Political Quotes

“that is an extremely important question because there is a lot of rhetoric about this war. The question is, What is the action line here, what can Congress do? Actually, it is a question of what Congress must do. As I understand it, looking at General Petraeus's testimony, he was very adamant that Congress needed to pass the supplemental appropriations bill that will actually fund the troops in the field. This money was requested over a year ago. It represents a little over $100 billion. According to his testimony, it is critical not only to the military needs but also he importantly talked about the Commander's Emergency Response Program, the State Department's Quick Response Fund, and the USAID programs. The Senator from South Carolina was talking a moment ago about this two-part process, not only the political reconciliation but the economic reconstruction of the country. General Petraeus himself, who clearly wants to get the troops funded, noted the interrelationship of the funding to help reconstruct the country, as well as to support the troops. We are very soon going to be in a situation, according to Secretary Gates, where the Armed Forces are going to have to allow money to be borrowed from their regular operational accounts to fund the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”