Jones Demands Answers on Coat of Obama ISIS Strategy | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    WASHINGTON, D.C.     Today, Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) spoke at the House Armed Services Committee hearing with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on the Obama Administration's strategy for combating ISIS. Yesterday, the House voted to authorize President Barack Obama to use U.S. tax payer dollars to arm and train so-called "moderate" Muslim rebels in Syria. Both the amendment and the underlying bill ultimately passed the House. The Senate will vote on the bill today.

    "Our national debt has increased from $5.6 trillion in 2000 to $17.7 trillion today," said Congressman Jones. "It is fiscally and morally irresponsible to engage in a deficit-financed operation arming and training un-vetted Syrian rebels in an endeavor Secretary Hagel admits will not be brief, and that I believe will be a total failure."

    See the video and transcript of the exchange below:

    Jones, Hagel, HASC

    Congressman Jones: Mr. Secretary, in November 2005, as a Senator you penned an article in Foreign Affairs Magazine asserting Vietnam was a national tragedy partly because Members of Congress failed their country, remained silent, and lacked the courage to challenge the administration in power until it was too late. You wrote, "to question your government is not unpatriotic – to NOT question your government is unpatriotic. America owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices."

    In the past, you informed America that many in the Middle East see us as an obstacle of peace, an aggressor, and an occupier. You wrote that "our policies are a source of significant friction in the region and that we are at the same time both a stabilizing and destabilizing force in the Middle East."

    You described a fear of "the uncontrollable" – the unpredictable consequences of military action. You stated – "How many of us really know and understand Iraq, the country, the history, the people, and the role in the Arab world?" You asserted that the American people must be told of the long-term commitment, risk, and cost of this undertaking.

    Mr. Secretary, you and I have a friendship that was based on my coming out against the Iraq War. I did not know you prior to that and I was very grateful that you extended a hand to me, because I was getting beaten up pretty bad down in my district and by some of my Republican colleagues. In fact, the chairman at the time told me he would not appoint me to be a subcommittee chairman because I would vote with the Democrats to pull our troops out of Iraq. He was right in that assessment—not necessarily in not naming me as a subcommittee chairman—but my position. The reason I bring this up and what you said back in 2005 is that in the year 2000 when President Clinton left this country as president, we were $5.6 trillion in debt. Today, Mr. Secretary, the debt of this nation is over $17.6 trillion. I've heard you testify that cuts are coming to the military and you're concerned about it and we're concerned about it. You also have said that if sequestration is not repealed it will complicate the normal cuts that are coming. I want to ask you today: do you think Congress should pay for whatever we decide to do and the administration decides to do as it relates to Syria and Iraq? Do you think we need to pay for it today or put it on the backs of our grandchildren? Because we will not be able to continue to police the world and by using what we have known as borrowing money from the Chinese, the Japanese, and all of these other countries because we can't pay our bills today. Would you agree that we need to pay for whatever we do in Syria and Iraq today and not tomorrow?

    Secretary Hagel: Congressman, thank you. I recognize anytime any of us writes anything or says anything it's always at some peril. Let me address my own words for a moment. And say that I obviously agreed with what I wrote then and I still agree with it. Now, the big difference between what we're talking about today versus where we were in 2005, the present strategy, where and how and why—



    Congressman Jones: Mr. Secretary, one moment and I apologize to you for that but please answer my question. Do we pay for it today or do we pay for it tomorrow because my time's about to run out.

    Secretary Hagel: The responsibility of elected officials is always to be honest about anything they get this country into, any action they take, including paying for it. And I can assure you this Secretary of Defense will be very clear and this administration on what we believe it's going to cost, how we're going to pay for it, and there will be not be ambiguity about that. But yes, every elected official has that responsibility—that financial responsibility and fiduciary responsibility.

    Maria Jeffrey
      Communications Director

    Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3)

     2333 Rayburn House Office Building
     Washington, DC 20515

     Maria.Jeffrey@mail.house.gov  •  (202) 225-3415is absolutely senility.