H10954 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE December 10, 2008 

after the bailout, he said, you know, 

this actually ends up being a great day 

because we’ve federalized, socialized 

whatever you want—he didn’t say that, 

but it’s basically socialized a segment 

of the financial economy, the financial 

sector. And now we just need, according to him, to take over the rest of it 

and then we spread it across the country. 

That sounds good. And I heard somebody call into a talk show and say, 

what’s really wrong with socialism? 

Well, let me explain it to you this 

way. When I was an exchange student 

in the Soviet Union back in 1973, I 

spent the summer over there; went out 

to a collective farm, and there were 

some farmers who were sitting in the 

shade, you know, mid-morning. 

Well, I’ve worked on farms, ranches, 

growing up in East Texas, and I know, 

during the summer, like this was, you 

start your work as quick as you can 

after daylight, and you want to be finished before the sun gets too hot. I’ve 

worked in 104, 105-degree heat with lots 

of humidity and it isn’t fun, so you try 

and finish before it gets that hot. 

These guys were all sitting in the 

shade. And I spoke a little Russian 

back then and I asked them, trying to 

be nice, when do you work out in the 

field? And they laughed at me, at the 

question. And one of them spoke and 

said, I make the same number of rubles 

if I’m out there or if I’m here, so I’m 

here. That’s why socialism never 

works, because when people find out 

that they can get just as much as the 

person that works from sun up to sun 

down, then it falls apart. 

Now, the Soviets set a record of having socialism for 70 years. And the only 

way they could make it work was to 

have a tyrannical central government 

that could kill you or imprison you if 

you didn’t play along. But it was 

doomed to failure. 

Socialism is always doomed to failure. And this country, if it were to continue going down this road, would not 

make 70 years unless it went to a tyrannical government as well; and God 

help us if that were to happen. 

In any event, I would rather the 

prayers be that God continue to bless 

America; that we get back to our 

founding principles; that we embrace 

the principles that made America 

great, and not the principles that 

brought about the Revolution. 

My bill, H.R. 7309, helps get us back 

a little bit on track. And you know 

what a great healthy by-product would 

be? When people start realizing how 

much money they’re sending to Washington, they might demand a little better accountability, the kind of accountability we have not gotten from 

the first $350 billion that have been 

squandered for who knows what. It 

hasn’t helped. 

But with that, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the patience. I would encourage, 

Mr. Speaker, people all across America 

to call your Representative, call your 

Senators, let them know that the taxpayers should be the one to spend the 

$350 billion, not the Treasury Secretary. 

f 

VACATING 5-MINUTE SPECIAL 

ORDER 

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. 

KAGEN). Without objection, the 5- 

minute Special Order of the gentleman 

from California (Mr. HUNTER) is vacated. 

There was no objection. 

f 

THANKING AMERICANS IN 

UNIFORM WHO SERVED IN IRAQ 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under 

the Speaker’s announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from California (Mr. HUNTER) is recognized for 60 

minutes. 

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to do something that I think has 

been a long time coming. On March 19 

of 2003, the United States made the initial strikes in Iraq with two F–117 aircraft carrying 2,000-pound bombs that 

initiated the action in which Americans took Iraq, overthrew the dictator, 

Saddam Hussein, ultimately established a free government, and built 

from scratch a security apparatus and 

a military in Iraq capable of protecting 

that free government. And today, Mr. 

Speaker, I thought it would be appropriate for this Congress to thank the 

more than 1 million Americans in uniform who have served in Iraq, in the 

Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the 

Air Force, the Coast Guard and in our 

intelligence services and our security 

services, to thank those more than 1 

million Americans, men and women, 

for doing something that Americans 

often applaud; that’s winning. We have 

won in Iraq. 

Mr. Speaker, it was March 19 when 

we initiated that operation with those 

first Tomahawk missiles that were 

launched on leadership positions in 

Baghdad, and those first two F–117 

stealth aircraft that moved out and 

dropped 2,000-pound bombs on important sites. And after that, just 48 hours 

later, on March 20, 2003, two prongs of 

coalition forces moved across the berm 

in Kuwait, after American intelligence 

agents and American Special Operation 

Forces had laid the groundwork, and 

they moved out and they started to 

move toward Baghdad. 

Mr. Speaker, the launch of the operations and the ground forces and, incidentally, those ground forces were led 

by Army Lieutenant General David 

McKiernan. He was the commanding 

general of the Combined Forces Land 

Component Command. They crossed 

the line of departure from the Kuwaiti 

desert into Southern Iraq, and they had 

to go about 600 kilometers to get to 

Baghdad. We covered that distance in 

record time. And I don’t know how 

many people in Congress or in the 

American populace remember it, but 

you had many commentators, many 

armchair commentators stating that 

the United States forces would be 

bogged down, that Secretary of Defense 

Don Rumsfeld had not sent enough 

forces, and that we would see this operation grind to a halt and we would take 

heavy casualties. They were wrong, 

and Tommy Franks’ forces, in fact, you 

would have talk shows in which the 

commentator or the guest would be 

talking about American forces bogging 

down, and his statement would be interrupted by a news flash that Tommy 

Franks’ forces had taken yet another 

one of Saddam Hussein’s strongholds. 

So we drove on to Baghdad. And on 

March 21, in fact, Iraq’s 51st Army Division, which was estimated to be 

about 8,000 personnel, surrendered and 

deserted at Iraq’s southern border. 

The main ground effort was led by 

U.S. Army Fifth Corps under Lieutenant General William Wallace. Fifth 

Corps moved along a western route up 

to Baghdad, and the First Marine Expeditionary Force, 1MEF, under General 

James Conway, now the Commandant 

of the Marine Corps, moved along the 

more urban route closer to the border 

with Iran, on the east side. They took 

the far southern port of Umm Kasar. 

The main Marine force encountered 

some resistance as they pushed north, 

in particular, An Nasariya. 

Mr. Speaker, I can remember talking 

with a young Marine who had some injuries and was at Bethesda hospital 

shortly after that operation, and he 

talked about how much he loved those 

Marine tanks when he was pinned down 

by fire coming from several buildings 

at An Nasariya, and these big Marine 

tanks came whipping in, laid some 

heavy fire on the Feyadeen who were 

laying down these torrents of RPG fire; 

that’s rocket propelled grenades. And 

they rushed out, that is the Feyadeen 

did, after being hit with several tank 

volleys, and surrendered to the Marines 

at that choke point. 

In the west, the Army faced a longer 

distance but a less populated terrain. 

And Fifth Corps began combat operations with two divisions under its 

command, the Third ID under Major 

General Blunt, and the 101st Airborne 

Division, the 101st under Major General 

David Petraeus. 

The Third ID led the western charge 

to Baghdad. They moved speedily 

through the south. They reached Saddam International Airport on April 4 of 

2003. At that point the division 

launched the first of what it called 

‘‘thunder runs.’’ And a ‘‘thunder run’’ 

was a fast armored strike going right 

into the heart of Baghdad. And according to the Brigade Commander in 

Charge, General David Perkins, the 

Americans wanted to ‘‘create as much 

confusion as they could inside the 

city.’’ And the second purpose was to 

make sure that no one in that city, 

whether it was a member of the Iraqi 

population or an Iraqi leader, had any 

doubt that the city had fallen and the 

Americans were in charge. 

The 101st followed the Third ID up 

the western route into Southern Iraq, 

December 10, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H10955 

clearing resistance in southern cities, 

and that allowed the Third ID to move 

up very quickly. Soldiers from the 

101st faced intense fighting in Hillah, 

Najaf and Karbala. And just after midApril a division arrived and set up its 

headquarters in Mosul in northern 

Iraq. 

In the north, on March 26, 2003, the 

173rd Airborne jumped into Iraq. They 

had to parachute into Northern Iraq 

because the Turkish government decided not to allow the Fourth Infantry 

Division to move across Turkey into 

that anchor position in the north. So 

the 173rd, deploying out of Italy, flying 

in C–17s, jumped at about 1:30 in the 

morning; came into some hip-deep 

mud, but they anchored Northern Iraq, 

and they linked up with the peshmerga 

and Kurdish fighters who were moving 

then into the Kirkuk area and moved 

down and secured and anchored that 

northern portion of Iraq. 

The UK First Armored Division, our 

great friends in the coalition, the 

United Kingdom, the Brits, were operating under the Marine force, took the 

important port city of Basra by April 6 

of 2003. 

On April 9, 2003, just some 21 days 

after we had gone over the line from 

Kuwait into Iraq, the statue of Saddam 

Hussein fell in Baghdad. This was just 

21 days after we initiated that operation. 

Mr. Speaker, we had, at that point, 

taken less than 150 KIA, precious 

American lives, but we had destroyed 

more than 20 enemy divisions in an unprecedented move through the center 

of Iraq. 

And for that, Mr. Speaker, I know 

that over the last year or so the pundits have been filling their pages, and 

some politicians have been filling their 

quote lines with critical statements 

about Don Rumsfeld. But Don Rumsfeld’s operation, in ignoring the critics 

who wanted him to build slowly and to 

bring in more divisions before he 

moved on Baghdad, was absolutely 

right, and the critics who said he would 

bog down were absolutely wrong because he moved with precision, like a 

hot knife through butter, straight into 

Baghdad and took down the Iraqi divisions before they could really establish 

a strong position against the Americans. 

And I might add that General Myers, 

the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at 

that time, was an able assistant in 

helping to carry out Secretary Rumsfeld’s policy. 

The First Armored Division also 

began arriving in Iraq in April 2003. 

b 2230 

Saddam Hussein was captured outside his hometown of Tikrit by 4ID 

units on December 13, 2003. 

In April 2004, the young Shiite cleric 

Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia, which 

we refer to as the Mahdi Army staged 

uprisings in cities and towns throughout the Shiia populated southern Iraq, 

just as a volatile Sunni populated City 

of Fallujah in Anbar province simmered in the wake of the murders of 

four Blackwater contractors. 

For all the great men and women of 

the United States Marines, the chapter 

entitled ‘‘Fallujah’’ will forever be a 

part of the history of the U.S. Marines, 

which testifies to their tenacity, to 

their greatness on the field of battle, to 

their compassion for their fellow marines, to their ability to handle tough, 

difficult situations, for their tenacity, 

and for their courage. 

Now, we went into Fallujah right 

after the four contractors were hung 

from the bridge and burned. After we 

were partway through the city, because 

of political considerations, which was a 

real mistake on the part of the American governance and Iraq, the marines 

were pulled back out of the city even 

though they’d taken KIA. At that 

point, they were moving swiftly 

through that city and were taking out 

the terrorists. 

Well, after that, Fallujah became a 

hotbed for terrorists and a base for operations throughout al Anbar province. 

So, in November, the marines went 

back again, and they went into a determined enemy who was waiting for 

them, who was set in place, but it’s a 

credit to the great men and women 

who wear the uniform of the United 

States Marine Corps, from where the 

sun now stands to the end of our history. The chapter of ‘‘Fallujah’’ is a 

testament to their capability and to 

their courage. 

I want every single marine in the 

United States and every family of a 

marine and every neighbor and every 

friend of a marine and every citizen 

who loves that globe and anchor to be 

proud of what they did in Fallujah. 

In Fallujah, they went into a determined enemy. The operation included 

some 540 air strikes, 14,000 artillery and 

mortar shells fired, 2,500 tank main 

gun rounds fired, and at the end of that 

operation, over 70 marines had been 

KIA—that is killed in action—and over 

609 had been wounded. Incidentally, 

army units participated in that, and a 

few other coalition units participated 

in that, but of the 39,000 buildings in 

Fallujah, 18,000 had been damaged or 

had been taken down by the force and 

fury of this marine operation. Now, at 

the same time, military operations in 

the town of Tal Afar in 2005 marked an 

early, multifaceted and successful application of what we call counterinsurgency approaches. 

In Washington, Tal Afar gave birth 

to a new Iraq policy lexicon in Iraq, 

though not immediately to the expanded use of counterinsurgency practices. Tal Afar is located in Ninewah 

Province, along the route from the provincial capital of Mosul to Syria. Its 

population is about 290,000. It includes 

Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and 

Yezidis. 

From April 2003 until early 2004, the 

101st Airborne Division had responsibility for Ninewah and for Iraq’s three 

northern, largely Kurdish populated 

provinces. Because the north was relatively quiet, due in part to the effectiveness of the pesh merga, the 101st 

was able to concentrate primarily on 

Ninewah, a relatively high troops-topopulation ratio. 

In early 2005 when the 101st redeployed, the responsibility for the area 

passed to a much smaller striker brigade. That brigade, in turn, was periodically asked to provide forces for operations elsewhere in Iraq. So the coalition force footprint in Ninewah was 

substantially reduced. Tal Afar was a 

convenient trade route location, and a 

mixed population perfect for fomenting 

sectarian strife became a base of operations for former regime elements and 

Sunni extremists, including suicide 

bombers. 

In May 2005, the 3rd Armored Cavalry 

Regiment, now commanded by Colonel 

H.R. McMaster, arrived in Tal Afar. 

Colonel McMaster was familiar with 

OIF issues from his previous service as 

director of General Abizaid’s Commander’s Action Group at CENTCOM. 

In early 2005, the ACR began their deployment preparations at home in Fort 

Carson, Colorado, studying counterinsurgency approaches. Later in Iraq, 

Colonel McMaster described the regiment’s mission in the classical counterinsurgency lexicon of population security. The whole purpose of the operation is to secure the population so 

that we can lift the enemy’s campaign 

of intimidation and coercion over the 

population and allow economic and political development to proceed here and 

to return to normal life. 

Now, for every single American who 

participated in the Iraq operation—and 

I don’t care if you were stocking 

shelves in Kuwait or fixing strikers as 

a mechanic or working in Balad in logistics or making thunder runs in 

Baghdad early in the war or going 

house to house in Fallujah—you participated in a very important operation. 

Let me tell you why it’s very clear 

that we’ve won in Iraq. We’ve deposed 

Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was 

the guy who sent Chemical Ali to put 

poisoned gas on the Kurdish population 

in northern Iraq. He is the first leader 

since Hitler who had put poisoned gas 

on his own people. If you ever have any 

questions about the morality of what 

we did in intervening in Iraq, push 

aside this argument about weapons of 

mass destruction and pick up the picture of Kurdish mothers holding their 

babies where they were killed in mid 

stride, laying on those hillsides in 

northern Iraq by the thousands, where 

that poisoned gas struck them and 

killed them immediately or go to the 

History Channel, and watch the mass 

excavations where you will see mothers 

with their children, where they were 

executed by Saddam Hussein’s army 

and bulldozed into open trenches and 

where, if you will look closely, as the 

scientists and the excavators who have 

the stomach to do it did for these reviews and analyses, you will see bullet 

H10956 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE December 10, 2008 

holes in the backs of the heads of the 

mothers and, in many cases, bullet 

holes in the backs of their babies’ 

heads where they, too, were executed 

before mother and baby were pushed 

with a bulldozer into open trenches. 

That’s the regime that you, every 

single American who wore the uniform 

of the United States, put out of business when you did your job in Iraq— 

you, the more than 1 million Americans who left your families, who in 

many cases did multiple tours, who 

were separated from your loved ones, 

who in many cases undertook some 

very, very difficult, very dangerous 

missions, who suffered some very hot 

weather and, in some cases, some very 

cold weather, who suffered lots of inconveniences but who did it for a purpose, which was a good and idealistic 

and moral purpose, and you won. Let 

me tell you how we know that you’ve 

won. 

We now have an Iraqi Government 

which was elected by the people, and 

it’s not a perfect government, and it 

has got lots of strife and lots of crosscurrents of politics and lots of people 

who resent other people on the other 

side of their aisle, but it’s a government where people settle most of their 

problems with ballots, not bullets. It 

has got a modicum of democracy and 

representative government. Only the 

Americans, only the people who wear 

the uniform of the United States could 

have brought that to Iraq. 

Throughout Iraq, there are schools 

and there are medical facilities that 

you built, that you Americans in uniform built. There are millions of babies 

who were inoculated because of the 

Americans, and there are hundreds of 

thousands of expectant mothers who 

were given prenatal care because of the 

Americans. There are people who have 

avoided disease because of the Americans, and there are people who have 

enough to eat now because of the 

Americans. 

Now, it’s true that they have a fragile infrastructure. They’ve always had 

a fragile infrastructure, and it’s true 

that Iraq hasn’t developed all of its 

natural resources. On the other hand, 

neither has Mexico and neither have 

lots of countries throughout the world, 

but on the backs of the American men 

and women who wear the uniform of 

our country, they had free elections, 

and they now have a government, and 

that government is holding. The voices 

in Congress and the voices of the pundits who talked about an all-out civil 

war don’t talk about that anymore, 

and they never say they were wrong or 

sorry. They just move on to a different 

subject. There is no civil war, and we 

now have a government which is settling in and a people who are settling 

into the idea of having fierce fights but 

of having those fights with words and 

by settling things with ballots and not 

bullets. 

Now, one thing that we did that has 

to be credited very strongly to President Bush—and for all of those who 

don’t like President Bush, he has one 

characteristic which Winston Churchill 

admired above all others, persistence, 

because at a time when many people 

were saying you have to give up and 

leave Iraq, he said, ‘‘I’m not going to 

give up.’’ He joined with Mr. Maliki in 

sending in more American troops and 

more coalition troops and more Iraqi 

troops into Baghdad in what is known 

as a surge. 

If you want to talk about the surge, 

very simply, the surge was this: Instead of Americans going in and clearing an area and coming back out and 

having the terrorists flow back into 

that area, the surge involved going in, 

clearing the area, sometimes with Iraqi 

forces in the lead, sometimes with 

Americans, but clearing that area and 

then holding the area, building the 

area, restoring the confidence of the 

population, securing the area, making 

the area a little bit more terrorist resistant and not giving up those games. 

That’s what this President did, and 

he should be commended for it. Of 

course, history, as we go down through 

the years—and as the Iraqi Government continues to hold and as it is a 

friend, not an enemy of the United 

States as it was before and as it has a 

modicum of democracy and as it will 

not be a state sponsor of terrorism as 

it had been in the past and as its neighbors are—will be appreciative of what 

those more than 1 million Americans 

did who wore the uniform. You won. 

You fulfilled this mission. We’ve got a 

government in place that’s holding. 

We’ve got a military that’s holding. It 

has got about 160 battalions, and we 

built that military from scratch. 

Now, many of the pundits and many 

of the politicians said we should have 

taken Saddam Hussein’s army and kept 

it in place. That wouldn’t have worked. 

It wouldn’t have worked because Saddam Hussein’s army had 11,000 Sunni 

generals. That’s a recipe for disaster. 

Especially in a country in which the 

Shiite population is in the majority, 

the idea that you’re going to have an 

army with 11,000 Sunni generals—literally squads of generals, each one a 

futile lord in his own right with his 

own arms cache—and the idea that 

they would be honest brokers is ridiculous. That’s why we had to build that 

army from scratch. 

Now, we’ve got a few weaknesses in 

the army. We’ve had a few weaknesses 

in the Field Grade Officer Corps. This 

is an army that traditionally did not 

have a large noncommissioned officer 

segment, and we’ve had to build that 

segment from scratch, but we’re being 

successful. 

One of the marks of success was when 

Mr. Maliki, the President of Iraq, 

moved into Basra on his own initiative. 

Now, we were used to calling the shots 

in Iraq. Yet, in Basra, Mr. Maliki decided to move ahead on his own. He 

moved into Basra. He initially took 

quite a few casualties. We had situations in which we had Iraqi battalions 

which didn’t show up for the fight the 

next day, some of the green battalions. 

In the end, with Americans backing 

them up and with this fledgling government working against the extremists 

in Basra, the coalition and the Iraqi 

forces prevailed. That is the mark of a 

government which is maturing, one 

which takes its own initiatives. 

Now, Mr. Maliki had initially a force 

of some very small numbers of battalions that were ready. Then he got to 

the point where he had over 100 battalions and then 130, and he has got, 

roughly, 160 battalions right now. 

b 2245 

Now, I recommended to the President 

and to our military leadership that the 

way you build a military is through 

military operations; that means saddling up your battalion, moving them 

into the fight, rotating them into the 

fight, exposing their weaknesses— 

whether it’s logistics or your leadership levels or your ability to direct fire 

power—and fixing those problems. You 

build a strong military force through 

military operations. 

And in fact, they did this in many 

cases, and they rotated their forces— 

when we did the surge in Baghdad, the 

Iraqi forces rotated battalions in and 

out of that particular area of operations where they made lots of contact 

with the enemy where they had to exercise their logistics chain, where they 

had to exercise their chain of command, where they had to be soldiers. 

And so the Iraqi Army has matured. 

Now, it’s nowhere near the capability 

of the American forces. Nobody in the 

world is near the capability of the 

American forces. It needs lots of 

enablers. 

On the other hand, the Iraqi Army 

today can do what it has to do. It can 

go to an area in Iraq where the extremists, were al Qaeda are in control, 

maybe where extremist Shiite militias 

are in control, and it can push them 

out and it can fracture them, and it 

can defeat them on the battlefield. 

They don’t have to handle a column 

of armored divisions. All they have to 

do is be able to hold on to their own 

sovereignty in their own country, and 

the Iraqi military can do that. And 

they can protect their government, and 

they can now largely protect their infrastructure. That’s important. 

So for all of the Americans who participated in the Iraq operation, whether you were there when we first went 

over the line in March of 2003, whether 

you just got back, or whether you have 

friends that are there right now kind of 

wrapping up the operation—and that’s 

what we’re going to do over the next 

couple of years. We’re going to mop up, 

and we’re going to pack up, and we’re 

going to leave. But we have taken out 

the tyrant Saddam Hussein. We have 

defeated al Qaeda. 

In fact, when the leader of the Senate 

was saying that we had lost in Iraq— 

and he was absolutely wrong. You had 

senior Marines in Anbar province sending messages back saying, ‘‘We are 

December 10, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H10957 

crushing al Qaeda in al Anbar.’’ So we 

won. You won. Everybody that wears 

the uniform of the United States, 

whether you carried a base plate for 

mortars, drove a truck in those difficult convoy runs, were a nurse in one 

of the many medical clinics and facilities we had, if you were a medic in 

some of the difficult battles, maybe 

you were a support troop, maybe you 

flew aircraft or a crew in aircraft, 

whether it was a C–130 or a tactical 

fighter, what you did was of enormous 

value to the United States of America. 

You know, I’m reminded of great stories that have emanated from Iraq. I’m 

reminded of the battle of Fallujah 

when General John Kelley was the assistant division commander, and at the 

same time his son, Robert, was a private first class in a rifle squad fighting 

door-to-door at close range. And when 

it was over, Robert was the only one in 

his platoon who had not been wounded. 

I’m reminded of Jason Fry, Captain 

Jason Fry who, going up through the 

Nassiriyah choke-point was hit by an 

RPG that took off his right arm; and 

when the medics were working on him 

and one of them asked, ‘‘Are you right 

handed or left handed,’’ he said, ‘‘I’m 

left handed now. You tell my men I’m 

okay.’’ That was the spirit of the 

American service personnel who served 

in Iraq. 

And remember when they went into 

Iraq, we had intelligence to the effect 

that they would use poison gas against 

our troops because we’d seen them use 

poison gas against their own people 

killing thousands of them. And yet the 

American service personnel persevered 

and moved ahead into that storm of 

unknown quality. 

And because of them, we have won in 

Iraq. Yes, we have won in Iraq. And 

don’t let any left-wing journalist come 

up and tell you that we haven’t won. 

It’s true that there’s no surrender on 

the Battleship Missouri. There’s not 

going to be one in this war against terror. But if you look at the military 

missions that we have—and it’s also 

true we haven’t turned Iraq into Iowa. 

That was never the mission. And if 

somebody says the other guys won, you 

tell them to produce Saddam Hussein. 

But what we have done, we’ve taken 

out the dictator and his forces, we’ve 

installed an elected government, and 

we’ve now installed a security apparatus, including an army built from 

scratch by the Americans capable of 

protecting that government. Nobody is 

guaranteed freedom and perpetuity, including this country. 

But the American military mission 

in Iraq has been accomplished. You 

brought us victory. You, the more than 

1 million Americans who served in uniform in that theater. And for that, Mr. 

Speaker, I think the American people 

owe a huge ‘‘thank you’’ to those great 

men and women, to their families who 

endured those separations, for all of 

the difficult burdens that they’ve carried ever since March of 2003 when we 

took that first unit across the line into 

that country known as Iraq. 

Thank you to everyone who wears 

the uniform in that operation. Thank 

you for winning. 

Mr. Speaker, I would yield back the 

balance of my time. 

f 

CORRECTION TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OF THURSDAY, 

OCTOBER 2, 2008 AT PAGE H10678 

APPOINTMENT AS MEMBERS TO 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 491 of the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1098), amended by 

section 494C of the Higher Education 

Opportunity Act (P.L. 110–315), and the 

order of the House of January 4, 2007, 

the Chair announces the Speaker’s appointment of the following Member on 

the part of the House to the Advisory 

Committee on Student Financial Assistance for a term of 4 years: 

Upon the recommendation of the Majority Leader: 

Ms. Helen Benjamin, Vallejo, California 

Upon the recommendation of the Minority Leader: 

Mr. Anthony Guida, Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania 

f 

CORRECTION TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OF TUESDAY, 

DECEMBER 9, 2008, AT PAGE 

H10860 

APPOINTMENTS TO CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT PANEL 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 125(c)(1) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 

2008 (P.L. 110–343), and the order of the 

House of January 4, 2008, the Chair announces the November 14, 2008, joint 

appointment by the Speaker and the 

Majority Leader of the Senate and appointment by the Speaker on the part 

of the House to the Congressional Oversight Panel: 

Joint appointment: 

Mr. Damon Silvers, Maryland 

Speaker’s appointment: 

Mr. Richard H. Neiman, New York 

LEAVE OF ABSENCE 

By unanimous consent, leave of absence was granted to: 

Mr. ELLISON (at the request of Mr. 

HOYER) for today. 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas 

(at the request of Mr. HOYER) for today 

on account of medical reasons. 

f 

SPECIAL ORDERS GRANTED 

By unanimous consent, permission to 

address the House, following the legislative program and any special orders 

heretofore entered, was granted to: 

(The following Members (at the request of Mr. CUMMINGS) to revise and 

extend their remarks and include extraneous material:) 

Mr. CUMMINGS, for 5 minutes, today. 

Mr. PALLONE, for 5 minutes, today. 

Ms. LEE, for 5 minutes, today. 

Mr. MCGOVERN, for 5 minutes, today. 

Mr. LAMPSON, for 5 minutes, today. 

Mr. SHERMAN, for 5 minutes, today. 

Ms. KAPTUR, for 5 minutes, today. 

(The following Members (at the request of Mr. POE) to revise and extend 

their remarks and include extraneous 

material:) 

Mr. BURTON of Indiana, for 5 minutes, 

today, December 11 and 12. 

Mr. POE, for 5 minutes, today, December 11 and 12. 

Mr. WOLF, for 5 minutes, today. 

Mr. JONES, for 5 minutes, today, December 11 and 12. 

Mr. PAUL, for 5 minutes, today and 

December 11. 

Mr. DREIER, for 5 minutes, today. 

Mr. HUNTER

f 

, for 5 minutes, today. 

SENATE BILL REFERRED 

A bill of the Senate of the following 

title was taken from the Speaker’s 

table and, under the rule, referred as 

follows: 

S. 3731. An act to amend the Emergency 

Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (division 

A of Public Law 110–343) to provide the Special Inspector General with additional authorities and responsibilities, and for other 

purposes; to the Committee on Financial 

Services. 

f 

ADJOURNMENT 

Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 440, 110th Congress, I move that 

the House do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 10 o’clock and 51 minutes 

p.m.), the House adjourned until Saturh 

day, January 3, 2009, at 11 a.m. 

EXPENDITURE REPORTS CONCERNING OFFICIAL FOREIGN TRAVEL 

Reports concerning the foreign currencies and U.S. dollars utilized for speaker-authorized official travel during the 

first, second and third quarters of 2008, pursuant to Public Law 95–384 are as follows: