WASHINGTON – Congressman George Miller (D-CA) issued the following statement today after the House voted again to begin to curtail America’s military involvement in Iraq.

“Today, the House took an important step towards ending the war in Iraq. The House passed a bill that will provide a new direction in Iraq by holding the Iraqi government accountable and continues the pressure on President Bush to change course and bring this disastrous war to an end.

“We refuse to give President Bush the blank check he repeatedly asks for. Instead, we voted to break up his war-funding request into two pieces: one that the House passed today and one that we will revisit in July.

“Today’s bill would fund troop and veterans’ needs through July, at which point the President must report on progress by the Iraqi Government in meeting the key political and security benchmarks, articulated by Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki in January. If the President fails to demonstrate to Congress in July that the Iraqi’s are living up to their end of the bargain, then Congress will vote on a measure that would ensure that any future funding for Iraq can only be used for planning and executing the redeployment of U.S. troops from that country within 180 days of the bill's enactment.

“Despite the fact that the President has threatened to veto this bill, as he vetoed the last bill we sent to him, we are determined to pass responsible legislation that respects the will of the American people, the majority view in Congress, and the right thing to do for our troops and their families.

“This is a positive step towards ending the war in Iraq, though not one that accomplishes the goal of redeploying our troops as fast as I would like.

“I also voted today for a separate bill introduced by my colleague Rep Jim McGovern that would have begun redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 90 days of its passage. Regrettably, although not surprisingly, this bill was defeated. There is not enough support yet in Congress to pass this type of bill, but there is enough support in Congress to require a sharp change in course in Iraq and we will continue to push for that direction. I believe the support for immediate redeployment of US troops, and a new direction in Iraq is growing. And I have a strong feeling that come July, we will be much closer than we are now to our goal of ending this tragic war.”

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