E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 153 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2007 No. 43 House of Representatives The House met at 10:30 a.m. and was our war in Iraq with benchmarks and tary strategy,’’ adding, ‘‘By interfering called to order by the Speaker pro tem- deadlines for withdrawal is a prescrip- with the discretion of the Commander pore (Mr. MEEKS of New York). tion for retreat and defeat. in Chief and military leaders in order Common sense and the Constitution f to fulfill domestic political needs, Con- teach us that Congress can declare war. gress undermines whatever prospects DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO Congress can fund or choose not to remain of a successful outcome.’’ TEMPORE fund war. But Congress must not ever And even in today’s Washington The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- attempt to conduct war. I urge my col- Post, another lion of the liberal media fore the House the following commu- leagues on both sides of the aisle to in America, under the lead editorial nication from the Speaker: heed the call of the Constitution and headline, The Pelosi Plan for Iraq, they common sense and reject the Pelosi write: WASHINGTON, DC, plan for retreat and defeat in Iraq. March 13, 2007. ‘‘In short, the Democrat proposal to It turns out, Mr. Speaker, that I am I hereby appoint the Honorable GREGORY be taken up this week is an attempt to W. MEEKS to act as Speaker pro tempore on actually not alone in my concern about impose detailed management on a war this day. the constitutionality and the common- without regard to the war itself.’’ NANCY PELOSI, sense value of the current plan for The Washington Post adds: ‘‘Con- Speaker of the House of Representatives. withdrawal from Iraq being propounded gress should rigorously monitor the f by the majority. The newspaper of Iraqi government’s progress on those record in the home State of Speaker benchmarks. By Mr. Bush’s own ac- MORNING HOUR DEBATES PELOSI, the Los Angeles Times, wrote count, the purpose of the troop surge in The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- an editorial yesterday under the title Iraq is to enable political process. If ant to the order of the House of Janu- ‘‘Do We Really Need a General Pelosi?’’ progress does not occur, the military ary 4, 2007, the Chair will now recog- adding ‘‘Congress can cut funding for strategy should be reconsidered.’’ nize Members from lists submitted by Iraq, but it shouldn’t micromanage the But here is the key line in the Wash- the majority and minority leaders for war.’’ Allow me to quote further from ington Post lead editorial today: ‘‘But morning hour debates. The Chair will yesterday’s lead editorial in the Los aggressive oversight is quite different alternate recognition between the par- Angeles Times: from mandating military steps accord- ‘‘After weeks of internal strife, House ties, with each party limited to not to ing to an inflexible timetable con- Democrats have brought forth their exceed 30 minutes, and each Member, forming to the need to capture votes in proposal for forcing President Bush to except the majority leader, the minor- Congress or at the 2008 polls.’’ withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by 2008. ity leader, or the minority whip, lim- It is truly extraordinary how politics The plan is an unruly mess: bad public ited to not to exceed 5 minutes. and common sense and the Constitu- policy, bad precedent and bad politics. The Chair recognizes the gentleman tion can make such strange bedfellows. If the legislation passes, Bush says from Indiana (Mr. PENCE) for 5 min- I scarcely think, Mr. Speaker, that I utes. he’ll veto it, as well he should.’’ The Los Angeles Times editorial have ever come to the floor of this f board went on: House and quoted at any length the lead editorial in either the Washington IRAQ ‘‘It was one thing for the house to pass a nonbinding vote of disapproval. Post or the Los Angeles Times. Those Mr. PENCE. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s quite another for it to set out a de- two newspapers tend to bookend the By the end of 2006, most Americans tailed timetable with specific bench- country from a liberal perspective in could see that our strategy in Iraq was marks and conditions for the continu- the media. But in both cases, both not working. In January of this year, ation of the conflict.’’ newspapers have identified what I as- President Bush outlined his plan to win The L.A. Times asked, ‘‘Imagine if serted in the beginning, that my col- the war in Iraq. And just last week, Dwight Eisenhower had been forced to leagues should heed the call of the Con- Speaker PELOSI and the Democrat ma- adhere to a congressional war plan in stitution and common sense and reject jority announced their plan to end the scheduling the Normandy landings or the Pelosi plan for retreat and defeat war in Iraq. The only problem with if, in 1863, President Lincoln had been in Iraq. that, Mr. Speaker, is that, as George forced by Congress to conclude the It is the purview of the Congress to Orwell wrote, the quickest way to end Civil War by the following year.’’ declare war. It is the purview of this the war is to lose it, and I believe that They conclude, ‘‘This is the worst Congress to vote up or down on wheth- the Democratic plan to micromanage kind of congressional meddling in mili- er we should continue to fund military 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. H2439 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 01:09 Mar 14, 2007 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A13MR7.000 H13MRPT1 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMHOUSE H2440 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE March 13, 2007 operations. And I would never question ago voted on a resolution that said I would point out that in the supple- that right. But it is not the purview of that the escalation and the surge was a mental appropriations bill, we do pro- the Congress, according to our history mistake, that we are opposed to that. vide more money for this effort, be- and Constitution and tradition, to And so there has to be some effort in cause the Democratic leadership, as interpose our will, our decisions, our this spending bill, which is our prerog- Speaker PELOSI realized, that we are timetables, on military commanders in ative, to indicate why the war has gone neglecting the war in Afghanistan the field. in the wrong direction and what needs where the terrorists began. Let’s I will close, Mr. Speaker, by simply to be done to end it and ultimately get refocus on that. But this supplemental saying that we do have but one choice our troops out of there. That is what bill is the answer to the problem and it in Iraq and that is victory. It is my we are doing as Democrats and I be- brings us in a new direction. hope and prayer that after much polit- lieve we will have a consensus to f ical debate here in Congress, we will achieve that and I think that it will give our soldiers the resources they lead in a very short period of time to ENERGY SECURITY need to achieve victory in Iraq and us getting out of Iraq and leaving the The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- bring home a much-deserved freedom Iraqis to decide their own fate. It is ant to the order of the House of Janu- for those good people and another vic- time for that at this time. We ary 4, 2007, the gentleman from Florida tory for freedom for the American peo- shouldn’t be sending the resources and (Mr. STEARNS) is recognized during ple. we shouldn’t be sending our soldiers morning hour debates for 5 minutes. f into a situation where they no longer Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, on Sep- belong. tember 19, 2002, in a Wall Street Jour- TIME TO REFOCUS EFFORTS IN My intention today was to come to nal editorial, former CIA Director THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM the floor and talk about, rather than James Woolsey described the central The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- sending our soldiers to Iraq and all the challenge we face in the global war on ant to the order of the House of Janu- resources we are sending to Iraq, that terrorism as the United States’ depend- ary 4, 2007, the gentleman from New we should be focusing more on Afghani- ence on imported oil. My colleagues, Jersey (Mr. PALLONE) is recognized stan, because that’s where the Taliban this dependence is providing our enemy during morning hour debates for 5 min- were and they continue to be. That is with so much leverage that defeating utes. where al Qaeda began and continues to terrorism has become significantly Mr. PALLONE. Thank you, Mr. exist, including those who were in harder. Speaker. charge of al Qaeda. And we are not Let me quote from Mr. Woolsey: ‘‘We Mr. Speaker, my intention this doing enough in Afghanistan. There is are at war. We should start by asking morning was to come here and talk a new offensive now on the part of the what we can do as soon as possible to about the need to refocus our efforts in Taliban which began last month in undercut our enemies’ power.