Foreign Policy

We must bring emergency spending under control and eliminating a separate set of books for activities outside the regular budget is one important step in achieving fiscal discipline. I strongly support the McCain amendment, which will require funding for war operations to be considered in the same fashion as every other function of the government. It is essential that the men and women of our military have the tools they need to continue their missions, and this amendment will ensure that the Department of Defense budgets accurately for continued operations in the War on Terrorism.

We all know about the tens of billions of dollars in contract overruns that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown, and Root unit has deferred to the American taxpayer in Iraq.

But few know about the fly-by night startup firm, Custer Battles, who somehow managed to win a $13 million contract to provide security at Baghdad airport, despite having no security industry experience at all. This firm was so corrupt, that when contracted to provide trucks to the military, Custer Battles scrounged up any and every truck they could - even if most of them weren't operable. One Army general called it the worst case of fraud he'd seen in thirty years.

So it is of little surprise to anyone here, that neither the Coalition Provisional Authority nor the Pentagon, nor the State Department nor U.S. AID, which all rely heavily on these firms, have any idea what these security firms are actually doing in Iraq.

In this wild, wild West atmosphere, millions of dollars worth of security related contracts are awarded overnight, many of them without competition or cost controls. There simply needs to be greater transparency and accountability over private military contractors.

Individuals who are here illegally and commit a crime should not be allowed to stay, no ifs ands or buts about it. Unfortunately, when state and local law enforcement officials apprehend and convict these criminals, some are sent back on the streets after serving their sentence. That is unacceptable. Our immigration laws need to be fast and firm when dealing with criminal illegal aliens – my plan will help make sure they are.

The message behind this bill is clear: if you’re here illegally and commit a crime you’re not going to get to stay. No parole, no early release, and no second chances. America is a nation of immigrants and always should be. As the son of immigrants I strongly support immigration. However, we should not tolerate illegal aliens who come to this nation and victimize law-abiding Americans.

After witnessing Democrats struggle for years to propose positive plans for victory in the Global War on Terrorism, it's not surprising to hear them criticize a valuable opportunity to debate the path forward.

Since 2001, House Republicans have supported policies that enable our troops to protect American families and prevent terror attacks from occurring again in the United States. Last week's targeting of the number one terrorist in Iraq was yet another demonstration of the tremendous success our troops are having in Iraq and throughout the Global War on Terrorism. But instead of praising this important victory and encouraging our troops to complete their mission, Democrats continue to call for retreat and defeat. While their defeatism may please the liberal base of the Democratic Party, it does not help our troops protect American families.

Thursday will provide us with an additional chance to thoroughly debate important security issues that affect the lives of all Americans. I would encourage my Democratic colleagues to seize this opportunity and join House Republicans in expressing our strong resolve for victory in the Global War on Terrorism

Defense operations are moving into a new era using smaller, highly-trained units to complete missions, making our Special Forces troops more essential and in greater demand than ever before. Recent recommendations from the Quadrennial Defense Review call for a 15% increase in our Special Forces. Unfortunately, you cannot train a Special Operator overnight. The best way to grow our Special Forces is to retain current forces while we initiate new recruits in their extensive training requirements. I am introducing the Special Operations Forces Retention Improvement Act to provide incentives for current SOF to stay in military service because their experience is essential to our success. My legislation will allow special pays including, hazard duty pay, to be computed into an increase in retirement compensation.

Now, while we can, Congress must intrusively and decisively take a stand on behalf of Chinese Catholics and all others who wish to worship God in a manner and through a confession of their own choosing. We must insist that all members of the community of nations respect individual religious freedoms as the condition for mutual respect. Any nation that interferes with individual religious freedoms and the freedom of spiritual communities to order their own affairs, to the degree that the Chinese government has intervened in Catholicism, can aspire to no place of leadership in the modern world.

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Our troops in Iraq continue to serve with courage and bravery and I remain proud of them. Their successful mission to eliminate the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a great victory. However, al-Zarqawi's death does not change the fact that the President's failed policy in Iraq has cost too many American lives, tarnished America's image abroad, nearly exhausted our military, and taken our attention away from the Global War on Terrorism.

Today, I again sent a clear message to President Bush that he cannot count on me to continue paying for his stay-the-course policy in Iraq. We must re-deploy all our troops out of Iraq, returning most of them home and leaving a quick-reaction force in the region. It is time to change course and bring our troops home within six months.

U.S. involvement in Iraq has now claimed 2,497 lives and cost nearly $350 billion dollars. Our people would willingly bear the human and economic cost of the war in Iraq if it would actually save American lives in the long-run. It will not. Given the President's lost credibility and ever-changing excuses for taking our country to war, we can no longer justify the egregious loss of American life and hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent in Iraq.

Over the last year, we have seen unspeakable horrors in Iraq. Indiscriminate suicide bombings have been creating havoc in the streets and, despite the political successes of three elections, Iraq has been pushed to the brink of civil war, or perhaps by now over the brink.

Through the midst of all this carnage, and the deaths of over 2600 Americans and the injuries of tens of thousands more since March of 2003, our men and women in uniform have been doing their utmost, sometimes without the necessary troop strength or adequate equipment, to make the international effort in Iraq a success.

The House Republican leadership has made a decision that we need a thorough debate about the conflict in Iraq and its conduct, about the nature of that conflict, and about the role of our troops in that conflict. Having made that decision, I think it is no longer enough to allow every member to make a speech on the House floor. And the debate should provide enough time so that every member has at least five minutes to express their views on Iraq.

It is time to let members bring their ideas to the floor in the form of amendments and work the will of our House. Anything short of that makes a mockery of the Republican leader’s expressed goal to produce a full and real debate on the issue of the U.S. involvement in Iraq. And it would dishonor our men and women in uniform who are struggling to protect and uphold democratic principles abroad.

The lone protestor standing in front of a line of Chinese tanks at Tiananmen Square is perhaps one of the most recognizable photos in modern history. The image is over seventeen years old, but it could've been taken yesterday. That's because according to the People's Republic of China (PRC), their crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators never happened, and their citizens' calls for democratic change have gone unanswered.

In early June in 1989, Chinese authorities ordered the People's Liberation Army and other security forces to use lethal force to disperse demonstrators in Beijing, who had taken to the streets to call for those basic rights. It is believed that thousands were wounded and killed, mostly those protesting around Tiananmen Square. 20,000 people throughout China suspected of taking part in the democracy movement were arrested and sentenced without trial to prison or reeducation through labor, and many were reportedly tortured.

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During the debate on this bill, both Democrats and Republicans, the House and the Senate, went on record against establishing permanent bases in Iraq. Behind the closed doors of the Conference Committee, this widely supported provision was removed without explanation.

Because the Bush Administration will set no timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, both chambers of Congress acted to make sure our troops will not be left in Iraq indefinitely. Unfortunately, the Republican-dominated Conference Committee continued to rubber stamp the Bush Administration's Iraq policy.

Three years into the war, tens of thousands of American troops remain targets of a growing Iraqi insurgency. With no plan to win the peace and to secure Iraq, President Bush has left us with no good options. It is time to strategically redeploy our troops from Iraq and to let the Iraqis secure and govern their nation.