Byron Dorgan: “I want to make a couple other points that are not related to this specific bill but to the emergency supplemental…”

“I want to make a couple other points that are not related to this specific bill but to the emergency supplemental appropriations bill for the continuing Iraq War and fight against global terrorism. We have a $152 billion request in front of us with another $45 billion expected on top of that. All of this is emergency spending and none of will be paid for. This will take us to the neighborhood of three quarters of a trillion dollars or more, when spent, with respect to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other related matters. All of these costs will be added directly to the federal debt. During wartime, in most cases, this country has decided it should pay for things that we consume and pay for the cost of wars. We did it in the Civil War. We did it in the Spanish-American War. We did it in World War I and World War II and other wars. We began a process by which we tried to pay for some of that which the war was costing. The question about whether we should commit ourselves as a country to pay for war is an interesting question. In the Iraq war, our soldiers were sent to fight, and President Bush indicated we could best serve our country by going shopping. We should go to the mall to keep our economy moving. We could also best serve our country, in my judgment, by deciding not to send our soldiers to fight and then come back later and pay the bill because we decided to charge all of it--every penny of it borrowed.”