mr. chairman , i move to strike the requisite number of words . 
mr. chairman , i rise today in support of the bipartisan amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. tierney ) xz4004070 and the gentleman from iowa ( mr. leach ) xz4002360 . 
i support this amendment because it will address an issue that is of paramount importance to the people in my district and i think across the country , supporting our troops while being fiscally responsible . 
i recently returned from iraq and a bipartisan delegation led by the gentleman from oklahoma ( mr. cole ) xz4000770 . 
my visit convinced me that the reestablishment of the truman committee is the right thing for our troops , for the taxpayers and for our country . 
the original truman committee was a special committee formed on march 1 , 1941 to investigate the national defense program . 
it was chaired by missouri 's u.s. senator at that time , harry truman . 
its specific directive was to investigate the terms of defense-related contracts , the methods of awarding them , the effect on labor and the geographic distribution of contracts and facilities . 
during world war ii , the committee 's principal concern was to monitor and improve production programs and contract procedures . 
its work resulted in the discovery and exposure of waste and mismanagement in the wartime production program . 
by convening public hearings at that time and receiving testimony and studying this issue , the truman commission is estimated to have saved american taxpayers $ 15 billion . 
similarly today , we owe it to our troops to carefully watch how we are funding the iraq initiative . 
it is our responsibility to ensure that every man and woman in uniform has the necessary equipment to do the job with the best possible support . 
we have an obligation to every troop that no appropriated money is misspent or wasted . 
while the morale of our troops is high and their optimism apparent after the recent elections in iraq , it is imperative that we do everything in our power to ensure that they are brought home as quickly as possible . 
ensuring that there is no waste or mismanagement in any of our funding , i have no doubt that a modern day truman committee will help bring our troops home quickly , safely and in a fiscally responsible way . 
i believe we can support our troops , give them what they need , and help them return home soon . 
i strongly support this amendment for the funding of the truman committee . 
