Chairman Adam Putnam Radio Address
  April 27, 2007

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Transcript:

Hi, I’m Adam Putnam, I represent Florida’s 12th Congressional District, and I serve as Chairman of the House Republican Conference.

On Wednesday, I joined my colleagues in receiving a progress report from General David Petraeus, America’s commanding officer in Iraq.

The general gave a candid assessment of where we are in our efforts to eradicate the terrorists who threaten our security and the stability of Iraq’s fledgling democratic government.

Americans are right to be frustrated with how things have gone in Iraq, and the Congress certainly has a responsibility to ensure that the President and his commanders have in place the proper strategy for defeating militant Islamists.

But when the time comes for our brave men and women in uniform to get the resources and reinforcements they urgently need, we can all agree that partisanship should not stand in the way of our duty to be shoulder to shoulder with our troops in harm’s way.

And yet this week -- for the third time in a month -- Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to send our soldiers those funds along with a pink slip informing them that their surrender date has been certified by the U.S. Congress.

It is an abdication of leadership for Democrats in Congress to send the President an emergency troop funding bill that contains a date for surrender, especially when they know full well it will have a veto stamp on it before the ink on the parchment is dry.

Washington Democrats freely admit that they would rather use our troops to make a hollow political statement than support them in their efforts to defend our freedom – and that’s not just unfortunate, it’s irresponsible.

But it’s good news for the enemy. It’s good news for the enemy when the top Democrat in the United States Senate, Harry Reid, says “the war is lost.” And when he says that, he is also declaring al-Qaeda the victor.

Senator Reid says his remarks were directed at the President – but that’s the problem with Washington Democrats today – they focus on the way their words and deeds travel down Pennsylvania Avenue when, as General Petraeus put it, what matters is the message lawmakers send to our allies, our enemies, and to quote him directly, the men and women in uniform who are giving their all for this effort.

It took just a few hours for Senator Reid’s remarks to become the top story on al-Jazeera’s Web site, as e-mails came pouring in from our troops in Baghdad.

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Jason Nichols wrote of Harry Reid’s remarks, saying, Your words are killing us. Your statements make the Iraqis afraid to help us for fear we’ll leave them unprotected in the future.

That is simply unacceptable. Lieutenant Nichols’ message reminds us why it is well past time for Washington Democrats to put aside political rhetoric and work with Republicans to ensure that our troops have not just the funding they need, but the support and strength they deserve.