Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, on September 23, 2010, I was unavoidably detained and was unable to record my vote for rollcall No. 537. Had I been present I would have voted: rollcall No. 537: ``Yea''--Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Boundary Modification Act of 2010.

Stated against:

Mr. Speaker, the bad news in Afghanistan just continues to pile up. This week, a helicopter crash in the southern part of the country brought the number of 2010 coalition fatalities to 529. That makes this the deadliest of the 9 years we have been mired in this war. And, of course, we still have more than 2 months remaining before the calendar turns.

Meanwhile, these deaths appear to be in vain. While Afghan citizens who turned out to vote this weekend must be saluted for their courage, well, the fact that courage was required to exercise a basic democratic right is rather telling in and of itself. But the parliamentary elections were marred by violence, not to mention all kinds of fraud and irregularities. Time Magazine quotes one candidate as saying, ``It was complete anarchy. Everyone was trying to manipulate this election.''

Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan's financial infrastructure is crumbling almost as badly as is its democratic infrastructure. One of the nation's most prominent banks is teetering on the brink of collapse, at the same time that cronies and relatives of President Karzai appear to have used the bank to line their own pockets.

And in yesterday's New York Times, there was a long story about how families are dressing their little girls as boys, just so they can get a job and an education--and even so they can preserve the family's honor to have more boys than girls.

Steven Walt of Harvard University, a member of the Afghanistan Study Group, summarizes the bleakness of the situation. In the last few years, Walt says, ``We have had a fraudulent presidential election, an inconclusive offensive in Marja, a delayed and downgraded operation in Kandahar, and a run on the corrupt bank of Kabul. Casualty levels are up, and aid groups in Afghanistan now report that the security situation is worse than ever, despite a heightened U.S. presence.''

Mr. Speaker, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Seriously, there is little to be encouraged by in Afghanistan. And that is the situation that it is in now. Now, a new book that has come out this week by Bob Woodward reveals that even top White House officials were deeply skeptical about escalating the war. The Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan is quoted as saying of our strategy, point blank, ``It can't work.''

He is right, Mr. Speaker. But what can work is a smart security approach, one that replaces the military surge with a civilian surge. At this point, a military occupation can't cure what ails Afghanistan; it can only spread the disease. But an influx of humanitarian aid can deliver a brighter, peaceful future for Afghanistan, elections that are free and fair, government leaders with legitimacy and integrity, schools that educate all children--even the Afghan girls, or especially the Afghan girls--and an economy that creates opportunity and lifts people out of poverty.

The current policy is not redeemable. It will continue to engender death, destruction, instability, and chaos. There is only one answer, Mr. Speaker: Bring our troops home.

First, I'd like to thank Chairman Payne and Majority Leader Hoyer for reserving this valuable time tonight to bring attention to Sudan.

While it may have slipped from the front page of the newspapers and headlines of the nightly news, the crisis in Sudan is still in a very critical stage. In Darfur, rape is being used as a means of terror and warfare. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in refugee camps or are displaced from their homes. Militias with strong ties to the government in Khartoum brutalize Darfurians. So we have a long way to go before the people of Darfur can feel safe and return to a normal life.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was supposed to lay out a framework for peace between the north and the south, but as we get closer to the date for the referendum, security and fairness seems to have become farther out of reach than it was earlier on. The south is forced to hope that President Bashir, a man indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, they are to hope he will support an honest and clean election, free from intimidation and free from corruption. Many remain skeptical that, when the time comes, President Bashir will actually allow the south to vote unobstructed.

As Chairman Payne knows, because he has visited with and he has been honored by the people in my district who are working in regards to Darfur and have been on top of this issue from the beginning, they know that the people of Darfur are suffering. They have long supported the rights of the Sudanese people from a project called Tents of Hope, to letter writing and fundraising. I think the project is called Dear Darfur, Love Petaluma. That was the first one. That is where I live. Then there was, Dear Darfur, Love Marin County; and later, Dear Darfur, Love San Francisco.

So Marin and Sonoma Counties, where I represent, consistently have stood for peace and justice in Sudan, and they have been really outraged at what they have seen. In fact, they teach about the issue in schools where their students are raising funds for the people of Darfur, and they're helping paint the tents for the Tents of Hope. With their support, I join my colleagues in the House on calling on the Obama administration to put more pressure on the Government of Sudan. We must demand that Khartoum and President Bashir allow a fair referendum and to permit international assistance and monitoring.

Further, the plight of the Darfurians must not be pushed to the side in deference to the north-south situation. The genocide continues, and Sudan will never be free of oppression and violence until President Bashir and his reign of terror is brought to an end and he is held accountable.

Thank you, Mr. Payne.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Duane Irving who passed away July 19, 2010, at the age of 75 on Halleck Creek Ranch, his family ranch, on which he established Halleck Creek Riding Club for Handicapped Children. An iconic figure in West Marin, Duane was a hero to hundreds of children and community members who admired his unique blend of cowboy skills, sense of fun and adventure, and big heart.

Born on December 8, 1934, in San Rafael, CA, Duane grew up on his family's ranch in Nicasio. He excelled in athletics, and after San Rafael High School, he turned down an offer to join the San Francisco Giants minor league team to enlist in the Marine Corps where he excelled in both football and baseball. Despite an innate distrust of authority and a tendency for pranks, he was proud to be a Marine and remained loyal to the Marines and their ethics his entire life.

After his discharge, Duane returned to Nicasio where he married Nellie Woodard in 1959. The couple had three children, Peter, Jeannette, and Buck, before divorcing in 1985. Duane also coached Little League in Nicasio for twelve years, maintaining the baseball diamond by attaching a length of chain link fence to his belt and dragging it over the diamond.

Duane trained horses and managed several ranches in West Marin as well as working for Marin Municipal Water District for 12 years. Legendary West Marin Rancher Boyd Stewart enlisted his help in establishing the Morgan Horse Ranch in Point Reyes National Seashore, where Duane set up a breeding program and trained young Morgans to become ranger mounts throughout the national park system.

At the Morgan Horse Ranch, volunteer Joyce Goldfield was bucked off a horse named Dill Pickle and spent five months in a full body cast. While Duane was sympathizing with her inability to get out and enjoy the wilderness, he spoke of some of the children who came to the park confined to wheelchairs and were unable to join in tours or mount horses due to insurance issues. The two decided to use their gentle horses to take disabled children riding into the wilderness of Duane's Nicasio ranch. Thus, in July, 1977, Halleck Creek Riding Club for the Disabled began.

Since that time, thousands of youngsters and adults with any and all disabilities have been served, and many have had their conditions improve dramatically. Duane and Joyce expanded activities to include camping, rafting, snow trips, hose shows, parades, sailing, kayaking, and beach trips in which Duane pushed children in wheelchairs right into the surf. Since all this was free of charge, Duane became a prodigious fundraiser as well. Today over 300 disabled riders per week enjoy the benefits Halleck Creek offers--improved self-esteem, greater freedom and mobility, adventurous activities, and the therapeutic effects of horseback riding.

Duane received many honors for his work including President Bush's Thousand Points of Light award, J.C. Penny Golden Rule Award, and Marin County's Volunteer of the Year. He was also active in helping Joyce collect and distribute clothing and bedding for the homeless and in an annual benefit for Heifer International.

Joyce became Duane's beloved companion, and for nearly 30 years they lived at Fairwinds Farm on Inverness Ridge with her children Cindy, John, and Danny. In Joyce's words, ``Duane, the beloved native son of Nicasio and West Marin, shall be ever missed. This handsome, gentle, loving, immensely talented, free-

spirited man was part of all our lives and resides in all our hearts.''

Madam Speaker, I echo Joyce Goldfield's words. Duane Irving was a special man who knew how to direct his spirit and generosity when he saw he could make a difference for so many. His legacy is an inspiration to us all.

Madam Speaker, yesterday Speaker Pelosi and the Congress recognized the anniversary of 9/11 with a moving remembrance ceremony on the steps outside the Capitol. It's critical that we never forget the cruelty of those attacks and the tragedy of so many innocent lives.

But just as importantly, we must use this occasion to examine the war that we launched in response to 9/11. Nine years later, have we achieved our original objectives? Is the continued military occupation advancing or undermining our national security interests?

You'll recall that the original purpose was to clear al Qaeda out of Afghanistan. That's been accomplished. There are barely any al Qaeda operatives left in the country, and there is little hope that they could gain a foothold there in the future. But our continued military footprint is not helping us realize any worthy goal.

In addition to putting our troops' lives in danger, it is fueling the rise and aiding the recruitment of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. And on a global level, Madam Speaker, it is stoking the extremism of al Qaeda and other anti-American jihadists.

But it's just not me saying that. The Afghanistan Study Group comprised of centrist experts and academics just issued a report concluding that, and I quote them as saying, ``It is time to abandon the current strategy that is not working. The continuation of an ambitious U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan,'' the group adds, ``will likely work against U.S. interests.''

Madam Speaker, the report notes that the war costs more annually than does the new health care reform bill. And yet curiously, very few of my friends on the other side of the aisle are railing about the excessive spending on Afghanistan. It appears that in their eyes, a failed war is worth the investment, but health security for millions of Americans is wasteful.

The Afghanistan Study Group offered some prescriptions and alternatives, including political reconciliation; an emphasis on regional diplomacy; and investments in Afghanistan's economic development--all of which are developments of the SMART security plan that I've been promoting for years.

But instead of heeding this advice, we're pressing forward stubbornly with failed policy. And the more it fails, the more resources we devote to it. As Robert Dreyfuss writes in The Nation, the prevailing wisdom (if you can call it that) seems to be . . . if sending 30,000 troops to the wrong place isn't getting results, sending 30,000 more to that same wrong place might help, and then when that doesn't work, why, send another 30,000 troops.''

Madam Speaker, conditions in Afghanistan have gotten so bad that humanitarian groups can't move freely to deliver the aid that is so badly needed. The gruesome murders of medical aid workers last month underscored the deteriorating security situation. The New York Times cites the Afghan NGO Safety Office as saying there were more than twice the number of insurgent attacks this August than August of 2009.

I don't agree with everything the Afghanistan Study Group has to say. In fact, by calling for a gradual military drawdown, I believe they are just not being bold enough. But Madam Speaker, this disastrous war has gone on long enough. It's done enough damage. It's time now to bring our troops home.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the sesquicentennial of the Two Rock Valley Presbyterian Church in Two Rock, a small community outside Petaluma, California, of which I am a member. This small church has a special history in our community for the past 150 years.

The Two Rock Valley Presbyterian Church was founded in 1860, approximately 10 years after the first settlers arrived. Fire has destroyed the church sanctuary twice, only to be rebuilt by the community. The first building dedicated in March 1863 was destroyed in October 1895. The second building was dedicated in March 1896 and destroyed in July 1949 by a controlled burn that got out of control on the nearby United States Army property, now a Coast Guard Base. The third and current church sanctuary was dedicated on February 1, 1953.

The congregation owns and operates the Two Rock Valley Presbyterian Church Cemetery located adjacent to the church structure. The first internments date back to 1861. Unfortunately, the fire of 1949 destroyed most of the records. A community project was organized in 1992 to identify plot locations and prepare a detailed plot map.

The members of Two Rock Valley Presbyterian Church have a long history of community involvement as their mission states ``a tradition of witness and service.'' In 1865, they helped found the Tomales Presbyterian Church which they now consider their sister church.

More recently, the church members are involved with the work of the Petaluma Food Pantry by working with a coalition of other churches to feed the hungry in our community. Their mission extends to regular contributions to the Cents-Ability Hunger Program of the Presbyterian Church (USA) which provides much needed funds both nationally and to Africa.

Congregants are also volunteers at the Two Rock Volunteer Fire Department and the Two Rock Elementary School. Many annual community events including the Abelskiver Breakfast on Mother's Day, the Harvest Festival in September, and the Turkey Dinner in November rely on the volunteers from the church to help bring people from the surrounding community together.

Churches are a place for community members to come together not just to worship but to build the community. Two Rock Valley Presbyterian Church is that church to the residents of Two Rock.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to represent the congregation of the Two Rock Valley Presbyterian Church in Congress, and I ask that you join me in congratulating them on their accomplishments of the past 150 years and wishing them the best for the future.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Robert D. Puett and recognize his contributions to homeless families and adults in Marin County, CA. Mr. Puett is retiring after 23 years of service with Homeward Bound of Marin.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Bob earned a degree in sociology at San Francisco State University in 1972 and trained as a disaster shelter manager for the American Red Cross in 1983.

In 1987, Bob began working as a counselor in Marin's winter emergency shelter program and joined Homeward Bound as a program director the following year. He managed shelters for the Red Cross following the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the Oakland Hills wildfire in 1991.

Always an advocate for those in need, Bob stayed involved when neighbors of the winter shelter protested its location at the Marin County Armory. With authorization from then-Marin County Supervisor Bob Roumiguiere, he managed an encampment at the Marin County Civic Center from April to October 1992 to demonstrate the need for a year-round shelter.

The program moved several times in the next two years, landing at the former Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato in 1994. Bob recalls managing the shelter in a large surplus Army tent on a site that flooded regularly and, at least once, lost its roof. Eventually the shelter moved to the warehouse on the site of today's Homeward Bound headquarters.

Taking advantage of legislation that authorized homeless services on decommissioned military bases, Bob helped lead a public education campaign to persuade neighbors of the Hamilton base to create a year- round shelter. I am proud to have worked with Bob, the City of Novato and the Navy, which led to the opening of the 80-bed New Beginnings Center in 2000 with full community support. It was the first such shelter built in the country on a decommissioned military site.

Bob became deputy director at Homeward Bound in June 2000, continuing to build on his desire to offer homeless people not only ``a hot and a cot''--a meal and a bed--but an avenue out of homelessness. He oversaw development of the Next Key Center, also at Hamilton, which opened in November 2008 with 32 studio apartments, new offices for Homeward Bound, an expanded kitchen for job training and an event space for public rental.

The Marin County Human Rights Commission honored Bob's commitment and contributions to improving opportunities for people in need with its Martin Luther King, Jr., Award in 2006.

At his retirement party, Bob accepted a ``Hair Raising Challenge'' and allowed his trademark ponytail to be cut in exchange for a $30,000 contribution to support shelter and job training programs at Homeward Bound

In retirement, Mr. Puett plans to join Homeward Bound's board of directors.

Madam Speaker, it is appropriate at this time that we thank Mr. Robert Puett for his many years of service on behalf of the people of Marin County. He has worked tirelessly to demonstrate his unwavering belief that people can overcome great obstacles to change their lives for the better. For this, he deserves our appreciation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the work of Celia Kupersmith, who departs from her position as General Manager of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District on September I, 2010. Over the past 11 years, Ms. Kupersmith has overseen improvements in the infrastructure and services on which millions of people in the San Francisco Bay Area depend. Her leadership has been a source of strength during an especially active period for the Bridge District.

With over 800 employees running the Golden Gate Bridge, five transbay ferries, and a network of nearly 200 buses, the Bridge District manages the most critical linkages between San Francisco and the North Bay. It provides residents with over 50 million trips annually, and it maintains services for the six million tourists who come each year to visit the Bridge itself.

In 1999, after serving for several years as Executive Directive of the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, Nevada, Ms. Kupersmith took on the challenge of leading this important agency at the outset of a number of significant technological and administrative changes.

During her period of service, Ms. Kupersmith has worked tirelessly to ensure that the people of the Bay Area can rely on the physical safety of the Golden Gate Bridge. She was called on to respond to the increased security demands placed on the Bridge District after September 11, 2001, and she has led the reform of Bridge security that followed. I am also particularly proud to have worked with her through several Congresses to secure federal funding for the ongoing seismic retrofitting of the Bridge.

Under Ms. Kupersmith's leadership, the past decade has seen the Bridge District make substantial improvements in its speed and interconnectedness within the Bay Area transportation network. This includes the implementation of electronic toll collection on the Golden Gate Bridge and the introduction of region-wide public transit cards-- the TransLink and Clipper cards--on our buses and ferries. The Bridge District has also worked to enhance the speed of ferry service, which now offers a connection between Central Marin and downtown San Francisco in only 30 minutes.

Ms. Kupersmith will be leaving the Bridge District for a Deputy CEO position at Sound

Transit, a transportation agency serving Washington's Puget Sound region. However, she will also be leaving behind a legacy of service that will endure in the Bridge District's improved infrastructure, modernized services, and sounder long-term financial outlook.

Madam Speaker, I ask you to join me in thanking Ms. Kupersmith for her contributions to the Bay Area and in wishing her all the best in her new endeavors. Ms. Kupersmith leaves our Bridge, buses, and ferries stronger than when she arrived, and with a sound footing for building on recent progress.

Mr. Speaker, beginning in January 2005, speaking from this very spot just about every single night that I could on the House floor, I've declared again and again my conviction that we must bring our troops home from Iraq. I was actually the first Member of Congress to bring legislation to the House floor to end the war in Iraq, and now at long last it is finally happening. Eighty-eight months after President Bush declared ``Mission Accomplished,'' President Obama has kept his promise to redeploy our fighting forces out of Iraq.

To be sure, however, there is still a long way to go before we can declare that this war is over. There are still Americans in harm's way in Iraq--50,000 servicemen and -women as well as countless contractors, but they are remaining behind to train Iraqi Security Forces, and it is expected they will leave by the end of next year.

Every single American, Mr. Speaker, has sacrificed for this policy of invading a sovereign nation without provocation and under false pretenses. The Iraq war has drained the American people of nearly three-quarters of $1 trillion. This is money, much of it borrowed from foreign creditors, which we are essentially taking from our children and grandchildren.

And then there are the things you can't quantify--the moral authority we have squandered; the national credibility we have lost; the trust of our global neighbors that we won't soon recover. Of course no sacrifice was greater than the one borne by our men and women in uniform and their families; 4,400 Americans died unnecessarily, upwards of 30,000 are wounded, and tens of thousands more are suffering from post- traumatic stress. The men and women deployed to Iraq, Mr. Speaker, have served with courage, they have served with honor, and we owe them our never-ending gratitude, and we owe them our concern and our support.

Now that the occupation is drawing to a close in Iraq, however, the Iraqi people have a chance to build the brighter future that they deserve. To help them in that endeavor, even as we phase out the military campaign, we must step up our commitment on other fronts.

We must embrace the smart security platform I have spoken of so often in these chambers. That means a civilian surge of aid workers, diplomats and other experts who can help the Iraqi people rebuild their country, strengthen democratic institutions, and empower their citizens with education and economic opportunity.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, let me say this: We are still a Nation at war. The conflict in Afghanistan, often forgotten when Iraq was at its worst, lingers on hopelessly and disastrously. There are some who believe more time is needed in Afghanistan to turn the corner. But if we've learned one lesson from Iraq, it's that prolonging the war only emboldens the very forces we're trying to defeat.

Just as President Obama kept his word to end combat operations by a date certain in Iraq, he must do the same in Afghanistan. I strongly urge the President to stick to his own deadline of next July, and I, for one, will

not rest until all of our troops are out of danger and brought safely home.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5851, the Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act of 2010.

Chairman Miller, I want to thank you and commend you for the commitment to the health and safety of American workers. And Ranking Member Kline, thank you very much for outlining exactly the confusion that we are faced with regarding employee safety, particularly on our oil rigs.

Now, following the Gulf of Mexico disaster, it is clearer than ever that providing strong protections to offshore oil and gas workers would be a positive step in encouraging workers to speak out about work safety and health issues at the worksite. Obviously, inspectors cannot be at all workplaces at all times, and so the system relies on willingness of employees to come forward, because these employees, these workers, know their worksite better than anyone else. Yet too many workers fear doing so because they fear repercussions. They don't fear imagined repercussions; they fear real ones.

We heard this from the families of the 29 miners who were killed at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and from the families of those miners who died at the Crandall Canyon, Darby, Sago, and Aracoma mines. We've heard this in the wake of other workplace disasters as well.

And now we have discovered that before the BP disaster in the gulf which took the lives of 11 workers, workers did not come forward about safety hazards because they were afraid they would lose their jobs. Sadly, their fears were well-founded. Those brave souls who blow the whistle often do lose their jobs and suffer other indignities such as harassment, intimidation, and blacklisting. In this situation of the BP disaster, they lost their lives.

In May of 2007, my Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing on the adequacy of whistleblower protections. The now famous whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, who ``blew the whistle'' on Big Tobacco, testified at that hearing. He was not protected by any antiretaliation law when he lost his job. He was not protected when he was threatened, harassed, and intimidated for his actions.

Like Mr. Wigand, offshore gas and oil workers have no whistleblower protections. This is absolutely unacceptable, and we know it.

In crafting H.R. 5851, we ensure workers are actually encouraged to come forward to report unsafe conditions by providing a meaningful process to adjudicate complaints that also comports with due process, and by providing sufficient remedies to whistleblowers, including temporary reinstatement, backpay, and other damages.

H.R. 5851's provisions are similar to the whistleblower provisions in the Protecting America's Workers Act, which brings the Occupational Safety and Health Act into the 21st century. H.R. 5851 also emulates other modern whistleblower statutes, such as the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

I'm proud to be an original cosponsor of the Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act, and I urge my colleagues to vote to protect all vulnerable workers.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Madam Speaker, the documents released to the news media this past weekend by WikiLeaks add to the mounting evidence that the war in Afghanistan remains fiscally unsustainable and morally unjustifiable. The New York Times puts it bluntly. They say, ``The documents illustrate why, after the United States has spent almost $300 billion on the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001.''

Madam Speaker, I don't know how we can possibly reach any other conclusion: This war is not worth the huge investment in blood and treasure which the American people have been asked to make for nearly a decade.

WikiLeaks uncovers much that has been missing from the official accounts of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. To give just one important example, they reveal that the Taliban gained access to sophisticated heat-seeking missiles, which they used to kill U.S. and NATO troops.

Afghan security forces do not enjoy any trust or legitimacy in the eyes of Afghan citizens. They are not just incapable, according to specific WikiLeaks reports, they are often brutally cruel and corrupt. Petty bribery; a police chief selling ammunition on the black market; commanders stealing their underlings' salaries--this is just the least of it, Madam Speaker. In one account, a police commander takes advantage of a teenage girl and then shoots his own bodyguard when the bodyguard refuses to open fire on a civilian complaining about the rape. Most shockingly of all, perhaps, is the revelation that the Government of

Pakistan, our purported ally, is actively assisting the very militants we are fighting in Afghanistan.

Pakistan is a country that we lavish with foreign aid, one that U.S. officials repeatedly praise as an important partner in the struggle against terrorism, and it appears they're using our money to support our enemy.

We are not just talking about the passive enabling of terrorism. There are reports of Pakistani intelligence officials recruiting and training suicide bombers and helping to plan major Taliban offensives.

Perhaps most galling of all is the collective shrug from many in the foreign policy community about the WikiLeaks reports. We have known about this stuff all along, they say. This is nothing new.

Well, first of all, Madam Speaker, I am willing to bet a good percentage of the American people didn't know that their tax dollars are helping Pakistan fight against our interests.

Second, I think it is important to ask everyone who has responsibility for prosecuting this war: If you knew about these things, what are you doing about them?

As if I needed any more persuasion, the WikiLeaks revelations left me with no other choice earlier this week than to vote against the supplemental, Madam Speaker. How could I, in good conscience, endorse continued financial support for an unwinnable war, one that does violence to our values and is undermining our national security objectives?

There is only one option, Madam Speaker: End this war and bring our troops home.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 308, 111th Congress, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 6 o'clock and 40 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until Tuesday, September 14, 2010, at 2 p.m.

Madam Speaker, on July 28, 2010, I was unavoidably detained and was unable to record my vote for rollcall No. 476. Had I been present I would have voted: rollcall No. 476: ``yes''--Providing for consideration of H.R. 5822, making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support wholeheartedly Mr. Kucinich's and Mr. Paul's resolution to remove U.S. Armed Forces from Pakistan.

The War Powers Act clearly states that the President must seek congressional approval before committing U.S. troops and before committing funds. As recent media reports confirmed, our troops are in Pakistan without congressional authorization, and they, as well as we, ask, To what end?

Mr. Speaker, we are running up record deficits with two wars which have cost the United States in blood and treasure. Together, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the American taxpayers over $1 trillion and, worst of all, more than 5,600 men and women in uniform have given their lives. And what do we get for all of this, Mr. Speaker? Instead of winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi and Afghan people, we're fueling hatred and insurgency, and now we want to export that to Pakistan. I don't think so. Let's not do it.

I urge my colleagues to demand that the administration comply with the War Powers Act and remove our troops from Pakistan.

Madam Speaker, I think we have seen this movie before.

Last week, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, before an audience of international leaders on whose support he depends, pledged to root out corruption, implement reforms and run a better government, but we heard the same promises at an earlier conference this January ;and we heard them again when President Karzai came to Washington for a state visit in May. There seems to be little accountability when he fails to keep his word, as he never comes away from any of these gatherings with more than a slap on the wrist, if that.

If Mr. Karzai is serious about cracking down, why doesn't he start by reining in his own brother, a strongman who rules Kandahar with iron- fisted intimidation? What does President Karzai have to say about the fact that billions of dollars in cash have been flown out of Kabul Airport in the last few years?

Lip service and vague promises are really not enough, Madam Speaker. What is sustaining the Taliban more than anything else is the Afghanistan Government's failure to have any competency or legitimacy. No one is more frustrated than the Afghan people, who voiced their displeasure with government corruption in a recent survey conducted by an Afghan watchdog group.

Bribery shakedowns are increasingly seen as a way of life. The cost of securing basic services from the government depends on paying somebody off. Even when the government isn't dishonest, it is slow and ineffective. Embarrassingly, in the provinces where they have established a foothold, the Taliban runs a tighter ship than does the Afghan Government, doing a competent job of making the trains run on time.

This cannot go on, Madam Speaker. Our continued support for a feckless regime is eroding our national credibility. The American people, who are fighting off a recession and who are badly in need of the money right here at home, resent sending that money to Afghanistan. They can't be expected to keep on doing this. They can't be expected to keep giving their bravest young people and their hard-earned tax dollars to prop up leaders who have no ability to govern responsibly.

Yet, even as skepticism about the war in Afghanistan grows here in our country, our leaders could be going in the opposite direction. There is legitimate concern that they might be going wobbly on the commitment to start the military redeployment out of Afghanistan 1 year from now.

At the conference in Kabul, Secretary of State Clinton said that the July 2011 date represented the start of a new phase, not the end of our involvement. She added that the United States has ``no intention of abandoning our long-term mission of achieving a stable, secure, peaceful Afghanistan.''

Well, Madam Speaker, if the Secretary means that we would achieve that mission with civilian resources--a Smart Security strategy which is focused on development projects, on humanitarian aid and on more support for anti-corruption efforts--then count me in, but if she means that our military commitment and occupation to Afghanistan will extend well beyond next summer, I think the American people will have something to say about that. In fact, they are saying it now. They are saying it loud and clear.

We have sacrificed enough for a failed war. It is time to bring our troops home.