Madam Speaker,  I wish to express my support for H.R. 4156, the Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, which will begin the redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq, strengthen our military and enhance our national security.  By passing this measure, the House of Representatives is, yet again, sending a clear signal to the President that we need a new course in Iraq.

Though I opposed the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, I later voted for numerous supplemental appropriations bills to ensure that we provided sufficient equipment and resources for our troops.  They have done an amazing job in undertaking a difficult and changing mission, and they deserve nothing but the full support of the nation and its leaders.  However, nearly five years after our initial invasion of Iraq, the best way to support our troops is to bring them home.  In May of this year, I voted against the supplemental appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007 because it gave the President far too much authority to continue a war that had been repeatedly mismanaged by the civilian leadership at the Pentagon. 

Unfortunately, six months later, very little has changed.  The underlying causes of violence in Iraq, which are ethnic and sectarian in nature, have not been addressed.  In September, the Government Accountability Office found that the Iraqi government had met only three of eighteen Congressionally-mandated benchmarks for legislative, economic and security progress.  These problems cannot be solved by U.S. military force, and we should not expect our troops to be involved in a civil war.  We need to shift our forces from combat operations and redeploy them out of Iraq while we refocus our nation’s efforts on fostering a political reconciliation among Iraq’s tribal, ethnic and religious groups to end the violence.

The bill before us today provides a blueprint for ending the war and bringing our troops home.  It requires the President to begin redeployment of troops immediately, with a goal of completing redeployment by December 2008.  It also shifts our forces away from a combat mission to focus on force protection, counterterrorism efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces.  Furthermore, it prohibits the deployment of U.S. troops that are not deemed fully mission capable.  This provision is particularly important because our men and women in uniform have faced repeated deployments with insufficient rest and training time, and we must take bold steps now to prevent our military being strained to the breaking point.  Our readiness levels are already dangerously low because of operations in Iraq, which endangers our national security in the event of a national disaster, a terrorist attack or some other contingency. 

H.R. 4156 recognizes that we need a new direction in Iraq and does not give the President a blank check to maintain the status quo.  For that reason, President Bush has threatened to veto the measure.  I am deeply disappointed that he is so out of touch with the American people and their priorities.  He has requested nearly $200 million to continue operations in Iraq with absolutely no strings attached, while he ignores pressing needs here at home.  On Tuesday, he vetoed the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2008, claiming that it was too expensive.  Operations in Iraq have cost a total of more than $450 billion, yet the President is unwilling to invest $10 billion in priority areas such as medical research, elementary and secondary education, Pell grants, health services to underserved populations, and heating assistance to low-income Americans. 

While it is not a perfect bill, H.R. 4156 is an important step to force a fundamental shift in our Iraq policy and to bring our troops home.  I would have preferred to see an earlier deadline for troop redeployment, and I have cosponsored legislation with that goal.  Nevertheless, a vote for H.R. 4156 is a vote for change, and I thank my colleagues for supporting it.