Christopher Shays: “It's kind of a mouthful to hear this is a bipartisan bill when 42 amendments go to Democrats and 14 go to Republicans.…”

“It's kind of a mouthful to hear this is a bipartisan bill when 42 amendments go to Democrats and 14 go to Republicans. That's one Republican amendment for every three Democratic amendments. But it's a bipartisan bill? It's kind of amazing for me to hear Democrats who talk about the war and talk about the need for Iraqis to start to cover their own expenses, and then they don't allow an amendment that says, when we train their security, we pay. The Iraqis don't have to pay the bill. In this legislation if we use our $1 billion that's in the section provided the Iraqis don't have to pay us back. Our amendment would treat it as a loan. This amendment is not being allowed on the floor today. Why not? Why not have a debate about whether the Iraqis should have to pay for their own expenditures, for their own security, when they have amassed over $40 billion in a separate fund that they're not spending, and they have over $15 billion in their checking account which continues to grow each and every day. Why wasn't our amendment allowed? There's a simple reason. It would have passed. What a fraud to say you want Iraqis to pay, and you won't even allow an amendment to be offered on the floor of the House that would require them to pay. Mr. Speaker, there is no reason not to have this debate. There is no reason not to educate ourselves about the dollars that the Iraqis have that they're not spending. This is not a bipartisan debate. This is a partisan debate.”