| Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Bill Shuster signed a petition to have H.R. 511, legislation introduced by Vietnam Veteran and former POW Rep. Sam Johnson discharged from the House Armed Services Committee and sent to the House floor for a full vote. Johnson’s legislation would prevent Congress from cutting off funding from US troops engaged in fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq. Democrats have been blocking consideration of this key legislation.
“If Democrats truly want an honest debate on the war and want to support our troops then they should let us vote on this bill,” Shuster said. As long as our troops are engaged in the War on Terror, Congress must support them. Taking the bullets from our soldier’s guns, the fuel from their HUMVEES, and the body armor from their backs is not a strategy, it is negligence.”
Shuster signed the discharge petition to prevent cutting funding from our troops as the House is set to consider a war supplemental funding bill this week. The Democrats’ plan now headed to the floor includes language that takes the first steps in cutting funding from our soldiers in the field and would tie the Commander in Chief’s hands. Representative Johnson’s bill presently has 176 cosponsors, including Congressman Shuster. A discharge petition needs 218 signatures to force a vote in the House of Representatives.
“The Democrats’ emergency war spending bill is a mix of convoluted benchmarks, timelines and red tape that will bind the hands of our commanders in the field and micromanages the War on Terror,” Shuster said. “Our enemy waits in the shadows to attack our troops and innocent civilians. Giving them a date certain for a precipitous withdrawal does nothing but signal to the terrorists that they can melt back into the shadows and wait until we leave to resume their reign of terror.”
“If you really want to bring the troops home safely and soon, give them money for bullets and bullet-proof vests so they can finish the mission and return home. Just because it’s the politically popular idea of the moment, don’t hamstring our troops and make them fight with one arm tied behind their backs,” said Sam Johnson, sponsor of H.R. 511.
“I was in Vietnam when Congress pulled the plug on funding the troops. It was a complete disaster and why we lost that war. If we don’t learn from history, we only have ourselves to blame,” Johnson concluded.
In a March 13th editorial, the Washington Post blasted the Democrats’ war supplemental saying that “the only constituency House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ignored in her plan for amending President Bush's supplemental war funding bill are the people of the country that U.S. troops are fighting to stabilize. The Post went further saying: “in short, the Democratic proposal…is an attempt to impose detailed management on a war without regard for the war itself.”
House Republican Leader John Boehner supported the petition saying; “led by Rep. Sam Johnson, House Republicans are sending another clear message to American troops this week: You have not quit on the American people, and we will not allow Congress to quit on you or your commitment to achieving victory in this war.”
“The Johnson bill will bind the Congress to a firm and permanent funding commitment for all American troops fighting in combat. I am proud to sign this discharge petition with Sam today, and urge my colleagues to do the same,” Boehner continued.
“Withholding funds from our troops and setting timetables for retreat is no way to manage a war. Politicians can grandstand and make speeches from the safe confines of the Capitol to support such a proposal, but our troops will suffer for it. We cannot and should not bear this price simply to score political points,” Shuster concluded. |
