Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
September 24, 2003 -- Page: S11881

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I heard and appreciate Senators Lott, Sessions, and McConnell speaking this morning about the importance of what we are doing in Iraq. We are preparing in the Senate to take up a supplemental appropriations bill at the request of the President to try to make sure we do two things:

First and foremost, to give support to our troops in the field. I visited them in the middle of August. I have seen how they live, and I have seen what they are doing. They deserve to have the troop support which allows them to do the job--the equipment, the living conditions, and troop protection. Everything we can do to allow them to do their jobs more effectively we are going to do. That is what the major part of this supplemental appropriations will do. We are going to support our troops in the field.

The second thing the President is asking for is money to rebuild Iraq. We will not be able to rebuild Iraq if we continue to have the ongoing terrorist attacks that tear down everything we have built. So we want to go in there with a full plan to get the electricity grid going, to get the water supply going, and to try to start building the economy by rebuilding the oil infrastructure.

We are going to support the President in his request. I have no doubt about it. We must win this war, and we must win the peace. We must stabilize Iraq if we are going to keep the terrorists out of our country and stop them where they are.