House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) brought the House of Representatives back in session this week for a rare set of August votes on partisan legislation to advance Joe Biden's radical Democrat agenda. And while they're trying to revive portions of the disastrous H.R.1 federal takeover of elections, a woke infrastructure bill, and the massive $3.5 trillion Biden Budget, there was one thing Democrats didn't want to discuss on Tuesday: Americans left stranded in Afghanistan by the Biden administration.
Not only did they not want to discuss the fate of U.S. citizens facing abandonment, they outright blocked consideration of a bill from Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) that would have provided critical information about Americans in Afghanistan so far not divulged by the Biden administration.
By a vote of 220 to 212, House Democrats blocked Gallagher's H.R.5071 that would have required Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to report daily to Congress on the status of the airlift and withdrawal efforts. Included in the information that would have been required is:
- the total number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan
- the total number of U.S. citizens in Afghanistan
- the total number of U.S. citizens seeking evacuation
- the total number of U.S. citizens who have been evacuated
- the total number of U.S. citizens who have been unable to evacuate
- the total number of U.S. citizens who have been detained by the Taliban
- the total number of U.S. citizens injured or killed in Afghanistan since August 13th
- the total number of Afghan nationals evacuated on DOD aircraft
- the total number of Afghan nationals eligible for evacuation on DOD aircraft
"Over the past week we have all seen the horrifying images coming out of Kabul," Gallagher said on the House floor Tuesday. "Babies being passed over barbed wire. Two-year-olds trampled to death. Bodies falling from C-17s. These pictures are now forever painted onto American history. And they don't depict the orderly withdrawal that the President promised."
Rep. Gallagher delivered remarks on the House floor on the fiasco in Afghanistan and the need to pass his bill, which would prevent the Biden Administration from removing troops until all Americans who want to leave are out.
— Rep. Gallagher Press Office (@RepGallagher) August 24, 2021
"This is America. We don't leave anyone behind." pic.twitter.com/51H38vuw2z
Calling the scenes created by Biden's mismanaged exit "portraits of chaos — of tragedy — and dishonor," Gallagher asked "Was the plan for America to give billions of dollars worth of U.S. military equipment to the Taliban? Was the plan to put terrorists effectively in charge of security around the Kabul airport? Was the plan to leave more than 10,000 American citizens stranded behind enemy lines?"
"It's time for this body, this congress, to act — to hold the administration accountable and save lives," Gallagher explained. "Make no mistake: If we get out on August 31st we are going to condemn thousands to death. I don't care what secret side deal was struck with the Taliban. This is America, we don't leave anybody behind."
The Biden administration — from the White House to the State Department to the Pentagon — has remained intentionally vague on the information Gallagher sought to obtain, failing to provide specifics beyond "a few thousand" when asked how many Americans have been safely evacuated and refusing to answer questions about Biden's negotiations with the Taliban even after he dispatched the CIA director to grovel before its de facto leader in Kabul this week.
Without oversight like Gallagher proposed, it seems Biden and his administration will be able to reveal only what they want in attempts to spin its Afghan disaster as a success by heralding generic numbers of individuals evacuated. But no matter how many Americans and Afghan allies are safely evacuated before Biden halts the airlift in order to meet the Taliban's withdrawal deadline, the only thing Americans will remember is how many were left behind.