Cord Byrd: “the fiscal year 2007 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, just approved by the Senate, includes over $96 billion…”

“the fiscal year 2007 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, just approved by the Senate, includes over $96 billion for the troops. It includes increases above the President's request for the Department of Defense, including increases of $1.3 billion for defense health, $1 billion for equipping the National Guard and Reserve, and $1.1 billion for military housing. The bill includes $6.7 billion for rebuilding the gulf coast region following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. It includes $4.2 billion for agricultural disaster relief. It includes nearly $1.8 billion for the VA to make sure that we meet our moral obligation to provide first-class health care to our wounded veterans. Most importantly, with passage of this bill, the Senate sends a clear message to the President that we must take the war in Iraq in a new direction. Setting a goal for getting most of our troops out of Iraq is not cutting and running. The new direction provides incentives to the Iraqi people to settle their differences, to end their civil war, and to pursue reconciliation. One fact is plainly clear: The President wants to run his war his way, without anyone asking any questions or requiring any standards of progress. That is the kind of attitude that has resulted in the chaos we see in Iraq each day. President Bush does not want anyone to hold him accountable for the failures in Iraq.”