Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor Monday regarding Iraq. The following are excerpts from his remarks.



“I gather the most recent—in fact, the 17th different version of Iraq resolutions that we’re going to see later this week anticipates basically telling the enemy a date at which we will depart. I can remember when most of our friends on the other side of the aisle thought that was a bad idea. But I gather their views must be evolving as to what kind of strategy might be helpful.”

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“You know, one thing is clear, if we announce to the enemy when we’re leaving, they’ll come back on that day. So we will have another Iraq debate this week, and as the Majority Leader indicated, there will be yet another Iraq debate when the supplemental is before us in another few weeks. This is a debate we’re more than willing to engage in.”



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“I’ll be in discussions with the Majority Leader today and tomorrow about how we might go forward on the Iraq debate. It’s certainly his prerogative as the leader of the majority to determine what issue we proceed to, and he and I will meet later today and be discussing that today and tomorrow.”



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