Political Quotes

“this amendment that I bring to the floor of the House under limitation on bases in Iraq is an amendment that addresses the subject matter that we have debated on the floor at least twice before that I recall. And I believe there is a consensus here in this Congress, and certainly there has been a message that has been put forth by the President, that we are not interested in permanent bases in Iraq but we do have bases there and we do have temporary basing agreements. So as I read through this appropriations bill and it says that ``None of the funds made available in this act may be used by the Government of the United States to enter into a basing rights agreement between the United States and Iraq,'' that language clearly forbids any agreements, however temporary they might be. And so the amendment that I bring to the floor simply adds the word ``permanent'' to that language. So that now, if the amendment is adopted, it will read that none of the funds may be used to enter into a ``permanent'' basing rights agreement. I think it is a matter of language and semantics here but a matter of clarity, too. And I would point out that in our last debate in the 2007 DOD approps, Mr. Murtha made the statement, what we are saying with this bill is that at this point in time there shouldn't be any permanent bases in Iraq.”