President Bush Radio Address 041407

Hey folks,

The following is President Bush’s Radio address this morning. I love the way he is starting to get a little more, well, Presidential. He is getting more and more forceful with those in Congress that have chosen a path toward our loss in Iraq. I’m just about out of time for right now, but fret not. I will be back later or tomorrow morning to comment on his words. For right now, here is The President of the United States, George W. Bush.



Good morning. This week I extended an invitation tocongressional leaders of both parties to come to the White House so we candiscuss the emergency war funding our troops are waiting for. When we meeton Wednesday, I look forward to hearing how Members of Congress plan tomeet their responsibilities and provide our troops with the funding theyneed.

Supporting our troops is a solemn responsibility of all electedofficials in Washington, D.C. So 68 days ago, I sent Congress an emergencywar spending bill that would provide the vital funds needed for our troopson the front lines. But instead of approving this funding, Democrats inCongress have spent the past 68 days pushing legislation that wouldundercut our troops. They passed bills that would impose restrictions onour military commanders and set an arbitrary date for withdrawal from Iraq,giving our enemies the victory they desperately want.

The Democrats' bills also spend billions of dollars on domesticprojects that have nothing to do with the war, such as funding for tours ofthe United States Capitol and for peanut storage. And after passing theseunacceptable bills in the House and Senate, Democratic leaders then choseto leave town without sending any legislation to my desk.

The Senate came back to Washington earlier this week, but the House isstill on its Easter recess. Meanwhile, our troops are waiting for thefunds. And to cover the shortfall, our military may be forced to considerwhat Army General Pete Schoomaker has called "increasingly draconianmeasures."

In the next few days, our military leaders will notify Congress thatthey will be forced to transfer $1.6 billion from other military accountsto make up for the gaps caused by Congress' failure to fund our troops inthe field. That means our military will have to take money from personnelaccounts so they can continue to fund U.S. Army operations in Iraq andelsewhere.

This $1.6 billion in transfer comes on top of another $1.7 billion intransfers that our military leaders notified Congress about last month. InMarch, Congress was told that the military would need to take money frompersonnel accounts, weapons and communications systems, so we can continueto fund programs that protect our troops from improvised explosive devicesand send hundreds of mine-resistant vehicles to the front lines. Theseactions are only the beginning, and the longer Congress delays the worsethe impact on the men and women of the Armed Forces will be.

I recognize that Republicans and Democrats in Washington havedifferences over the best course in Iraq, and we should vigorously debatethose differences. But our troops should not be trapped in the middle. Theyhave been waiting for this money long enough. Congress must now workquickly and pass a clean bill that funds our troops, without artificialtime lines for withdrawal, without handcuffing our generals on the ground,and without extraneous domestic spending.

When you live in Washington, it's easy to get caught up in thecomplexities of legislative procedure. But for the American people, this isnot a complicated debate. When Americans went to the polls last November,they did not vote for politicians to substitute their judgment for thejudgment of our commanders on the ground. And they certainly did not voteto make peanut storage projects part of the funding for our troops. The American people voted for change in Iraq, and that is exactly whatour new commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, is working to achieve.And they expect their elected leaders to support our men and women on thefront lines, so they have every resource they need to complete theirmission.

We owe it to the American people and to our troops and their familiesto deliver our full support. I will continue working with Republicans andresponsible Democrats to do just that. I call on Members of Congress to putpartisanship on hold, resolve their differences, and send me a clean billthat gets our troops the funds they need.

Thank you for listening.
END



SOURCE White House Press Office