He says a timeline for troop withdrawal is not the right answer.

In a conference call with the media Thursday afternoon, Congressman Buck McKeon addressed the most recent workings in the U.S House of Representatives.

He said that he heard a presentation by General Patrias, as well as from John Negroponte, the former Ambassador to Iraq. In that, he said that Negroponte indicated to them strongly that they should not have a timeline because that ties America’s hands.

“Does that mean they’re not pushing the Iraqis hard, to do the things that should be done? No. It’s just that if you put the arbitrary timelines on, and tie the President’s hands, then they don’t have any negotiating power.” McKeon said.

He also indicated that the Republicans were asked to not halt the bill’s movement in Congress so that it could hurry up and get through, so that after the veto, they could get serious discussions about a solution back on track.

McKeon said that General Patrias is very well qualified, and should be given the chance to do what he’s been assigned to do.

The recent trip by Santa Clarita delegates to Washington DC was also touched upon by Congressman McKeon.

“What we do when they’re coming out, is we find out what their goals are, what they want to accomplish, who’s coming, what their issues are, and then we work with them to try to line up meetings with people that would be best able to help them carry out their goals,” he said. “They had a pretty hard working group here.”

He said that they were working on a variety of issues such as; funding for the hospital, funding for the cross valley connector, Cemex, and others.  

Mayor Pro Tem Bob Kellar called the trip “successful.”