Sean Reyes: “Mr. Chairman, tomorrow we will vote on spending $86.9 billion of America's taxpayers' hard-earned money on our on-going…”

“Mr. Chairman, tomorrow we will vote on spending $86.9 billion of America's taxpayers' hard-earned money on our on-going military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. This massive request for supplemental funds brings home, to the pocketbooks of every American taxpayer, the cost of this administration's foreign policy. This administration has gotten us into a situation in Iraq that is both dangerous to our troops and critically important to our worldwide leadership. This situation is now so serious that it is less important that we arrived at this point by serious miscalculations, perhaps manipulations and half truths, than to understand that for us in this country 'failure is not an option.' As Commander in Chief, the President committed our soldiers to this war, and now we must provide them with all the resources and support that they need. Our soldiers represent the best that this country has to offer, and their sacrifices should never be taken lightly or taken for granted. But the administration is also asking us to support reconstructing Iraq to the tune of $18.6 billion, and this is only the beginning of what could be as much as $70 billion in investments. Mr. Chairman, if it is our responsibility to provide these services to rebuild Iraq, why are we along the southwestern border constantly told that there is not enough money to develop these services here at home?”