mr. chairman , i compliment the gentleman from california ( chairman lewis ) for having brought this first of many important appropriation bills to the floor .  he explained the defense part of this bill very well , as well as he should because he has served superbly as chairman of the defense subcommittee for many years .  our portion of the bill is just a little over $ 73 billion , and it is to provide for the warfighters , to provide the equipment that they need and the protection that they need as they go about carrying out their mission .  i want to take just a few seconds and comment on the issue that the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. murtha )  raised because we have worked together on this section of the bill from the very beginning , along with the gentleman from california ( mr. hunter )  and the gentleman from missouri ( mr. skelton )  of the committee on armed services , the gentleman from california ( chairman lewis ) and the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. obey )  .  this is truly a work of bipartisanship .  but on the subject of accountability , there is no reason that i can think of other than the importance of the legislative branch of government that article i of the constitution establishes the legislative branch of government .  we have three branches , separate but equal , but right after the preamble the first article is the legislative branch .  so i do not know whether that means we are a little more equal , but i do know that we control the money .  and as i have referred to so many times , and i will continue when it is necessary , it says `` no money shall be drawn from the treasury , but in consequence of appropriations made by law. '' that means nobody can spend money , federal money , unless we appropriate it .  but part of that section that does not get referred to very often says in the same sentence , `` and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. '' so we think that is just as important , and we , the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. murtha )  , myself , the gentleman from california ( mr. lewis )  , the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. obey )  have just recently met with representatives of the defense department .  the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. murtha )  and i just recently sent a letter to the secretary of defense outlining our concerns .  i think we have made that point very well .  what we do in this supplemental is to provide , as the gentleman from california ( chairman lewis ) has mentioned , body armor , the uparmored humvees , ammunition , and medical care .  we provide the soldiers that are fighting in the war with what they need to accomplish their mission and what they need to protect themselves while they are accomplishing their mission .  and the specific details of the bill have been made available to members if they want to see all of the items that are funded in this bill .  i would like to make a brief closing statement that if we are going to get our troops out of iraq , and we are , and we want them out as soon as we possibly can , and as difficult as it is to state a specific date , but the way we are going to get our troops out , our exit strategy is to provide training to the iraqis so they can protect themselves from these terrible , violent insurgent terrorists .  part of the money in this bill goes to do just that , to train the iraqis to protect themselves so that they can have a self-government with some semblance of security .  so part of the money will allow the iraqis to get the training that they need .  that is our exit strategy .  let them take over from the american troops , and our american troops will come home .  and in the meantime , say a prayer for them , the ones that are over there still .  they are still in harm 's way .  they are doing a really great job .  their attitude is 