Robert C. Byrd: “Our service men and women, now more than ever, are depending on your leadership to put the military medical system on a…”

I cannot support this item unless there are some limitations on it, unless Congress can exercise its power over the purse, as the Constitution provides.

Promoting efficiency and preventing fraud in defense acquisitions will obviously be a high priority.

In closing, may I say that the President's request includes $658 million for construction of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

Doesn't this send a signal to the Iraqi people and to the American people that the United States intends to have a large permanent presence there?