A TALE OF TWO REPUBLICAN DISASTERS: STARK OPPOSES FUNDING FOR IRAQ

March 16, 2006

Mr. Speaker,

I rise today to tell a tale of two Republican disasters, the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina. It is a story with no best of times, only the worst of times. This tale is why I oppose the Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 4939).

The main characters in my story are an incompetent President and a corrupt Congress. The setting is an America desperate for honest leadership. But the plot involves lies and cover-ups. The problem is misplaced priorities. But the solution is not this supplemental, which provides another $67.6 billion for a failed war but only $19 billion to help the victims of Katrina.

The first disaster, the Iraq War, was predicated on lies. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, had never attempted to buy uranium from Niger, and was not about to welcome American soldiers with open arms.

An incompetent President failed to prepare America for the postwar period. As a result, looting of stores and museums began shortly after the United States military gained control of Baghdad. Months later, sectarian violence has pushed Iraq to civil war, with Shiite militia and security forces clashing with Sunni citizens and insurgents.

Yet our troops remain in Iraq and in harms way. Two American soldiers and 40 Iraqi soldiers and civilians are killed every day. As long as we stay in Iraq, the insurgency will continue, even as the so-called Iraqi democracy experiment goes nowhere. Three months after parliamentary elections, the Iraqi parliament has yet to form a government.

Finally, large Republican donors including Halliburton have looted the American treasury. Using their connections to secure no-bid contracts for services in Iraq, these firms overcharge American taxpayers and underserve our troops. All the while, Republicans’ blind allegiance to the President causes them to write blank checks, throwing good money after bad at a war that is making America less secure.

The second disaster was the Republican response to Hurricane Katrina. Several days before Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the President was briefed on the severity of the storm and the likelihood levees would be breached. But after failing to cut short his extended vacation to help with the response, the President told ABC News and the American public he was not advised the levees were likely to collapse.

After years of underfunding levee construction and maintenance, Republicans attempted to shift the blame for the disaster and the inadequate response onto state and local officials. But it was President Bush who nominated unqualified campaign hacks to head FEMA and congressional Republicans who rubber-stamped the appointment of Michael Brown.

As a result of insufficient preparation and incompetent administration, tens of thousands of hurricane victims went without adequate food, water, and shelter in the storm’s aftermath. Six months after Katrina, relief workers are still finding bodies of victims.

In an attempt to atone for their sins, the Republicans have finally brought forth additional legislation to help Katrina victims. But in a pathetic and transparent attempt to prevent full debate on the disastrous Iraq War, President Bush’s Republican cronies in Congress combined two supplementals into one.

Although I support additional funding for hurricane victims, I cannot vote for a supplemental that appropriates 74 percent of its funds, or $67.6 billion, to a misguided Iraq war on which we have already wasted $350 billion – and the lives of 2310 American soldiers and at least 37,000 Iraqi citizens.

It is time to tell a new tale, about bringing home our troops and rebuilding homes for Katrina victims. Let’s get this Iraq monkey off our back and supplement housing rather than Halliburton.

I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill, and help me to tell a new tale about American successes rather than Republicans disasters.