House News 5/16/08
"U.S. House"05/16/2008
Washington, DC -- May 16, 2008
House Passes Iraq Accountability Measures and a GI Bill for the 21st Century in Emergency Supplemental
Yesterday, the House passed legislation to begin redeployment of our troops from Iraq, repay our veterans for their service to our country, and strengthen our economy by extending unemployment insurance benefits.
House Democrats voted overwhelmingly to create strong oversight and accountability measures for the war in Iraq, and begin deployment of our troops. This part of the legislation requires that troops begin redeployment within 30 days, setting a goal of complete withdrawal by December 2009. It also ensures our troops have adequate time between deployments, and cracks down on military contractor fraud. This legislation requires that Iraq pays its fair share of reconstruction costs. It also prohibits permanent bases in Iraq, and bans torture by prohibiting interrogation techniques not in the Army Field Manual.
House Democrats also voted to create a GI Bill for the 21st Century that ensures our veterans have the right to an education when they return home. This part of the bill restores the promise of a full, four-year college education, and makes the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan part of the American economic recovery, just like the veterans of World War II were.
The bill further strengthens our economy by extending unemployment benefits for those whose benefits will soon expire. In April, America suffered the fourth straight month of job losses, totaling 260,000 job losses since the beginning of the year. More than one in every six Americans looking for work has been jobless for more than 26 weeks, the maximum number of weeks for receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits.
Though the House passed two of three amendments constituting the emergency supplemental bill, Amendment #1, which contained the funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, failed after 132 Republicans voted present, refusing to take a position. House Republicans showed that they refuse to pay for a war they support, and refuse to support our veterans when they come home.
Reversing the President’s 'Drill and Veto' Energy Policy
After the President refused to take action, the House and Senate worked quickly this week to pass legislation to lower gas prices by suspending deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The President should sign this bill into law.
Filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve takes 70,000 barrels of oil off the market each day, and a temporary suspension could reduce gas prices. The SPR has been tapped or suspended before by President Bush, President Clinton, and the first President Bush. In 2000, after such action, the price of oil dropped down by one-third – from $30 to $20 per barrel.
House Democrats are working both to bring gas prices down quickly and to promote long-term solutions for a clean energy future. Next week, the House will act on legislation that will extend and expand tax incentives to invest in renewable energy, creating the green jobs of the future, and revised legislation to allow the Attorney General to bring legal action against OPEC-controlled entities that are colluding to set the price of oil. The President should reverse his failed 'drill and veto' policies, and join the New Direction Congress in working to lower gas prices and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
Helping Americans With Rising Food Prices
The House and Senate passed a Farm Bill this week that will strengthen American agriculture to meet the needs of the United States and the world with a safe, stable food supply. This legislation will ease the strain of rising food prices for American families, increasing investments in nutrition programs that help 38 million families afford healthy food. It helps schools give healthy snacks of fresh fruits and vegetables to students, and updates the food stamp program to help 11 million people.
Time magazine recently reported that the Farm Bill will also help to reduce rising food costs by providing emergency assistance to farmers to help them get their food to market, cutting ethanol subsidies, and increasing support for food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens. The Farm Bill also helps ease food shortages around the world. It provides an additional $60 million to purchase food aid overseas, and an additional $84 million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program for infant, child, and school nutrition programs in underdeveloped countries.
The bill passed in the House by a veto-proof margin of 318-106, and in the Senate by a veto-proof margin of 81-15.