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Stabenow Supports New Direction for Iraq

Senator Stabenow took to the Senate floor to express her support for the emergency supplemental appropriations bill and to urge President Bush to listen to the American people’s call for a change in course in Iraq. The bill provides resources for our troops, as well as critical funding needed here at home, including funding for veterans’ healthcare, assistance to hurricane victims, emergency funding for our children’s health insurance program, disaster relief for our farmers, energy assistance, and addresses other critical needs for American families.

Mr. President, this legislation represents the best opportunity for us to change the course in Iraq as well as protect our troops and our veterans and to give them what they need now.

Unfortunately, the President has put our troops in the middle of an Iraqi civil war, and we know this to be true. People in my great state know that this is true. ... The American people are paying a huge price for this war, most importantly in lives. Not only in terms of family members lost, but people coming home with permanent disabilities, with head injuries, with mental health problems. There is a huge price that is being paid by Americans for what is occurring and has been occurring. We’re also paying a huge price in dollars, $10 billion a month right now. And when we look at the fact that we could fund a program to cover every child with health care in America for $10 billion a year- one month in Iraq- we know that while the lives are the most important issue, that resources for Americans to address our needs here at home are also a critical issue. And we also know that we are paying a huge price as it relates to our own security interests.

A majority of Americans, a bipartisan majority in Congress, military experts, and the Iraq Study Group believe that the war cannot be won militarily and that the current path is not sustainable. The supplemental appropriations bill recognizes that it’s long past time to change course. The American people know that. That’s really what last November was about. People want a change. They know this isn’t working. It’s not sustainable. And they expect us to step up together and make that change.        

This bill fully funds our troops. We are passing a bill, agreed to by the House and the Senate, that fully funds our troops and provides a plan to responsibly end the war and bring them home safely. I don’t know what more we could ask of a proposal. We are providing the resources and also putting in place a responsible way to provide benchmarks and measurements and bring an end to the war.

Our bill holds the Iraqis accountable for securing their own nation and forging political reconciliation. We know more of the same, more surges, more efforts that have been tried and tried all- time after time- are not working and I don’t believe can work. But what can work is holding the Iraqis accountable for securing their own nation and making the very tough decisions that you have to make when you want to have a democracy. It’s not easy. We know that. They’re in a very difficult situation. But it is their country and they need to step up and make those decisions and bring all parties together and find some way to be able to live together.
Our bill ensures our troops are combat ready before being deployed to Iraq. I can’t imagine that there’s one individual in the armed services or one mom, dad, brother, sister, son or daughter of a combat troop that would not want us and doesn’t expect us already to be making sure that our troops are combat ready before being deployed. And it provides them with all the resources needed on the battlefield and when they return. And we are very committed. And, in fact, we are very, very proud of the fact that in our budget resolution passed a few weeks ago, for the first time, we meet the dollars needed for veterans’ health care and other critical veterans’ services identified by the veterans’ organizations themselves. It was the first time ever that we put the dollars in that are needed when our troops are coming home.

A presidential veto will deny our troops the resources and the strategy they need and send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqi political leaders. We hope the President will join us in giving our troops the resources and strategy they need and that they deserve. That’s what this bill is about. After more than four years of a failed policy, it’s time for this nation to change course and Iraq to take responsibility for its own future.

Mr. President, this is a good bill that we’re going to have in front of us. Overall, it provides more than $100 billion for the Department of Defense, primarily for continued military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It includes a $1 billion increase in the National Guard and reserves for equipment desperately needed and $1.1 billion for military housing. It provides $3 billion for the purchase of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, vehicles designed to withstand roadside bombs. And how many times- every day we pick up the paper and see where more lives have been lost or injured as a result of roadside bombs.
          
It contains more than $5 billion to ensure that returning troops and veterans receive the health care that they have earned with their service so that we don’t ever, ever have to have a Walter Reed incident. It has $6.9 billion for the victims of hurricane Katrina and hurricane Rita as well, because we know that when we’re doing an emergency supplemental, just as in every other year when our colleagues were in the majority as well as when we’re in the majority, there are a number of emergency needs for the country.

One thing in the supplemental has been funding the troops. We’ve added funding for veterans and also understand that there are some critical needs here at home, critical needs that Americans have here at home. And certainly we all know that the resources and the focus on those families who were hit by the hurricanes have been shamefully slow in going to that region to rebuild American communities, American homes, and to support American families.

Our bill does that. It also provides emergency funding for the children’s health insurance program. Because we have a number of places in the country where the resources are running out and we want to make sure children can continue to get health care. That’s an emergency here at home. Ask any family that’s worried about whether or not their children are going to get sick tonight. Say a little prayer, “Please, God, don’t let the kids get sick because what are we going to do.” Our bill addresses children’s health care and emergency funding.

It also includes homeland security investments totaling $2.25 billion for port security and mass transit security for explosives detection equipment at airports and for several initiatives in the 9/11 bill that recently passed the Senate.

I’m very proud of the fact that we finally passed- and our new majority placed a priority passing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Long overdue but is was a priority for us to do in the first few weeks of our new majority and we did it. And now we have resources that need to go with that. It’s not enough just to pass the recommendations. You have to make sure the resources are there to keep us safe at home. So, yes, this is a supplemental bill to support our troops abroad, to support their efforts while they are in combat, but we also know we have folks on the frontlines at home. Our police officers and firefighters and others, have security needs here, and we addressed that.

We also know, Mr. President, that there have been a group of folks waiting for way too long for some disaster assistance related to agriculture, including in my home state of Michigan, where apple and cherry growers have been waiting. $3.5 billion is provided to help relieve the enormous pressure on farmers and ranchers as a result of severe drought and agricultural disasters.

Again, this is about helping people here and helping people at home. Putting Americans first when we know that there’s a disaster, whether it’s hurricane Katrina, whether it’s the cherry growers in Northern Michigan. Our job is to also focus on our people here and their emergency needs.

The agreement also includes funding for forest fire fighting, low-income home emergency assistance, and pandemic flu preparations, which we should all be concerned about- again, critical needs for American families. And finally, there are other items in this bill that are good for workers and small business. The bill has an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, giving hard-working Americans a much deserved raise after 10 years, 10 years. And it provides almost $5 billion in tax cuts for small businesses as well. We know the majority of jobs come from small business. This supports their efforts as well.

So I would say, Mr. President, I would say to President Bush, sign this bill- sign this bill. This is a bill that funds our troops, that keeps our commitments to our veterans, that addresses other American priorities for our communities and our families.

Mr. President, if you do, we will change course in Iraq, give our troops the equipment they need and the health care they deserve, and provide much needed investments here at home in America. Mr. Bush, President Bush, if you veto this bill, you’re denying funds to the troops in the field and going against the wishes of the majority of the American people.

It’s time for the administration to stop saying no to troops and no to the American people. We need the President to say yes to working with us, to supporting our troops and what they need, which this legislation does, to support the American people, American families, and critical emergency needs here at home, and to put in place a strategy for success, a real strategy for success, by focusing on efforts that empower and send a message to the Iraqi government to step up while we are willing to support them. We will not continue to send our brave men and women to the middle of a civil war day after day after day and continually say it’s ok, everything is going well. It’s not going well. It’s time for a new strategy, and we’ve put forward a strategy in a very responsible way in this legislation, along with meeting our obligations and responsibilities to our troops, our veterans, their families, and to America as a whole.

Mr. President, I hope that when President Bush reads this bill, and I hope he will, I hope he’ll read the bill, look at what is in here with an open mind, and agree with us that this is a bill that makes sense for America- at home and abroad. Thank you, Mr. President.