The vote on the aid package for Iraq and Afghanistan was one of the most significant foreign aid votes in history, ranking up there with the 1941 vote on Lend-Lease for Britain, and the 1948 vote on the Marshall Plan.

Had Congress not approved President Roosevelt's plan to give to Britain 50 obsolete American destroyers, the Battle of the Atlantic, and with it, World War II, might well have been lost.

Had Congress not approved President Truman's plan for rebuilding Europe (named after his secretary of state, George Marshall), the Cold War might well have been lost.

If Congress does not approve President Bush's plan for reconstructing Iraq, the war on terror could well be lost.