Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning of the war, which is now an occupation, in Iraq, the Bush administration has not kept faith with our troops. Whether it was sending them into combat without the proper body armor or failing to provide wounded veterans with proper care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, this administration has turned its back on our brave men and women time and time again.

Another example of this outrageous mistreatment is the Pentagon's ``stop loss'' policy. A very disturbing article about ``stop loss'' appeared 3 days ago in the Chicago Tribune. Actually, it should be required reading for every single Member of this House. The article says:

``As the United States moves into its 5th year in Iraq and escalates troop levels there, the Pentagon has kept combat units manned by forcing as many as 80,000 soldiers to stay in uniform in war zones even after their enlistment obligations have been met or their retirement dates have passed.

``The policy, known as ``stop loss'' ..... has sparked ..... a spate of lawsuits and in backlash in the ranks.

`` ..... The vast majority of troops find that stop loss means one thing: Instead of beginning new lives in the civilian world, they are headed back to Iraq for their second, third, or even fourth combat tour, a practice critics say amounts to nothing less than an involuntary draft.

`` ..... Suzanne Miller, a Jacksonville lawyer whose son expects to be stop-lossed this summer, said, `I like ..... to call it indentured servitude ..... you have no control over your own destiny and are being forced, under threat of prison, to work for an employer you no longer want to work for.' ''

Mr. Speaker, it is time to stop mistreating our troops and the families who wait so patiently for their return.  We need bold action to bring our troops home.

Last month this House had the opportunity to take such bold action. We had a bill before us that would have fully funded a safe withdrawal of our troops and defense contractors starting within 90 days. This bill also would have provided for the social and economic reconstruction of Iraq so that the Iraqi people could look to their future with hope. And it would have supported diplomatic efforts and multinational efforts to restore security in Iraq. That plan of action made sense.

But instead of taking bold action, the Congress took the same old action and gave the President every single thing he wanted in the supplemental spending bill. There is no timetable for withdrawal, and the President doesn't even have to hold the Iraqi government accountable for failing to meet the benchmarks in the bill.

Mr. Speaker, every third grader in America is being held accountable for meeting his or her reading and math benchmarks under No Child Left Behind. We are demanding more from our 8-year-olds than the Iraqi government.

Mr. Speaker, the American people didn't send us here to go all wobbly in the knees and weak in the stomach when the moment of truth arrived. They sent us here to stand up to the President to end this war, and that is what we must do.

So let us begin to restore the good name of the Congress by overturning the original authority for the war. Congress didn't authorize this President to use U.S. troops to police a civil war, which is what Iraq has come to.

From here on, there must be one benchmark and one benchmark only. The orderly, fully funded, and fully protected withdrawal of our troops. They have done their duty. Now it is our time to do our duty for them.