On the recordMay 17, 2012
Last October, on the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, I visited Arlington West--a moving memorial to Americans who have died in that war. Every Sunday, on the sands of Santa Monica Beach, volunteers have put up a cross for every soldier who has lost his life in that war. As the number of dead has grown, they have only been able to put up one cross for every 10 soldiers. 1,843 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan. We've had 17,000 casualties. The defense bill today, in its current form, slows down the effort to withdraw our troops when we should be speeding it up. That's why I have cosponsored legislation with Barbara Lee that would mandate that any Afghanistan funding be used only to bring our troops home. Without such a change, I cannot vote for this bill. I don't want to go back to Arlington West only to see them adding more crosses. ____________________
