recently village leaders just condemned to death a couple that married outside their caste while the government of india has taken some small steps to outlaw the caste system in reality it permeates every aspect of life there i commend india for its economic progress but i urge government leaders to ensure that all people in india have basic human rights and especially the two hundred fifty million d a gentleman from new hampshire right the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker mr speaker the war in iraq is in its fifth year but the bush administration still refuses to develop a realistic strategic plan for the middle east in iraq the iraq war has destabilized the region and the united states must reassert and protect its fundamental national security interests by actively taking the necessary steps to stabilize the middle east today congress will debate a plan which stands in stark contrast to the delusional policies of the bush administration which have sapped our military read an ace straight thing that al qaeda wasted our resources and betrayed the trust of the american people there is a way forward and we must be bold courageous and strategic without leadership in the white house we must continue to exercise leadership in the people's house and i assure the american people that we the gentleman is recognized for one minute you know we shouldn't even be discussing surrender in iraq today because two months ago today three american soldiers were captured in iraq tragically the body of private first class anzac was found a few days later in  river duty is change the status of specialist jimenez and private batty from unknown to missing slash captured considering that the military found their i d s in an al qaeda safe house i'm sure they're being mistreated and i hope and pray that we can stay alive they can stay alive until we can rescue them as a former prisoner of war for nearly seven years in vietnam and what these guys are going through we must find them and we must bring them gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker and our ed education and commerce committee were pushing ahead to grant health care coverage to millions of children a program called s chip unfortunately the president's proposal to reauthorize s chip woefully inadequate his funding level won't even cover the children currently enrolled in the program nationwide six million children a covered by the s chip and another nine million are uninsured if there was ever a question of where our priorities are it should be with strengthening and modernizing the s chip program i just come from a meeting with our governor eliot spitzer new york operates a separate stand alone program on to s chip child health plus as of december two thousand and six nearly four hundred thousand children enrolled and receiving comprehensive health coverage in the program our standalone s chip program has increased in roman by over a quarter of a million children since the start of the program nationwide we have to remember that the s chip program is a critical part of our health care safety net providing health coverage to more than four million low income children who do not qualify for medicaid s chip has served new york in the country well and i will continue to work to improve access but children's health care coverage  gentleman from pennsylvania rise gentleman is recognized for one minute mr speaker at least half of all cases of hospital acquired infections are socially with medical devices these medical device include items range from tongue depressors to catheters and heart valves these preventable infections affects two million patients per year and end up costing ninety thousand lives and over fifty billion dollars annually these are unacceptable costs for patients taxpayers and congress up to this moment this morning we already have over one million cases you can see in this chart forty seven thousand deaths  cost of over twenty six billion dollars and that just as of today yesterday we passed the medical device user fee act which included an amendment in there that i placed in that allows for the government the g a o to study these issues and know that even after rigorous cleaning and sterilisation viruses bacteria still exist and we use medical devices manufacturers providers and facilities to take measures to reduce the rate of infections and i urge my colleagues to refocus our nation's health care system on patient choice patient safety and and quality and join me in working on these things together we can save lives and save money for our nation robert was a gentle lady from illinois right is recognized for one minute today i will vote for the responsible redeployment from iraq act i agree with the seventy percent of americans who want our troops out of iraq and i agree with the comprehensive report called strategic reset from the center for american progress written by three authors one of whom is lawrence korb former assistant secretary of defense and they write the corner rack strategy is exactly what given the strategic and tactical mistakes made in iraq since two thousand and two but simply staying the course with an indefinite military presence is not advancing u s interests today we will vote to change the course to bring our mr speaker many people think the best way to escape war is to dwell upon its harle and to imprint them that a glee upon the minds of the younger generations they flaunt the grisly photographs before their eyes they fill their ears with tales of carnage they dwell upon the ineptitude of generals and admirals they denounce the crime in the folly of human strife these words of wisdom churchill in one nine hundred thirty four stressed upon the people of great britain that the cynics who don't believe some things are worth fighting for should not have their way they ignore the victories in accomplishment and it's did focus upon setbacks war is hard it has always been hard congress will once again debate a timetable retreat for american troops to leave iraq the timid will want to turn their back on the enemy and leave a desperate people in a nation floundering all this be called war is hard retreat tells the enemy that if they wait america out we will bow out of the recognized for one minute mr speaker a new report that just came out by the government accountability office shows that the united states lags far behind other industrialized countries in providing policies that help families balance the competing demands of work and family responsibilities critics argue that implementing such policies here could have a negative impact on the economy but many countries with strong work family policies are among the world's most competitive ek economies in the world and have unemployment rates that are the same or lower than the united states more and more businesses are finding that doing right by workers is good for the bottom line paid parental and sick leave flexible work schedules and access to childcare provide a boost to worker productivity retention and recruitment that outweigh the cost of implementing such policies s workers businesses and the economy would benefit from stronger work family policies and i asked permission to place in the record portions of this important g a o report without objection what drop and our economy continues to grow due to tax relief policies passed by congress in two thousand and one and two thousand and three in spite of that good news democratic leadership in congress is discounting advancements made possible by this tax relief by trying to slap u s taxpayers with a four hundred billion dollar tax increase that will slow our economy and its current progress additionally democrats piled six billion a new spending on to generate omnibus budget bill to finish the two thousand and seven appropriations process pass the budget for two thousand and eight that is twenty million billion more than the president's budget request and added billions in extra spending to the few appropriations bills the house has passed raising taxes hurts american families discourages innovations and hinders job creation let's work together in this congress to make tax relief permanent and continue to grow our economy together this congress can foster further prosperity and build a better brighter future for our country and i yield back it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h r twenty nine fifty six to require the secretary of defense to commence the reduction of the number of united states armed forces in iraq to a limited presence by april first two thousand and eight and for other purpose all points of order against the bill and against its consideration are waves except those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one the bill shall be considered as read the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final passage without intervening motion except one for hours of debate with three hours equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on armed services and one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on foreign affairs and two one motion to recommit section two during consideration of h r twenty nine fifty six pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker the gentle lady from new york is recognized for one three provides for consideration of h r twenty nine fifty six the responsible redeployment from iraq act under a close rule the rule provides for hours of debate with three hours equally divided in controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on armed services and one hour equally divided in control by the committee on foreign affairs throughways all points of order against the bill and consideration he except those arriving under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one the rule provides for one ocean to recommit mr speaker let's be very clear about what we will be told today by the president we will be told that adequate progress has been made in some areas of iraq but more work needs to be done in others what this really means of course is that once again security and political benchmarks are not been met that vast areas in baghdad that were supposed to be under control by now are not that a drop in violence in some areas has been met with increases in violence elsewhere their political compromises are not being made with sufficient speed by the iraqi leadership nor is there any available evidence that the situation is going to change that the escalation will suddenly become more effective next week or next month instead all signs indicate in september when general petraeus reports to congress he will deliver the exact message that we are hearing today to be patient but patience means nothing when deadlines are constantly moved in january a leading member of the minority said that we would be able to tell in a few months if the escalation was tragedy at the present rates between now and september another two hundred americans will be killed two hundred more families changed for ever and hundreds if not thousands more innocent iraqis will have died as well are here today there is no change to our course in iraq that to change our course in iraq will signal the feed but this willfully ignore is the entire history of the iraq war after more than four years of relentless because our troops are good enough but because the current nation is inherently flawed it is not weakness to admit a strategy is not working and to change it it is the very opposite sign strange our leaders corrected failing courses when they arose during the civil war and during world war two why should this war be different what democrats are calling for today is not a retreat it is not a surrender it is a statement that congress will not wait for another ambiguous so called progress report and will not give the administration another chance to move the goalposts instead we were refused to needlessly sacrifice soldiers weaken our military undermine our national security and bleed our country in ways that even the worst terrorists could ever dream of is a statement to the iraqi people that they will no longer have to live as dual victims victims of violence and victims of a fraud military strategy that is at best fighting to bring peace to that country and it worst perpetuating your suffering the bill refocus our troops on fighting terrorists by doing so the disastrous training placed on our armed forces will be lifted without sacrificing security objectives and their healing and begin second every move a strategy from the playing field that is certainly not working and throw open the door to new approaches which may add really succeed for example the legislation requires the president to report by january on how he is engaging u ally and regional powers in the effort to bring stability to iraq far from abandoning the iraqis or lessening american security we will finally make the rehabilitation of iraq the international brownie that it must become the only thing will be abandoning in other words mr speaker is this is ministrations mistakes and to my friends on both sides of the aisle yesterday i received an advance copy of report from the defense department's inspector general it will be made public today it details the work of some of the first companies to make armored vehicles and armored kits for our soldiers in iraq they were given sole source on big contracts even though senior defense officials objected favoring a competitive process instead i hope people are when i said senior officials  bidding for these machines but they were overridden by the second undersecretary of defense the results are sadly predictable the company failed to meet demand and said critically important quitman l some of the armor that our soldiers were saying had cracks that it's simply been painted over to try to fool them instead of fixing it in certain instances to left doors were sent for the same vehicle proves already filing a deadly info had to use their precious time and energy to improvise and come up with ways to turn useless equipment into something that could protect them i soldiers have been asked to endure terrible hardships as well as have their families some of which i am ashamed to say have been the direct result of the practices of this administration they are enduring them to this day and at this very hour for congress to leave them the to continuing to fight to survive under the manning weight of a fraud nation that mr speaker is a true definition of abandonment and after four years democrats are tired of this congress abandoning our troops to a fight they have never deserved and i would ask everyone in this chamber how they would justify this continued carnage to the families of our soldiers with all we know now how can we still say to the children of those killed or to the young men and women maimed for life your loss was needed we cannot what we must say to them is this you have given enough it's time to come home the american people know what must be done and the majority of this congress knows what must be done and all that remains is for those of us here who are still opposed to this bill to decide that they too have had enough and that they will join their countrymen in voting not with the president but with the troops with the people of iraq and with the people of the united states i reserve the balance of my time and life in new york reserves  been several weeks now since we've had a meaningless vote on the issue of iraq and so i suppose we are overdue for another one as democratic leadership mr speaker as we all know very well still bereft of any real ideas has been forced once again to resort to demagoguery bring up a bill but they know they know full well will not be enacted into law and knowing that their proposal cannot withstand any critical scrutiny they've once again shut down the process and brought this to us under a completely closed rule not allowing any of the very thoughtful proposed alternatives very thoughtful and responsible recognition recommendations that were included in this bipartisan iraq study group package of recommendations proposed by mr baker and mr hamilton a group of democrats and republicans very respective respected authorized by this congress and they refused to allow us to have any opportunity whatsoever to even debate much less vote on the issue of the iraq study group recommendations i just yesterday morning in an interview on national public radio our former colleague mr hamilton who as i said was the cochairman of the iraq study group had a very eloquent and thoughtful interview on the need for us to implement the iraq study group recommendations unfortunately the democratic leadership i guess fearful that responsible policy would prevail and that this institution might in fact pass the measure calling for implementation of the wreck study group prevented us from having the chance to  on the iraq study group recommendations the last time we went through the charade they at least had the luxury of making dire predictions of failure for the new strategy in iraq led by general petraeus and the distinguished chair of the com rules has once again basically talked about failure and said that we haven't met any benchmarks and even then mr speaker the strategy was actually showing early signs of success but this time this time the counterinsurgency offensive is well underway and making clear an air refutable progress i will say once again mr speaker that we are seeing clear and irrefutable progress taking place as one major newspaper recently editorialized and i quote demands for withdrawal are no longer demands to pull out of a deteriorating situation with little hope they are now demands to end a new approach to this conflict that shows every sign of succeeding that mr speaker u s forces working side by side with iraqi army and police forces have penetrated enemy strongholds in the belt surrounding baghdad and are driving them out they have cut off al qaeda supply lines and transport routes they are destroying car bomb factories sectarian deaths have plummeted al qaeda operatives are finding themselves increasingly isolated their safe havens destroyed and their ability to move freely between neighborhoods severely diminished  speaker our efforts have been significantly bolstered by former sunni insurgents who have joined the fight against al qaeda i'm going to say that again former sunni insurgents have now joined our effort in the fight qaeda nowhere has this process been more critical than in the in al anbar province last year a leaked marine intelligence report conceded this province as completely lost that was the report that came out today mr speaker allen barr is our best success story and a template for u s forces working together with both sunni police and sh army forces to combat al qaeda as general dave petraeus the man who has received bipartisan praise and was confirmed unanimously by a vote of eighty two to nothing in the united states senate as he began is  his work he said to the new york post we are beginning to see a revolt of the middle against both extremes that mr speaker it is our commanders on the ground who repeatedly pointed out the tipping point didn't come until the tribal leaders saw a prolonged offensive by u s and iraqi forces now let's think back to what life was like in iraq under saddam hussein after a quarter century reign of terror by saddam hussein iraqis clearly would not immediately rise up against any force until that force has been driven into retreat we had to demonstrate our strength and our commitment before we earn the trust of the tribal leaders and their support in the fight against al qaeda that is exactly what we're doing today in baghdad and the surrounding areas new york times recently reported on the and our success and how we are currently applying it to the fight to secure baghdad according to a july eighth report former insurgents in sunni neighborhoods of baghdad are now taking up arms against al qaeda now that's july eighth just a report that just came out for day it came out just four days ago now it quotes betray this is saying and i quote local security is helped incalculably by local support and local involvement that mr speaker this success is so critical because it gets to the heart it gets to the very heart of our twin goals in iraq first that iraqis will be able to provide their own security that we have an increased i s f the iraqi security forces in that they are trained adequately and second that this security will provide environment that makes a political solution possible the quicker that iraqis achieve security and a peaceful stable democracy the quicker our troops will come home and as we listen to the speeches that will come following mine about the quest for our troops to come home make no bones about it i share the goal in the vision that is put forth by our friends mr mcgovern and ms slaughter and others who will argue to bring our troops home we all want to make sure that that happens our new strategy our new strategy mr speaker has clearly brought us closer to that goal and if our fight against extremism was not urgent enough the associated report that came out just late yesterday afternoon that al qaeda has global network is again on the rise and has regained much of the strength that it had in september of two thousand and one is an important thing for us to recognize mr speaker as the terror network rebuilds and regroups it seems absolutely preposterous that the we that we would abandon not only a key front in the global war on terror but a place where we have al qaeda on the defensive and where we are diminishing their capabilities especially in light of that report that came out just last night about their renewed strength yet the democratic leadership  wants to pull the rug out from under our military commanders well mr speaker perhaps not so explicable if we consider that their planned withdrawal would be complete just in time just in time for the two thousand and eight elections but let's pretend that there is no election looming on the horizon here regardless of this bill's impact on american electoral politics what would be the effects on speaker even the new york times editorial board which apparently doesn't often read its own news reports and is calling for an immediate withdrawal acknowledges the inevitable dire consequences of its recommended course of action in the very editorial calling for surrender it outlines the overwhelming refugee and humanitarian crisis that would immediately ensue how the fight would spill out all across the region mr speaker in the most callous way it acknowledges the terror that would be inflicted upon those iraqis who worked with us because they believed our promises how cold and cynical how callous can we be to stand here and debate the notion of abandoning the iraqi people not only to genocide but to the targeting of the very individuals who have bravely worked with us the democratic leadership wants to wave a magic wand and make this war go away i wouldn't mind a magic one myself and certainly the american people would appreciate a quick and tidy solution but i'm afraid that this solution attempts to salvage nothing but party politics the iraqi people mr speaker would not be quite so lucky for are there more recently reported that the quick withdrawal timeframe that the democratic leadership dreamed up has no basis in reality it would take at least a year or more to safely withdraw all u s troops from iraq and it would take significant combat forces to protect the withdraw we'd have to fight our way out all the way to the kuwaiti border there simply is no magic wand in this war mr speaker perhaps the greatest irony of this bill is that it calls for detailed reports for a strategy in iraq mr speaker we have a strategy and while it was only fully operational less than one month ago it is already succeeding the democratic leadership and their absurdist logic want our military to abandon their strategy go home and write a report about they were what they would have wanted to accomplish if they had stayed and if that weren't cruel enough mr speaker they'd have to watch terror and genocide unfold as they were treated i cannot fathom a more disastrous policy for our security or the iraqis mr speaker i urge my colleagues to reject this rule and the underlying bill itself and with that i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves gentle lady from new york mrs pre crash dynamics consent to insert into the record at this point an article from the from iraq act mr speaker i believe this house oughta voice his gratitude to the distinguished chairman of the armed services committee mr skelton for bringing before this house a thoughtful responsible bill that outlines what we must do next in iraq the bill clearly notes that our uniformed men and women have carried out and completed their mission for which they were authorized by congress the search for weapons of mass destruction is over there were none not a single one the regime that put iraq in an impossible international position no longer exists so it's time that we draw down our troops from iraq and require this administration to clearly define what the tr requirements and costs will be for the next phase of u s involvement in iraq a far more limited mission to root out al qaeda and protect our diplomatic personnel inside iraq the bill also promotes the kind of active diplomacy with iraq's neighbors necessary for achieving a more lasting climate of stability in iraq and throughout the region much much more mr speaker must be done and i expect to see stronger legislation in september but this bill puts us on the right path for five long deadly years this congress has done nothing but rubber stamp a tragically flawed policy it is shameful whatever the cause the president and many members of congress thought they were pursuing in iraq it is lost political leaders inside iraq appear incapable of putting national interests ahead of sectarian and personal agendas iraqi security forces are operate more like sectarian militias and despite their best efforts the additional military forces we have poured into the baghdad region have not been able to change the equation over thirty six hundred of our troops have lost their lives to this battle thousands more have been wounded it is wrong mr speaker simply wrong to ask them to continue to sacrifice their lives and their limbs for this failed policy the war in iraq is breaking the back of our military it is causing severe damage to the federal budget to the tune of ten billion dollars each month and causing grave harm to the future fiscal health of our nation it continues to undermine our most important political diplomatic military in strategic alliances it saps our ability to focus on global terrorism and to safeguard our own people and it has contributed to the chaos inside iraq mr speaker it is past time for change and while president bush keeps scorning deadlines and promising breakthroughs that never come it is clear that he lacks the vision the wisdom or the courage to chart a new course it is frighteningly clear that the president plans instead to stay the course and dump this mess on the next president it is time for congress to step up to the plate and change direction in iraq it is time for every member of this house to work together to draw down our forces and bring our troops home to their families and their communities for too long congress has been complicit and the american people are frustrated and they are angry we don't need more studies or commissions we don't need more excuses we don't need more delay too many lives are being lost what we need is for members of congress to make a choice to stand up and be counted will you continue to rubber stamp the current disastrous policy in iraq or will you vote for change we must act now mr speaker this is simply too important to wait any longer too many lives are on the line all of us no matter how we originally voted on the war share in the responsibility in what is happening in iraq all of us have additional thirty seconds there you think this is our need for all of us by not changing by not voting to change course our responsible for sending so many of our brave men and women into a civil war where far too many of them have been killed if the president of the united states will not respect the will of the american people and end this war then congress must you back my tongue and i'm a california speaker and as i yield to my friend from venezuela me to say we do have a great chance to work together that's why we were in fact proposing an alternative that being a chance for us to work on the bipartisan iraq study group recommendations without having yelled for minutes fly very good friend from erie pennsylvania in pennsylvania recognizable or four minutes thank you mr speaker and i thank the gentleman today i rise in the strongest pop possible opposition to this rule and the panoply of public policy issues there is no more important question than starting or ending an armed conflict the decision we make today will determine whether men and women will live or die not only on the battlefields of iraq but also potentially in the cities of europe and america the discussion that we conduct a should transcend crass political partisanship and narrow ideology to reflect our deepest concern for the nation and indeed for the community of nations the house of representatives today should be prepared to engage in a free and fair debate regarding all of the potential options for the future conduct of combat operations and diplomatic initiatives in iraq and the broader mideast we should be discussing the recommendations of the baker hamilton iraq study group we should be examining some of the ideas laid out by senator lugar we should be considering the suggestion of congresswoman heather wilson and i that we made to the president recently encouraging him to come to convene a high level somewhat of sectarian leaders we should exclude no viable alternative even that offered by my colleague from ohio mr coo senate the legislation we will consider later today does have the potential to serve as a starting point of determining a new course of action in iraq but it is badly flawed and it needs substantial improvement and unfortunately that will not be possible the rule that democrats have laid before the house today demonstrates their motivations are at core political and i remember when politics ended at the water's edge they do not offer us an open rule allowing full and free debate they don't even allow us a structured rule permitting at the very least discussion of some of the major alternatives that i've outlined mr speaker we all know that certain parties want things from this debate today they've already recorded their robo calls purchased airtime for their attack ads they've scheduled buses for the random mobs and the last thing they really desire is a free open and informed debate that might result in a unified policy regarding our nation's future efforts in iraq they seek not to unite our nation but to divide it the people who bring this rule the florida day do not allow amendments because they're afraid they're afraid that some of these amendments might have prevail they're afraid that given viable alternatives some members of their own party will choose cooperation over confrontation mostly they're afraid they might lose a major issue for their campaign to maintain their majority their fear may or may not be justified what its very existence is a sad commentary on their faith and the members of their own party this body and the american people i would remind i and my colleagues that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself reject the cynical rule vote no on the previous question and let's have  the most critical issue of our generation and i yield back the balance of my time gently from new york misspeak or give me three seconds to say that under the republican administration not a single iraqi measure was brought up under an open rule and  underlying bill today presents us with another opportunity to change direction in iraq a change that's desperately needed i've opposed this war from the beginning and i've long supported ways to bring this war to responsible clo irish my colleagues to seize this opportunity now before we do further disservice to the brave men and women in iraq the last time i rose in opposition to iraq policy i talked about george  my hometown of sacramento all three of their sons serve in iraq recently i learned that one of their sons david was hit in an r p g attack on his convoy thank goodness he was not wounded gravely and he becoming home to recover mr speaker today's vote is about our responsibility to heath sons and the more than the hundred fifty thousand other men and women in harm's way they are doing what is being asked of them heroically patriotically it feels me it was sorrow that more than thirty six hundred soldiers have paid the ultimate price for their heroism including three hundred eighty five from my home state of california our responsibility to them as early active leaders should be it must be to ensure that their mission is clear and achievable today we have the opportunity to fulfill our responsibility as a president has not sadly the president's disastrous leadership is ignoring his duty to the troops and we cannot sit idly by the iraqi government is not meeting any of his political economic or military benchmarks the president's surge policy has had disastrous results in fact six hundred troops have been killed and more than three thousand have been wounded since he announced his policy our troops are stranded on the front lines without clear guidance without a clear mission in light of such an app leadership by the president the american people have lost their patients most american support removing troops by april they want us to refocus on terrorism yet still the president refuses to reconsider it is clear from the president's blind stubbornness that congress must show the president the way our troops are at a breaking point we are refereeing a civil war the solution is a political one not a military one but in this late and crucial hour you have to do more than talk about change you have to vote for it you have to fight for it chairman skelton's bill keeps the safety of our troops and our nation's security at the forefront by changing course in iraq i urge all my colleagues to support this  today to oppose this ruling condemn the underlying bill hastily leaving iraq without any clear exit strategy the speaker the timing of this legislation should raise some serious questions for the american people it comes  critical point in the global war on terror a point at which our efforts should be focused on defeating terrorism inflicted by islamic jihad is not usurping the power of our military commanders as this bill clearly does today's debate comes on the heels of an intelligence analysis stating al qaeda has regrouped to a level not seen since nine eleven with a greater ability to strike inside the united states it comes in the immediate aftermath of the muslim attacks in london and glasgow in some it comes at a time when our decisions must be based on strategic strategic interest and not political grandstanding out of a mistake or this bill is not designed to help us fight terrorism to secure the united states interest in fact its timing has nothing to do with national security at all today the democratic leadership wants us to vote on a change of course before we have had an opportunity to fully analyze the president interim report on our strategy in iraq and well ahead of the much anticipated september report to be delivered by general petraeus and ambassador crocker so why are we but debating this now curiously it comes at a time when the democratic congress has an approval rating as low as fourteen percent that's right mr speaker their approval is that all time low their bases is very angry the extremists lay out they're at old faithful when all else fails when they can't get anything accomplished when all they can deliver that american public is the most closed congress in history they engage in another round of political theater engineer do nothing but grab a few headlines  that liberal base mr speaker let's not waste the time of this body by debating vague bills with absolutely no chance of becoming law let's instead examine the upcoming september report from our pop military commanders and then yes then make informed decisions on the best path forward my friend the distinguished chairman of the rules committee the gentlewoman from new york state in our open remarks that if we wait until september as i suggest two hundred more troops would be lost and the last two hundred families would be changed forever mr speaker let me remind my colleagues that within a twenty minute period of time on september the eleventh two thousand and one three thousand labs were lost some of our brightest and best and indeed the last of three thousand families were changed forever and i ask for fifteen additional seconds for my colleague i'm happy meal my friend of the tional fifteen seconds gentleman is well into its fifth year the need for a new policy has never been clearer the toll of this war has been devastating more than thirty six hundred of our most courageous men and women killed tens of thousands seriously wounded the toll on civilians much higher still and while we struggled to fund a massive priorities in vermont in all our states across this nation health care a crumbling infrastructure for transportation the cost of education we now spend twelve billion dollars every single month on this war from last november's elections to public opinion polls to the comments i hear from vermonters every single day the voice of the american people is loud it's clear we must end this war incense the president refuses absolutely refuses to act congress must since the president refuses congress must make it clear that the united states will not maintain permanent military bases in iraq since the president refuses congress must denounce the use of torture in must finally close guantanamo bay and since the president refuses congress must bring our troops home and ensure they receive the care they deserve when they return mr speaker seven months ago under the leadership of the previous congress a bill like this never would have been allowed to come to the floor and now seven months later today there's an emerging bipartisan consensus that the president must be forced to change his course and by passing this bill today congress will demonstrate with the force of law what the american people well know it's time to end the war in iraq i co sponsored in voted in favor of legislation offered by my colleague mr mcgover massachusetts that called for a redeployment of our troops from iraq within six months and i voted against additional funds for the war without a timeline and co sponsored legislation that would close guantanamo bay outlaw torture defend the right of papers corpus and prohibit the establishment of permanent military bases at the end of the day americans know that no action the house of representatives is enough and tell all of our troops are returned home this bill provides a starting point for progress towards realizing that goal on tell our troops or home i will not stop congress must not stop in its efforts to compel the president end this war i yield the balance of my time gentleman from california your man where here how much time is remaining on each side the gentleman in california has eleven and three quarters minister the gentleman from new york eleven and a half minutes let me at this time mr speaker yield two minutes to our friend from bridgeport connecticut who has made seventeen trips to iraq and unfortunately was denied an opportunity to have us consider and vote on a very thoughtful amendment that he proposed the rules committee last night general from connecticut is recognized for two minutes thank you gentleman for yielding as i walked into this chamber congressman mcgovern said we need to work together to bring our troops home he's right but the resolution we will be debating today does not allow us to to consider a bipartisan proposals there were a number that were presented to the rules committee and they rejected all and the gentle lady from new york can say well when republicans were in control they didn't do that they didn't allow it it's about the most insignificant and meaningless statement she could make because democrats are now in charge and they're in charge in part because the war in iraq and because they promised to have an open debate and allow us all to say what we needed to say and find consensus there are two things i agree on we need to bring our troops some and we need a deadline to do that but this deadline big begins in one hundred twenty days and concludes by april of next year guarantee an absolute failure laneways to all that of the investment that we've talked about we need to bring our troops home but not by the deadline that's been offered and it's the only deadline so that when i vote against what i think is a foolish deadline the papers are going to say exactly what they democratic colleagues want to say that we voted against the deadline and that we're not sincere about bringing our troops on give me a deadline i can support and i'll vote for it give me an opportunity to at least  deadline that i could support and i would vote for it we are going to bring our troops home because we can't maintain this level of engagement in iraq without extending troops from fifteen months to eighteen months we're not going to allow that to happen our troops will be coming home but not by april they will be coming home in a more thoughtful way i urge defeat of this amendment in particular resolution in particular did not allow for the wolf amendment which was the iraqi study group proposal but i have ten more seconds absolutely i'm happy to give my friend an additional what we need to be voting on we all say that we agree and support it well why not bring this to the floor or what are we afraid of generally from new york conflicts please let me and that is second to say that we've allowed four hours of general debate i think everybody will have an opportunity to responsible redeployment from iraq act under this rule and urge my colleagues to pass it today because in this summer of two thousand and seven in the fifth year of the bush cheney war in iraq it is imperative that we chart a new direction for our national security and be more strategic in the defense of america as a member of the house armed services committee it is clear to me that the reckless white house policy and now the escalation of the war is undermining our country's writing this and ability to respond to other global threats to our national security indeed in testimony before our committee top commanders have testified that america runs a strategic risk by staying on the same course in iraq the generals confirm that because our personnel and equipment are tied up in iraq our ability to handle future threats and contingencies is reduced indeed in my state of florida for example the national guard does not have all the equipment it needs to train and deploy soldiers there are only twenty eight percent equipped in effect president bush's war in iraq is a pain in pairing our country's ability to prepare for any other threat to our national security florida also feel the pinch of multiple deployments because time and again our brave men and women are being asked to go back to leave their families leave their job to return to the field of battle after inadequate rest at home florida currently has the second highest number of troops out of the fifty states deployed in iraq over twenty three thousand one hundred seventy two floridians have been killed and over twelve hundred have been wounded since military operations began there over four years ago hardly a week goes by that my office has not contacted and in formed of another sad but her oh it's death in this cos in fact last week two more tampa bay area brave iraq soldiers were killed by an i e d s and people ask me why are young american men and women refereeing the ongoing shiite sunni civil war american troops cannot resolve the iraqi sectarian and religious conflict only iraqis can find the political resolution required to stabilize iraq america has now spent over four hundred fifty billion dollars in iraq when will the iraqi government take responsibility for the future of their country president bush's war in iraq has been very costly over ten billion dollars a month now costly not just in terms of degradation of our nation's readiness the waste and fraud to the lack of oversight but president bush is sacrificing the health care of our children and our seniors and investments in our towns and neighborhoods while continuing this war without end so after four years of war and over thirty five hundred american lives and the bush cheney failure to aggressively pursue a political solution we demanded a new direction and a comprehensive strategy for our great nation general california  lady from ohio is recognized for three minutes i think the distinguished a gentlewoman for yielding the time mr speaker for four long years our country has and heard a tragic war a treacherous journey down dark and winding path with no clear route no clear destination and fatal hazards lurking around every blind corner today i rise again with chairman skelton and my colleagues to act to clear the road ahead to bring it and into the light i rise again to push to prod to urge my colleagues to help us and the president's failed policy to help us change the mission to a mission based in realities to help us and the ravages that our brave soldiers who have performed so heroically to and those the cross fire in which they are caught to remove them from the sniper's bullet and the life ending i e d s i rise with the hope that those who have stood with the president and have given his iraq policy a chance to succeed and another chance to succeed and another chance to succeed that they will today choose a responsible change in direction based in the reality that will establish a comprehensive and clear strategy for our role in iraq congress has allowed the president to lead our troops down this path for too long it is time to demand accountability to demand an exit strategy that is clear and to demand an end to the injury and death that our brave soldiers face every day as courageously proceed down this undefined road on which the president has placed them and they have due to fully travel the president's ambling courses let our troops through the deadliest three months of the war in april may and june of this year during those three deadly month three hundred twenty nine american soldiers died in iraq the cost of continuing down this path is too great we must act to bring direction and accountability to the united states mission for the sake of our troops and the fan please that love and support them it brings me great sadness to report that since the war began in the spring of two thousand and three one hundred sixty three brave men and women from ohio have been killed twenty five of those precious lives have been lost since the surge the president's escalation of this war mean six more grieving families in ohio since when i last spoke in favor of the redeployment bill in may of this year how many more times will we come to this floor to demand responsibility and accountability from our president and how many more families will be devastated by the loss of a loved one how many more times will we hear the administration continue to argue that we are quote just about to make progress last november the people of the thirteenth district of ohio made their voice heard when they went to the polls their voices joined with the voices of people across this nation they voted for a change in direction and today we act to give it to them speaker i wanted to let my colleagues know that i will be asking for recorded vote on the previous question on this rule we have a problem a very serious problem that we must address before the house of germs in august and this resolution which we have done before does not deal with the real issues that this house must address because with the threat that we face if the period is question is defeated i will offer an amendment to the foreign intelligence surveillance act that clarifies one very simple and critical thing that the you know did states government will no longer be required to get a warrant to listen to terrorists who are not in the united states the director of national intelligence have testified to us as has the director of the cia that their hands are currently tied they are being tied up requiring warrants with probable cause to listen to people who are terrorists who are not even in the united states because of the way the foreign intelligence surveillance act is written we cannot allow ourselves to be deaf and blind because of a law that is woefully outdated all of us have heard what the department of homeland security has said the chatter is at levels we have not seen since the summer of two thousand and one and the director of national intelligence has testified we are missing significant portions of intelligence we have to open our ears and open our eyes to keep this nation say that is the critical issue we should be debating here today and if we defeat the previous question i would immediately offer that for the consideration of the house and i yield the balance of my time gentleman from new hampshire vermont mr speaker yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from california ms firemen and let him california's recognize thank you mr speaker and i thank the gentleman for yielding and i would point out to our colleagues that the action just described in my view is not necessary i rise in support of the rule of the underlying bill and in strong support for ending our combat mission in iraq and redirecting our efforts toward stability in the region including iraq but also in trouble spots like iran lebanon pakistan and afghanistan let me make three points first based on firsthand experiences from my fourth visit to iraq just weeks ago baghdad is not safe or true we have worked successfully with tribal leaders against al  but the major population center baghdad the four focus of our military surge is not turning around progress will not be made by a continuation of our combat mission second the skelton bill moyers a companion bill in the other body which has impressive bipartisan support i urge republicans to support this measure and know that some will do so the message our constituents want to hear is that two hundred ninety of us a veto proof bipartisan majority insist on a responsible and to our combat mission in iraq beginning now with passage of this bill third though i feel homeland security secretary chertoff to use of the words gut feeling was unwise i share the view that our country could be attacked at any qaeda has regrouped in pakistan and expanded its reach throughout north africa homegrown cells in england and elsewhere are increasing and our assumption must be that they are here as well low tech low scale vehicle born attacks are sadly not hard to execute at a minimum those and attacks on soft targets like our mass transit systems may be in our near future d h s s the f b i in our exceptionally talented local police departments are working overtime those our ranks are depleted and their equipment and they are surged in iraq but one hundred percent protection is impossible mr speaker this is where our attention must be and our resources past the sammon california speaker at this time i am happy to yield four minutes to my friend from holland michigan the foreman former chairman of the select committee on intelligence now the ranking member mr hoekstra gentleman is recognize for minutes i thank my colleague from california later on he will make a motion to defeat the previous question is the gentle lady from new mexico indicated what that would then enable us to do was to address a very serious issue the problem that right now is we are blind and deaf to people who may want to attack the united states as secretary chertoff has indicated earlier this week all of the indications are that we still remain very very vulnerable the chatter the signals indicate more clearly that america is still at risk and it's not only the chatter all you really need to do is take a look at what al qaeda says they're clear on their intent to attack the united states again take a look at what happened in the u k two weeks ago planned attacks in the heart of london a planned attack at an airport indicate that al qaida al qaeda and radical jihadists want to attack the u k but they want to attack in europe and they want to attack us in the united states one of the things that needs to be clear is that what has helped keep us say is our intelligence community and as our ability to gain information has changed in adapted over the last couple of years it has become even more clear that fison needs to be updated and fison needs to be updated now it needs to be done before we go home in august because if we expect to stay safe we need to make sure that our intelligence community has all of the tools at its disposal to identify rests to identify potential terrorists and to identify individual jewels who wants to do us harm pfizer should not be used to protect international terrorists it should not be used to protect radical jihad as it should not be used in as a screen to protect members of al qaeda remember flies it was designed in the hundred seventy s designed to handle a cold war surveillance of the countries like the soviet union back then and into the eighty's and early ninety's our intelligence community only needed to be one step faster than the former soviet union we didn't have to be that fast and the risks in the threats were not as real or is immediate to our homeland as what they are today today our intelligence community needs to be one two three steps faster than radical jihadists radical jihadists who use technology who use the internet who use the the communications world of today to drive their message and to plan their attacks and we need to be able to penetrate into it and penetrate into it very effectively now is the time to modernize fizer now is the time to make sure that the intelligence community has the capability to identify the threats and individuals who may want to attack the united states and make sure that they are in a position to identify these three outs and get this information to our law enforcement individuals in the united states a seamless way we've made progress in a number of areas and intelligence reform there's still much work to do but one of the areas that we have not done update pfizer defeat the previous question and allow for the modernization of phys ed now thank you speaker today it was reported that al qaeda is as strong now as it was prior to the nine eleven attacks meanwhile our troops who have served with honor and distinction are mired in the middle of a religious civil war in iraq the men and women of iowa's national guard have faced multiple redeployments a great sacrifice to them and their families the american people continue to demand a new way forward in iraq even members of the president's own party are demanding change we must immediately begin to chart a new course i am a co sponsor of the responsible redeployment from iraq act because it provides for the safe withdrawal of combat troops by april first two thousand and eight we must bring home our troops safely and responsibly we must also redirect our efforts against terrorism this bill represents a step forward and i urge its passage and the rule and i yield back to mount's my time underlying bill responsible redeployment act from iraq we can afford to spend ten billion dollars the month on this failed war and continue to see the loss of lives three thousand six hundred now from my district alone fourteen individuals have  home to see their families twenty three than twenty seven thousand have come home injured from the war i want to tell you that in march i had the opportunity to visit some of our troops in iraq many from california representing southern california san gabriel valley many of them told me they did not have appropriate equipment that they were there for insurmountable time many on their second third and fourth tour one family member from the city of the zeus that told me that he had not even seen his child it had been already fourteen months i would ask members of congress to remember who our constituents are i have the adjoining district next to congressman dreier in my district alone four to one in a survey said republican and democrat we thousand deaths ago three thousand deaths ago like the boy who cried wolf this president cries progress what progress with all this talk about benchmarks i think it's time to get off the bench and bring our troops home now with an immediate responsible safe redeployment president bush says as we approach five years of being in iraq he says listen to the generals while we will listen to him at his top general says if we follow his course if we study his course we'll be in iraq fighting for another five to ten years real progress would begin by adopting today's very modest proposal and moving forward united so their our troops are not caught up in a final disastrous position in iraq that we responsibly redeploy to protect our families rather than generating one generation another  let's figure let me just begin by talking about procedure we continue to hear the distinguished share of the committee on rules talk regularly about an open amendment process and i will say with absolute certainty i had the privilege of sharing the rules committee for eight years and i will tell you that we have brought more rules to the floor of this house under a completely closed process during the first seven months of this year than we did during any seven months during the eight years that i was privileged to serve as chairman of the house of the rules committee so much for a new and open process now let's look at what it is that we're considering here mr speaker the speaker we know full well that this is a bill unlike resolutions that may have been brought up under close rules in the past this is actually a bill a bill that's scheduled to go to the president's desk everyone knows that this bill is not going to become law but we found is gross politicization once again a commitment made every week we're going to have some kind of vote on a rack we all know that the war in iraq is very unpopular we know that the president is a great punching bag this for virtually everyone but the fact of the matter is are in the midst of a very important global war on terror and as the president said in the past you know we all like to be loved but i'd much rather be right than be loved the fact of the matter is we want to bring this war to an end the president stood right here in this chamber in january and said i wish that this war were over and that we had won but we need to ensure victory  unfortunately we are not given the opportunity consider any any thoughtful bipartisan alternative to this measure which calls for the withdrawal to begin with a hundred within one hundred twenty days i mean how crazy is that when we're looking for a report to come in september and as we're looking at success that has begun even after only one month one month of this plan having been put into place under the greatly harold a general david petraeus and mr speaker as my friends from new mexico and michigan have said i'm going to move to defeat the previous question i'm going to move defeat the previous question so that we can actually ensure that we have the tools to win this war on terror you know we've had a number of anniversaries mark we spent a lot of time talking about them but we continue to we  fail to remember the success that we've had at preempting attacks on this country just last month we marked the first anniversary of the discovery of the proposed attack on the sears tower and the f b i headquarters in miami just last week we marked the first anniversary of the proposed attack on the plan to blow up the hudson river tunnel between new jersey and mount manhattan just in may we had a report of the plan as you all know to see some of these people go in and start killing our people at fort dix in new jersey and then of course just a few weeks ago we had the plan to blow up j f k international airport well mr speaker we've been able to discover those but we know full well from those in our intelligence operations and the department of homeland security that we are as mr hoekstra said blind and deaf and i believe that we need to make sure we defeat the previous question so that will be in a position to amend this proposal so that we can ensure that we have the tools necessary to win this war on terror so vote no on the previous question but that i yield back the balance of my time generally from york mr speaker as once again we are always treated to the invented memory of the former canton rules committee let me just state for the record that this time last time he was chair we had three open rules at this point we have we rule twenty this is a fifteen minute vote on ordering the previous question this will be followed by a five minute vote on the adoption of house resolution five thirty three if ordered and approval of the journal this is a fifteen minute vote