WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, a founding member of the Out-of-Iraq Caucus, today released the following statement on the Republican leadership’s decision to strip the Lee-Schakowsky-Allen-Hinchey amendment that would have prevented the U.S. from establishing permanent bases in Iraq from H.R. 4939, the war supplemental appropriations bill:

“During the debate on this bill, both Democrats and Republicans, the House and the Senate, went on record against establishing permanent bases in Iraq.  Behind the closed doors of the Conference Committee, this widely supported provision was removed without explanation.”

“Because the Bush Administration will set no timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, both chambers of Congress acted to make sure our troops will not be left in Iraq indefinitely,” said Schakowsky.  “Unfortunately, the Republican-dominated Conference Committee continued to rubber stamp the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy.” 

“Three years into the war, tens of thousands of American troops remain targets of a growing Iraqi insurgency. With no plan to win the peace and to secure Iraq, President Bush has left us with no good options. It is time to strategically redeploy our troops from Iraq and to let the Iraqis secure and govern their nation.”