Date: 2007-05-24
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. as we sit here and listen to this debate. both on this rule and on the 1minutes that went before us. one thing is passing strange. I heard my friends on the other side of the aisle complain or lament that the problem with this bill is that it does not hold the President in check. Were dealing with a wartime supplemental. I thought the purpose of that is to hold the enemy in check. not hold the President of the United States in check. I heard another Member of the other side of the aisle say. Republicans now. you understand. you own this war. Are we trying to make a political statement. or are we trying to help our troops? Are we trying to do some political dance. or are we trying to. stand behind our troops? I heard from the other side of the aisle. you Republicans are continuing this war. The enemy is continuing this war. Have we lost sight on what it is were supposed to be talking about here? Have we lost sight on what it is that our troops are thinking about? Is this something where we define somebody other than the enemy on the field as the enemy? We now have heard from the distinguished lady from New York that the surge has failed. She has joined others. including those in the other body from that side of the aisle. who have made the determination. not that this policy will fail. not that it cannot succeed. but they have now declared. as she has said. that the surge has failed. Perhaps she should talk to General Petraeus. Perhaps she should talk to our military leaders in the field. I dont question her sincerity. but I would suggest that perhaps General Petraeus has a better idea about what the circumstances on the ground are. Has he declared victory? No. Has he said he believes that victory is achievable? Yes. Has he told that to our troops time and time again? Yes. Has he quoted the gentlelady from New York to say to our troops. as I send you out on this mission. understand that the surge has already failed? No. he has not. No. he has not. We hear repeated on this floor. we need a change in mission. We need a change in policy. We need a change in leadership. You have a new Secretary of Defense. You have a new military commander. You have a new mission on the field. And yet as it begins to unfold. what do you say? What dowe hear said on this floor by those who ask for those things? Not. lets see if it works. the President has listened to us. we have the best of the best. the best warrior leader we have in our country who has come up with this plan. who has put his imprimatur on this plan. who tells us and tells the troops this plan is a plan for victory. But no. What do we hear? "The surge has failed." we hear uttered on this floor. "The surge has failed." If you believe it has failed. then why have we been fooling around with all of these other things? Why dont you just have an upordown vote. get us off this funding completely. tell the troops the only thing to do is to take them home? But what have we heard- from the other side? They say. we dont have the votes to do that. so we are going to have death by a thousand cuts. That is why it has taken us 110 days plus. because of the strategy to somehow do by. indirection what the Constitution wont allow you to do by direction. We have heard it again and again and again from the other side of the aisle. Their dictionary begins with "F" and the word "fail." and it ends with the word "lost." You will not find in their lexicon the words "victory" and "win." You will find only "failure" and "loss." And not that we will fail. but we have heard the pronouncement from the majority on this floor today we have already lost. That is the message they are sending by their vote today. and they have told us -what it is with an exclamation point. Troops in the field. we sent you on a mission that is a mission to fail. and it has already failed. What a terrible message to send to our troops. We should reject that notion. We should support our troops. We should support this funding. And we should stop trying to play the "gotcha" game here on the floor of this House.