Date: 2008-04-09
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. Madam Speaker. and good job on my name pronunciation. I have a hard time with it too. Madam Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to begin the 30Something Working Groups special order hour tonight. Speaker PELOSI has given us the privilege to come to the floor night after night to talk about the issues that are important to the American people. from our generations perspective. And it is something that we have appreciated for a number of years because weve had an opportunity to engage the next generation of Americans. who clearly are yearning for their government to be responsive to them. to have their confidence in their government restored. And tonight what we want to focus on. particularly because General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker came to Capitol Hill this week to talk about the socalled progress. or lack thereof. which is a better expression. in the war in Iraq. we felt it was important to highlight tonight the absolute cost of the war in Iraq and the toll that it is taking on. not just our military troops. but their families and on America as a whole. And I think there is no more telling statement that could be madethan the one that was made by General Petraeus himself in response to Senator EVAN BAYHS question. or comment. that there was much ambiguity in Iraq. And General Petraeus conceded that point. General Petraeus stated this week. in fact I believe it was today. that in Iraqi we havent turned any corners. we havent seen any.lights at the end of the tunnel. The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. he said. referencing President Bushi and former Vietnamera General William Westmorelands famous phrases. It is clear that we have made virtually no progress. and that the only -things that we are celebrating at this point is that there has been a reduction in. violence. I wonder what that has brought us. What has that brought Americans? Well. lets go through what the socalled progress in Iraq that was described by General Petraeus today and this week. what thats brought us. We spend about $339 million in Iraq every single day. Madam Speaker. $339 million. And Id like to go through the actualmonetary costs of the war in a little bit. But let me just talk about what $339 million would get us and the investments that we could make in America. domestically. in the event that we were not hopelessly mired in this war in Iraq. $339 million would get us 2.060 more Border Patrol agents that could be hired to protect our.borders for a year. 18.000 more students could receive Pell Grants to help them attend college for a year with $339 million. 48.000 homeless veterans could be provided with a place to live for a year. 317.000 more children could receive every recommended vaccination for a year. 955.000 families could get help with their energy bills through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program. thats the LIHEAP program. for a year. Nearly 480.000 women. infants and children could receive nutritional help with the WIC program for a year. 2.6 million Americans without adequate health insurance could have access to medical and dental care at community health centers for a year for $339 million. More than 100 local communities could make improvements to their drinking water with help from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for a year. I could continue on and on. Madam Speaker. listing all the important investments that we could and should be making. were we not spending $339 million in Iraq every day. Now. let me just make that comparison again. Im talking $339 million that were spending in Iraq every day. and the list I just went through details what $339 million would buy for a year. Now. I went home to my district a couple of weeks ago when we went into recess and talked to my constituents. had a lot of interaction with them. And you know. whatwas amazingwas how top of mind the economy is. Were less than a week from the April 15 tax deadline. and Im sure that there are folks out there tonight that are sitting and doing their taxes while trying to figure out how theyre going to write that check when theyre done. and wondering how theyre going to take theirchild to the doctor if they dont have health insurance. wondering how theyre going to make sure that they can put food on the table and fill their gas tank. because now that gas is over $3 a gallon. really over $3.30 a gallon. it boggles the mind of my constituents and I know the constituents of virtually every Member. no matter what party we represent. that we are actually still. 5 years later. in Iraq. with an administration that just doesnt seem to get it. that doesnt seem to be willing to recognize that it is time to bring our troops home. that we have taken too great a toll. The question that my constituents and that Americans are asking is. how much is too much? At what point do we say the cost is too great? I think you have to take a look at the toll that this is takinK on military families. If were not going to say that the investments we cant make because were spending so much money in Iraq are worth the cost. then lets look at what the military leadership is saying about the toll that this war is taking on our troops. AnArmy study of mental health. and this is from an article a couple of days ago. April 6 in the New York Times. an Army study of mental health showed that 27 percent of noncommissioned officers. a critically important group. on their third or fourth tour. exhibited symptoms commonly referred to as posttraumatic stress disorders. That figure is far higher than the roughly 12 percent who exhibit those symptoms after one tour. and the 18 percent who develop the disorders after a second deployment. according to the study which was conducted by the Army Surgeon Generals mental health advisory team. So were not talking about organizations conducting studies examining the mental health of our troops .that are outside the military process. Were talking about military organizations that are saying that the strain on our troops mentally has really reached a breaking point. We have combat troops that have been sent to Iraq for a third and fourth time. where more than one in four. more than one in four. show signs of anxiety. depression or acute stress. according to an official Army survey of soldiers mental health. There is an increasing alarm about the mental health of our troops and. at some point. something has to give. Again. when do we say enough is enough? When do we say that we have to make sure that we can focus on the needs here in the United States of America? We are struggling with an economy that is at its breaking point. Yet. the economy in Iraq seems to be thriving. The Iraqi government is actually dealing with a budget surplus. and we are facing a deficit. Theres something wrong with that picture. Madam Speaker. Let me just. I really want to turn. I think people should be given a really clear picture about the monetary cost that we are dealing with when it comes to this war. this ongoing and continuous war in Iraq. This is from our nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report. the Cost of Iraq War Rising: Heres the breakdown of what were spending in Iraq per year. per month. per week. per day. per hour. per minute and per second. If you take a look at the number per year. the amount per year that we are A pril 9. 2008 spending in Iraq. were spending $123.6 billion per year.. Now. thats a hard number to maybe get your mind around. Billions and millions of dollars are very big numbers that most people arent dealing with every day in their daily life. So lets go down to the monthly expenditure that were making here. That amounts to $10.3 billion. But if we want to drill down a little bit further and deal with the weekly and daily expenditures. weekly. were spending $2.376.923.077. Per day were spending almost $39 million. as I described a few minutes ago. But hourly. this is really the number. Madam Speaker. that I think will hit home with virtually all Americans. We are spending. hourly. in Iraq. and this is. again. thirdparty validator. the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report on thd cost of the Iraq war and its rising cost. Per hour we are spending $14.109.589 in Iraq. I dont think its necessary for me to go down to the minute and the second. I think the point is well made. $14 million an hour. I mean. that is just unbelievable. How many is too much? When do we say that the toll that this is taking on our troops is just beyond our capacity? Since the start of the war in Iraq. we have had 4.013 brave American men and women in uniform that -have been killed. We have an estimated almost 30.000 servicemembers that have been .wounded in Iraq. and as of March 1. more than 31.300 have been treated for noncombat injuries and illness. According. again. to the Armys own mental health advisory team. soldiers who are on their second. third. and fourth deployments report low morale. more mental health problems. and more stressrelated work problems. Now. Madam Speaker. these numbers right here really sent chills down my spine. An estimated threequarters of a million troops have been discharged since the war in Iraq began. many of whom have had compromised mental and physical health. An estimated 260.000 have been treated at veterans health facilities. nearly 100.000 have been diagnosed as having mental health conditions. and an additional 200.000 have received some level of care from walkin facilities. That is just unbelievable. i can tell you that I have been to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit our wounded troops that have come back from Iraq. Ive told this story during the 30Something Working Group in the past. I will tell it again because really. as a mom with young kids. it was so disturbing to me. I walked into this young soldiers room to talk to him about his injury and to talk to him about what he went through. and his wife and his 6yearold little boy were in there with him. And I had a nice chance to chat with the little boy. He was very exuberant and excited It was really a lovely conversation. He was so excited. His dad had just come back from his third tour in Iraq. each of a year. Now remember. this little boy was 6 years old. and the father was telling me he had a stressrelated mental health injury. and the father was telling me about how he was supposed to be finished with his tour in August. was still hoping to go back. by the way. which is amazing because these troops that represent the United States of America are just absolutely so committed and so patriotic. and really. I just so admire their bravery. But what the little boy said when I had a chance to talk to him. he said he was so excited. my daddy is coming home after August. And when he said that. it occurred to me that this little boy being 6 and his father having been through three 1year deployments in Iraq. this father had missed half of his sons life. Half of his sons life. That just was mindboggling to me being a mom of 8yearold twins and a 4yearold. I just cant even imagine. I have children close to that age. and I cant imagine having missed half their life. I mean. that just takes a toll on families. It takes a toll on marriage. Madam Speaker. even the time that myself and other parents serving in Congress here are away from our families. I know the toll that it takes on my husband when Im here just working in Washington and not with him and leaving my kids with him to make sure that he gets them bathed and gets their dinner and the homework is done and all of the things that have to be done on a daily basis with families. It takes a toll that I am here and not with him to help him do that. Add the stress of your family member being thousands of miles across the world in a war zone. in a war situation. not knowing whether theyre going to ever come back. the not knowing when theyre going to come back because the military keeps extending these tours of duty. keeps sending them back. does not give them enough rest in between the tours of duty. The Army. over the last several years. has extended the rest. extended the tours of duty from 12 months to 15 months.4vladam Speaker. so now we are beyond a year for deployments. And General Petraeus said we may be able. by the end of the summer to pull back the length of the deployments from 15 months to 12 months. but were still going to be at 140.000 troops once we draw down the amount of the surge. That means there is no difference. Madam Speaker. between where we are now and where we were before the start of the surge. How do you call that progress? Someone is using a different dictionary than I am if thats progress. I -mean. the dictionary that I use to define "progress" says that we see improvement. that the quality of life improves. that theres a light at the end of the tunnel. which General Petraeus clearly said we do not see right now. I want to just quote. and in the 30Something Working Group. we try to use thirdparty validators. So it is not just our words that we use to demonstrate the statements that we are making. we try to back up our words with evidence. So let me talk about the cost to military families from military leaders perspective. General George Casey said recently on March 26 in the Wall Street Journal that 15monthlong deployments are impacting on their families. its impacting on their mental health. We just cant keep going at the rate that were going. General Richard Cody. the Army vice chief of staff: Our readiness is being consumed as fast as we build it. Lengthy and repeated deployments with insufficient recovery time have placed incredible stress on our soldiers and our families. testing the resolve of our allvolunteer force like never before. Lets go down to what retired Admiral William Fallon. the former commander of the U.S. Central Command said: I will certainly tell you that I think our troops are in need of a. change in the deployment cycle. Weve had too many. from my experience. of several of our key segments of the troop population. senior NCOs. mid- to junior officers. on multiple rotations. He said. I look at my commanders. and some of them have logged more months in Iraq in the last decade than they have at home by a significant amount. Can you imagine? More months iq Iraq over the last 10 years than they have at home. Imagine the cost. the toll that that takes on their families. Let us go beyond the toll on families. It is pretty clear that we have had a dramatic increase in the cost of fuel and the cost of a barrel of oil just during our time in the last *5 years in the Middle East. We have g6ne from gas prices being a little more than $1. about $1.26 or so. to now gas prices being well over $3.30 and expected this summer to reach $4 or more. I can tell you that I am a minivan mom. Madam Speaker. and I regularly drive my kids around our community and car pool with the best of them. The last time I filled up my tank. which was last week. it cost $65. Now. the last time I talked about how much it cost me to fill up my tank. and Mr. RYAN remembers this. I really feel like this is 30Something redux. I mean. really. Its d~ji vu all over again. You could roll back the tape to 2. 3 years ago when we were talking about the cost of the war in Iraq and the impact. and we are basically saying the exact same thing. It is just unbelievable. But the last time I talked on the floor. spoke on the floor about how much it cost me to fill up my minivan. it was about $55. And thats really only been about a year since the last time we talked about the impact of oil prices. And what the leaders that look and examine this information have said is that any time we have extended involvement in the Middle East. you see H2136 a dramatic rise in oil prices that coin- cost for Iraq when you factor in vets cide with that. coming back and health care and what The price of gas and the price of oil. not. $3 trillion? We are going to borrow in this environment and in this econ- it from China and Japan and OPEC omy. is just devastating to American countries to fund a war that we are not families. having any political progress at all? So you have extensions of impact and The sides are not reconciling. extensions of costs beyond just the toll Theyre not moving forward in the pothat it takes on the troops themselves. litical process. Thats a problem. the toll that it takes on their families. So. even if you say we need to stay. Theres a toll on America. Theres a you need to then be willing to spend toll on society. I mean. its so dis- enormous amounts of money. United concerting and its so disheartening to States dollars. over the course of the listen to our colleagues on the other next several decades and. as some peoside of the aisle who seem to just be in ple have said. over the course of the utter denial. I mean. they just keep next hundred years. saying the same thing over and over. And what we are trying to say is. And weve been talking about the weve got problems here at home that cost of this war. and Im so glad to be we need to deal with. Weve got an enjoined by my good friend. Congressman ergy crisis. Weve got a health care TIM RYAN from the great State of Ohio issue that needs to be dealt with. who I have shared many an oppor- Growing inequality. We. cant afford to tunity to speak on the floor about the spend $3 trillion on this war. things that Americans care about in Now. I dont think thats unreasonthe 30Something Working Group. able because the strength of the counIts just shocking that the adminis- try is at stake. and all we have to do is tration is continuing to expect more of look around. We dont have this the same and to have there be more of money. And this isnt just us. Joseph the same -and to expect a different re- Stiglitz. Noble Peace Prize economist. sult. There really is. and I would be theres no such thing as a free lunch. happy to yield to the gentleman. and theres no such thing as a free war.