Washington, DC – As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote this week on a bill to change course in Iraq, U.S. Representative John Hall (D-NY19) gave the following statement on the House floor this morning: 

 

"A recent CRS report shows that the United States is now spending $10 billion a month fighting the war in Iraq.  That’s over $2 billion a week.

 

And what does the American taxpayer get for this $10 billion a month? 

An Army nearly broken by repeated deployments, a National Guard that is unready and unable to respond to natural disasters or terrorist attacks at home because many of our men and women are in Iraq and most of their equipment is, an escalation in Iraq that has resulted in more death and little reduction in violence, an Iraqi government that is unable to govern, and Iraqi security forces that refuse to fully stand up.

 

The war in Iraq has cost every man, woman, and child in my district $3,077.

 

For over $3,000 a person, the people in my district have gotten a war that was a strategic mistake and has made them less safe.

 

It is time we end this war."

 

The legislation that will be up for a vote later this week, sponsored by Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, would begin the responsible redeployment of U.S. troops within 120 days and complete redeployment by April 1, 2008.  The President would have to report to Congress why troops should remain in Iraq for limited purposes such as to fight terrorism or to train Iraqi forces.

 

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