(Washington, DC)  --  Today, Rep. Wasserman Schultz voted against a bill that will fund the government through the end of September 2008 because it included funding to continue the Iraq War.  Earlier this week Rep. Wasserman Schultz voted for a version of the funding bill that included money for counter-terrorism efforts and to fund U.S. operations in Afghanistan, however, the Senate later amended the legislation, adding funding for the Iraq War.

Rep. Wasserman Schultz took to the House floor this evening and made the following statement about why she voted against an open-ended commitment of funds for the Iraq War:

“People should understand that the vote on the funding for the war in Iraq did not pass with a majority of Democratic votes. It passed with a majority of the Republican votes. This is this President's war and this is the Republicans' war, and it will continue to be their war. They are the ones that are leaving our troops twisting in the wind with their families being separated from them with repeated, over-the-top tours of duty, three and four times over there, having more than a year, less than a year between tours of duty.

“We've got to make sure that we think about our troops and focus on the fact that it is clear now, even with the reduction in violence, that the Iraqi leadership has made no progress. And they've made no progress because they don't need to because they know right now with the message that this President is sending that we're going to be there as long as they need us. There's no pressure, no incentive, and we need the American people to understand that we will continue to come out here; we will continue to talk about the priorities that they care about. And now that we're in the majority we're going to continue to press to adopt those priorities and shame the Republicans on the other side of the aisle every single day until we get dangerously close to this election and we put some fear in their hearts so that they don't continue to stick with this President who is completely wrong on the priorities that the American people care about.”