Brian Jones: “On Tuesday, the House passed H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill. I was amazed by the $120 billion approved to…”

“On Tuesday, the House passed H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill. I was amazed by the $120 billion approved to fund the war on terror. I, like many of my colleagues, agree that we must continue to fight terrorism, but I do not understand why we are funding the civil war in Afghanistan. I do not understand why Members of Congress want to spend $10 billion a month in Afghanistan when our people back home are struggling. I can assure you the American people do not understand it either. In June a poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center where 56 percent of the American people polled said bring our troops home now, not later. Mr. Speaker, I brought back the picture of Eden and Stephanie Balduf. Their father, Sergeant Kevin Balduf, and Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Palmer died. And that continues to haunt me, and the way they died continues to haunt me. That's the reason I wanted to bring this picture down here again. They were given the task to train Afghans to be policemen. The two were shot and murdered by one of the trainees. What really haunts me is the email Sergeant Balduf sent to his wife the day before he was shot and killed. And I quote the email: ``I don't trust them. I don't trust them for anything, not for anything at all.'' Why in the world do we continue to send our young men and women overseas to get themselves blown up, shot, and murdered by people they are trying to train? These little girls are standing at their daddy's funeral at Arlington Cemetery.…”