The Omnibus Spending Bill

Rep. Maxine Waters [D-CA]: Mr. Speaker and Members, I would like to commend those who have worked so hard for so long to try and right the wrong of our occupation in Iraq. I would like to thank the leadership for all the attempts that they have made to try and engage people on the opposite side of the aisle and those who don't have enough courage to do the right thing.

We find ourselves here at a moment with an omnibus bill that we have had to support, and many people have many things in the bill that they would like to have back home. I understand that. But in the final analysis, we are never going to end this war until we stop feeding this war with the taxpayers' dollars after they have told us to bring our soldiers home.

I stand here today in support of our soldiers. I support them coming home. Young men and women are dying in Iraq, the victims of IEDs, not even knowing how to protect themselves. And they come home, and we have to struggle to make sure that they are taken care of, that their health care needs are met.

When are we going to come to our senses? We are fighting a war that we never should have been in in the first place. We are fighting a war where we were told there were weapons of mass destruction and there were none. We are fighting a war where we have contractors who are abusing civilians in Iraq. We have contractors who are stealing the taxpayers' money in Iraq. And yet we continue to nuance this debacle. We continue to say, I didn't understand. I didn't know. Well, let me make it perfectly clear.

There is $70 billion in this bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is fungible. We don't know how much of it is going to be spent where. But don't go away saying, I didn't understand, I didn't know, that is not what I intended to do. There is $70 billion here. If you don't want to continue this war, don't vote for this bill.

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