Haley Stevens: “no one regrets the deaths that are occurring in Iraq any more than I, or anyone else here, particularly those of us who…”

“no one regrets the deaths that are occurring in Iraq any more than I, or anyone else here, particularly those of us who served in the uniform of our country. We know the seriousness of being involved in Iraq. The offensive operations in Iraq started in March. I believe it was March 19. This budget was presented to us long before that. It did not have money for Iraq. As a matter of fact, we have handled this concept of the war in Iraq on the same basis as Bosnia, Kosovo, et cetera--with one exception. The President came to us and asked for a supplemental for Iraq, and we passed it. The money is there. He asked for the money; we gave it to him. I don't understand this demand, now, for another supplemental. We do not need any more money right now. We are continuing to spend the money Congress provided, over $60 billion. I have a little sense of politics in this. I don't quite understand. Politics are never raised on the floor of the Senate, obviously. But clearly the political implication is, somehow or other, the deaths are related to the fact that the President has not asked for any money. We have plenty of money right now to run this war. The costs of the war are coming down. As I pointed out previously here this afternoon, all of the costs of the manpower for fighting in Iraq are in this bill.”