Washington, D.C. -  The President claims he is willing to work in a bipartisan manner to address the challenges we face as a nation. Tonight he presented a list of high-minded goals that we all share – extending healthcare to the uninsured, expanding educational opportunities, reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, and protecting our homeland. But the President has yet to prove that he can match his rhetoric with reality.

No issue cries out for bold leadership more than the War in Iraq, and tonight the President again demonstrated his refusal to listen to Congress and the American people’s demand for a dramatic change of course. Earlier today, Representative Brad Miller and I introduced a plan requiring the President to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq by year’s end, implementing a realistic strategy to leave Iraq with the best chance to govern and defend itself. If the President refuses to change his misguided course in Iraq, we in Congress, as Senator Webb said in his response tonight, “will be showing him the way.”