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Dustin George Staff Writer, The Free Press

The Department of Defense spent $6 million on a flock of goats to promote goat farming and industry in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, no one knows where those goats are or if they are even still alive.

Seven hundred thousand for one goat that you can buy right here in Lenoir County for $50. How ridiculous that tax payers money should be spent that way," said Congressman Walter B. Jones, R - Farmville, during the Kinston meeting of the Noon Rotary club.

Jones, who also represents Lenoir County in the House of Representatives, used the mystery goats as just one of a multitude of examples of wasteful spending in Afghanistan as part of his pitch to get American troops out of the country.

"Youve got people living right here that need help from Hurricane Matthew but yet we can find all these billions of dollars that we cant pay for to go to foreign countries," he said.

Calling Afghanistan the "graveyard of empires," Jones said he feels that after 16 years, it is time for America to pull its troops out of the country.

"We are trying to change a part of the world that doesn't want to be changed," he said.

Speaking to The Free Press after his presentation, Jones said he has been petitioning House leadership since the days of John Boehner, who left Congress in 2015, to hold a debate on America's future in Afghanistan.

He recently co-sponsored a resolution to have such a debate in the House of Representatives and said he's written multiple letters to House Speaker Paul Ryan about the issue, but hasn't made much headway.

You have 300 members of Congress today that were not there (in 2001). They werent part of the debate," he said.

Jones, who was in Congress in 2001, said he still believes the U.S. was correct to invade Afghanistan in pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, though he believes it was a mistake to invade Iraq in 2003.

Jones told The Free Press, Speaker Ryan - or someone writing Jones on the speaker's behalf - has told him the Speaker is looking to committees for guidance and promising to do a better job of monitoring the expense of keeping troops in Afghanistan.

We havent done a better job of monitoring the expense for 16 years. Its a joke," Jones said. We didnt want to know how you are going to manage the money. Give us a debate on our responsibility of sending a young man or woman to die.

Getting America out of Afghanistan is, Jones said, part of a bigger responsibility the government has to deal with the current national debt, which is approaching the $20 trillion mark.

That debt, he believes, could one day become a bigger threat to American security than any outside faction.

People say we will wait on the next generation of children to deal with it. Thats not fair to them," he said.

The debt problem isn't just the fault of one political party over the other, Jones said, calling out Democrats and Republicans in Congress for "spending money we don't have in the bank" each year.

When it comes to the failure of the Republican Party to create substantial health care reform, however, Jones was quick to call out his own party.

Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Jones said he wanted to see congressional representatives spend two months holding meetings across the country to learn from constituents what was liked and disliked about the Affordable Care Act by the people covered by the law, then use that feedback to craft a new law to replace it.

But what did we try to do? Jam it in three weeks. Jam a bill of such importance in just three weeks. Many of us didnt even know the cost of it," he said.

Jones was quick to point out he was one of only 12 Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote against the American Healthcare Act. After the bill passed the House of Representatives, the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would leave 23 million Americans without health insurance.

The failures of that bill, Jones said, were indicative of a larger problem in Congress today.

"This is probably one of the most confused sessions of Congress Ive seen since Ive been there, talking about the first five months," Jones told The Free Press.You get one moment that the healthcare bill is dead and then they work it out of course, thats the leadership of the House and Senate. It comes back and you pass a bill that the Senate says they arent going to take it up anyway. So we pass a bill, I didnt vote for it as you well know. Then the president who talks about tax reform and gives you a one pager, nobody can figure that out. Its just a confused time.

While he couldn't say exactly what a health care bill would have to contain to earn his support, Jones did say he wants something that covers pre-existing conditions for patients."

Dustin George can be reached at 252-559-1077 or Dustin.George@Kinston.com.

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Walter Jones talks debt, health care, need to leave Afghanistan at Rotary meeting - Kinston Free Press