On the recordJuly 1, 2010
As was pointed out earlier, those who suggest that any efforts to add any items to what is called a military supplemental are somehow out of line are simply wrong. This legislation started out as a disaster relief bill. It went to the Senate, and they morphed it into a military supplemental, and we're simply now responding to that action. I want to talk about the problems in Afghanistan. A year ago, I made the statement that while I was dubious about the mission in Afghanistan, I would give the President a year to see whether his policy would bear fruit. But I warned at the time that we could have the best possible policy in the world and, if we did not have the tools to implement it, it would be a failure. And I would suggest that the only two tools that we have available to use in that region of the world are the Pakistan Government and the Afghan Government; and I think it's safe to say that both of them have been less than a spectacular success, to say the least. Since then, I think it's also fair to say that events have gone downhill, especially in Afghanistan. And in addition, since we're now spending $167 billion on these two wars, I think it's also obvious that we're having a profoundly negative effect on our ability to reinvest in and rebuild our own economy. And I think the time has come for new consideration.…
