mr. bartlett. mr. bartlett: thank you, mr. speaker. we have ned two concerns relative to the ar reserve line hall tractors. the first concern is that they are procuring these tractors without the benefits and advantages of full and open competition. and secondly, their procurement is way, way behind the need. there are in fact about 1,000 tractors ort. so i have a very simple amendment which addresses these two concerns. a, congressional encouragement of full and open competition. congress encourages the secretary of the army to use full and open competition for the m-915 tractor traler program beginning in fiscal year 2012, and, b, report not later than february 15, 2011, the secretary of the army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a repon line ha tractors including possible courses of action that would accelerate meeting the line hall actor requirent of the arm serve. we have vetted this with the army reserve, mr. speaker, and they are in support of it. and i encourage a yes vote on this and i yield back the balance

mr. bartlett's point and really to the coffee shop the chairman talked about. i hear this frequently back home in the third district of north carolina, home of countless bases and people are wondering truthfully if you don't put an end point is is beginning to sound like the previous administration and iraq. you brief the congress and i am not being critical of you i want you to fully understand that. you brief the congress and well, you know, we are cautiously optimistic we are going down this road and about road and, you know, it seems like we are making progress. i'm sure we are making some progress. i don't doubt that. but i will tell you reading this article in newsweek scandal in afghanistan the exclusive story of how we have wasted $6 billion -- $6 billion. a corruption and abuse of police force that may cause the war. i really want to try to figure out who never sitting in these chairs a year or two years, three years, four years and we still are spending billions and trillions in the 14th century country with corruption that we cannot control where you

mr. bartlett please. >> thank you very much. want to return to the coffee shop across the country. there are two other questions being asked. the first is, why is not the afghan war the ultimate exercise in utility? because even if we do at no one else has ever done, alexander the great, the british empire and the soviet empire even if we can accomplish what none of them have ever accomplished it won't make any difference they say because the bad guys will simply going to pakistan. then if we spend i don't know how many more billions of dollars in how many more dead included kids to drive them out of there, they will go to somalia and yemen. it is quite clear that we cannot deny them sanctuary, so why is this not the ultimate exercise in futility? it is noted that they frequently, the citizens there choose the harsh movement of the taliban compared to the corrupt rule of the karzai government and our very presence there recruits the enemy. there were essentially no al qaeda in iraq before we went there and then there were a lot of al qaeda there after we were there. i asked the sta

mr. bartlett please. >> thank you very much. want to return to the coffee shop across the country. there are two other questions being asked. the first is, why is not the afghan war the ultimate exercise in utility? because even if we do at no one else has ever done, alexander the great, the british empire and the soviet empire even if we can accomplish what none of them have ever accomplished it won't make any difference they say because the bad guys will simply going to pakistan. then if we spend i don't know how many more billions of dollars in how many more dead included kids to drive them out of there, they will go to somalia and yemen. it is quite clear that we cannot deny them sanctuary, so why is this not the ultimate exercise in futility? it is noted that they frequently, the citizens there choose the harsh movement of the taliban compared to the corrupt rule of the karzai government and our very presence there recruits the enemy. there were essentially no al qaeda in iraq before we went there and then there were a lot of al qaeda there after we were there. i asked the sta

mr. bartlett, quote, federal taxes are lower by every measure since obama became president. last year, $787 billion stimulus bill enacted with no republican support, reduced federal taxes by almost $100 billion in 2009 and another $222 billion this year. but we all know that helping small business must be a top priority as well. that's why we passed the bipartisan hire act which will generate jobs. that's why we worked together with republicans and democrats to pass the home star act. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. kagen: working together to rebuild this contry. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of the extension of the short line railroad tax credit that recently expired. because this credit has not been extended for 2010, the illinois and midland, tazzwell, and peoria railroads in my district have not been able to perform much needed maintenan