Mr. Speaker, today is the 162nd time that I have come to the floor during Special Orders to discuss the U.S. role in Iraq. Unfortunately, very little has changed on the ground in Iraq over the course of these last 3 years and 162 speeches. Unfortunately, also, official visits to the region by our administration and those who represent the United States of America must still be in secret because the area is so very, very violent.

Our troops increasingly face snipers, roadside attacks, ambushes, and improvised explosive devices, IEDs. Bombings continue to kill and wound nearly 100 Iraq civilians daily, and the country has slid into a civil war. One thing that has changed is this, the United States is now playing the role of occupier.

President Bush claimed that the U.S. would go into the Iraq conflict as a liberator. These days, the more accurate statement is that the United States is an occupier. Our brave men and women of the Armed Forces have not been trained or equipped for this very mission. They are doing the very best they can under the circumstances, but their civilian superiors have let them down. Right now, the best way to support our troops is to set forth a plan to bring them home.

In light of all of this, tomorrow several of my colleagues and I will introduce a bill that will revoke the President's Iraqi war powers. This legislation, the Iraq War Power Repeal Act of 2006, will return the war powers for Iraq back to Congress, back where our Founding Fathers intended.

According to the President, all major war combat was completed just 6 months after Congress authorized the use of force. In fact, he said this while standing aboard an aircraft carrier before a banner reading ``Mission Accomplished.'' Therefore, the United States has no longer been at war since that statement of his 6 months into the war, but rather carrying out an occupation with absolutely no end in sight. The American and the Iraqi people want the United States troops out of Iraq; they want them home where they belong.

Over the objections of many House and Senate Members 3 1/2 years ago, the House voted to support the war in Iraq. We did not vote to support an occupation in Iraq. That is why our goal tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, is to have the congressional leadership allow an up-or-down vote on the occupation. I urge all of my colleagues to cosponsor the Iraq War Powers Repeal Act of 2006 to end this madness once and for all, to stand up for our troops, to bring them home.