Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. FROST asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I voted for the U.S. military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power. I support the American troops and civilians who are now in Iraq doing the dangerous job of rebuilding that nation. And I expect to vote for President Bush's $87 billion supplemental for the supplemental foreign aid package for Iraq even though it still does too little for the U.S. troops and asks too much of U.S. taxpayers.

But this martial law rule is the perfect example of what is wrong with the approach the Bush administration and the Republican leadership of this Congress have taken to rebuilding Iraq. Instead of being honest with the American people about the dangers and difficulties of nation- building in Iraq, they keep trying to sweep it all under the rug.

Earlier this week we had the literally unbelievable scene of President Bush trying to spin the public into believing that sophisticated and deadly terrorist attacks in Iraq actually demonstrate ``progress'' in Iraq. A similar thing is happening on the House floor today, Mr. Speaker. Instead of being open with the public, the President and the Members of this House, Republican leaders, want to waive the House rules so that no one has time to actually read the text of this $87 billion foreign aid package.

Make no mistake, this is exactly what this ``martial law'' rule does. It is simply a procedural way to get around the House rule that would otherwise guarantee everyone one legislative day to examine this massive expenditure of American taxpayers' money.

Of course, Republican leaders long ago made secrecy a key component of this strategy for running the House of Representatives. This martial law is the 8th time this year that Republicans have waived the House rules to rush legislation through the House. In the last Congress they did it 27 times. But their secretive approach to this $87 billion foreign aid package poses an even greater danger.

That is because President Bush and his administration have already developed a dangerous credibility problem on Iraq, a credibility gap that threatens to undermine our ability to win the peace.

For too long they have treated nation-building in Iraq as some sort of political campaign, relying on spin, sophistry, and stagecraft to hide from the public the true magnitude of the dangerous and difficult job before us.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are smarter than that. They cannot be spun by President Bush and they cannot be kept in the dark by this Republican Congress. They know that more than 120 Americans have died in Iraq since President Bush's carefully choreographed PR event to declare victory on an aircraft carrier. They know that they have already spent billions of dollars on Iraq, and the United States already has a massive debt of its own, one that will raise the debt tax on every American. They remember being told before the war that Iraq is an oil-rich Nation that could pay for its own reconstruction.

That is why the process surrounding this supplemental spending bill has been so controversial and why so many Members who support President Bush's nation-building project may refuse to vote for it until he finally presents to the American people a credible plan to

win the peace in Iraq. It is also a big part of the reason that we have been losing the relatively meager international assistance we have had so far, with the Red Cross and the United Nations scaling back their presence in Iraq. And it is where so many Americans have such sincere doubts about this effort with nearly a majority of Republicans wanting to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, according to a Gallup Poll this week.

Mr. Speaker, more secrecy from the Republican Congress will only make the Bush administration's credibility gap worse. It will only make it more difficult to maintain public support for the important job of winning the peace in Iraq. Take, for example, the issue of accountability. American taxpayers have already given the Bush administration $79 billion to spend on Iraq. So when the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) came before the Committee on Rules, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) asked him whether he knew what had become of the previous $79 billion. He answered, ``I would like to tell you that I do, but if I did I would not be telling the truth.'' If the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations does not know, then presumedly no other Member of Congress has any idea where that $79 billion has gone.

So during the conference an amendment was adopted to create an office of the inspector general to find out where the money is going in Iraq. Now, however, we find out that the conference report has been changed to give President Bush the power to muzzle the inspector general whenever he might have some bad news to report, which very likely means that the public will never see a report from the new inspector general that contradicts the Bush administration's PR campaign. So this $87 billion package may disappear into the same black hole that swallowed up the first $79 billion.

Mr. Speaker, we should be giving the public more time to examine this massive $87 billion package, not rushing it through before anyone can read it. That is why I urge Members to oppose this martial law rule. That way the Congress can try to begin repairing President Bush's credibility problem on Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the gentleman if he has any additional speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

At this point I am prepared to yield back the balance of my time. Before I do so, I urge my colleagues to vote no on martial law, no matter how they may vote on the supplemental, and I personally intend to vote in favor of the supplemental, but I am objecting to this procedure under which it is brought to the floor tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the 26 votes I missed during the period October 29th through October 31st due to my participation in an official Congressional delegation to Iraq approved by you. Although I regret these missed votes, there is no question that that trip was indispensable to a more complete understanding of our intervention in Iraq.

I wish to state for the Record how I would have voted on these 26 votes.

On rollcall votes 580, 584, 585, 588, 589, and 590, motions to adjourn, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall vote 581, approval of the journal, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 576, passage of H.R. 1720, the Veterans Health Care Facilities Capital Improvement Act, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 577, passage of H.R. 1516, the National Cemetery Expansion Act of 2003, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 578, passage of H.R. 3365, the Fallen Patriots Tax Relief Act, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 579, passage of H. Res. 414, to encourage the People's Republic of China to fulfill its commitments under international trade agreements, support the United States manufacturing sector, and establish monetary and financial market reforms, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 582, passage of H. Con. Res. 291, expressing deep gratitude for the valor and commitment of the members of the United States Armed Forces who were deployed in Operation Restore Hope to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Somalia in 1993, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 583, passage of H.J. Res. 75, making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2004, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall 584, on ordering the previous question on H. Res. 422, providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2115, FAA Reauthorization Act, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall vote 587, on passage of H. Res. 422, providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2115, FAA Reauthorization Act, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall vote 591, motion to recommit the conference report to accompany H.R. 2115, FAA Reauthorization Act, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 592, passage of H.R. 2115, FAA Reauthorization Act, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall 593, passage of H. Res. 409, repudiating anti-Semitic remarks expressed by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 594, motion to recommit the conference report to accompany H.R. 2691, the FY2004 Department of Interior Appropriations Act, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 595, passage of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2691, the FY2004 Department of Interior Appropriations Act, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall 596, passage of H. Con. Res 302, expressing a sense of Congress welcoming President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan to the United States on October 31, 2003, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 597, on agreeing to H. Res. 421, waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules (martial law for consideration of H.R. 3289, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations), I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall vote 598, the Johnson motion to instruct conferees on H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2003, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 599, the Davis motion to instruct conferees on H.R. 1, the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall vote 600, motion to recommit with instructions H.R. 3289, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan for FY2004, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall vote 601, agreeing to the conference report to accompany H.R. 3289, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Defense and Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to confirm my position on these important votes during my necessary absence.

Mr. Speaker, this is the largest supplemental appropriation bill ever voted on by the Congress of the United States. And I think that it is a shame that it is being debated under these circumstances at this time of night. The only reason for the martial law rule is so that Members will not be given the courtesy of having this bill lay over one day so that they can examine what the details of the bill are.

We are going to be held accountable for this vote for a long time. Our constituents are going to ask us every time we are home how we voted, what it contained. They are going to be asking us about the loans. They will be asking us whether or not there is adequate protection for taxpayers' money. And I venture to say that 90 percent of the Members of this Congress have not had an opportunity to dig deeply enough into this in order to be able to answer these questions.

There were a few of us on the conference committee, and so we have been able to form our judgments. But I have to tell you that conference committee in which we participated the last 2 days is one of the most chaotic, and at some moments the most laughable, conference that I have ever participated in. And I think that in terms of the details of this bill, that will be demonstrated over time, because over time, regardless of whether or not the average Member in this House knows what is in this bill tonight, over time there will be a lot of good reporters who dig deeply enough into it to discover what is in this bill. They will be able to form a judgment about whether or not, for instance, the Inspector General provision is something with teeth or something that is nothing short of a sham.

I happen to think that there are loopholes in the Inspector General provision of this bill big enough to drive a 65-foot truck through.

I also would point out that that provision was adopted as a way to sandbag the GAO accounting procedures that Senator Byrd wanted attached in the conference. So I think there are a lot of detailed questions that Members ought to know the answers to. They will not by the time they vote, and that is the purpose of this rule. Our constituents will learn over time what is in this bill even if a lot of Members have not learned tonight, and that is why if I were a Member who feels any responsibility at all to my constituents, I would not vote for this martial law rule regardless of how you vote on the final bill.

The Members owe it to the country to have taken the time to review this. This proposal will provide per capita aid to the citizens of Iraq that is more than 10 times as large as the per capita aid that was provided during the Marshall Plan to all of Western Europe. Under those circumstances, we ought to take a bit more time than this rule will allow us to take tonight.

Mr. Speaker, this rule is important so that we can bring up the supplemental conference report tonight to fund our troops. The need is very urgent. This past weekend I had the privilege of traveling to Iraq where I led a Congressional delegation. And I say ``privileged'' because it was a privilege to spend time with our brave servicemen and women on the ground in Iraq who are doing a tremendous job under difficult conditions. They deserve our greatest support.

And, Mr. Speaker, that is what this bill does. It supports our servicemen and women with the resources that they need. And I would like to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha), and all the Members involved in working out this bill with the other body.

I would like to bring attention to one program in particular contained in this bill: The Commanders Emergency Response Program, which, fortunately, was agreed to by the conferees. Having seen this program at work on the ground in Iraq, I would like to report to my colleagues that it is effective and it is very efficient. This program allows our military commanders in Iraq to respond to urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction needs. And with this program, we have repaired roads, water treatment facilities, police stations, and schools. We had an opportunity to see this work. And this is done hand in hand with Iraqi labor and it is done very cost effectively.

To date, the program has been carried out with the funds seized from Saddam's regime, including funds taken from overseas accounts and taken out of the walls of Saddam Hussein's palaces in some cases. And these funds are running out. And our troops are fighting to show the Iraqi people that their best future lies with democracy and with the rule of law. These projects give the Iraqi people hope for that future, emboldening them to fight the Baathists and emboldening them to fight the terrorists. And they also make our troops safer.

Our top commanders in the field see these projects as security for our troops. They see these projects as winning friends and weakening our enemies. One commander told me that this program was the most important ammunition he had. It is my hope that this program continues to be carried out in a streamlined and flexible way, taking the greatest advantage of the ingenuity of the Americans and Iraqis working together. It is not too much to say that this modest effort is a key to our success in Iraq.

And that is why, Mr. Speaker, I support this rule because of the urgency. And I support the next rule and the underlying bill to fund our troops which will come up before this body tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this martial rule. I do not understand why we cannot follow regular process around here to give this body a chance to actually look at the supplemental, $87 billion, the largest in our Nation's history, so we know the details that are contained in it.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Iraq and visit our troops in the field. They are doing an incredible job under very difficult and dangerous circumstances. And, of course, this body is going to do everything we can to make sure they have the tools and the resources they need so they can do their mission safely and return home soon. But this process is out of order, and we are derelict in our duty in regard to the accountability to the American taxpayer.

We do need accountability, and that is why earlier the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) and I offered an amendment with this bill that would have slashed the reconstruction funds in half, requiring the administration to come back to account for how the money is being used and to justify the need for more.

Instead, we are giving them $20 billion when the World Bank just released a report indicating that Iraq cannot absorb more than $6 billion in the next year anyway for reconstruction.

But I am also concerned that these conference committees are becoming the black hole of the democratic process. The will of the House and the will of the Senate go in, but it never comes out. Specifically, in both the House and the Senate with wide bipartisan majorities, it was determined that we wanted to provide half the reconstruction funds in grants and the other half in loans, recognizing Iraq is sitting on the second largest oil reserve in the world, but also it would give us some bargaining position with the rest of the nations holding debt over Iraq to hopefully get them to forgive the debt. But any loan in this has been vanished in the conference committee; and, instead, the administration wants to just gift outright the $20 billion, requiring our children and grandchildren to pick up the tab for many years to come.

We want to do right in Iraq. We do not have the luxury of cutting and running. We must succeed, but this process is not the way to do it.