Christopher Shays: “10 bills into one omnibus bill divided into two parts: fund the government, nonmilitary; fund Afghanistan. What about…”

“10 bills into one omnibus bill divided into two parts: fund the government, nonmilitary; fund Afghanistan. What about Iraq? 2007 has been a remarkably positive year for our troops in Iraq, for the Iraqi Government, for the Iraqi people. But too many in this Congress are reluctant to acknowledge the success. The training of Iraqi military, police, border patrol is finally beginning to pay off. The surge is working. The tribal leaders are siding with us, not al Qaeda. So what about Iraq? And what about our troops in Iraq? We can fund our troops in Afghanistan but we can't fund our troops in Iraq? Our troops in Iraq deserve better. They have overcome one obstacle after another. Unlike last year, we are winning in Iraq. We need to draw down our troops month by month, but our troops in Iraq deserve to be fully funded until then. I look forward to the Senate's acting more responsibly than this House and giving us a bill that will fund Iraq as well.”