Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112th

 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m.

Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.

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H5925 

Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 No. 123 

House of Representatives 

The House met at 10 a.m. and was 

called to order by the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. AUSTRIA

f 

). 

DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO 

TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from the Speaker: 

WASHINGTON, DC, 

September 13, 2012. 

I hereby appoint the Honorable STEVE AUSTRIA to act as Speaker pro tempore on this 

day. 

JOHN A. BOEHNER, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

f 

MORNING-HOUR DEBATE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of January 17, 2012, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by 

the majority and minority leaders for 

morning-hour debate. 

The Chair will alternate recognition 

between the parties, with each party 

limited to 1 hour and each Member 

other than the majority and minority 

leaders and the minority whip limited 

to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall 

debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. 

f 

AFGHANISTAN 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

North Carolina (Mr. JONES) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. JONES. First, I join the American people and the Members of Congress in extending my deepest sympathy to the families of the four Americans killed yesterday in Libya. It was 

such a tragedy. 

Mr. Speaker, there’s another tragedy. 

It’s called Afghanistan. Like most of 

my colleagues, last month, I was home. 

I’ve been here in Washington 3 days. 

Back home, as well as the last 3 days 

here, more and more people are coming 

in concerned about budget cuts, worried about sequestration. We all are 

hearing it. Yet there’s no debate about 

Afghanistan. It just keeps going on and 

on and on. 

I’m pleased to say that next Thursday, a group of Democrats and Republicans have joined me for a press conference. The author of this book, called 

‘‘Funding the Enemy,’’ subtitled, ‘‘How 

U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban,’’ 

Douglas Wissing, is coming to Washington next Thursday, and we will hold 

a news conference at 10 o’clock. The 

reason for this is to continue to remind 

Congress the American people have 

been speaking out about pulling our 

troops out of Afghanistan sooner rather than later. I hope that this news 

conference with Mr. Wissing will continue to beat the drum of bringing our 

troops home in 2013, not 2014. That’s 

the President’s plan. That’s the plan 

that most Republicans in leadership 

have agreed to. But that’s the end of 

2014. How many more young men and 

women have to give their life, their 

legs, their arms for a failed policy? 

In this book, ‘‘Funding the Enemy,’’ 

and also at the news conference, we 

will have the former Inspector General 

of Afghanistan, who is a marine general. General Fields will join Douglas 

Wissing and a group of Republicans and 

Democrats to talk about the failed policy and how many times we send millions and millions and millions of dollars to Afghanistan and it never gets to 

the villages it’s supposed to help; how 

many times we send millions and millions of dollars to Afghanistan and it’s 

not accounted for. Somebody has taken 

the money. It’s America’s money. It’s 

the money that we could be using here 

to save programs and to save jobs. But, 

again, Congress is not talking about 

Afghanistan. 

I will continue to come to the floor, 

Mr. Speaker, and talk about the waste 

of life, the waste of money, and how 

it’s unfair to the American taxpayer. 

And more importantly, it’s unfair to 

the military families. Many of the marines in my district—and I’m sure in 

the United States Army—have been to 

Afghanistan three and four times. 

Truthfully, nothing has changed. If I 

could have been an adviser to the 

President, I would have said: Mr. 

Obama, you got bin Laden. You have 

dispersed al Qaeda. Let’s bring our 

troops home. That has not happened— 

and it will not happen until 2014. I 

think 2014 will slip into 2015. 

So it’s my hope that after this election that those of us who I hope win 

come back here and let’s take a new 

approach and look at Afghanistan. 

Whether it’s Mr. Obama or Mr. Romney, let’s try to prevail upon them as a 

Congress to start bringing the troops 

out in the spring of 2014. It’s not fair to 

the families. It’s not fair to broken 

bodies of those who return with lost 

legs. 

Mr. Speaker, before I close, as I do 

many, many times, I ask God to please 

bless our men and women in uniform, 

to please bless the families of our men 

and women in uniform, to please hold 

in His arms the families who have 

given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I ask God to bless 

my colleagues in the House and the 

Senate. And I will ask God three times, 

Mr. Speaker, please God, please God, 

please God, continue to bless America. 

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UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN THIS 

CONGRESS 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 

Texas (Ms. JACKSON LEE) for 5 minutes. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I would 

like to join my colleague in asking for 

the blessings on this Nation and to remind America that we gathered on 

Tuesday, together, in commemoration 

and recognition of 9/11. But America 

also needs us to do better. And I speak 


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