Christopher Shays: “Mr. Speaker, this closed rule allows only an up-or-down vote on the Democrats' proposal regarding needed military…”

“Mr. Speaker, this closed rule allows only an up-or-down vote on the Democrats' proposal regarding needed military spending, but it contains an unrealistic timeline for the withdrawal of troops, and it includes bloated spending for nonmilitary expenditures. We all want to do the right thing for our troops in Iraq and the Iraqi people. This bill does not give us the opportunity to do either. I offered three amendments to the Rules Committee, and none were made in order because it made no amendment in order. One was to increase funding for our community action programs in Iraq, like Mercy Corps, who hire Iraqis in their organizations, and then the Iraqis are hired to do the work. A second amendment would have required the President to come in with a timeline and to then require the Iraqis to meet it, and needing a 60 percent vote of support of this timeline or we leave even sooner. The third was to encourage this Congress to debate the Iraqi Study Group recommendations, which both Democrats and Republicans agree with. We could have done something on a bipartisan basis.”