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Boswell speaks out against troop surge

(Radio Iowa)The House is expected next week to take up funding for the president's proposed "surge" of troops to the war zone in the Mideast. Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell, a democrat, says he continues to oppose U.S. involvement, including the plan to send more troops to Iraq.

Boswell says, "They've got their government in place, so they've got their challenges. But...they've got to deal with it." He says the administration's told us that the Iraqi Army has more than 300-thousand people trained and equipped in the field, so "they ought to start taking responsibility," and he says the US should start bringing our troops home.

The House yesterday approved legislation directing the Environmental Protection Agency to draw up guidelines for cleaning up meth-lab sites. Boswell says despite progress, meth is "a scourge to our country -- every community, every district, every state has certainly had problems with that."

Boswell says despite a November election that signaled a call for change, the president's budget for fiscal 2008 is "just more of the same." Boswell says the president's budget "sends billions more to Iraq," but cuts funding for Homeland Security, which he says is taking a 33-percent cut in the funds the agency sends states to prepare their first responders, and a 55-percent cut in grants for firefighters. He says the president's proposed budget also "severely under-funds" a state children's health insurance program.