Cicilline Statement on President's Afghanistan Speech

WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) released the following statement tonight regarding the President’s speech on the beginning of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan:

“The President is right that we need to begin bringing our troops home from Afghanistan. He is also right when he says we need to invest in rebuilding our own economy. However, I believe we need a larger drawdown and an accelerated timetable. Rather than spending billions of dollars constructing schools, roads, and training police officers in Afghanistan, we should be making the same investments in our own country. The American people know that we can no longer continue to borrow  billions of dollars each month to try to build the nation of Afghanistan. Instead, we need to focus on rebuilding our own economy, putting people back to work and reducing our debt.”