I believe passionately in representative democracy. I think it works. I think it is the best system of government going.

On that I demand the yeas and nays. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 326, nays 78, not voting 27, as…

For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry), the ranking member of the committee, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. General Leave

I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney).

I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader of the House.

To me the biggest loser in Afghanistan is the nation that stays the longest.

It is my sincere hope that we not only reduce our troop levels to 2,500, but that we reduce them to zero, that we leave Afghanistan.

As awful as the Taliban is, and there is a lot of awful governments all over the world doing a lot of awful things, do we really think that at this point, if the Taliban came back into power--they are fighting ISIS too, by the way.

It is, I am afraid to say, folly to think that a full U.S. troop withdrawal is somehow going to make us safer.

I think the American people are saying, for what?

I would urge this committee as it moves ahead to do the right thing, the thing we promised, bring these brave people here.

I would say off the top of my head, you know, I can't predict the future, but if you tell me I got to bet a hundred dollars one way or the other, I am betting rather confidently that the chaos is going to continue.