Press Releases

(May 22, 2014) - Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern attempted to get a vote in the House of Representatives on his amendment regarding the war in Afghanistan.  Below is his statement:

M. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this rule, which fails to make in order the bipartisan McGovern/Jones/Smith/Garamendi/Lee amendment on Afghanistan.

And I ask unanimous consent that the text of my amendment be printed in the record following my remarks.

M. Speaker, ours is a very straightforward amendment.  We worked very hard to make it thoughtful, bipartisan and germane.

It reiterates the President’s commitment to complete the transition of U.S. combat and military and security operations to Afghan authorities by the end of this year;

It requires the President to send to Congress by the end of March next year a determination that describes the mission, duration and level of troops of any post-2014 deployment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan; and

The Congress then has 30 days to enact a joint resolution to approve the President’s determination.

In the event that Congress votes against the President’s determination, then the remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be withdrawn in a safe, orderly and expeditious manner – taking into consideration the security of U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel.

Last year, 305 members of this House voted in support of an amendment calling for just such a vote.

But under this rule, those same Members will be denied the opportunity to make sure that the President presents clearly to Congress what he intends our troops to do in Afghanistan after the end of this year and for how long.  And that Congress will respond either by approving the President’s plan or not.

I don’t know how a vote on our amendment would turn out.

But here’s what I do know.  I know that the men and women who will be asked to serve, and perhaps to die, in Afghanistan deserve a debate and a vote.

I know that the American people, who have spent billions and billions of dollars on this war deserve a debate and a vote

And I know that this Congress has not only the right, but the RESPONSIBILITY to make our views known on this important issue.

We are at war, M. Speaker.  I know that some of my colleagues would rather not think about that.  They would rather the issue of Afghanistan would just go away.

But wishing and hoping doesn’t make it so.

This is already the longest war in American history.  The American people are tired of it.  Our troops and their families have been stretched to their very limits. We have lost over 2,000 service members and spent almost $800 billion.

What in the world is the Republican Leadership afraid of, M. Speaker?

Last night, some of my Republican colleagues told me that they were refusing to make this amendment in order because they didn’t want to upset the President.

Are you kidding me?

Since when does this Leadership care one iota about upsetting the President?  We can vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act over 50 times, we can have investigation after investigation after investigation about Benghazi, but we can’t take 10 minutes to debate on the War in Afghanistan?

Give me a break.

I know in their heart of hearts, many of my Republican colleagues agree with me.  So I’m going to give them one more chance to do the right thing.

M. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to include my amendment calling for a vote on keeping troops in Afghanistan after 2014 and that this amendment receive 10 minutes total debate like every other germane amendment made in order under the rule.

###