Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 159 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013 No. 152 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was former regimes on one side and the antiquated, and highly statist econo- called to order by the Speaker pro tem- stultifying religious rule on the other. mies in the 21st century. Since the pore (Mr. COLLINS of New York). Faced with these daunting realities, ouster of Ben Ali and Mubarak, I have f the Obama administration may be in pushed for the creation of enterprise the midst of a strategic reevaluation of funds and other nimble vehicles that DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO our role in the region—one that is far will allow us to direct resources at spe- TEMPORE more modest in ambition, more tem- cific sectors that can help to drive eco- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- pered in expectation, and certainly nomic growth, as well as improve the fore the House the following commu- more reliant on the use of its diplo- quality of life for ordinary people. nication from the Speaker: matic, not military, resources. In coming years, these economies WASHINGTON, DC, This new approach stands in stark will need to produce sufficient jobs and October 29, 2013. contrast to the effort by the George W. wealth to both sustain workers and I hereby appoint the Honorable CHRIS COL- Bush administration to deliver a ‘‘free- their families and to provide the eco- LINS to act as Speaker pro tempore on this dom agenda’’—sometimes through the nomic conditions for sustainable polit- day. barrel of a gun—that would bring de- ical stability. But that cannot be an JOHN A. BOEHNER, mocracy to a region that has known excuse to put off political reform now, Speaker of the House of Representatives. mostly misrule. That doctrine, or its because capital flows will not resume f application, proved entirely unwork- until investors have some confidence MORNING-HOUR DEBATE able, as the societies freed of their au- that their money is safe. thoritarian shackles had nothing upon The experience of both Egypt and Tu- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- which to build. This is a lesson we may nisia serve to reinforce the inchoate ant to the order of the House of Janu- be bitterly learning in Libya as well. nature of their political transitions. ary 3, 2013, the Chair will now recog- These setbacks and the realization Both countries emerged from their re- nize Members from lists submitted by that democracy building is a genera- spective revolutions with energized the majority and minority leaders for tional undertaking must not lead us to Islamist movements that were able to morning-hour debate. disengage from the region. The forces triumph over less well-organized sec- The Chair will alternate recognition freed by the Arab Spring will not be ular parties—in large measure because between the parties, with each party contained, and I still believe they can the old governments had atomized limited to 1 hour and each Member lead hundreds of millions of people to their opposition and left political other than the majority and minority more representative forms of govern- Islamist governments as the only via- leaders and the minority whip limited ment, more economic opportunity, and, ble alternative. In both countries, this to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall we must hope, more tranquility and experiment failed as a result of over- debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. peace within their borders. reaching and a misreading of the peo- f The United States needs to help build ple’s wishes—a development that institutions capable of supporting a should ease the fears of those who saw BUILDING A NEW MIDDLE EAST— transition in the Arab world in three a ‘‘green wave’’ sweeping across the THE WORK OF A GENERATION dimensions: political, economic, and Middle East. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The civil society. Unmet economic needs The dysfunction in both Cairo and Chair recognizes the gentleman from are the most pressing. At its heart, the Tunis, and the Egyptian military de- California (Mr. SCHIFF) for 5 minutes. Arab Spring is the expression of dis- posing of President Mohammed Morsi Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, for nearly content of millions of idle, young in a coup, are a reminder that a demo- 3 years, the Arab Middle East, an enor- Arabs, who have seen the economic op- cratic outcome is never assured or to mous arc stretching from the Atlantic portunities that the outside world of- be assumed. The United States must to the Indian Ocean, has been in tur- fers, but whose own economic realities stand ready to assist Arab nations with moil. Restive millions, frustrated by a are plagued by stagnation, mismanage- the long-term institution-building and lack of economic opportunity, repres- ment, and cronyism. political spadework that are necessary sive politics, and a social structure The cure is not outright assistance, preconditions for democracy. often at odds with modernity, have which will do little to unleash or oc- In Tunisia, which is small, relatively taken to the streets demanding change. cupy long-term energies of Arab youth. prosperous, and not nearly as divided Their revolution hangs in the balance It is investment that will allow this as some of its larger neighbors, pros- with the entrenched interests of the generation of Arabs to drag inefficient, pects for a peaceful transition and 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. H6831 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:43 Nov 15, 2014 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD13\RECFILES\OCT2013\H29OC3.REC H29OC3 bjneal on DSK2TWX8P1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE H6832 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE October 29, 2013 transfer of power from the current AFGHANISTAN ica. To send over $600 billion to Af- Islamist government to a technocratic The SPEAKER pro tempore. The ghanistan to build roads, schools, and government that would oversee elec- Chair recognizes the gentleman from utility plants so the Taliban can blow tions are alive, if not entirely well. But North Carolina (Mr. JONES) for 5 min- them up makes no sense. while a framework for the installation utes. It is time for little girls like these of a caretaker government remains, Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, at this two to have their daddies at home and squabbling between the Islamists and point in our Nation’s history, I believe not in a coffin. the secular opposition has slowed the both parties will acknowledge that we [From the Daily Trojan, Oct. 7, 2013] process and reintroduced uncertainty have major economic issues facing our AFGHANISTAN WAR MUST END IMMEDIATELY into Tunisia’s fragile politics. country. As Congress just recently (By Jayel Aheram) came to a temporary resolution which Yesterday marked the 12 year anniversary Political institution-building and of the war in Afghanistan. Americans have creating a culture of good governance raised the debt ceiling by $230 billion, it is incredible to me that we still grown weary of the drawn-out conflict’s un- will require targeted assistance, train- defined goals and increasingly unsustainable ing programs, and a lot of patience. found $30 billion in aid to send to Af- financial costs. According to a CBS News Egypt and Tunisia may be a mess now ghanistan and $1.6 billion in aid to send poll, support for the war in Afghanistan but 10 years from now will not be the to Pakistan. plummeted last year to its lowest with only Mr. Speaker, at a time when America same as they are today, and we can 1 in 4 Americans agreeing that the United is drowning in debt, this is completely States is doing the right thing. President play a role in helping to shape that fu- unacceptable. And even more impor- Barack Obama responded to this political re- ture. tant than the money are the American ality when he announced last February that Think of some of the other countries lives that have been lost—six in the ‘‘by the end of next year, our war in Afghani- that have democratized in recent years stan will be over.’’ But will there really be time the government was shut down an end to the Afghanistan war? in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin and one the weekend after. There were three ends to the war in Iraq: America. The transitions have not been As we work to fix our national prob- The first was in May 2003, when President quick or smooth, and many of them are lems, we should be wise enough to fol- George W. Bush announced, ‘‘Mission accom- still ongoing. Amid the euphoria that low the lead of the nations who have plished,’’ in an infamous speech aboard the accompanied the collapse of the Com- interfered in Afghanistan before us— USS Abraham Lincoln just two months after munist bloc in Eastern Europe, we England and Russia are only two exam- the invasion of Iraq. The second was in Sep- tember 2010, when ‘‘combat troops’’ silently were tempted to believe we were all ples—and stop wasting lives and money crossed the Iraqi border into Kuwait, an witnesses to the ‘‘end of history,’’ as on a country that will never change. event Obama’s MSNBC boosters were breath- one academic put it.

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