Let me tell you what is in this bill and what you are voting against. There is $1.7 billion of this bill request for military health care. If you vote against this bill, you are denying our troops $1.7 billion. There is $450 million for…

Let me just say that the Revolutionary War, my great- great-grandfather fought in it. We fought our own war. In the Civil War, I have my great-grandfather's hat in my office. He fought against the South in the Civil War. We fought our own…

I keep hearing people say that we have got to give this a chance. For 4 years we have given this a chance. For 4 years we have had our troops overseas. Here is the problem that we face. Every time that we give them a chance, they…

The gentleman has to realize, we put it in. They didn't ask for much of this. I found the 44,000 shortage of body armor. I found the shortage of Humvees. We came back, and we put it in. Bill Young, Jerry Lewis and I put it in. The Armed…

One of the Members said, how many less Iraqis have been killed? I don't know how many less Iraqis we killed. I know 62 individual American soldiers or marines have been killed this last month. I want to say about equipment, I have got a…

let me explain what is in this bill for the Members. We have $4 billion over the amount requested by the President. The President requested a total of $12.1 billion for military personnel pay and benefits. The committee recommends…

let me say to the Members what hurts our troops. I found our troops, 44,000, without body armor. I found our troops with a shortage of jammers. I found our troops with a shortage of up-armored Humvees. I find our troops now, because of the…

in Kosovo we had 30,000 sorties. We never lost one person to combat in Kosovo. Let me read the figures for you in 2001. All active duty Army divisions were rated highest readiness level. Do you know what they are today? Almost all are…

Well, that's exactly what I said a year ago. And I said, we couldn't win it militarily. And I've said, they -- they have been mischaracterizing and misstating this war for the last two years.

The president kept talking about the last election being a mandate for him to go forward in Iraq. Well, this election was the opposite. This election was for -- to re -- redeploy the troops and my plan, which is the opposite of his plan…

The voters have made a difference. There's no question in my mind. I've been on 140-some shows in the last year talking about a number of things in Iraq -- mismanagement, mischaracterization, overly rosy picture.

Absolutely. All the polls that I see, credibility has gone down to well below 50 percent. We have lost credibility in all the periphery. We've lost credibility in Europe. Everybody I talk to, every poll that I see shows the United States…

Winning is not a strategy. Victory's not a strategy. Democracy's not a strategy. That's a goal.

I think the military leaders have lost complete confidence in this secretary. He didn't listen to people. He didn't ask for suggestions. He went to war when we didn't have a national security threat.

The policy, of course, comes from the White House. It doesn't come from the secretary of defense. So just changing the secretary of defense doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get a change in direction.

I can see some merit to what the gentleman is recommending, and certainly I will bring it up to the conferees when we get to conference, and we will see what they say and get some expert opinions. I can see some merit in what the gentleman…

I appreciate it. The Acting CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha). The amendment was agreed to. The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will read. The Clerk read as follows: Research…

I offer an amendment to restore funding for an important national program known as PASIS, Perpetually Available and Secure Information Systems program.

nobody has worked harder than Bill Young, his wife and myself in taking care of these troops at all the hospitals, all over the country. Just last year we put in money to start a new center for rehabilitation of people that had lost their…

Let me take back the time. I agree with that. I agree. And I think there are sufficient safeguards in the program already. We are in a bad situation here, Mr. Chairman. I don't know that I can say any more.

I yield myself 2 minutes. Vietnam is the same thing. I believed in my mission in Vietnam. All of us believed in it, but in 1967 when I came back from Vietnam, they had an election. President Lyndon Johnson said everything's all right…

I have three unanimous consent requests. I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum). Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to put my statement in…

When I hear somebody standing here, sanctimoniously saying we're going to fight this out, we're not fighting at all. The troops are doing the fighting; the families are doing the sacrificing.

I yield myself 5 minutes. I was just out to a hospital a week or so ago, and a young woman whose husband was in the bed right next to her, and she said, I didn't join the Army to fight for Iraq. He joined to fight for the United States. We…

I yield 60 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) from the Out of Iraq Caucus, and I ask unanimous consent she control the time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from…