Tom Udall: “this legislation, the third supplemental bill we have considered this year, has many merits. However, I am extremely…”

“this legislation, the third supplemental bill we have considered this year, has many merits. However, I am extremely disappointed that it does not include a plan for phased redeployment of our troops. It is past time that we chart a new path in Iraq. I have supported the previous versions of this legislation because they required that the White House demonstrate milestones of success and progress in Iraq with an explicit timeline for troop removal. But to now give the President a blank check would be unacceptable. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this war and have yet to see even the beginning of the dividends of democracy promised to us by the President. Additional funding must include sufficient requirements for evidence of success. We also need an understanding of how much longer we will be in Iraq. It is significant that the new Democratic leadership in Congress has ensured that appropriations funding bills are now focused on the soldiers and I am pleased to see that this bill includes funding for the armor and equipment needed. Nevertheless, this bill, with its absence of a plan for phased regional redeployment of American troops, will only further ensure that we stay in Iraq with no end in sight. The best way to support our troops is to give them the tools to do their job, and to change our policy to bring them home as safely and quickly as possible.”