On the recordMay 21, 2014
I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. I could not agree more. How in the world can the Congress of the United States, which has an obligation to declare war, continue to abdicate its right to debate our young men and women going to Afghanistan to die? We have already spent over $1.5 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq was an unnecessary war. {time} 1400 The previous administration intentionally manufactured the justification. It was absolutely unnecessary. And all we are asking-- and that is why I will vote against the rule. There is much in this bill that I will vote for. But as the gentleman from Massachusetts says, this is a bipartisan amendment. I have signed over 11,000 letters to families and extended families who lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. This past weekend I signed four letters. I am not trying to single myself out, but I feel the pain of my mistake of giving the authority to the previous President to bypass Congress to send our young men and women to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. McGovern is right. If President Obama believes it is necessary in the next couple of years to increase the numbers, then let him come to Congress so that we can meet our constitutional responsibility and vote either ``yes'' or ``no,'' and then, with pride, know that we did what the Constitution required. Next Wednesday, I will go to Walter Reed at Bethesda to see three marines who were severely injured in Afghanistan in the last month.…
