Date: 2011-02-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the authors of this amendment which I rise to support. the Nadler and Stark and Lee amendment. I believe it is a starting point. for those of us who have consistently raised questions about where we are and making sure we follow and adhere to longstanding commitments to our troops and to their families that have served boldly and ably both in Iraq and now in Afghanistan. how we can orderly bring them home. Mr. Chairman. a couple of years ago as we continued to feel frustration in Iraq. I raised the question and filed legislation called the Day of Honor in which we would bring our troops home from Iraq and then. subsequently. Afghanistan and honor them throughout the Nation. In fact. I remember arguing with the Bush administration and raising the issue as to why our fallen soldiers. when they came in to Dover Air Force Base. did not have the honor of public view if agreed to by their families. I believe our troops are owed a debt of gratitude. respect and honor. Those who are fighting now deserve that respect and honor. This legislation in no way diminishes or dismisses their service or the blood that they have shed. But what it says is that we are now in the midst of a major budget crisis. And as we have seen over the last 24 hours. we are willing to cut children and substance abuse and mental health and teachers and environmental protection. if you will. oversight. literally gut the running of the government. These soldiers want to come home to jobs. We have done nothing about creating jobs. I frankly believe this is a starting point of astute analysis as to what we are doing going forward. We already know that we are looking forward to bringing troops home and to downsizing. redeploying. We begin redeploying by redeploying money. And let me give you an example. On the floor just a few hours ago. there was an amendment discussed by the Transportation Committee to almost gut the Transportation Security Administration. Now. I chaired that subcommittee in the last Congress. and I serve as the ranking member in this Congress. If we had done that. it would have had a double detriment to the security of the homeland. Mr. Chairman. 900 positions would have been lost. impacting 450 airports. governing some 445.000 TSA officers. Maybe some of those officer positions could go to returning soldiers who are looking for work. In addition. it would impact the intelligence gathering and disseminating. It would also impact covert testing that goes on at passenger checkpoints. and also cargo where we have seen that we are still in the eye of the storm. There is no doubt that aviation travel is in the eye of the storm for homeland security and protecting the homeland. So while we have $100 billion set aside for a war of which we have already been given the direction as downsizing. redeploying. bringing troops home. and yet we have $100 billion. So I would simply say this is a time when we should come together and determine that we are moving to bring our troops home. that we are going to use smart money and work on diplomacy. getting Afghanistan to invest the moneys it has and building democracy and educating its children. We support that. I recall one of my early visits to Afghanistan. taking books to schoolchildren and the excitement of the schools way beyond Kabul where they were excited to receive these books. and the students were excited to receive and to be able to be educated. Of course. in leaving Afghanistan and going to Iraq. we have lost a certain momentum that had gathered. School girls cant even go to school. That comes through diplomacy and buying into a sovereign nation that believes in some dignity for all people. So I applaud the troops that are on the ground. and I applaud their leadership. But if we have amendments that would gut the Transportation Security Administration and keep us from protecting the homeland. then we know that we are going in the wrong direction. Support an amendment that reduces the amount of money to be spent for Afghanistan. to invest in the homeland and the security of that homeland. and promote agencies like the Transportation Security Administration agency that is fighting every day to secure the American people. I ask my colleagues to support the amendment. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York .