On the recordJune 24, 2011
I want to thank Mr. Rooney and thank my colleagues. I think this has been a very important debate for this country and for our Constitution. I am opposed to this war and I want to end it. I think Mr. Rooney's bill is a powerful step in the direction of ending the war, but it's not the only step that we should take. It's the first step. The first step is a vote for Mr. Rooney's. You limit the war, and you stop the combat ops. Then the second step would be to vote on a defense appropriations amendment that would strike all funding for the war. So we take two steps here--the first step today. We have some of the best people in this Congress who have been in this debate today, and they don't agree with Mr. Rooney's bill. What they've said is that this bill would end the mission in Libya; and they've said that, if you don't have the ability to suppress, you couldn't continue with the bombing campaign. These are people on our side of the aisle who want to defeat this bill. They've made the argument, I think, as to why we should pass it. I want to thank Mr. Rooney for his leadership, and I urge a vote in favor of Mr. Rooney's bill.
