Congressman Roy Blunt Radio Address
February 16, 2007

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Transcript:

Hello, I'm Roy Blunt, House Republican Whip and Congressman from Missouri's Seventh Congressional District. This is the second in a new series of radio addresses by House Republicans outlining where we are on important issues facing our country.

This week the House of Representatives debated a Democrat-led, non-binding resolution to undermine the change in tactics proposed by General Petraeus and approved by President Bush.

The current situation in Iraq is unacceptable. We have lost brave men and women in this struggle against radical Islamic jihadists. The Iraqi government has not stepped up the task as we, and our allies, had hoped.

We can disagree on the next steps for fighting this war on Islamic totalitarianism, but we can all agree this is the challenge of our generation, and it deserved a serious debate this week.

Instead, we debated, as General Petraeus said, a resolution that would "discourage the troops", and, as the Secretary of Defense said, "embolden the enemy." This Congress should be doing neither of these things.

It's hard to imagine a group less capable of making tactical decisions about specific troop deployment than 535 Members of Congress. The resolution this week was about the exact number of troops on the ground in Iraq. What's next? Will the one tomorrow or next week be a vote on which block in Baghdad to target or which car to stop?

The language of the Democrats' non-binding resolution didn't tackle the tough issues of war. It tried to have it both ways: disapproving the tactics but supporting the troops. It didn't say we will fund the troops in the future or not fund the troops.

This resolution said just enough to not say anything at all, but Americans should see this move for what it really was - a political first step to cut off funding for the dangerous mission our troops face. We have already heard Democrat leaders calling the debate this week the "bark before the bite." That bite will surely hurt those fighting under America's flag overseas.

While there is no silver bullet to make our mission in Iraq easier, it is clear that cutting funding for our men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America is not a plan for ensuring stability in the Middle East. It is, however, a recipe for empowering our enemies and endangering our troops.

Thank you for listening.