Madam Speaker, next Monday is Memorial Day, when we honor the sacrifices of the men and women who have died in our Nation's wars. The American people will remember our fallen heroes in many, many ways. We will pay tribute in our houses, in our houses of worship, in our community centers, in our veterans' buildings, and in our cemeteries. There will be family gatherings. There will be parades. Veterans will hold memorials across this Nation, and countless Americans will simply bow their heads and say a silent prayer of thanks.

Sadly, there are more fallen heroes to remember this year. Since Memorial Day last year, 394 of our brave troops have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by this time next year, I fear there will be more brave dead to remember and more military families who will be grieving; but Memorial Day should be more than a time to remember the bitter harvest of war. It should be a time for our Nation to seek peaceful alternatives to war so that no more of our brave troops will die. That's the best way to honor those who have given their lives for their country.

To accomplish this, however, we must make the military option the very last option that we would choose when we develop our national security policies. We've tried the military option. Where has it gotten us? We're still bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our foreign adventures have cost us over $1 trillion so far, and they have contributed to the economic meltdown that we're experiencing now. In Afghanistan, anti-American feeling is spreading, and it has become a major recruiting tool for those who would harm our country.

I know that these problems were dumped into President Obama's lap when he came into office, and I know that he is a peacemaker. On Monday, in his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, he called for talks with Iran, and he called for a two-state solution to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I applaud him for both of those positions, but I voted against the supplemental funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan because it will only continue the policies of occupation, the policies of war that have failed us.

Instead, I urge my colleagues to support a different approach, an approach that will give us a real chance to succeed. I call this approach ``Smart Security Platform for the 21st Century.''

The Smart Security Platform would help to eliminate the root causes of violence in the world by increasing economic development aid and debt relief to the poorest countries. It would further address the root causes of violence by supporting conflict resolution, human rights, and democracy-building.

It calls for the United States to work with the international community to promote diplomacy and to strengthen international law.

It calls for reducing weapons of mass destruction, and it calls for reducing conventional weapons by supporting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions. It calls for adequately funding the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program to secure nuclear materials in Russia and in other countries and to reduce nuclear stockpiles.

It would invest in renewable energy to end our addiction to oil and to stop the flow of hundreds of billions of dollars to irresponsible regimes.

It includes strategies to strengthen international intelligence and law enforcement to capture individuals involved in violence, while respecting at the same time their human and civil rights.

Madam Speaker, Smart Security will show the world that America stands for peace once again. It will help protect the lives of our brave troops, and it will keep our country safe and free. That is the best way to honor the memory of our fallen heroes on Memorial Day.