Ben Cardin: “I take this time, first, to commend the majority leader, Senator Reid, for doing everything in his power to bring up the…”

“I take this time, first, to commend the majority leader, Senator Reid, for doing everything in his power to bring up the most important issue we face as a nation, and that is the future of Iraq. I must tell you, as I travel through the State of Maryland, the citizens of my State ask: What are we doing to change the course in Iraq? What are we doing? Senator Reid has proposed a way that we can have an up-or-down vote on the most pressing issue of our time, and that is whether we are going to introduce more American troops, escalate our presence in Iraq--an up-or-down vote. The other body will be holding that vote some time tomorrow. Every Member of that body will go on record either for or against the President's proposal to escalate our presence in Iraq with additional American troops. We need to have that same vote in this body, and we should not be looking at procedural obstacles that prevent us from going on record whether we favor or oppose the President's proposals. I look at what the President is suggesting, putting additional troops in Iraq, as more of the same, not a new plan. If we learned anything at all from the elections last November, it was that the people of this Nation want to see a change in direction in Iraq. They understand our plans have not worked, that we need to look for a new direction. And yet the President is giving us more of the same.”