Washington, DC -- Congressman Kevin McCarthy issued the following statement after voting against the House Democratic leadership’s Iraq supplemental funding bill containing a timeline for withdrawal and restrictions on our troops:

“When it comes to funding our brave military men and women on the ground in Iraq, Congress should act without partisan political motivation and pass legislation that funds our troops without the uncertainty that America will end funding by an arbitrary and political timeline.  House Democratic leadership is wrong to tie the hands of our commanders on the ground with restrictions that allow 535 members of Congress to micromanage and telegraph our strategy to insurgents with a date-certain withdrawal.

“In order to gain a majority vote, the House Democratic leadership added over $20 billion in provisions unrelated to funding our troops in our fight in Iraq.  Whether these provisions have merit is not relevant. While I support the provisions regarding veterans health care and agricultural relief from January’s freeze in California, I believe that these provisions should have been debated separately for their own merits, and not used as political coercion to force a yes vote on this bill. 

“The truly disappointing part about this Democratic funding bill is that political division could have been avoided.  There was bipartisan support for a clean funding bill with the sole purpose of supporting the mission, security, and safety of our troops abroad.  Instead, the House Democratic leadership chose to satisfy the demands of a vocal wing of their party and place restrictions and timelines on our commanders.

“There is still time to do what is right and I will support the House reexamining this action and passing a clean bill that provides our generals and soldiers the resources they need to succeed.”

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