On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
I have to express my absolute bafflement at the debate we've been having all week in this Chamber. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle wax on and on about how we have to restore fiscal discipline and cut all kinds of very necessary programs to the bone. Yet they won't even bring to our debate one of the most costly expenses we have in this country, and that's Afghanistan. This war in Afghanistan has cost us nearly 1,500 American lives and the taxpayers a staggering $379 billion and counting. Yet during this debate, the majority, which is enthusiastic in its support for more and more Afghanistan war spending, wants to eliminate a homeless veterans initiative. That's their approach. Send our brave men and women halfway around the world to be chewed up and traumatized, then pull the plug on the support they need when they get home. That's what they call supporting the troops. We need to cut that expense.
