Brian Jones: “This past Sunday when I turned 70 years of age, I read in the North Carolina paper, known as the News and Observer, the…”

“This past Sunday when I turned 70 years of age, I read in the North Carolina paper, known as the News and Observer, the article that I would like to quote: More than 100 family members, friends and uniformed servicemembers marched slowly and quietly Friday down a hill at Arlington National Cemetery following Army Sergeant Aaron X. Wittman's coffin, draped with an American flag and carried on a horse-drawn caisson. Mr. Speaker, there are probably not many Members of Congress or Americans who know that Sergeant Wittman became the first American to lose his life in Afghanistan in 2013. I do not know how many more Americans will have to die between now and the end of 2014. One American life is already one too many. We have done enough in Afghanistan. It will never change, as history has proven time and time again. Obviously, there is nothing more important than an American life. But there is a second part of this sad situation, and that is the $28 million a day we are spending to rebuild Afghanistan. We could use that $28 million a day to fix our own roads and our own schools right here in America. Yesterday on C-SPAN, I heard the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, John Sopko, speak about how much money we are spending in Afghanistan and the fact that it is impossible to give the American taxpayers an account of where the money is going. I think Mr.…”