On the recordJune 13, 2013
I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I would simply want to point out that Members have a variety of opinions about Afghanistan, and a number of Members have come to the floor to voice their opinion that we ought to leave Afghanistan. I understand that. That's not what this amendment says. This amendment basically restates the President's policy with regard to Afghanistan, and then, as the gentleman from Massachusetts said, it says Congress ought to exercise its responsibilities under the Constitution. Now, we can do that in a variety of ways. We can have oversight hearings, and we can have amendments dealing with funding. And we've had those sorts of things before. But the point is that some of the rhetoric doesn't match the amendment. As the chairman pointed out, the underlying bill tries to encourage a Bilateral Security Agreement so that looking ahead beyond 2014, it is very important to many of us that any American troops who are remaining in Afghanistan have the protections that they should have under such an agreement. So the underlying bill has a fence on some of the funding going to Afghanistan until there is that sort of Bilateral Security Agreement. So the point is, moving ahead beyond 2014, there are lots of unknowns at this stage. We're trying to help shape it in a way that is beneficial for our security but also protects our troops.…
