Lynn C. Woolsey: “we are back from our Fourth of July district work period, but our homecoming has not been a particularly happy one…”

“we are back from our Fourth of July district work period, but our homecoming has not been a particularly happy one because we have received even more bad news from the occupation in Iraq. Yesterday the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported that the cost of the occupation has soared to $10 billion a month, which will add up to half a trillion dollars, thanks to the administration's decision to send more troops and escalate the occupation. Ten billion dollars a month. I pulled out my calculator. I did some division and found that $10 billion translates into $23 million per month per congressional district. Yes, the President is sending a bill to our constituents in every district every month that says you owe $24 million and you had better pay up because if you don't, I will borrow the money and stick your children and your grandchildren with the bill plus plenty of interest. And I am going to send you another bill just like this one every single month from here on. Now, some people call the spending on the war the ``burn rate.'' But America doesn't have money to burn. Not when we have critically important investments to make in places that really make a difference for our country, like education; health care; the environment; energy independence; and homeland security, including better security at our ports, at our airports and giving first responders the tools they need to keep our communities safe.…”