Amy Klobuchar: “for the last few weeks, a bipartisan group of Senators has worked to bring to the floor a resolution expressing…”

“for the last few weeks, a bipartisan group of Senators has worked to bring to the floor a resolution expressing opposition to the President's proposal to increase American troops in Iraq. In an effort to have an honest, thoughtful, and productive debate, they put aside their differences, only to be run over by partisan politics. I support the bipartisan resolution opposing the escalation. I support an honest and open debate on a policy that clearly needs to change. But I do not support what I saw take place in this Chamber yesterday. Our soldiers and their families have sacrificed too much to accept the political obstructionism that is keeping this body from having a debate on a most critical issue. Our troops have given so much, and they deserve much more than what they got from the U.S. Senate yesterday. The least we can do is to have this debate, and the best we can do is to get this policy right for our troops. I would like to thank those who worked on this resolution: Senators Levin and Warner and Senators Biden and Hagel and others. Throughout their careers, they have shown how much they care for the men and women in uniform. In crafting these resolutions, they showed us that when principled individuals from opposing parties care strongly about an issue, politics doesn't always have to win out. Unfortunately, some in this body still don't want to have a debate about Iraq. It is long past time to have this debate.”