Washington, DC -- “Two hundred and thirty one years ago, the people of our country rejected the Divine Right of Kings.  Last November, their descendants rejected the Divine Right of Presidents.  And, today, the House of Representatives took a large step toward re-establishing of the principles and the practice of our democratic system.

"The House of Representatives voted to approve the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act, which:

• Supports our troops on the battlefield;
  
• Uses the Bush Administration's own standards to ensure the combat readiness of the U.S. military and their benchmarks to measure the progress of the Iraqi government;
  
• Requires troop deployments to meet our own military's standards for training, equipment and protective armor; and
  
• Sets a responsible timeline for a phased redeployment of U.S. troops.

"President Bush has already threatened to veto this legislation.  In doing so, he would veto his own benchmarks for the performance of the Iraqi government, and his own readiness standards for U.S. troops.

"Congress had a choice: bow to President Bush's demand for an open-ended commitment of U.S. troops to a strategy that has not worked in four years, support the President's escalation in our involvement and a blank check to pay for it, or hold the Administration and the Iraqi government accountable and set a responsible timeline for the phased redoployment of U.S. troops".

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