Bruce L. Braley: “Last week President Bush told the American people that the status quo would continue in Iraq for 10 months. Last year…”

“Last week President Bush told the American people that the status quo would continue in Iraq for 10 months. Last year, the American people demanded a change of course in Iraq. They wanted us to begin the process of bringing our troops home. The President's response: a troop escalation plan that sent an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq. At the time, he said that if the Iraqi Government did not meet certain economic and political benchmarks, they would lose the support of our Nation. After months of delay, September became the moment of truth; and despite the fact that the nonpartisan GAO report found that the Iraqi Government had failed to fully meet 15 of the 18 benchmarks, the President said the troop escalation plan is going to continue until next summer. Mr. Speaker, it is now clear that the President's only plan for Iraq is to stay the course until he can hand off the war to his successor. The time for stalling is over. Staying the course is no longer acceptable. It is time for Republicans to join us in charting a new course.”