Walberg Weekly Wrap-Up 7/20

Press Release

WALBERG WEEKLY WRAP-UP-7/20

This week Democratic Senators decided to hold a public relations stunt and keep the Senate awake all night to "debate" the Iraq War. In reality, the Democrats just wanted publicity for their plan to surrender in Iraq now.

Democratic leaderships rolled in cots that ultimately never were used, ordered pizza late at night and delivered care packages with a mocking message to Republican Senators, all for a little time on television.

What an insult to the men and women actually making sacrifices and serving our country in Iraq.

All of us want our troops to come home safely, and I, as much as anyone else, want this war to be over. But as I have said before, I support timelines and benchmarks, but we should not announce withdrawal schedules to our terrorist enemies. I cannot support any resolution that says the leaders of our country no longer believe our troops can come home victoriously. It tells other nations that we are an unreliable ally, and they can no longer count on us in times of distress.

To date, America has captured or killed over 2/3 of the Al-Qaida network that planned and executed the 9-11 attacks. Unfortunately, new Al-Qaida forces are attempting to make a foot hold in Iraq.

We must carefully review the consequences of failure. A complete surrender will leave Iraq engulfed in sectarian violence and bring the front line in the war on terror back to U.S. soil.

In September, General David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, will report on the effectiveness of the new strategy that was fully implemented three weeks ago.

Congress needs to give Gen. Petraeus, who was approved unanimously by the Senate, a chance to fully implement his new strategy instead of telegraphing a surrender date to terrorists.

Farm Bill Update

Throughout the week, I spent the majority of my time in Agriculture Committee meetings ironing out the details on the 2007 Farm Bill.

Late Thursday night, the committee passed a bi-partisan Farm Bill that makes historic investments in conservation, nutrition and renewable energy while maintaining a strong safety net for America's farmers.

Additionally, for the first time, the 2007 Farm Bill provides assistance for the fruit and vegetable industry.

This is my first Farm Bill, and as a freshman member, serving the people of south-central Michigan truly is both an honor and a privilege. Agriculture is the leading industry in our district, and passage of this bill will be very important to farmers and agri-business across south-central Michigan.

Restricting Funding to Planned Parenthood

This week during debate on the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill, I supported an amendment that would prohibit Title X federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood.

As the single largest abortion provider in America, Planned Parenthood performed 264,943 abortions in 2005. It received over $300 million in federal Title X family planning funds in 2006 and received over $660 million from 1997 to 2001.

Planned Parenthood provided 265,000 abortions in 2005, and taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize the largest abortion provider in the United States.

The U.S. currently prohibits federal funds from going to abortion providers overseas, yet Congress continues to provide federal funds to subsidize the largest abortion provider in the United States.

It is not the role of the federal government to support organizations that extinguish the fundamental right to life of unborn human beings.

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