Jim Costa: “Thank you very much, the gentleman from Arkansas. I appreciate having an opportunity to share with my fellow Blue Dog…”

“Thank you very much, the gentleman from Arkansas. I appreciate having an opportunity to share with my fellow Blue Dog colleagues this evening the challenges that our country is facing as we wage this war on terrorism, and try to bring together some level of stability in Iraq. The War Funding Accountability Act that the Blue Dog Coalition is sponsoring, that we present to you this evening, is an attempt to bring accountability that has sorely been missing almost 4 years now after we have been engaged in this effort. And we, as Americans, are all engaged in this effort. This War Accountability Act, if it successfully passes Congress, would require the Department of Defense Inspector General, as well as the Special Inspector General for Iraq on Reconstruction, to report to the Congress every 30 days after any supplemental bill passes, and quarterly thereafter. These reports, unfortunately, have been lacking over the last 4 years. Now, as we look back, there has been a lot of water that has passed under this bridge, at tremendous costs, beginning first with over 3,000 American lives, men and women that have been lost, and over 20,000 Americans who have suffered injuries as a result of this engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are talking about the fiscal costs here this evening. But there is no way that we can put a cost or a value on the American lives that have been lost in this effort to try to bring stability and continue to protect Americans on this war on terrorism.”