Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Novato Youth Center, which is commemorating 30 years of community service to the children, youth and families of Novato, California.

In response to the need for a safe and nurturing environment for children, parents and community leaders launched an energetic grassroots effort to establish the Novato Youth Center in 1976. Now, 30 years later, the Youth Center provides a safe and caring home away from home while responding to ever changing community needs. Serving children, infants through 18 years, the Youth Center offers childcare and recreational activities, as well as teen pregnancy prevention programs, tutoring, family counseling, and Parent Project workshops. Youth serve in many positions, and are involved as program volunteers, sports coaches, event planners, and as full voting members on the board of directors.

Through advocacy and outreach, Novato Youth Center's mission is to increase the community's investment in its youth, and to nurture and encourage youth to realize their potential for growth and personal development. The founding parents and Board Members were an ideal match for this mission. Honorary Board Members include: Robert Busher, Tommie Whitener, Steve Rempe, Peter E. Haas, Jr., David Kenyon, Dennis DeSousa, Alan Dunham, Ed Lathrop, Vicki McDill, Dave Milano, and Paul Scheller.

Over the years Novato Youth Center grew steadily, developing successful collaborations with Novato Unified School District, the City of Novato, the County of Marin, Novato Community Hospital, and other local youth service and childcare providers. Providing strong community leadership, the Youth Center played a key role in starting the Novato Youth Wellness Collaborative, also serving as its fiscal agent. As a result, the Novato Wellness Center will open soon, offering health education, teen pregnancy counseling, substance abuse prevention, mental health services, and a health clinic devoted to teens.

Collaborative and inclusive in philosophy, the Youth Center is committed to serving youth across ethnicities, economic levels, age groups, social and educational levels. To that end, the Youth Center champions respect and diversity, recruiting and hiring bicultural and bilingual staff to ensure the full spectrum of needs and interests of all communities are met.

Mr. Speaker, Novato Youth Center provides an invaluable role in preparing our youth for the challenges of the future as well as instilling the values of community involvement and education. I am proud to honor the Novato Youth Center on this memorable occasion.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor William Oskar Goggins for the kindness and influence he showed the world during his 43 years here.

Billy was born at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco, CA on Sunday, May 10, 1963--on Mother's Day. He was the first child of Patrick and Ute Goggins, both very well-known and respected individuals in the Bay Area and beyond.

From the hospital he was carried right into a civil rights demonstration in Golden Gate Park. Billy took his first trip to Ireland at 4 years old to meet his family relatives in the west of Ireland in County Mayo. Annual family trips by car to Montana and Dakota included reunions in the Bear's Paw Mountains, hi-balling on the Iron Road, the old Great Northern Railway and running brave with Chippewa, Cree, Blackfoot and Sioux Indian friends. The Goggins' adventured on 2-month road trips to Baja and the Pacific Coast of Mexico where mother Ute painted, and sisters Cathy and Aimee followed in Bill's energetic footsteps. Billy toiled in family vineyards in Germany with equally embracing relatives. These things were the soul of his education.

Over the years Bill played soccer, drew cartoons, tutored younger students from Mill Valley and Marin City, played volleyball at Stinson Beach, surfed in Bolinas, and much much more. He graduated from Tamalpais High School as a National Merit Scholar and Salutatorian.

Summer jobs were at Bancroft-Whitney legal publishers, San Francisco and Wausau Paper Mill, Wisconsin. He worked at numerous restaurants including the Book Depot Café and Avenue Grill in Mill Valley, and Embarko in San Francisco. He also volunteered at St. Anthony Dining Room in the Tenderloin, providing free meals for the homeless.

Bill attended Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and San Francisco State University, Departments of Communication and Philosophy. He began his vital journalism career with Frisko Kids, KALW radio, and then moved on to the old SF Weekly.

Former SF Weekly editor and colleague Andrew O'Hehir remembers, ``Of course he worked harder than anyone and became essential, and in 3 years moved from all-purpose intern to copy editor to ruIming the Arts and Entertainment section. I can't remember exactly when he became the go-to guy for headline copy, but I'd say that by the time he'd been there a year, he was writing half the heads in the paper.''

Bill thrived at Wired for 10 years. He started as a freelance copy editor and rose to become deputy editor. Bill served as a special link between the digital industry's pace-setting magazine in the center of San Francisco's media gulch and an eager, educated national and international readership. His colleagues admired him tremendously.

``Bill was that rarest of things: a true original,'' says Chris Anderson, the magazine's editor in chief. ``He was brilliant, witty and culturally omnivorous, all of which combined in

his signature headlines. They usually worked on at least three levels of meaning, from some remixed cultural reference to at least one pun. In many ways his winking style and clever turns of phrase became Wired house style for nearly a decade, and to look at our covers and headlines over those years is to hear Bill's voice again.''

Bill's voice also made its mark through the alternative dot-com generation's website Suck.com where he wrote under the name 'Bartelby'. Bill recently enjoyed writing and editing with the new magazine Todo, and they remember him not just as a logophile, a wordsmith, a gifted editor, a true friend; but also as ``one who tirelessly pursues perfection, fraternity and goodness.''

A real linguist (German, Spanish and Bill-English) and traveler--Bill visited Tunisia, the Philippines, Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, and all over the United States and Europe. He was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland. Bill was a citizen of the world.

Bill was a San Franciscan through and through. He openly embraced and explored all of the city's neighborhoods. He was an avid supporter of the arts, with active memberships to many museums and regular attendance at the symphony, opera, ballet, varied theatres and clubs.

Bill participated with his family and compatriots in the antiwar demonstrations from the Vietnam era to Iraq of today.

My daughter, Amy Critchett, had the good fortune to be a friend with and to work with Bill at Wired for many years. ``Bill Goggins made work seem like work--because it was and he was so incredibly good at what he did--but with him around there was always a twist of irony and a splash of curly-haired, smiling-cheeked sunshine not far away,'' according to Amy. ``Get ready to laugh all you up there.''

Bill inexplicably collapsed and passed away suddenly during mile 24 of the San Francisco Marathon Benefit for Cancer on Sunday, July 30, 2006. He was in fit condition and many knew him as a wonderful, companionable runner, reconciled, strong and happy.

An outpouring of hundreds from around the globe, representing family, friends, colleagues, public officials on local, state and national levels, ambassadors, the Irish and British governments, the Democratic party, and diverse cultural non-profit organizations attended a memorial mass held at our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and a life celebration at the Outdoor Art Club in Mill Valley on August 4, 2006.

Billy was a deeply loved member of a very close family. He supported all of them individually and together--helping hang his mother Ute's art shows, assisting his father Pat with community outreach via organizations such as the Irish Forum, Irish Mexican Association, and Irish Literary and Historical Society to name a few, being the proud uncle to sister Cathy's two children, Lina Rose & Dominic Chester, and showing up for sister Aimee's various work events or helping edit her writing.

Bill believed in justice, peace and humanity. He connected with people everywhere he went. No one and nothing escaped his keen eye and warm words. His sense of community was broad and all-encompassing. Bill was a man of grace. He chipped in for everyone.

He had old-fashioned manners, was a staunch listener and he gave of himself enormously. His roughish grin, sparkle in his eye and love of discussion and opinion will live on with us forever.

Mr. Speaker, Bill had enormous integrity and loyalty, and taught us all how to be total human beings. To be fearless, to be bold, to be true to yourself. To be both gracious and outspoken. To pursue what matters in life and cherish each other. Bill knew all of these things and helped us be them too. Bill lived his life and made all of us proud. He will be deeply missed by many.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had the honor to visit a group of folks gathered on the Mall as part of Camp Democracy, a nonpartisan camp for peace, for democracy and for the restoration of rule of law.

Those who gathered are relentlessly working to promote peace and justice. They bring great passion to our shared struggle. They have led one of the most important and powerful grassroots movements in recent memory, and because of the pressure they have applied and the eloquence with which they have made the case, the immorality of the Bush Iraq policy has been exposed.

Mr. Speaker, in a few months, our troops will have been in Iraq for as long as their grandfathers fought in World War II. But unlike the struggle against Nazism, this has been an unmitigated disaster, a national tragedy and a moral outrage. More than 2,650 soldiers of our own are dead, nearly 20,000 wounded by the Pentagon's own count and countless more psychologically traumatized. And for what? So we could make the world a more dangerous place and increase the terrorist threat? So we could create more jihadists and inspire more hatred for Americans among Muslim extremists? So we could foment a bloody civil war and rip a nation apart at its seams, killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians for the cause of their so-called liberation?

Like the people at Camp Democracy, I have been speaking out against this war and this occupation even before they began. I have held forums, forced votes on resolutions and joined demonstrators at rallies across the country. Most recently, I introduced a bill that would rescind the President's authority to use force in Iraq, authority that was granted in 2002 under what we now know are false pretenses. I will not give up this fight until every last American soldier has been returned home to his or her family.

But even after that, we will have plenty of work to do, because Iraq is only a part of the problem. The real problem is a foreign policy that uses too much brawn and not enough brains. The real problem is an approach to national security that says might is always right; that says, when it doubt, shoot first and ask questions later. What we need is to completely overhaul the way we handle global conflict and prevent wars from starting in the very first place.

Working with the Friends Committee, working with WAND and working with Physicians for Social Responsibility, I created the SMART Security plan, which was introduced in the House in 2005. SMART would do just what I was talking about. SMART stands for Sensible Multilateral American Response to Terrorism. It emphasizes peacekeeping and diplomacy instead of invasion and occupancy. It rejects war in all but the most extreme circumstances. It fights terrorism with stronger global partnerships and with sound diplomacy, with better intelligence, with tough weapons inspections but without violating our civil liberties and fundamental freedoms.

SMART would put more resources into securing loose nuclear material and ensuring the United States lives up to the commitments we have made in our Nation on nuclear nonproliferation. SMART would wean us off Middle Eastern oil. It would invest in renewable energy technologies instead of Cold War weapon systems that have outlived their usefulness. SMART would dramatically increase development aid and debt relief for the poorest countries in the world to combat the deprivation and despair that often gives rise to terrorism in the first place. It protects not by wreaking violent havoc around the world but by staying faithful to the most honorable American values.

Armed conflict around the world is destroying our bodies and our souls. I am particularly troubled by the devastating impact this war is having on our children. Our children are the war's most tragic victims. Children represent a disproportionate number of civilian deaths in conflicts worldwide. And for many who survive, their education is disrupted, their communities destroyed and their families separated.

Mr. Speaker, Sergeant Christian Williams of Winter Haven, Florida; Staff Sergeant Tracy Melvin of Seattle, Washington; Lance Corporal Jeremy Long of Sun Valley, Nevada, only 18 years old; Private First Class Colin Wolfe, also an 18 year old, of Manassas, Virginia; and Staff Sergeant Michael Deason of Farmington, Missouri.

Mr. Speaker, these are just five of the Americans who have been killed in action in Iraq since this Chamber last convened. You see, Congress gets to close up shop for a month, the entire month of August, even if we haven't completed the Nation's business. But no such luxury for the 138,000 men and women who are stationed in Iraq. Their dangerous work goes on and on. No adjournment, no recess, no end to their mission in sight.

In fact, many who were scheduled to come home were told in August, no, they had to stay in Iraq. And why? Because their commander-in-chief says that people who want our troops to come home don't understand the world in which we live.

I submit, Mr. Speaker, that it is the President himself whose understanding of our world could use some real work.

Does he understand that his clumsy belligerence has contributed to more intense feelings of jihad and anti-American radicalism in the Muslim world?

Does he understand that the invasion and occupation of Iraq has created many more terrorists than it could possibly defeat?

Does he understand that his policy lit the match that engulfed Iraq in sectarian violence and civil war?

Does he understand that at least 40,000 and perhaps as many as 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died for what he calls their liberation?

Does he understand that military force is one of the least effective ways of exercising American power?

Does he understand the concept of ``soft power,'' the idea that America can and must lead by example, by demonstrating compassion, by promoting our values, by maintaining global goodwill and credibility?

Does he understand that outside his window today at the National Mall, veterans and their families are launching Camp Democracy, a 16- day anti-war demonstration just like the one they held outside the President's Crawford ranch last August?

He must not understand that he has lost the confidence of the people of the United States of America; that in overwhelming numbers they believe he made a mistake in Iraq and want him to reverse course as soon as possible.

It is clear that he understands none of these things, and, as a result, our Nation is paying the price, all of us; all of us who want to live in a country that is admired around the world; all of us who want to be safe from terrorism; all of us who depend on public investment in education and health care, housing and more, investments that won't be possible because of the $1 trillion cost of the Iraq occupation.

But, of course, no one has sacrificed more than young Americans like Christian Williams, Tracy Melvin, Jeremy Long, Colin Wolfe and Michael Deason, who lost their lives. There is nothing more we can do for them other than honor their memories and take care of their families. But we can save hundreds and perhaps thousands of their fellow soldiers from a similar fate if this ruinous policy continues.

Mr. President, bring our troops home.

Mr. Speaker, as a former welfare mom, I know what it is like to try to get by on a paycheck that is not enough to make ends meet.

Today's minimum wage earner is trying to live on a wage that has not been raised for 9 years. Minimum wage has not been raised in 9 years, but you can be sure the cost of food has gone up over that period of time. The cost of health care has skyrocketed. The price of gas is higher than most people ever imagined it could be. Over 6 million people are trying to live in the year 2006 earning $1,997.

So what is the Republican majority's solution to solving the problems for those who do not have enough?

They want to give more tax cuts to those who have more wealth than the average American can even imagine. They want to excuse the richest 7,500 families in this country from contributing like they ought to. It is time we stand up for those who don't have enough. It is time we say no to those who want too much.

I urge my colleagues to oppose creating an American aristocracy by repealing the estate tax. Vote ``no'' on this rule until we have a clean up-or-down vote on the minimum wage.

Mr. Speaker, if this bill is so great, why are executives not being treated the same way as the rank-and-file workers? It is hard to believe that in the face of all of the corporate scandals that we have been experiencing over the last few years, that this legislation still allows for executives to receive a golden parachute. Unbelievably, executives who have run their companies into the ground can continue to receive large lump sum payments from their underfunded pension plans at the same time that the rank-and-file employees' benefits have been frozen.

You heard me right. If a company's plan is underfunded by 80 percent, rank-and-file workers cannot receive new benefits or lump sum payments. Meanwhile, the restrictions for executives do not start until the plan is underfunded by 60 percent. That difference adds up to billions and billions of dollars.

Whatever happened to the captain going down with the ship? The way this bill reads the only boat the Republican majority is familiar with is the Titanic, because they are giving lifeboats to the first class passengers only.

Mr. Speaker, we live in a country that values equality. Why oh why in the world would we allow this pension bill to pass the House treating executive pension benefits differently from their workers? What happened to what is good for the goose is good for the gander? If workers' pensions are underfunded, then so are executives. It is time to end the golden parachute or, as the gander goes, the golden egg.

I urge my colleagues, vote against this conference report and support workers benefits.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise also in support of this conference report. It has been more than a year since we passed H.R. 366, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. I am certain people were actually starting to think that this day would never come. But here we are, and we are here in a bipartisan posture.

You see, Mr. Speaker, miracles can happen. Then-Chairman Boehner and now-Chairman McKeon and Subcommittee Chairman Castle need to be thanked and honored for getting us this far. But most importantly to me, I want to thank the hard work of the committee ranking member, Congressman George Miller.

Having voted for H.R. 366, which passed the House almost unanimously, I believe that today's conference report significantly improves the bill.

Particularly pleasing is that this bill not only has expanded math, science, and technical programs, it also has continued and strengthened the Perkins Act commitment to preparing women and men for occupations that are nontraditional to them, to ensuring access to career and technical education for special populations who face unique challenges, and to preparing those students for careers that will lead them to self-sufficiency.

In this competitive global economy, Mr. Speaker, we can't afford to waste the potential of any of our people, so these provisions will help to ensure that this does not happen.

When this bill was in committee, I offered an amendment to ensure that States had sufficient administrative funding to carry out their increased responsibility under the bill. My amendment was not included in the House bill, but it is in the conference report.

Finally, the conference report improves accountability for and integration of strong academic measures and programs for career and technical education. It is important, however, to note that although Congress has rejected the President's proposals to eliminate career and technical education, we must do more. We need to provide our schools with the resources they need to carry out these programs. That means we need to increase funding for the Perkins Act while keeping our promises to fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act, because when it comes to no child left behind, this President and this Congress has fallen $55 billion short.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from California, the ranking member of this committee (Mr. George Miller).

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

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind everybody that more than 11,000 high schools and regional technical centers and 2,600 postsecondary schools provide career and technical programs to high school students and adults who are returning to the workforce or wishing to learn new skills. That supports our goal that all students should have access to career and technical programs that give them a strong academic foundation and technical proficiency. This provides opportunity for jobs that pay a livable wage. It prevents dropouts, and it gives a path into college-level education should an individual choose.

This legislation today renews our commitment to prepare our workforce for the global economy. It solidly rejects the President's proposal to eliminate the program.

So, finally, it was wonderful to hear Mr. Regula, his words in support of vocational education, because he is the ranking member of the subcommittee on appropriations that we go to to fund these programs, because we know that none of this works, none of it works, Mr. Speaker, unless we provide the needed funding.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about Tim Friedman who is leaving this body to start a new life, one a lot more relaxing I am sure. But I can tell him, he won't be surrounded by as many people that absolutely admire and like him like he is day in and day out here.

I have gotten to know this man. He has been here for 30 years, but I have gotten to know him over the past 2 years while I have come to the floor 165 times to bring 5-minute special orders on bringing our troops home from Iraq. But what I have learned about him because he is here every night while we are doing our Special Orders, that his job in keeping this House floor together, to keep Members on the straight and narrow and knowing what we are doing and what we are not supposed to do, like talking on our cell phones on the floor, he does with good humor, he does with good grace.

But his most important chore, and I think he has always known this with me, has been to find my fountain pens when I lose them. Actually, he can find a real fountain pen. I have a bit of a fetish for nice fountain pens. He finds other people's, and he thinks they are mine because I so often lose mine. But he also finds things that other Members of the House lose. He is a real sleuth, and he finds them, he knows who they belong to, he lets us know that he has got them.

Mr. Speaker, even though he is starting a new chapter in his life, even though he is leaving us, we know that he has been here and we will always remember how he has treated every single one of us. I am glad that he was part of this chapter in my life.

I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, Tim, thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for being you, and thank you for being in this chapter of my life.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague. Thank you, Congressman Farr, for those nice words and for standing here with me this evening.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I come to the floor again, for the 165th time, to discuss the costs of the occupation of Iraq. Unfortunately, we all know too well the human cost of the occupation. More than 2,550 of our brave fighting men and women have died. Nearly 100 Iraqi civilians are killed every day.

One might be able to justify these losses if the cause were justified, if Americans were safer because of our action in Iraq. Instead, the architect of the September 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, is still at large. The Middle East is literally going up in flames. Terrorism is increasing throughout the world.

And when we turn our eyes home to America, we see so many squandered opportunities as a result of the Iraq occupation. If we hadn't been spending nearly $.5 trillion in Iraq, just think of what we could have done to strengthen our economy and our very own people. Think of the investments we could have made in our future right here at home.

Think about the unmet needs of our children. For the cost of 15 days of the Iraq occupation, we could immunize every child in the United States against serious childhood diseases with all recommended vaccines for the cost of $4 billion.

For the cost of almost 2 months of the occupation in Iraq, we could hire 460,000 teachers across America to lower average class sizes to 18 students, at the cost of $15 billion.

For the cost of just over 2 months of the occupation of Iraq, we could provide basic health insurance to every American child currently making due without coverage. That cost would be $17 billion.

For the cost of little more than 2 months of the occupation of Iraq, we could pay 1 year of tuition and fees at a 4-year public university for the 3 million high school seniors who graduated this spring.

For the cost of just over 5 months of the occupation of Iraq, this could provide a 20 percent pay raise to 3 million public school teachers.

Mr. Speaker, when will we learn?

Congress, over my objections and those of many of my colleagues, gave the President the authorization to go to war. We did not give him permission to occupy Iraq, nor did we give him permission to neglect American children and jeopardize their future.

It is time to bring our troops home from Iraq. It is time to focus on the education and health care of our Nation's children. The Congress can do this by passing my legislation, H.R. 5875, a bill to repeal the President's Iraq war powers. Tonight, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation. And I urge the leadership to consider this bill before we head home for the August break, before one more penny is wasted on occupying Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be something missing from the debate today. It is like the elephant in the room, no one wants to talk about it. Whatever happens to the United States' own commitment to nonproliferation?

Yesterday, I went before the Rules Committee, and I had an amendment that was quite simple. It stated that until the President has implemented and observed all of our NPT obligations and revised its own policies relating to them, no item may be transferred to India, including exports of nuclear and nuclear-related material, equipment or technology. Unfortunately, my amendment was not included in this restrictive rule.

As many of my colleagues have stated, this objection is not about the deal or our alliance with India. This is about how the Bush administration has made a mockery of the NPT and encouraged other countries to go around the treaty. Basically, the bill says that if a country ignores the NPT, the United States will cut a deal down the road.

If anything, the U.S. is contributing to global nuclear proliferation with this agreement.

Vote against the rule because in a world that is becoming more, not less, violent by the day we must face the facts. Until the United States lives up to its nonproliferation obligations, how can we possibly ask others to do so?

Today, I will vote against this misguided bill. I will vote against the rule. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order.

Mr. Speaker, this evening I saw a film called ``The Ground Truth.'' It was about Marines in the infantry who had been sent to Iraq. These Marines were from all over the United States of America.

It began introducing individual Marines, individual soldiers. And these individuals knew why they had enlisted. They were trusting their decision. They were feeling comfortable that they knew with who their enemy was and our enemy was dangerous and the danger was to the United States of America. They also knew that joining was their way out. Out of their towns, out of their neighborhoods, out of current dead-end situations; or up for training and/or education that would not be available to them outside of the military.

Their eyes were clear. Their voices were firm. Their resolve was intact. They went off to boot camp.

Boot camp gave them the steel they needed in their backbones. It gave them the practice they needed so they would be able to kill, kill their enemy. And they knew that that enemy was dangerous to the United States of America.

Their heads were shaved. Their voices were hard. Their anger was stirred. They knew their enemy and they were ready to fight.

So off they went to war. They went to Iraq or they went to Afghanistan. They got there. They went into battle against people, Iraqi people, recruits like themselves whom they considered were clearly their enemy. But then they found themselves killing children, running over them with their vehicles, on command firing on children, burning children. And women, one Marine told the story of mistakenly shooting a woman just before she waved a white handkerchief to show that they she was not an enemy. And men, men who could have been, or not, part of the insurgency. Never clear if they were killing innocents or if they were fighting the enemy. Their eyes became confused. Their voices became uncertain. Their resolve questioning.

And while they were moving through these emotions from certainty to uncertainty, they and their buddies were being physically and mentally wounded. Those who were not killed or injured were likely to become victims of PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder. But they did come home if they were not killed. They came home with sad, sad eyes. They came home feeling like outsiders in their homes, in their communities, because they could not share what they had been living with the last 9 months to 1\1/2\ years. They were confused and they were ashamed by what they had done. They were questioning their mission. They were embarrassed because their families thought they were heroes and they saw themselves as pretty bad people.

These men and these women, Mr. Speaker, were victims. They did what they were trained and commanded to do. In fact, one infantryman in the film said that at the end of the day, those who had not killed that day were chided by the others in their unit.

Of course, Mr. Speaker, you can be certain that these young people were in desperate need of help. Physical, which is obvious; and mental, which is harder to assess because their needs were labeled ``behavior disorders.''

So these individuals joined the military, did their jobs, no longer liked themselves when they came home, but came home in great need of help to find it was very difficult and sometimes absolutely impossible to get the help they needed. One soldier hung himself. Others drank or used drugs, acted out in anger, made life impossible for their loved ones until they began to patch themselves up and their lives back together again, or did not.

Mr. Speaker, these are only a few examples of what war does to those who are trained to kill, who do their job and are left feeling guilty. We must end all war. We do not want to put other individuals through this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my good friend Rabbi Michael Robinson who died July 20, 2006, surrounded by friends and family at his home in Sebastopol, California.

Mr. Speaker, this is the second time I have risen to honor this unique man who has dedicated his life to the cause of social justice at home and around the world. On the last occasion, several years ago Rabbi Robinson received a civil liberties award from the ACLU of Sonoma County recognizing a lifetime of achievements and his passionate advocacy for civil rights. From the American civil rights movement to the Nicaraguan Contra war to the Israel-Palestinian conflict Michael Robinson has been on the front lines promoting peace and the improvement of humanity.

Born in North Carolina, Michael received his B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and attended North Carolina State College before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. He served in the Pacific and became a pacifist immediately after this experience.

In 1952, after completing a course of study at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Michael became the first North Carolina native to be ordained as a rabbi. He later earned his doctoral degree from the New York Theological Seminary and served in temples in Seattle and Pomona as well as 29 years as an activist leader at Temple Israel in Westchester, New York. During the civil rights movement, the synagogue raised money to help rebuild the black churches that had been burned in the South and finance the van used by the Freedom Riders to tour the South. Michael marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, and expressed his convictions with these words: ``When I was ten years old I began sitting on the back seat of the bus with `colored people.' I never returned to the front seat.''

After moving to Sonoma County with his wife Ruth, Michael served Shomrei Torah, and is credited with growing the congregation from 30 families to now the largest Jewish congregation (175) in Santa Rosa, CA. Retired since 1996, Rabbi Robinson holds the title of Rabbi Emeritus at both Temple Israel and Shomrei Torah.

In addition to promoting affirmative action, same sex marriage, affordable housing, and other equality issues, Michael has worked against nuclear war, apartheid, and all forms of injustice. He is known locally for his involvement in the Sonoma County Task Force on Homelessness, Children's Village, the Living Wage Coalition, Habitat for Humanity, the Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center, and the Sonoma Land Trust.

A founding Member of Angry White Guys for Affirmative Action in 1996, Michael's words still resonate: ``I hope that my anger will not dissipate until justice is done and every man, woman and child has equal access to all the privileges of a democratic society and receives equal respect.''

Michael is survived by his wife Ruth, his sister Leah Karpen, his daughters Jude and Sharon, and 3 grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I share Rabbi Michael Robinson's hope that we as a nation can become better people and create a just society. And I join with his family and friends in the belief that we can best honor his life by making the work of peace and social justice a priority in our own lives.

Mr. Speaker, on October 10, 2002, despite the objections of 133 Members, myself included, this body, the House of Representatives, voted to give the President of the United States the authority to launch a preemptive strike against Iraq.

If we had the information on that day that we have now, I wonder how many votes the war resolution would have garnered. If we had known that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction; if we had known that the President was hell bent on going to war no matter what, regardless of the intelligence, with or without the U.N.'s blessing; if we had known that we would have still been occupying Iraq nearly 4 years later; if we had known that our occupation would give rise to a violent insurgency, sectarian strife, and all-out civil war; if we had known that the cost of this war would approach $.5 trillion; if we had known that more than 2,550 brave Americans would never come home and thousands upon thousands of Iraqi civilians would be killed for the sake of their so-called liberation; if we had known of the atrocities and constitutional desecrations that would be committed in the name of war, from Abu Ghraib to domestic spying to Guantanamo Bay.

Along with many of my colleagues, I raised these concerns at the time. We were vocal critics of the war before we even knew what a debacle it would become. But our objections were ignored and our voices drowned out by a steady drumbeat of misinformation coming from the administration and its allies. They raised the specter of a mushroom cloud in the chilling and disingenuous words of Condoleezza Rice. They insisted that the Iraqi people would greet us as liberators. They claimed that the war would be a cakewalk, with minimal cost of lives and taxpayer dollars. They assured us that the Iraq invasion would spread freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East, an assertion that has been proven tragically wrong by the recent hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. Anyone who disagreed with this view of the Iraq occupation had his or her loyalty of America called into question.

Today the American people know the truth, that those of us who seemed like lonely dissenters were right all along. The American people agree that it is time to find a way out of Iraq, to end this occupation, because they know you cannot win an occupation.

Our troops have been put in an impossible position without the proper training or equipment. They are being asked to carry out an open-ended occupation of a country wracked with centuries-old religious conflict and few democratic conditions on which to fall back. Moreover, this occupation has no legitimacy whatsoever, having never been authorized or ratified by the United States Congress.

So today I introduced the Iraq War Powers Repeal Act of 2006. It would reverse the fateful decision of nearly 4 years ago and allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority on matters of war and peace. It would strip from the President the powers he has shamelessly abused. From there we can and we must end this occupation, while using diplomacy, humanitarian and peacekeeping tools to help Iraq achieve long-term security and stability. But we must return Iraq to the Iraqis and return our brave soldiers to their families here at home, who anxiously await their return.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Tim Friedman for his 30 years of dedicated service to the House of Representatives.

Tim began his career on July 19, 1976, working as a Doorkeeper to the House Chamber under the Hon. James T. Molloy. After 6 years of helping to oversee admission to the House floor and galleries, Tim went on to work as an assistant to the Hon. Jack Russ in the House Sergeant at Arms office and eventually as Assistant Manager of the House Democratic Cloakroom. Since my freshman term in Congress, his has always been a friendly face and a trusted source of information about what is happening on the House floor. Tim has been an active and integral part of the last 16 sessions of Congress, and he deserves the highest respect and recognition.

Outside of work, Tim spends most of his time with his lovely wife Colleen and out on the golf course. I can speak for the rest of my colleagues when I say that we all look forward to hearing about his first hole-in-one.

Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Tim Friedman on his retirement after a remarkable career. We truly appreciate your hard work and dedication to our country, and I am sad to lose such an outstanding public servant and close friend.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of turn.

Mr. Speaker, today is the 162nd time that I have come to the floor during Special Orders to discuss the U.S. role in Iraq. Unfortunately, very little has changed on the ground in Iraq over the course of these last 3 years and 162 speeches. Unfortunately, also, official visits to the region by our administration and those who represent the United States of America must still be in secret because the area is so very, very violent.

Our troops increasingly face snipers, roadside attacks, ambushes, and improvised explosive devices, IEDs. Bombings continue to kill and wound nearly 100 Iraq civilians daily, and the country has slid into a civil war. One thing that has changed is this, the United States is now playing the role of occupier.

President Bush claimed that the U.S. would go into the Iraq conflict as a liberator. These days, the more accurate statement is that the United States is an occupier. Our brave men and women of the Armed Forces have not been trained or equipped for this very mission. They are doing the very best they can under the circumstances, but their civilian superiors have let them down. Right now, the best way to support our troops is to set forth a plan to bring them home.

In light of all of this, tomorrow several of my colleagues and I will introduce a bill that will revoke the President's Iraqi war powers. This legislation, the Iraq War Power Repeal Act of 2006, will return the war powers for Iraq back to Congress, back where our Founding Fathers intended.

According to the President, all major war combat was completed just 6 months after Congress authorized the use of force. In fact, he said this while standing aboard an aircraft carrier before a banner reading ``Mission Accomplished.'' Therefore, the United States has no longer been at war since that statement of his 6 months into the war, but rather carrying out an occupation with absolutely no end in sight. The American and the Iraqi people want the United States troops out of Iraq; they want them home where they belong.

Over the objections of many House and Senate Members 3\1/2\ years ago, the House voted to support the war in Iraq. We did not vote to support an occupation in Iraq. That is why our goal tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, is to have the congressional leadership allow an up-or-down vote on the occupation. I urge all of my colleagues to cosponsor the Iraq War Powers Repeal Act of 2006 to end this madness once and for all, to stand up for our troops, to bring them home