Signing of the Iraq Supplemental the following statement was made by Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) concerning the passage of H.R. 2206, the fiscal 2007 war supplemental:

The passage of the Iraq Supplemental was a moment that the world watched closely. The original Democratic Leadership bill brought before the House was coupled with a withdrawal deadline for our troops. I opposed this concept, and spoke against on the House floor.

For over one hundred days, the original bill, clearly a mistake, took up time of the Congress, and hurt the work of our men and women in the theater. I voted against it. My belief was that every member of Congress had to answer two fundamental questions: Is it in our broad national interest to win this fight? And secondly: Can we prevail, and thus have an ally in the country of Iraq, assisting in the goal of stability in the Middle East?

For me, the answer to these two questions is yes. And a real bill should have been on the table, a bill without deadlines. Deadlines undermine.

Further, if one's answer to these two questions was no, one should demand to bring the troops home now, and assert that a time line is worthless. Only the truly cynical would say we cannot win, and thus should withdraw sometime next year.

The Democrats offered a weak bill, with a troop withdrawal deadline, that promptly failed. So 109 days after President Bush submitted a funding request to Congress to provide for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democratic leadership conceded and a new bill emerged without a deadline for troop withdraws.

The Democratic Leadership owes the American people an unambiguous version of their vision for stability in the Middle East. To date they have not been forthcoming.

But still, the Democrats managed to go on a spending spree on domestic issues not remotely related to the intention of the bill. While the conservative in me is irate about that maneuver, the larger priority in my mind was to fund and support our troops. I voted in favor of the final Iraq Supplemental legislation that is now law. The Democrats plan to continue to do what they can to undermine the effort. I frankly do not understand their rationale. Let us be serious about the fight we are in, or bring our guys home.

My belief, based on briefings and time in both countries: we are moving ever closer to the date in which our military can hand off their responsibilities to Iraqi security forces. I pray that common sense, and a sense of our country’s moral obligation defines and leads our legislation that supports this mission, not politics.

The following statement was made by Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) concerning the passage of H.R. 2206, the fiscal 2007 war supplemental:

“The passage of the Iraq Supplemental was something that the entire world watched closely. The original bill brought before the House was saddled with a withdrawal deadline for our troops, of which I opposed and spoke against on the House floor.

“Introduced months ago, the original bill was clearly a mistake. I voted against it. I took to the House Floor on several occasions to denounce the bill. I commented that every House member has to answer two fundamental questions: Is it in our broad national interest to win this fight? The second question: Can we prevail and provide a modicum of security in the country of Iraq? For me, the answer to these two questions is yes. And that a real bill should be placed on the table without a deadline. I stated that if you answered no to both, you should demand to bring the troops home and that a timeline was worthless. But the Democrats offered a weak bill with a troop withdraw deadline that promptly failed.

“So 109 days after President Bush submitted a reasonable request to Congress to fund the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democratic leadership conceded and a new bill emerged without a deadline for troop withdraws. But still, the Democrats managed to go on a spending spree on domestic issues not remotely related to the intention of the bill. While the conservative in me is irate about that maneuver, the larger priority in my mind was to fund and support our troops. I voted in favor of the final Iraq Supplemental legislation that is now law.

“The Democrats plan to continue to do what they can to bring the war effort down. It is my hope that as we move closer to the date in which our military can hand off their responsibilities to Iraqi security forces, that common sense and a sense of our country’s moral obligation defines and leads our legislation that supports that mission, not politics.”