[Peace-discuss] What "antiwar" Dems should have said but didn't

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Ron Paul on the War Funding Bill

[On June 15, Rep. Ron Paul gave the following speech in opposition to the 
Democrats’ new $106 Billion war funding bill, after it was sent back to the 
House from the conference committee. (The bill passed Tuesday evening.)]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this conference report on the War 
Supplemental Appropriations. I wonder what happened to all of my colleagues who 
said they were opposed to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder 
what happened to my colleagues who voted with me as I opposed every war 
supplemental request under the previous administration. It seems, with very few 
exceptions, they have changed their position on the war now that the White House 
has changed hands. I find this troubling. As I have said while opposing previous 
war funding requests, a vote to fund the war is a vote in favor of the war. 
Congress exercises its constitutional prerogatives through the power of the purse.

This conference report, being a Washington-style compromise, reflects one thing 
Congress agrees on: spending money we do not have. So this “compromise” bill 
spends 15 percent more than the president requested, which is $9 billion more 
than in the original House bill and $14.6 billion more than the original Senate 
version. Included in this final version — in addition to the $106 billion to 
continue the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — is a $108 billion loan guarantee to 
the International Monetary Fund, allowing that destructive organization to 
continue spending taxpayer money to prop up corrupt elites and promote harmful 
economic policies overseas.

As Americans struggle through the worst economic downturn since the Great 
Depression, this emergency supplemental appropriations bill sends billions of 
dollars overseas as foreign aid. Included in this appropriation is $660 million 
for Gaza, $555 million for Israel, $310 million for Egypt, $300 million for 
Jordan, and $420 million for Mexico. Some $889 million will be sent to the 
United Nations for “peacekeeping” missions. Almost one billion dollars will be 
sent overseas to address the global financial crisis outside our borders and 
nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a “potential pandemic flu.”

Mr. Speaker, I continue to believe that the best way to support our troops is to 
bring them home from Iraq and Afghanistan. If one looks at the original 
authorization for the use of force in Afghanistan, it is clear that the ongoing 
and expanding nation-building mission there has nothing to do with our goal of 
capturing and bringing to justice those who attacked the United States on 
September 11, 2001. Our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan does not make 
us safer at home, but in fact it undermines our national security. I urge my 
colleagues to defeat this reckless conference report.

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/06/16/ron-paul-on-the-war-funding-bill/