Sen Byrd's questioning of Sec. Rumsfeld during the Senate Armed Services Committee's 6-23-05 broadcast
BYRD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for this hearing. And I thank our
friend here -- for what he has said, your ranking member.
I think I'm sitting in a chair that puts me really on to where I ought to be. But I've
been here. I've been listening to what's been said here. And there's been a good
bit of speechifying on both sides.
And, Mr. Secretary, I've watched you with a considerable amount of amusement.
Now, we have to be careful what we say -- that's what everybody is saying, so
I'm going to try to be careful in what I say (OFF-MIKE)
There we are. I've been here a long time, longer than you have. That doesn't
make any difference. I've seen a lot of secretaries of defense that have come
before this committee.
I was on this committee years ago when the late Senator Richard Russell was
the chairman. I don't think I've ever heard a secretary of defense who likes to
lecture the committee as much as you, as much as you appear to do. I hope I'm
not wrong in my judgment.
And I say with all due respect to you, I think you have a very tough job, and in
many ways you've been a good secretary of defense.
Let me tell you, nobody knows more about the courage of our soldiers and
Marines, and people who go -- nobody knows more about that than we do. We
know about that. Nobody questions the ability of our soldiers. They're the finest in
the world. Of course they are. We all know that. Nobody criticizes that.
I hope that anything I say never, never leaves the people out there who are
risking their lives every day, risking their lives this very minute -- I hope nothing I
every say reduces the respect for them or makes them feel that we don't respect
them. We love them, our troops. Our troops, yes. They're out there every day
giving their lives.
And I make mistakes, too. Who doesn't? But to come up here and lecture these
people -- you're pretty feisty. I kind of like that in a way, but at the same time, I
remember that it's we the people that count.
And we up here, we try to represent the people. We have to run for election and
re-election. We can't -- I can't refute a sneer. Who can refute a sneer? Many
times I think that's what we get when you, Mr. Secretary, come up here. I can't
refute a sneer.
I say that with great respect. But let me tell you something. The people up here
have to go before the people out there. You may not like our questions but we
represent the people. This Constitution, what's it about? We the people.
And you may not like our questions, but we represent the people.
I've had my fill of the administration forgetting that this is a constitutional system
in which there are three separate but equal branches. Sometimes I think this
administration forgets that the legislative branch is the first branch mentioned in
this Constitution.
So we poor senators, you can lecture if you like, but we ask the questions that
the people ask of us whether you like it or not. And we're going to ask you.
The problem is we didn't ask enough questions at the beginning of this war that
we got into, Mr. Bush's war.
I know that my time's up but I've been waiting awhile. That's the problem here.
We don't have time. And you folks have to go to another -- I know you've got
another engagement.
But we the people -- there are three separate branches, and it's about time the
administration understands that we haven't asked enough questions.
But we represent the people of this country. We are elected. We have to ask
questions whether you like it or not.
And these people around here may phrase their questions in any way they want,
and some of them may be loaded, they may be political -- I've heard a good bit of
politics on both sides of this question.
When it's all said and done, the men and women out there who are dying, and
their people back home -- their wives, their sisters, their fathers, their brothers,
their husbands, their mothers -- they're wondering, too. We didn't ask enough
questions when we went into this war. The Senate didn't ask enough questions.
And I'm ashamed of my own great body here, that it didn't ask enough questions.
It was -- well, you appear to be unpatriotic if you ask questions.
So we're asking questions. The American people are asking questions. I may not
like it, but they are asking questions.
They're the people who are in there -- the American people haven't been told the
truth. You say, if we tell them the truth, Mr. Secretary, that's the problem. The
American people haven't heard enough of the truth.
Forgive me to appear to be perhaps discourteous. I don't mean to be
discourteous. I've just heard enough of your smart answers to these people here
who are elected. We are elected. You're not elected. We are elected.
You have been elected, you know what it is to have to run for office. So you
asked questions, too, when you're on this side of the table. We've got to ask
questions. The people out there want us to ask questions.
So get off your high horse when you come up here. I have to run for re-election.
You don't. I do.
This is the Constitution, and we represent the people who send us here. That's
what we're supposed to do. Now, let me ask a question. We've been paying for
the war in Iraq on a cash-and-carry basis from the very beginning. I've asked
these questions before. I don't necessarily hold you to blame, but somebody
ought to do better.
We've been paying for the war in Iraq on a cash-and-carry basis from the very
beginning. This administration has consistently refused to budget for the war in
annual budget -- you've heard me say this before -- in the annual budget
process, opting instead to present a series of must-pay bills to the American
people, in the form of supplemental appropriation requests.
When are we going to see some truth in budgeting from the administration?
The cost of the war in Iraq is not just a one-time pop-up expense. It has evolved
into a long-term financial burden on the American people.
Now, Congress is considering proposals to add billions of dollars in bridge
funding to this year's defense authorization and appropriations bills.
I've asked this question from the beginning: What's this war going to cost?
Well, I kind of get a sneer back. What's it going to cost? It's costing the American
people in blood, and it's costing them in their treasury.
Is this any way to budget for a war? Why won't the administration send to
Congress a detailed budget estimate for Iraq for fiscal year 2006?
That's a good question.
Mr. Chairman?
It's a rhetorical question, but we have to face it here. We don't get a budget from
the administration; we just get supplementals. These are bills we have to pay.
The American people don't really see and understand what we are paying for this
war.
Now, if you wish to attempt to...
(CROSSTALK)
WARNER: ... witness respond to your question, Senator.
BYRD: Yes. But I'm -- I have my say too.
If you wish to respond to this, Senator, in your usual fashion, go ahead. But I'm
asking questions that the people back home ask me.
All I said, I hope I've said it with considerable respect. I respect you. You have a
hard job, I know that.
But we have a job too. We have to ask questions.
So what is your answer to that question, if you care to?
RUMSFELD: Senator Byrd, my recollection is that we did try to budget in
advance for the Afghan war, and the Congress refused to allow us to do it and
said that the information was too tentative and preliminary because you can't
know what's going to happen in the future in a war, and they prefer we do it in
supplementals.
It's a matter that's worked out between the Office of Management and Budget
and the Congress. It's not something that any department has a...
(CROSSTALK)
BYRD: That was at the beginning.
RUMSFELD: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
And my understanding is that wars have historically been budgeted through
supplementals.
BYRD: That's not exactly the truth.
RUMSFELD: In any event, the American people do get told the truth when they
are presented with -- Congress is presented with a budget, and then it's
simultaneously frequently presented with a supplemental. And all the information
is there, it's just not integrated into the budget.
But it isn't as though that there's something that isn't known to the Congress,
because the Congress has the responsibility of appropriating the funds, as you
know better than any.
BYRD: Is that your answer?
RUMSFELD: That's my answer. Yes, sir.
WARNER: Thank you, Senator Byrd. I have to move on.
BYRD: Mr. Chairman, I thank you. You're a great chairman and I respect you. I
know what you're up against. It's not your fault.
Thank you very much.
And thank you. Thank you.
Thank all of you for what you are doing every day for our country. I respect that. I
respect that uniform that you wear, every one of you.
But you, too, have to understand that we are the elected representatives of the
people. We have to ask questions. And they don't have to be softball questions.
Thank you very much for what you do. Have a little respect for what we try to do.
WARNER: Thank you. |
