Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, the Vietnam War is widely regarded as one of the most brutal conflicts our young service members have faced to this day. With such brutal conditions abroad and dwindling support within the United States, the Vietnam War left an indelible mark on our nation, and most importantly, on the people who served. One man to experience these effects was Mr. Clifton James Coward, Jr., of Washington, North Carolina. I rise today to honor him.

Known as C.J. to his friends, Clifton was a happy and outgoing person when he was younger. Unfortunately, by the time he returned home following his tour in Vietnam, his world was flipped upside down.

C.J. served in the military from 1967 to 1970, completing one tour in Vietnam. As a Specialist 4th Class in the U.S. Army, he was a part of a New Equipment Training (NET) team and was the operator/gunny attached to a Sheridan M551 tank. One of the hardships the group faced while fighting was that they traveled so quickly throughout the country. Letters that their loved ones sent often wouldn't arrive until after they had moved on to a new location.

Unfortunately, by the time his tour was over and C.J. was discharged, he had developed anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. This greatly exacerbated other health problems, which arose later in his life. Having married Lola Woolard after returning to the states, C.J. dealt with emphysema and episodes of anxiety that led to his wife driving him around into the early hours of the morning to help calm him down. Even throughout the hardships, the couple was happily married for 48 years. The two of them have lived in my district for 45 of those 48 years. C.J. was a proud father to Lynn and Kylie Coward Carter and a grandfather to Lucas and Lily Carter. After his service, he continued supporting his family by preparing bread trays, that way he could avoid the stress of your typical 9 to 5 job and he was able to work at his own pace.

The effects of Vietnam are still felt by many, just like Clifton. Despite never returning to the same happy, outgoing young man he once was, he always tried to keep a smile on his face and was a dear friend who will be missed by many. May God continue to uplift his family.

Mr. Speaker, in the last couple of weeks, the effort to declassify the 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Report into the 9/11 attacks has received a lot of media attention, mainly because of Zacarias Moussaoui's recent comments exposing the financial link between the Saudi royal family and al Qaeda.

In 2002, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by Senator Bob Graham, and the House Committee on Intelligence, chaired by Congressman Porter Goss, released the Joint Inquiry report into the 9/ 11 attacks. In a political move, the Bush administration then classified 28 pages of the report even though the contents of those 28 pages posed no national security risk to the United States. Rather, the contents of those 28 pages are probably embarrassing for the Bush administration. Senator Graham has repeatedly called for the 28 pages to be declassified as a result.

I have read the 28 pages and cannot divulge what is in them, but I can say that the contents deal with relationships. Senator Graham has openly said that the 28 pages deal with the Bush administration's relationships with the Saudis. My colleagues Congressman Stephen Lynch from Massachusetts and Congressman Thomas Massie from Kentucky, who have also read the 28 pages, have joined me in introducing H. Res. 14, to urge the President to keep his word to the 9/11 families and declassify the 28 pages, which he could do with a stroke of a pen.

The movement to declassify the 28 pages is picking up momentum. Just last week, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich tweeted his support for declassifying the 28 pages to 1.5 million of his followers. All of the principal players in producing the reports on the 9/11 attacks have called for the declassification of the 28 pages-- Senator Bob Graham, Senator Richard Shelby, Congressman Porter Goss, Congressman Tom Kean, and Congressman Lee Hamilton. I urge my colleagues to submit to the House Intelligence Committee a request to read the 28 pages and to join me, Congressman Lynch, and Congressman Massie in supporting H. Res. 14 as a cosponsor.

Mr. Speaker, it is time that the 28 pages are declassified. The 9/11 families have a right to this information in the 28 pages, and the American people deserve to know the truth about what caused the 9/11 attacks. For more information on this effort to declassify the 28 pages, visit 28pages.org.

May God continue to bless America, and may God continue to bless our men and women in uniform.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that my colleagues would agree that we have many needs in our districts. For example, my district has an inlet that cannot be dredged, which causes an economic problem. And the reason it cannot be dredged is because of lack of funds. We continue to spend billions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there is no money for necessary infrastructure projects back here in North Carolina and across the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, I have been outspoken on the continuation of war in Afghanistan. I would like to recite a segment from Rudyard Kipling's poem, ``Epitaphs of the War,'' as Ron Paul did when we went into Iraq: ``If any question why we died, tell them because our fathers lied.''

Mr. Speaker, a recent letter to the editor of the Marine Corps Times echoed the same sentiment. Bryan Chou wrote:

``Remember the part I said about ending the Marines'

presence in Afghanistan? I lied,'' said every politician.

I assume Mr. Chou was referring to the President's recent statement that the war in Afghanistan is over.

How can the war be over when we just committed to a 10-year bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan to keep thousands of troops there while spending millions of dollars? The Afghan Parliament voted on the bilateral security agreement while we in Congress had no discussion and no debate.

According to the Constitution, the President does not need to come to Congress for permission on an agreement, but I think we have a responsibility to the American taxpayer and our men and women in uniform to discuss an agreement that will keep more taxpayer dollars and more troops in Afghanistan in the coming years.

Just a couple of weeks ago the Marine Corps announced that the marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina's Third District, which I represent, are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. When does it end, Mr. Speaker? When does it end?

I would like to quote Grant Filbeck from Erie, Pennsylvania, who wrote a letter to the Marine Corps Times last week about Afghanistan:

I believe in the mission 100 percent, but we have given the

Afghans the tools to succeed, and it's up to them to use

them. We have been in the country for more than 13 years.

That is ridiculous. We have spent so much money funding these

guys. If the Afghans want to fight for their country, then

they will, or the Taliban will take over without much of a

fight.

These two men whose letters I referenced are marines who have been to Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, this is a poster from a book titled, ``How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban.'' It was written several years ago by Douglas Wissing. It is a great expose on how the taxpayers' money ends up in the hands of the Taliban, to kill Americans and to blow up the buildings that we built for them with taxpayer money.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, we owe it to the American people, our military, and our Constitution to debate war. As James Madison wrote: ``The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.'' I agree with James Madison and urge the Congress to meet its constitutional duty to debate war and not let any President have an AUMF to send our young men and women overseas to die and see the taxpayers' money wasted.

May God continue to bless our troops, and may God continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, let me quote from Roger Simon in a recent article, titled, ``Down the Opium Rathole.'' Mr. Simon writes about Afghanistan:

If you spent 13 years pounding money down a rathole with

little to show for it, you might wake up one morning and say,

``Hey, I'm going to stop pounding money down the rathole.''

Unfortunately, the United States Government does not think

this way.

Mr. Speaker, last week we passed a $585 billion bill known as the defense bill, with a large percentage of that money going into overseas contingencies: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. I question how much damage this bill causes our military Active Duty and our retirees.

Let me quote from Lori Falkner Volkman, a former prosecutor and spokesman for the Keep Your Promise Alliance, an online coalition of military families and organizations. She said: ``This is the second Christmas in a row that national leaders have tried to cut military pay benefits. Earned benefits should not even be on the table when entitlement budgets soar and appropriations budgets are billions of dollars over budget.''

I did not vote for the NDAA bill. It was 1,648 pages, and we did not have enough time to read and comprehend the contents of the bill. In a recent article in the Jacksonville Daily News regarding my ``no'' vote on this bill, Mike Hayden, a retired Air Force colonel and present director of governmental relations for the Military Officers Association of America, known as MOAA, said: ``An E-5 servicemember would lose more than $800 in purchasing power annually when the bill takes effect. This is going to cost them a loss of about $600 a month just in pay.''

In the same article, Jim Davis, a retired marine who now lives in Jacksonville and serves as a senior vice commander of the local DAV chapter, said the cuts could adversely affect military families.

Charlie Brown, a quartermaster for the VFW post in Jacksonville, agreed with Mr. Davis and said the bill doesn't accurately reflect what servicemembers actually deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote James Madison. James Madison wrote: ``The power to declare war, including the power to judge the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.''

Mr. Speaker, for too long, we have not had policy debates on the floor of this House, whether it be Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan. When I look at the waste, fraud, and abuse in Afghanistan, I want to say to the Active Duty in the military and the retirees, I regret so much that the Congress is not debating the issues that we should be debating based on our constitutional duties.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to quote Pat Buchanan. Pat says: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' I repeat: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' Mr. Speaker, that is so prophetic. And I thank Pat Buchanan for trying to wake up Congress before it is too late.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have a poster beside me with Uncle Sam. And Uncle Sam says: ``I want you to understand that if you can't afford to take care of your veterans, you can't afford to go to war.'' That, again, is what Pat Buchanan is saying.

Mr. Speaker, those of us in Congress in both parties need to understand that we have a constitutional responsibility to not commit our young men and women to fight and die and be wounded unless we debate the policy on the floor of the House.

And with that, Mr. Speaker, I ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform and their families, and please, God, continue to bless America.

I thank Ms. Foxx for putting this together. Tonight is a sad night, but a very special night, I think, for those of us who have had the privilege to know Howard Coble as long as I have. We go back to 1983, when I was a freshman Democrat in the North Carolina House of Representatives and he was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives as a Republican. Why we met, I don't know, but eventually we became pretty good friends at that point. He then left the North Carolina House and came to Washington, D.C., and my father, Congressman Walter Jones, Sr., was chairman of the Merchant Marine Committee. Mr. Coble, who came from North Carolina, was on that committee because he is a former member of the Coast Guard. He was a natural because of the work they did on that committee. My father became a friend of Howard Coble's. Then I came to Washington, Mr. Speaker, as a Republican, and we have been friends for many years.

This man, to me, is very special as a human being. I heard Mr. Price say the ``dean,'' but I call him the ``leadah'', l-e-a-d-a-h. Mr. Coble likes to tell people that is because those of us from eastern North Carolina don't know the word ``leader'' ends in e-r instead of a-h. I did that because at the time we became the majority in 1995, it was a change in the House, for sure, and there was a Democrat for a number of years, and Mr. Coble, being the kind of man he was, said, ``No, I don't want to be called the dean. As long as he's here in Congress, I want him to remain the dean.'' I think that says a heck of a lot about who this person is. So, Mr. Speaker, I decided that he should be known as the ``leadah,'' and therefore many people in the House of Representatives from both parties call him the ``leadah''--some with a northern accent, some with a west coast accent, but it still sounds the same.

For me, personally, this night is sad because I have spent many nights in the last few years where Mr. Coble and I have had dinner together at the Capitol Hill Club reminiscing about yesterday but also thinking about today. For me, this is a personal relationship that is like family, quite frankly. For me to know that I have been reelected for another term and to know that Mr. Coble will go back home and enjoy the love and affection of the people of Greensboro, it still is sad for me personally. I do think that he has given so much not only to the State of North Carolina, but to our Nation. He has been a very effective leader of the House. He has been a great legislator. He has been able to get things done in the Judiciary Committee and other committees. He will always be remembered in my heart as a member of my family.

To you, Howard Coble, I love you as a brother in Christ. You are a special man who has given so much to not only North Carolina, but to America. You will always remain a member of my family. God bless you, sir.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his leadership on this amendment even though I cannot support it. All I can say is, here we go again, committing our resources--both troops and money--to a conflict that can easily become a war without end.

ISIS is more an immediate threat to the Middle East than to our Nation. Where is the greater Middle East commitment to combat this threat? Why are they not providing the greater commitment of resources to defend their own countries? Is it not ridiculous that the United States borrows money to buy friendship, to buy arms, and to train those who could today be our friends but tomorrow be our enemies?

A former commandant of the Marine Corps recently asked me this question, and I now ask the House of Representatives: Are we simply arming and training another Taliban? That is from a former commandant of the Marine Corps.

We all agree this is a difficult and challenging issue, but a strategy with no end state is a failed strategy, and I am concerned that the commitment we make today will become an ongoing commitment for which we truly do not grasp its consequences until it is too late. That is what my concern is and the concern of the American people.

I think about the $1.7 trillion we spent in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think about the 4,000 Americans who gave their lives, the 30,000 wounded, the 100,000 Iraqis who were killed--and here we go again. I don't care if the President is a Democrat or a Republican. This is a failed policy, and it will be proven to be a failed policy.

I close with this, Mr. Speaker. I listened to Mr. Rangel very carefully. This is a quote from Pat Buchanan: Is it not an act of senility to borrow from the world to defend the world?

It is absolute senility.

Mr. Speaker, to begin my short statement today, I would like to read you a recent headline from The Washington Times: ``Golden Hammer: U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghan soybean project.'' The first few sentences of this report read: ``Call it the great American soybean heist, the latest tale of U.S. taxpayer abuse to emanate from Afghanistan. Despite clear evidence that Afghanistan's arid soil was a bad place to grow soybeans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $34.4 million tying to establish the crop in that country, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction.''

Mr. Speaker, here we go again, talking about the waste, fraud, and abuse of American resources in Afghanistan.

Yesterday I spoke on the House floor in memory of three members of the United States Army who died as a result of their service in Afghanistan. The deaths of these three men represent my greatest concern with our servicemembers continuing to remain in Afghanistan: that more and more of our men and women in uniform will be killed and wounded.

The loss of life and limb is far more important than the money that is being wasted. However, Mr. Speaker, our country is in a dangerous financial situation.

In addition to the soybean report, I want to read three more headlines that accentuate the waste of our taxpayer money in Afghanistan. From CBS News: ``Is the Pentagon wasting taxpayer money in Afghanistan?'' From the Center for Public Integrity: ``The U.S. military was no match for Afghanistan's corruption.'' And from the World Affairs Journal: ``Money pit: The monstrous failure of U.S. aid to Afghanistan.''

Mr. Speaker, how much more can the poor American taxpayer continue to spend on a failed policy in Afghanistan? I cannot emphasize enough that we have children, senior citizens, and veterans here at home that desperately need our assistance, yet we run out of money for their programs because we refuse to make cuts to the funds that are being funneled overseas, and especially in Afghanistan.

I say to the administration and to Congress that it is time to fix America's problems, not Afghanistan's problems, and not the world's problems.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want, again, to mention the three Army soldiers who were killed last week on July 25: Staff Sergeant Benjamin G. Prange, PFC Keith M. Williams, and PFC Donnell A. Hamilton, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, beside me, I have poster after poster of the cost of war. As a young kid named Tyler Jordan--this is actually from 2003, our early days in Iraq, a very unnecessary war--his father was a gunny sergeant named Phillip Jordan, and he was killed, and here is Tyler being given the flag that was folded after it was taken off his father's grave.

I don't know how many of these three names I just mentioned--I know one family, he had two little girls, maybe they got a folded flag--but it is time for Congress to wake up.

There is no need to have our young men and women overseas giving their life and limb and to see the money wasted overseas in fraud, waste, and abuse when we can use it right here to fix America's problems.

Please, God, continue to bless our men and women in uniform; and please, God, continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, this past Friday was a monumental day in the House of Representatives as we finally had a debate on the merits of sending U.S. troops back into the conflict in Iraq.

Again, I thank the House leadership and the Foreign Affairs Committee leadership for working with Representatives McGovern, Lee, and myself to bring H. Con. Res. 105 to the floor, and I thank the 370 Members who voted in favor of this resolution.

H. Con. Res. 105 states very simply:

The President shall not deploy or maintain United States

Armed Forces in a sustained combat role in Iraq without

specific statutory authorization for such use enacted after

the date of the adoption of this concurrent resolution.

Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that we will have other debates on the Constitution and the role of Congress in deploying our military, including a debate on repealing both the 2001 and 2002 AUMF.

There is no decision more important than a vote to commit a young man or woman to war to potentially give their life for our country. That is one reason that I am opposed to President Obama's decision to allow U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan. While he says that we are withdrawing our troops, the fact remains that 32,800 members of the American military remain in harm's way in Afghanistan at this very moment.

We have all read and heard the reports from Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko, which details rampant waste, fraud, and abuse of American resources.

We in Congress continue to propose cuts to domestic programs that assist our veterans, children, and senior citizens, yet there are no cuts to the money that is being funneled overseas to prop up a corrupt Afghan regime.

One would think that we would learn from history. No amount of blood or treasure will change Afghanistan. It is what it is, like it or not. It is what it is.

As I close, I want to mention three members of the Army who died on July 25 as a result of their service in Afghanistan. I also want to thank ABC News for faithfully honoring our fallen servicemembers. The names of the three fallen Army members are Staff Sergeant Benjamin Prange, PFC Keith Williams, and PFC Donnell Hamilton.

Why, you may ask, do I continue to speak against the war in Afghanistan? Because American servicemembers are still dying.

Mr. Speaker, I have a poster beside me on the floor today that probably gives a better example of war than even I do with my words. It is a little girl holding the hand of her mom as the United States Army is getting ready to start the caisson. The little girl is wondering why her father is in the casket draped by an American flag.

These are the costs of war. We must always carefully consider where we are going to send our young men and women overseas to fight and give their life.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I will close by asking God to please bless our troops, God to please bless the families, and for God to continue to bless America.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the House is debating H. Con. Res. 105. I want to thank the Republican leadership for working with Mr. Jim McGovern, Barbara Lee, and myself and our staffs to get this language so that we could debate it today.

As James Madison said: ``The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.''

Unfortunately, we in Congress have for too long abdicated our constitutional responsibility to authorize the use of military force.

This began, for me personally, with my vote for the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, which is one of the biggest regrets during my tenure of Congress in voting for that.

With that vote, we gave up our constitutional authority on one of the most important decisions a Member of Congress can make: the decision to send American men and women into war to possibly die.

Madam Speaker, it is my hope that one day, we in Congress will repeal the 2001 and the 2002 AUMF. Until that time comes, I believe that today represents a strong step toward reclaiming the constitutional power that we each have and are entrusted with, to make decisions about going to war or declaring war.

I cannot emphasize enough that no decision is more important for a Member of Congress than a vote to send young men and women to fight and to die for our country.

The main text of this resolution is simple. The President shall not deploy or maintain United States Armed Forces in a sustained combat role in Iraq without specific statutory authorization.

Madam Speaker, this is what Madison meant when he said, ``The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.''

The legislature is us, the Congress. This is a monumental step toward reclaiming our constitutional authority.

In closing, I want to thank Representatives McGovern and Lee and all my friends in both parties who have fought with me for the right of Congress to declare war. For years, we have been calling for a debate on the floor of the House with regard to the use of our military.

I also want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel and their staffs for this opportunity today.

May God continue to bless our troops, their families, and may God continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor again to talk about the waste of American taxpayers' money in Afghanistan.

Just last week, we in the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, along with other DOD officials, regarding the Department's request for an additional $58.6 billion to be used overseas, primarily in Afghanistan.

While speaking to Mr. Work, I mentioned the following three headlines, which, I believe, accurately describe the American situation in Afghanistan: the headline from CBS News, ``Is the Pentagon wasting taxpayer money in Afghanistan?''; from the Center for Public Integrity, ``The U.S. military was no match for Afghanistan's corruption''; then from the World Affairs Journal, ``Money Pit: The Monstrous Failure of U.S. Aid to Afghanistan.'' All of these reports detail a shocking misuse of the American taxpayers' dollar with little to no accountability.

My question to Mr. Work was this:

How can the Pentagon, in good conscience, request this

money given the waste, fraud, and abuse that we continue to

see with American resources in Afghanistan?

Mr. Speaker, this is money that we could be using right here in America to care for our many wounded veterans, to rebuild our country, our schools, our roads, our infrastructure, and yet, every day, we continue to spend billions and billions overseas with, as I said earlier, just little accountability.

As my good friend Pat Buchanan has said: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' Let me repeat that one more time: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?''

I would even insert the word ``stupidity'' instead of ``senility,'' and it would sound this way: ``Is it not a symptom of stupidity to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?''

Mr. Speaker, beside me, I have a poster of a young Army soldier who lost both legs and an arm. This was from the front page of our Raleigh paper, Mr. Speaker--the News & Observer--about 5 years ago. Why do I have it on the floor today? Four weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed at Bethesda. I saw three Army soldiers from Fort Bragg, which is not in my district, but I chatted with them. All three had lost one leg in Afghanistan. My main purpose of going to Walter Reed was to see two marines from Camp Lejeune who had been severely wounded, but I thank God I had a chance to talk to the three soldiers and to thank them for their gift of their legs for our country.

As I went over to the young marine from Camp Lejeune, who was 23, he was like this soldier in the poster. The young marine had lost both legs and an arm. I looked in the face of his father, who probably was 50 or 51 years of age, and all I saw was pain and worry and trouble in the eyes of the father because, like this young soldier who had lost both legs and an arm, you can only hope the best for their futures.

The second marine I saw from Camp Lejeune had stepped on a 40-pound IED and had lost both legs. He has a wife--I did not meet her--and an 8-month-old baby girl whom I did not meet, but he was very proud of his wife and his child. I wonder what his future is going to be? I can only hope the best--that God will look after all of these men and women who have given so much for our country.

It brings me back to this, Mr. Speaker: Congress needs to have debates and to stop wasting money in Afghanistan, because it costs our soldiers and their families so much--the lives, the limbs--and there is nothing we have to show for it but pain and a waste of money.

May God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, and I want to thank him for being a leader on bringing to the floor of the House not only this resolution asking for a vote about bringing our troops home from Iraq, but also the way that he speaks about the fact that 17 million American children go home at night hungry. That is another issue, I understand that, but it all ties in.

When we continue to not debate whether we should be sending our young men and women to die, we are shirking our constitutional responsibility that we, in this Congress, have raised our hand to swear that we will uphold the Constitution of the United States, but we don't do that, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to war, and I blame myself.

In 2003, I bought the lie that was told by the previous administration about the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had and how he was going to use that against the American people.

That misinformation that was given by the previous administration caused us to go into Iraq, and I voted to give the President at the time--President Bush--the authority to bypass the Constitution.

It is called the AUMF, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and I regret that and will until the day I die because I gave up my constitutional responsibility to debate and to vote on whether we should go to war or not, and that was the constitutional responsibility of this Congress and of me being a Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I have beside me a poster of a funeral. It is a military funeral where a soldier has given his life for this country. His wife is there with her sunglasses on, holding the hand of her little girl who can't quite understand why her daddy is dead, why her daddy is in a flag-draped coffin.

That is why we need to be on this floor, as Mr. McGovern and Ms. Lee have said, to debate whether we continue to allow the President--in this case, President Obama--to use the War Powers Act to send our troops into Iraq, and yet, we sit here idle.

We don't even hardly debate the issue of war when we are going to pass millions and billions of dollars to be spent by our military overseas. It does not make any sense.

I want to say about my own side, I regret that my side, the Republican Party, we have become the war party now. It is not so much the Democrats who were the war party during the Vietnam war. Now, it is the Republican Party.

I am a great supporter of Pat Buchanan. I love his position on foreign policy and his many articles. This is from a recent article that he wrote. Pat Buchanan says:

It is astonishing that Republicans who threaten to impeach

Obama for usurping authority at home remain silent as he

prepares to usurp their war powers to march into Syria and

back into Iraq. Are Republicans now prepared to sit mute as

Obama takes us into two new Middle East wars on his own

authority?

This is what Mr. McGovern and Ms. Lee and I are trying to say. It is time that this Congress start speaking out. We listen to the American people when it comes to war, and the American people are tired. They are worn out.

A recent survey actually said that 71 percent of American people said that the first intervention in Iraq was wrong. It was a mistake. It should never have happened, and yet that is why I admire you, Mr. McGovern, and Ms. Lee and the others who are willing to speak out on this.

Just a couple of other points I want to make--people always say those who wrote the Constitution, they maybe really better understood more than we do, and yet they didn't have the sophistication that we have today in the wars that we fight, but that brings me to a letter from George Washington to James Monroe:

I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation

has a right to meddle into the concerns of another, that

everyone has the right to form and adopt whatever government

they like best to live under themselves.

That is George Washington in 1796, in a letter to James Monroe. Again, I think about the fact that I, along with other Members of Congress, gave away my constitutional right to declare war when we gave to President Bush the authority to use military force.

That in itself is something, again, being repetitive for just a moment, I will always, always regret.

Another quote, this one by James Madison, and this is Mr. McGovern's point:

The power to declare war, including the power of judging

the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the

legislature.

We are the legislature. It is our responsibility to meet our constitutional duties. Mr. McGovern, I have signed over 11,000 letters to families and extended families in this country since we went into Iraq because I have asked God to forgive me for listening to the misinformation and the distortions by the previous administration to go into Iraq.

That is my pain, and I will live with that pain.

I am on the floor with you today--and Ms. Lee who has already spoken--to say thank you for taking the lead in trying to force this Congress to have a debate.

I am not going to restate what Pat Buchanan has said, but I will say to my own side many times: Why do you sit idly by when you complain about Mr. Obama and spending, spending, and we have already spent $1.5 trillion in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we are still spending money in Afghanistan?

We will for 10 more years because of a bilateral strategic agreement, but what we are trying to do today is to say that we are not going to make another mistake in Iraq.

That is why I am pleased to join with you today in this effort to make the American people aware that we do care. We want the American people to contact the Members of Congress and say join in this concurrent resolution, this privileged resolution, to bring a debate to the floor of the House.

Mr. McGovern, thank you very much.

I want to pick up on a few things you said just a few minutes ago.

Iraq is in total chaos. It is kind of ironic. In 1983--I found a photograph of Donald Rumsfeld who was a special envoy sent by President Reagan to thank Hussein for what he had done to try to defend Iraq against the Iranians.

That brings me to where we are today and why this resolution that you have sponsored is so important. I have the former Commandant of the Marine Corps who, for the last 6 years, has been my adviser on Afghanistan, simply because I don't have the military background, and he is a very dear friend of mine.

I emailed him a week ago and asked him:

What do you think about all of these advisers going to

Iraq, something you were just talking about?

He emailed me back and he said:

We should not put boots on the ground.

He further stated:

It is a Middle East issue that needs a Middle East

solution, not more troops.

That is why, again, your resolution, and our resolution needs to be debated.

A couple of other points, very quickly--after I found out that I had been misled with the first war in Iraq, I contacted Lieutenant General Greg Newbold because he wrote an article for Time magazine. I want to read just a little bit of it very quickly.

General Greg Newbold was director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 to 2002 and describes himself as ``a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq, an unnecessary war''--Mr. McGovern, unnecessary war.

He wrote an insightful editorial for Time in April 2006 titled, ``Why Iraq was a mistake.'' I want to share a paragraph from his article because it is so appropriate of what we are trying to do today and what we are trying to do with this resolution to force Congress to meet its constitutional responsibility about sending our young men and women to die.

In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem

``Won't Get Fooled Again.'' To us, its lyrics invoked a

feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those

ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and

then mismanage the conduct of it.

He further stated:

Never again, we thought, would our military's senior

leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to

an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the

judgment is in: The Who had it wrong. We have been fooled

again.

We were fooled to go into Iraq.

I am with you. I know Mr. Obama came out against the Iraq war--and I want to thank him for doing that--when he was a Senator, but you are right, it is not the administration we are talking about today. It is the role of Congress and our lack of fulfilling our constitutional duty.

One last point, very quickly--four weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed hospital. I was told that two marines from Camp Lejeune in my district had been severely wounded, so I went to Walter Reed hospital.

As I go into the area where they teach them how to walk without legs, on prosthesis--they teach them how to use the artificial limbs to pick up a spoon--I met three Army guys from Fort Bragg, which is not in my district, but in North Carolina. All three had lost one leg each, each one of them.

Then, Mr. McGovern, when I went over to meet the young marine from Camp Lejeune, 23 years of age, and he is on what they call an exercise mat about 3 feet off the floor--he has lost both legs and an arm. I never will forget his father's eyes.

They were the saddest eyes I have ever seen on a man in my life. I saw pain. I saw worry. Here is his son, both legs gone and one arm gone, 23 years of age.

The second marine that I saw from Camp Lejeune had lost both legs by stepping on a 40-pound IED in Afghanistan.

The more that we have troops in Iraq, the longer they stay, there will be someone killed or wounded before it is over.

That is why your resolution--that is why it is necessary for my party, the Republican Party, to stop being the war party and being the party that wants to defend the Constitution. My party needs to allow us to have this debate that you have introduced.

As I leave, I want to thank you for giving me a little bit of this time today. I want to thank you for your friendship. I want to thank you for what you do for America. I want to thank you for what you do for our military. I want to thank you for what you are trying to do for the House of Representatives to say we have an obligation.

No kid should ever die again if the Congress is not willing to follow the Constitution and demand a declaration of war and have that debate and that vote, so I thank you so much for giving me this time, and may God continue to bless our men and women in uniform.

Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor today because I believe that Congress must put an end to the waste of American lives and taxpayer dollars overseas.

Recently, President Obama requested $500 million to train and arm Syrian rebels. In his editorial, ``Congress Can Stop Obama's Ramp Up to War,'' Pat Buchanan made an excellent point, saying:

Before Congress takes up his proposal, both Houses should

demand that Obama explain exactly where he gets the

constitutional authority to plunge us into what the President

himself calls ``somebody else's civil war.''

Buchanan goes on to comment:

Syria has not attacked us. Syria does not threaten us. Why

are we joining a jihad to overthrow the Syrian Government?

Mr. Speaker, Iraq is another country in which America has again become involved to the detriment of our best interests.

A former commandant of the Marine Corps, who has been my adviser for the past 6 years, stated in a recent email to me, ``We should not put boots on the ground.'' He went on to say that the situation in Iraq is ``a Middle East issue that needs a Middle East solution,'' not more American troops.

Unfortunately, there are currently 750 American boots on the ground in Iraq, with authorization from the President for up to 770 in the future.

As our involvement in Iraq escalates, I am reminded of another important point made by Pat Buchanan:

It is astonishing that Republicans who threaten to impeach

Obama for usurping authority at home remain silent as he

prepares to usurp the war powers--to march us into Syria and

back into Iraq.

Last August, Americans rose as one to tell Congress to deny Obama any authority to attack Syria. Are Republicans now prepared to sit mute as Obama takes us into two new Middle East wars on his own authority?

Mr. Speaker, Marine Lieutenant General Greg Newbold wrote an insightful editorial for Time in April 2006, titled, ``Why Iraq Was a Mistake.'' From 2000 until 2002, General Newbold was director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and describes himself as ``a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq--an unnecessary war.''

In closing, I would like to quote a paragraph from General Newbold's editorial regarding the distortion of intelligence that drew America into the Iraq war in the first place:

In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar war

anthem, titled, ``Won't Get Fooled Again.'' To us, its lyrics

evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly

while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into

another one and then mismanage the conduct of it.

Never again, we thought, would our military's senior

leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to

an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the

judgment is in: The Who had it wrong. We have been fooled

again.

Those are sad, sad words. We have been fooled again.

Mr. Speaker, we in Congress have the responsibility, based on the Constitution, to never get fooled again, but too many times we do not uphold our constitutional rights. I believe the words of Pat Buchanan and Greg Newbold articulate the many reasons that no President should bypass Congress and the Constitution to send our military into combat.

Mr. Speaker, before closing, I have a photograph from the Greensboro News-Record. Here we go again in setting up our men and women in uniform that possibly could get killed in a foreign country. Mr. Speaker, this is a group of Army soldiers bringing a flag-draped coffin off of a plane.

Please, God, don't let us forget that those in uniform are our children, and we must protect them by meeting our constitutional responsibility.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform, please bless the families of our men and women in uniform, and please, God, continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, shortly before the July Fourth break, we had three marines from Camp Lejeune, which is in my district, who were killed during combat operations in Afghanistan: Staff Sergeant David H. Stewart, Lance Corporal Brandon J. Garabrant, and Lance Corporal Adam F. Wolff. May I, at this time, extend my deepest sympathy to the families of these three brave marines.

Mr. Speaker, recently much attention has been given to the chaos building in Iraq. However, we must not forget that there is still chaos in Afghanistan.

In June of this year, I visited Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. I met three soldiers from Fort Bragg who had lost one leg each in Afghanistan. I met two marines from my district at Camp Lejeune.

One marine, 23 years old, had lost two legs and an arm. His father, from Louisiana, was standing beside his exercise mat, which is about 3 or 4 feet off the ground. To look in the eyes of the father, to see the pain, the sadness, and the worry about the future of his 23-year-old son, I cannot describe today on the floor of the House. I don't know the words to describe the pain I saw in the eyes.

Then I went to see the second marine from Camp Lejeune, who in February of this year stepped on a 40-pound IED and lost both legs. I could only look at him and hope for the best as he told me about his wife and his 8-month-old baby girl.

Mr. Speaker, beside me today, I have the photograph on this poster of two young ladies whose father was Sergeant Kevin Balduf, stationed at Camp Lejeune. The little girls' names are Eden and Stephanie. They are standing at the grave site of their father.

Sergeant Balduf and Colonel Palmer--Sergeant Balduf, again, was stationed at Camp Lejeune and Colonel Palmer at Air Station Cherry Point, which is also in my district in eastern North Carolina--were sent to Afghanistan to train Afghans to be police officers. The night before Sergeant Balduf and Colonel Palmer were killed, Sergeant Balduf emailed his wife, Amy, and said, ``I don't trust them. I don't trust them. I don't trust any of them.'' The next day, he and Colonel Palmer were shot and killed by the Afghans they were trying to train.

Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan is not worth the treasure or the blood that has been spent there over the last 12 years. We have no more business thinking we can change the Middle East, because history has proven Afghanistan and Iraq will never change, no matter what. Iraq was an unnecessary war. It was manufactured intelligence by the previous administration. It was an unnecessary, unjust war where 4,000 Americans were killed, 30,000 were wounded, and 100,000 Iraqis were killed themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I will close today by quoting a man for whom I have great respect, because he and I agree on our foreign policies. His name is Pat Buchanan:

Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the

world so we can defend the world?

We in Congress continue to spend money over in Afghanistan--and now Iraq--from money that we borrow from other countries. It makes no sense.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I say to Stephanie and Eden: Your father was a hero. He will never be forgotten.

I will say to all the families and the children of those who lost loved ones: Your loved ones will never be forgotten. They have done so much for this country.

May God continue to bless America and may God continue to bless those in uniform, and may God continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, last week, I voted against the Defense Appropriations bill because of $79.4 billion included it included in OCO funding.

During the amendment process, I joined many of my colleagues in both parties in voting to stop funding the war in Afghanistan after 2014.

Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in this effort, and I am on the floor of the House today because the American people are frustrated with the administration and with Congress for continuing to spend taxpayer money overseas in unnecessary military interventions. I share this frustration with the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the House an article in the Daily Journal Online titled ``No End for Afghanistan's War on the United States Taxpayer''--``No End for Afghanistan's War on the United States Taxpayer,'' which states:

John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for

Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, may have taken

Uncle Sam and shaken him by the lapels last month, but the

media missed it. Americans, however, need to hear how Sopko,

in an address at the Middle East Institute in Washington,

D.C., laid out why Afghanistan remains ``relevant''--and a

cause for outrage--for every U.S. taxpayer and policymaker.

In short, Afghanistan is on life support, and Joe Citizen is

its permanent IV.

These are the words of John Sopko. This article goes on to say:

SIGAR, on the job since 2008, has produced 118 audits and

inspection reports and made 23 quarterly reports to Congress.

Nothing seems to penetrate the Capitol dome, however.

Mr. Speaker, this brings me to a quote by Pat Buchanan, with whom I agree strongly on foreign policy issues:

Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the

world, so we can defend the world?

How appropriate a statement is that? We are a debtor nation that has to borrow money every year to pay the debts of our own Nation, and we borrow money to spend overseas in foreign areas. It makes no sense.

That is why I am so disappointed that, last week, we were unable to put a stop on the waste, fraud, and abuse of the American taxpayer money in Afghanistan.

Now, when we also must consider the collapse of Iraq, I am reminded of a quote from our country's first President, in a letter from George Washington to James Monroe, and I quote Washington:

I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation

has a right to intermeddle in the concerns of another, that

everybody has a right to form and adopt whatever government

they liked best to live under themselves.

Mr. Speaker, beside me is a poster of military carrying the casket of an American soldier killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I bring this to the floor because, this past weekend, we had three marines from Camp Lejeune--which is in the district I represent, the Third District of North Carolina--three marines in the engineering battalion in Afghanistan helping to build roads in Afghanistan. The three were shot and killed.

That is why I continue to join my colleagues, and both parties come to this floor and to say to the Congress: you are not listening to the American people, the American people are sick and tired of their sons and daughters dying in foreign lands, borrowing money from the Chinese to pay for that development in those foreign lands, and we continue to have more and more losing their life and their limbs.

It is time for the Congress to listen to the American people. They are the ones that elect us to come here to represent their views and their interests, and we are not listening to them as it relates to Afghanistan.

I pray for our men and women in uniform, their families, and pray for the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Two weeks ago, I went to Walter Reed Hospital. I was told that two of my marines from Camp Lejeune had been severely wounded in Afghanistan. The first marine I saw was 23 years of age. He had lost both legs and an arm. His father was there from Louisiana, and I saw pain, I saw worry, I saw sadness in his eyes. The second marine I saw had stepped on a 40-pound IED and lost both legs. He was telling me about his little 8-month-old daughter and his wife. They were not there, but I heard that.

I know that these service dogs are making a difference in the life of the wounded, whether it be mental or it might be physical. This $3 million, when we are spending billions in Afghanistan, it would be a sin and a shame if we cannot find the $3 million to put into this program to make sure that those who have given so much have a little bit of support and a little bit of pleasure in having a loving animal that has been trained to give support to that person that has given so much for this country.

I hope that this amendment will be accepted.