Tulsa World: Rep. Boren says war-funding bill meets urgent needs

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, the only Oklahoman in the House to support a final version of a war-funding bill, said Wednesday that the measure meets the urgent needs of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“One of my most important responsibilities as a member of Congress is to provide our military forces with the resources necessary to achieve mission success,” said Boren, D-Okla. “While I would have preferred to vote for a war funding bill devoid of provisions that are unrelated to Iraq and Afghanistan, our troops must come first.”

Oklahoma Republican Reps. Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and Mary Fallin voted against the $106 billion bill.

Republican Rep. John Sullivan, who has taken a temporary leave of absence to seek treatment for alcohol addiction, missed the vote.

Lucas cited changes made in conference, including an additional $5 billion for the International Monetary Fund and a clause he said would allow detainees now held at Guantanamo Bay to come to the U.S.

“It’s completely irresponsible to loan money to other countries while we can’t pay our own outstanding debt and should in no way be included in a troop-funding bill,” he said.

Overall, Lucas said, about 25 percent of the bill would be used for nonwar spending. Cole said the bill would increase by tenfold the IMF’s ability to borrow from the U.S. Treasury.

“Something is seriously wrong with the idea that the United States will essentially borrow money from China in order to establish a line of credit for an international bank to make loans to foreign countries,
some of whom are our enemies,” he said.

Approved by a 226-202 vote, the bill now goes to the Senate.

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