Haley Stevens: “I think at this time I should point out what we are doing because we have brought to the floor the President's emergency…”

“I think at this time I should point out what we are doing because we have brought to the floor the President's emergency supplemental request for Iraq. Last evening, the President signed the 2004 Defense Appropriations Committee bill. At the request of the Congress, specifically the Senate, the President did not include in that bill any funding for the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, and the funding for that and the global war on terrorism is in the supplemental that is before us now. Many have asked for a great many things in connection with this supplemental that is before us. I think it is good to review history because we have had the history studied by the Congressional Research Service, and I am informed that no President before has asked, in advance, for money to conduct a war. This President did that. He had a supplemental before that carried us through fiscal year 2003. And this bill is theoretically to pick up on October 4 and carry forward the activities in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on global terrorism following that time.”