Jim McDermott

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, at the President's direction the Vice President presided over secret meetings with big oil, dirty coal, and a legion of industry lobbyists. In secret they wrote an energy policy that has turned this country into a panhandler, begging for more oil. Motorists in downtown Seattle will pay an extra quarter of a billion dollars, that is billion, in just the next 90 days because of the increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline. The administration will blame it all on the war. The price of gasoline is over $2 a gallon and the price in Iraq is 5 cents a gallon. Yes, Mr. President, it is war all right. It is war that the oil companies are waging against the American people with the knowledge and consent and assistance of the administration. Oil company profits are up over 300 percent for one company, 200 percent for another. We are waging a war all right. It is a war to get America out of the hands of pricing, special interests and back into the hands of the American people. We want our country back. November 2 is coming, Mr. Bush.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to bring out the symbol for today. Like the Queen of England, the Republican Party can declare when Christmas comes. Christmas comes on the 17th of June. We were supposed to fix an international trade practice bill here; but every day we delay, American companies have to pay more, and so they finally got around to the other day putting out this beautiful Christmas tree that we have; but instead of offering a solution to the trades problems, they just had a giveaway for all the special interests. They raised the taxes on the exporters and lowered the taxes on those people who put the jobs overseas. They intended to give $30 billion to oil, tobacco, drug companies; and to get this bill passed, the Republican leadership bought one special interest after another. Now, they started out with corporate jets. That is this one up here. And then the collection agents. Do you know that they are going to give your tax record to private collection agencies to collect people's debts to the IRS? And also there is tackle boxes here, and there are bows and arrows and sonar devices. And there are two for tobacco here: one, they reduce their taxes, and then they have a buy out. And they were just practically for anybody. This one is the pharmaceutical companies. Here is Coke and Pepsi. My goodness, they have just gone on and on and on. Now, my Latin friends say this is Feliz Navidad, but I say it is fleecing America. They are not taking care of small business people. Every one of those. Yes, I know the bow and arrow makers, they are not very big. They are just a little bauble that gets two votes or one vote. Some of these are two votes, and some of these are 25 votes. There are a whole bunch more that I wanted to put on here. Maybe we could give unemployment benefits to people who have had long-term unemployment. That would be Christmas for them. But, no, we just got special interests. Do not vote for this bill.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time of the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller).

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, ``environment'' is a dirty word in the current administration and they have the record to prove it. The administration has turned over environmental stewardship to special interests. The Vice President held secret meetings with energy companies to craft the new energy policy. It does not address renewable resources or energy efficiency. Instead, the Cheney Special Interest Energy Task Force called for more oil drilling and more coal production. Efforts by the public to learn for about these secret meetings were unsuccessful. That is because Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a new directive urging all Federal agencies to deny all Freedom of Information requests whenever possible. The administration's actions go far beyond our own borders. A new film, ``The Day After Tomorrow,'' depicts a world plunged into a new ice age because we refuse to address global warming. They say the truth is stranger than fiction. The President called the U.S. out of the so-called Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Speaker, 160 nations had agreed to work together to address critical global warming issues. Under democratic President Bill Clinton, the U.S. had agreed to be part of this worldwide global initiative to save the world. This President not only withdrew from Kyoto, he also worked to reduce clean air standards at our oldest and most polluted power plants. The administration could not get Congress to reduce Mercury standards, so the administration reduced them on their own. The administration has proposed something they call a Clear Skies Initiative. They could have called it the Dark Cloud Policy. The effect of dark cloud is to gut clean water and air standards. If they get it through, the industry would have another reason to pollute, direct from the White House. Now, that is a new definition of environmental stewardship. The administration does not just propose new pollution legislation. This administration has been redefining existing definitions to help industry pollute. A case in point: older coal-fired power plants, among the worst polluters, have a new definition of ``upgrade'' that allows them to avoid installing new technology to reduce pollution. In one of America's great places, Yellowstone National Park, we now have, surprise, calls by the administration to let snowmobiles continue to pollute the air and noise. But the Park Service plans to phase in banning snowmobiles from the park suddenly needs, yes, more study. That is administration speak for special interests. There are plenty of places in America, millions of acres available for snowmobiles, but the snowmobile lobby went right through the oval office. Now, Congress is trying to save Yellowstone from the administration's tactics. The President turned his back on his own campaign pledge to reduce industry carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to greenhouse gases. Oil drilling has been given a green light in the Padre Island National Seashore. It is off the coast of Texas, and it is the fist national park to be open to drilling. It has dramatically increased logging in the Pacific Northwest, and is trying to convince the world that fake salmon are better than natural salmon. The list of environmental transgressions is so long that 5 minutes is not enough, 5 hours is not enough, and 5 days would not be enough to help the American people understand what has happened to our environment since this President took office. They are polluting the air, polluting our water, and it affects human beings as much as it affects environmental degradation. Ask any one of the youngsters in this country in the epidemic of asthma. None of this matters to the administration. The special interests have spoken and given hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican political campaigns. That buys access to the Oval Office and, they hope, to places like Yellowstone. The rest of us are told there is no problem. We are just reactionaries. The evidence is overwhelming, we are told we need more research. Big tobacco always said that about cigarettes and lung cancer. They said it every time someone else new was diagnosed with lung cancer. Why do we not do some more studies? Well, this administration is doing exactly what big tobacco did. First, deny, deny, deny. Then attack your critics. Then say we need more study. Then attack the study and call for research. At a time when the world needs environmental leadership, the Administration offers environmental plunder. We can no longer accept that. Everyone has heard of Lord of the Rings. In fact, many have seen it. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Return of the King, the character Gandalf says something that should guide us all. ``It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clear earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.'' The environment is not for sale. The American people need to know that. Look at the record. Save the environment while there is still time. November 2 is coming.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the abuse of Iraqi prisoners began with an abuse of power by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld. Justice will be served in Iraq only when America accepts responsibility for the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib and fires Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Secretary Rumsfeld and the administration can deny all they want, but the truth will not be denied. White House lawyers wrote memos about it. They tortured the English language until the President and the top civilians at the Pentagon were satisfied they could do whatever they wanted, manipulate the data, make it seem like truth. That has been the administration's approach in Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld pretended the Geneva Convention did not exist. Apparently it had too many constraints, like humane treatment of prisoners. Rumsfeld himself approved interrogation practices they are now trying to cover up by classifying them as secret. Rumsfeld thought the world would never know. Mr. Nixon thought that too. Mr. Rumsfeld thought he could deny for so long the people would get tired and stop asking questions. Nixon's henchmen in the White House thought that too. Rumsfeld thought a wave of the hand and attacking your critics could manipulate the news media into looking the other way. Nixon tried that too and it did not work. The truth catches up with you, Mr. Rumsfeld. Like a Republican President who disgraced this country, Secretary Rumsfeld has abused the trust America has placed in its leaders. No one is above the law, not even those who show contempt for the law. Torture is torture, Mr. Rumsfeld, no matter what you call it. The abuse of power Secretary Rumsfeld triggered at the Pentagon has made Iraq even more dangerous for U.S. soldiers on the front lines. There is no excuse for that. There is no defense for that. America cannot believe the pictures we have seen who came from people who call this country home. Secretary Rumsfeld tortured the U.S. values with its total disregard for a military code of conduct that applies in war. The Geneva Convention was written to protect people in war from people like Secretary Rumsfeld, but he has dishonored this country and the tradition of the U.S. military. Instead of accepting the responsibility, the administration keeps throwing soldiers overboard in hopes that the question will stop before the truth emerges. The latest casualty is General Janis Karpinski, who calls herself a ``convenient scapegoat.'' With the blessing of Secretary Rumsfeld, she says, the Abu Ghraib prison was ``Gitmoed.'' General Karpinski points to the top U.S. Commander for Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez. Rumsfeld just rotated him out of the country. Out of sight, out of mind, that is the view of Mr. Rumsfeld. General Karpinski asks what was asked during the Nixon administration as they desperately tried to cover up Watergate. What did he know and when did he know it? General Karpinski says that Sanchez needs to be questioned about the abuse. Rumsfeld says Sanchez needs a well-deserved rest after a trying time in Iraq. General Karpinski says the military commander in charge at Guantanamo Bay, Major General Geoffrey Miller, likened Iraqi prisoners to dogs. She quotes him, ``They are like dogs and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog, then you have lost control of them.'' Secretary Rumsfeld is responsible for a military scandal that has commanders equating human beings with animals and treating them even worse. The first step in restoring U.S. credibility is removing the weakest link in the U.S. military chain of command. That is the man at the top. Mr. Rumsfeld forgot that in war a nation must not only fight the enemy, it must also fight to retain its values. America should be a country that stands for bravery. Rumsfeld has made America a nation that is ashamed. Either resign or get fired. That is what the President ought to do, Mr. Speaker. America deserves better than this. When they catch an American in Iraq and they say we will treat him like they treated the prisoners at Abu Ghraib, everybody gets up in arms and says what is going on here. Mr. Rumsfeld is to blame. Whatever happens to that American is because the Secretary of War in this country acted not in the America's best interest, but in the belief that he could do anything because he was the Secretary of War.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the administration's energy program will be rubber stamped once again by this Congress. It is the rubber stamp Congress; anything the president wants, they get it. Let me summarize it. The Vice President holds secret meetings with oil representatives, and then gas prices soar to the highest levels in two decades; American consumers pay $25 billion more; oil companies make $34 billion more; oil company profits increase 165 percent at one company and 294 percent at another company; and now the administration wants to drill in ANWR, the fragile Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. At this rate, the administration will make an oil drilling rig part of the new Visitor's Center complex out in front of the Capitol. This administration has sold out the American people to big oil. It is time for that well to run dry before there is more damage to the wallet of American consumers or the fragile environment that we need to protect. We need a President who is not tied to the oil industry.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, Africa stands taller and prouder today. From Lesotho, to Nigeria, to Uganda, Sub-Saharan African nations joined together and spoke as one. Their voice was eloquent and urgent, and America listened. Today, 400 million Africans live on less than a dollar a day. But there is great promise for the future. Today, HIV/AIDS claims millions of lives in Sub-Saharan Africa. But there is hope for the future. Today, Sub-Saharan Africa looks inward to make the social, political and economic changes that will rekindle its pre-eminence on a great continent. All that Africa is, all that Africa represents, has inspired and united the political parties in the House of Representatives. Africa bridged America's political divide with a profound affirmation of its past and a persuasive optimism about its future. For the first time in a long time, Democrats and Republicans in the People's House did not cross swords. Instead, we locked arms and reached for something bigger than any one political leader or party. Today, America spoke as one people-extending our hands, our hearts, ourselves, to the nations of Sub-Saharan Africa. The winds of change are blowing across the Serengeti, and America has joined the voices of Africa's leaders. By overwhelming passing AGOA, the House of Representatives has affirmed that Africa's Destiny is within Africa's reach. The Trade opportunities AGOA provides will continue Sub-Sahara Africa's economic development. Every new step taken to develop these economies is another stride toward self-sufficiency. AGOA is a stride toward a better life for millions of African people. AGOA is a blow to the spread of HIV/AIDS, a pandemic that threatens to rob Africa of its brightest promise--its people. AGOA will expand trade which in turn will attract new capital and encourage the development of new infrastructure. Roads bring goods to market and roads will bring visitors to Eco- tourism parks. The majesty of a lion roaming free in Africa's great nature parks will be Africa's symbol of a great continent awakening. The nobility, grace and dignity of a great nation distant land is closer to us today. We should all be proud that the People's House reached across the ocean in friendship and joined Africa on its journey to reach its deserved destiny.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, AARP owes every senior an explanation. Its leader trumpeted a Republican prescription drug bill passed in the dead of night last year. It would have been dead on arrival if the administration had told the truth, but they did not. But the seniors, including my 94-year-old mother, are really smart. So AARP, when they sent out 26,000 packets of information, only 400 signed up. My mother and her buddies are pretty darn smart. They know the difference between a real deal and a raw deal. The administration gave seniors a raw deal, and AARP leadership helped. Senator Kerry will give seniors a real deal with real benefits for prescription drugs. Democrats are ready to do what is right, beginning with telling the truth. It is time AARP repudiated the reckless endorsement of a Republican bill that is bad medicine for seniors. It is time for AARP to take the medicine every mother teaches her child: tell the truth and take responsibility when you do something stupid.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker?

Mr. McDERMOTT. The gentleman was talking about me specifically, and I thought we would take his words down and see if they are appropriate.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my request.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, in times of great sorrow and confusion I often turn to the Bible for comfort and guidance. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 teaches us, ``For everything there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven . . . A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time for war, and a time for peace.'' I hope and pray that soon we will see a time for peace around the world. Brave men and women answered their country's call for duty and paid the ultimate sacrifice. They died as heroes in honorable service to our country, and words inadequately convey our sorrow. Across Washington State, 13 families grieve over the loss of loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. On behalf of the nation, the House of Representatives paused recently for a moment of silence to recognize and honor our fallen heroes. We can honor our soldiers by remembering their names and reflecting on their contributions to our lives and to our communities. Join me in honoring these brave men and women. Second Lieutenant Benjamin J. Colgan, 30, from Kent; First Lieutenant Michael R. Adams, 24, from Seattle; Staff Sergeant Cody Prosser, 28, whose mother lives in Seattle; Specialist Jacob R. Herring, 21, from Kirkland; Specialist Jeffrey R. Shaver, 26, from Maple Valley; Lance Corporal Cedric E. Burns, 22, from Vancouver; Specialist Justin W. Hebert, of Arlington; Private First Class Duane E. Longstreth, 19, of Tacoma; Private First Class Kerry D. Scott, 21, of Mount Vernon; Specialist Robert T. Benson, 20, of Spokane; Sergeant Jay A. Blessing, 23, of Tacoma; Sergeant Curt E. Jordan, Jr., of Green Acres; and, Staff Sergeant Christopher Bunda, 29. America is richer because of their service. America is poorer because of their loss. The Gospel of John 14:27, offers comfort in the words of Jesus, ``Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.''

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I can hardly stop laughing after that last speech. You would think the Republicans were not in charge here. I think he was talking about President Bush and the Republican House and the Republican Senate that is wasteful. They have shoveled it out the door to all kinds of things. Mr. Speaker, I read a quote the other day that astonished and frightened me. I think most Americans feel the same way. Here it is: ``The world should have expected the shocking photographs of Iraqi prisoners being tortured at the Abu Ghraib prison.'' That is a pretty strong message, the kind of damning statement about U.S. foreign policy in Iraq that we might expect our enemies to say and even use to recruit. But the words were spoken by the head of Amnesty International. Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Kahn went even further in her remarks, saying U.S. policy has actually made the world a more dangerous place. ``Sacrificing human rights in the name of security at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using preemptive military force when and where it chooses, have neither increased security nor ensured liberty.'' And, tragically, this sentiment is likely to get worse. The world now knows that at least three prisoners have died in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. There are other allegations apparently under investigation of beatings and sexual abuse. As it stands now, we might never know the full extent of U.S. prisoner abuse in Afghanistan, because the top U.S. general says it is classified. The AP quotes Lieutenant General David Barno as saying anything made public will contain only ``some of the key conclusions.'' Also being kept secret are the ``specific techniques used,'' the commander said. Those are code words for things like beating and hooding and other abuses. The International Red Cross has been trying to get into other U.S. prison facilities in Iraq besides Abu Ghraib, but the Red Cross has been denied access. What else is yet to be discovered? Why is the military stamping ``secret'' on its activities in U.S. prisons in Iraq? The AP says evidence of abuse has surfaced in at least three other detention facilities in Iraq. ``Secret'' is what the administration and its civilians in charge at the Pentagon are saying. The honor of every decent U.S. soldier is tarnished by prisoner abuse that the administration refuses to account for. The safety of every decent U.S. soldier is endangered when this administration refuses to find those responsible within its own list of political appointees. It is not sergeants and PFCs at the bottom. This President has turned worldwide goodwill and unending support after 9/11 into global disgust and worldwide mistrust of America. As long as this President remains in the White House, the United States grows increasingly isolated in the world. The war on terror will not be won alone. And America will not win when this President's policies lead Amnesty International to say the war on terror is ``bankrupt of vision'' and concludes, ``The U.S. has lost its high moral ground and its ability to lead on peace.'' That is the legacy of this administration and the reason that George Bush is going back to Crawford, Texas, on the second of November.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, here we go again. Republicans cannot lead, so they attack the Democrat that will lead America. Here is the proof: Through the last weekend, the President's campaign has aired 49,050 negative ads against John Kerry, and that is just in the top 100 media markets. 49,050 times the administration has tried to mislead America about Senator Kerry; 49,050 times the administration has tried to divert America from the administration's absolutely incompetent record on the economy. Gasoline in Washington State is $2.75 a gallon. I did not miss that because of the ads. There are countless more negative ads coming from the Republicans because they only know how to tear down, not to lead. John Kerry will lead and win this election. John Kerry will lead and build a stronger America. It starts on November 2. Meanwhile, America, every time the administration turns on another ad, get up and go to the kitchen for a bag of Fritos. You will not miss a thing.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I could not help noticing today that the President had to come up here and stiffen the spine of his troops. I understand that they are getting a little weak-kneed but this is the rubber-stamp Congress, and we know that when the President comes up here and asks for something, no matter how big the deficit is or how many poor people or ordinary working folks you exclude, you will do exactly what he wants. The people should understand, this is a priority of the President of the United States. He is the one that wants to cut the money or give more money to people on the top. His whole idea is, if I can give enough to the people on the top, I will get reelected. I noticed some of the Members were a little worried there when we had that discussion about having an investigation of what is going on with the prisoners and how high up the ladder that goes. There were a lot of weak knees over there. They are going home and they have got to take home this tax credit, by God. I can hear them saying it down in HC-5 today: ``Gentlemen, you have to vote for this because you'll have nothing else to say.'' You have got to say something to cover up what is going on in Iraq.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the President came to Capitol Hill today to rally his Republican troops. Why did he need to do that? Well, a District Work Period is about to begin, that is why. Members of Congress are going home to face questions from their constituents. Here are some of the questions the Republicans are going to have to answer: Why did a Republican President send our soldiers off to war without a plan? Almost 800 brave American soldiers have died and several thousand soldiers have been injured in Iraq. Well over half the casualties have occurred since the President's PR stunt on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln to announce that combat was over. If combat ended months ago, what exactly is going on in Iraq today? Here is another question on the minds of Americans: How did the President's team in the Pentagon allow the worst atrocities in our history to occur in Iraq? New abuse revelations surface every day, but the administration keeps looking the other way as if hoping the crisis will go away is an effective strategy. It is the President's favorite tactic. There is another question just beginning to emerge that the President and Republicans will consider radioactive, that means deny, deny, deny. The question is: Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, why did the President not tell the American people we were going to reinstitute a military draft? Why did the Congress not have an opportunity to debate the issue? Why did you reinstitute a draft without considering the bill that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and I cosponsored? At least, under our bill, young Americans would have a choice about whether they fight in Iraq or perform public service. America needs to understand the President is not calling it a military draft. That is the White House way, call it something else and hope you get away with it. But as the saying goes, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. It is a silent draft. Here are some of the headlines and news stories that America should know about before the Republicans arrive home to say they are doing a great job. In Seattle, ``Military Says It Might Return Some Former Soldiers to Duty.'' Here is the lead sentence. ``Hundreds of Washington residents who thought they might be done with their days in the Army may be pulled back into service in the weeks ahead.'' The Oregonian newspaper says, ``Army Does About-Face on Call-Up Readiness.'' The story says, ``Thousands of recent U.S. Army veterans nationwide were told to choose by Monday a new assignment in the Army Reserve or National Guard, meaning a potential return to active duty, or the military would decide for them.'' Rumsfeld blind-sided the Congress and the American people and the Supreme Court on the prisoner atrocities in Iraq. The Vice President and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz did it this time. They never mentioned the new order when they briefed the Senate Committee on Armed Services the other day. Maybe they can update the Congress and comment on something else the Pentagon has ginned up. UPI reports today that the Pentagon may use the IRS to find the Reservists. Imagine, soon American men and women can get a tax refund and orders to report for duty in one envelope. That is real government efficiency. Thousands of soldiers were recently denied what President and the Defense Secretary promised, a one-way ticket home after a year of combat in Iraq. They were not asked, they were ordered to stay. That is no choice. That is a de facto military draft. The President has reinstituted a military draft, but he will not tell the American people he needs more soldiers to fight his war in Iraq because he has no plan and the fighting gets bloodier every day. The President is keeping soldiers in combat for over a year. That is more than twice as long a stretch as was expected of people in the Second World War. The United States today has a draft. No wonder the President was on Capitol Hill today trying to rally Republicans. Maybe he should draft them. At least they would see real shared sacrifice and shared risk. Today, America's minorities bear an unfair share of the consequences of this war. The President and the Republicans will not tell us that, they will say the war is going well, the department of war is doing perfectly. Watch the evening news, read the newspaper, decide for yourself whether the President's war is going well. Make no mistake about it, they need more soldiers and they are taking the steps to get them, whether they volunteer or not. That is the definition of a draft, Mr. Speaker. You ought to tell the President that he ought to just come right out and say it, he is going to draft people any way he can to avoid talking about it before the election.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, today a 24-year-old Army Reserve specialist was sentenced to do a year in jail, reduction in rank and dishonorable discharge for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. What would his sentence have been if this soldier had served as judge, jury, prosecution and defense? Indeed, would there have been any charges filed at all if the 24-year-old soldier had investigated himself? Of course not. It would be justice denied. Yet that is exactly what the military commanders and civilian leaders at the Pentagon are trying to pull off. Yesterday, before a Senate committee, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top military commander in Iraq, vowed that the scandal would be investigated up the chain of command, including himself. At a time when the world must see that no one in the U.S. is above the law, the Pentagon arrogantly acts as if it answers only to itself. The first low-ranking soldier was thrown overboard today. Other low- ranking soldiers will soon follow. This is how Secretary Rumsfeld, Lieutenant General Sanchez and all of their minions define justice. Do as I say, not as I do. The world is watching, and the world is not buying the Pentagon justice charade. Outside the courtroom today, an Iraqi civilian told the Associate Press, ``Those who are executing the laws and orders are not the problem. Punishment of the officials who gave the orders is what matters.'' More than anything else, these court-martials may just reinforce the mistrust and resentment against the United States throughout the Arab world. The way the proceedings are being handled is under fire. The Pentagon allowed media to attend the court-martial but television cameras were barred, even as representatives from Middle East networks demanded access. Apparently, it is okay for the President to go on Arab television but it is not okay for the Arab world to see an example of justice in the United States military. Why not? What is more, the U.S. refused to allow either Iraqi or international human rights groups to attend and observe the court-martial. U.S. military brass cited unspecified ``security'' issues for denying the request. Human Rights Watch could not even get the name of a U.S. military leader in order to lodge a complaint. The leader of the human rights organization in the Middle East called the U.S. military's refusal ``a bad decision in its own right. It also sends a terrible signal to the Iraqis and others deeply concerned about what transpired in Abu Ghraib.'' America's credibility is on the line around the world, but U.S. military commanders deny access to a courtroom by credible, independent human rights organizations. What will it take for Secretary Rumsfeld and the military commanders to get it? Another soldier at the prison told ABC News today, ``There's definitely a cover-up,'' and the soldier said military commanders authorized the abuse. Several soldiers may be on trial in a military court in Iraq, but America is on trial in the world court. Denying access to human rights organizations will be seen round the world as a cover-up. Claiming this scandal begins and ends with a few low-ranking soldiers will be seen around the world as a cover-up. Claiming the military can investigate itself all the way up the chain of command will be seen as what it is, an end run around justice. If there is nothing to hide, then get it out in the open. For the sake of every good and decent American soldier in harm's way in Iraq, this Congress must show the world that no one is above the law in America. Every day, there are new allegations of abuses in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. The Observer, which is a London newspaper, is reporting that a British prisoner just released from Guantanamo claims there are organized American punishment units called Extreme Reaction Forces or ERFs. Prisoners fear being ERF'd. They have created a new word for this kind of abuse. There are rumors, in fact, that a member of each ERF team takes a videotape and they are there. We need to see those ERF tapes. A woman in Iraq claimed U.S. military forces took her husband and is holding him without charges because her father was not in the house. They said, well, if your father is not here, we are going to take your husband. The International Red Cross quoted military intelligence officers as saying between 70 and 90 percent of the Iraqis in prison were arrested by mistake. Iraq is spinning out of control. This war has gone from crisis to calamity to catastrophe. If the President will not lead the Nation, the Congress must. We need an investigation now. We need to remove Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and Cambone and Feith, for that matter. We need to do it now. Some low-ranking U.S. soldiers are not the only ones on trial. America is on trial as well. What is fascinating about reading the American press today is that if that is all you watch, if you watch Fox TV, which is a Republican body, I mean, the guy who runs it used to be the PR director, or the National Committee Chairman for the Republican Party. Or if you read the newspapers, there is a tight control on the news that you and I get in the United States. Now, if you pick up a foreign newspaper, you find some very interesting things. In the Guardian, on May 18, there is an article by a man named Crispin Blunt. He says, ``I voted for intervention in Iraq. Not because of the threat of weapons of mass destruction, but because of the failure to ensure the removal of Saddam Hussein in 1991 and its consequences.'' Meaning the effects of sanctions. Now, he says, I have changed my mind. We need to get out. We must get out. ``The reason for the failed policy is simple: When the British occupied Iraq following the first world war, they were greeted initially as liberators of Iraqis from the Ottoman Empire. But over time, the British came to be seen as occupiers. Iraq experts and historians predict that after 9 months or so, the American and British forces that came to liberate Iraq from the Ba'athists rule would be seen as foreign occupiers.'' My colleagues, we are there today. We are there today. We are just like the British were in 1923 or whatever. ``The insurgents in Iraq cannot be written off as a small minority led by foreign jihadis. The silent majority of Iraqis increasingly side with the insurgents, who are viewed as part of the Iraqi nation waging resistance against the foreign occupiers. However nasty their tactics, the insurgents are viewed as the `us' in this new battle to expunge the occupiers. However noble and rational the goals of the coalition, U.S. and Britain, they are perceived as the alien `them.' '' It goes on to say ``an exit strategy is needed above all to preserve and restore in Arab eyes the moral authority of our liberal democratic values, which have been under intense assault most recently with the emergence of Abu Ghraib.'' Another article in the Guardian dated May 19, is entitled ``Former Guantanamo Chief Clashed with Army Interrogators. General's Sacking Cleared Way for Pentagon to Rewrite Rules.'' What we are seeing in those pictures that have been on the front pages of the newspapers of this country are the result of decisions made a long time ago, not by six or seven soldiers, but by people at the very top, beginning with Mr. Rumsfeld. This article reports on the sacking of a General Rick Baccus. He is the commander of the Rhode Island National Guard. He was sacked amid charges from the Pentagon that he was too soft on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Now, ``General Baccus was removed in October of 2002. That is a long time ago. Apparently, after frustrating military intelligence officers by granting detainees such privileges as distributing copies of the Koran and adjusting meal times for Ramadan. He also disciplined prison guards for screaming at inmates.'' This is why he was sacked. He was too soft on the prisoners. This goes on to say ``General Baccus' unceremonious departure offers a rare insight as to how the Pentagon rewrote the rules of warfare to suit the Bush administration's view of a radically changed world following the attacks of September 11. It also suggests what happens to military personnel slow to sign up to the Pentagon's changed view of the world. ``Eighteen months after being removed from Guantanamo, General Baccus, aged 51, and commander of the National Guard in Rhode Island, is still waiting for a new military assignment.'' Do you think he will get one in this administration? I doubt it. Now, the connection between Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib grew clearer this month when General Baccus' successor at the camp, guess who, Major General Geoffrey Miller, was put in charge of the U.S. prisons in Iraq. He was in Guantanamo, and they said, come on over here and fix up what is going on in Iraq. ``General Miller's recommendations for Abu Ghraib, merging the functions of prison guard and interrogator, as he did at Guantanamo, was cited in the Pentagon's internal report on abuse at the now notorious prison.'' This is the Pentagon's report on abuse. They said that was wrong, to merge the guards and the interrogators. You had guards who had no training whatsoever in interrogation being put in the position of being interrogators. It is no wonder we had this problem. There is an article that talks about what happened after the Second World War and how long they trained the people before they went to Nuremberg to question the Nazis, how long it took them to prepare the interrogators to do it in a humane and professional way. This administration, run by the Secretary of War, Mr. Rumsfeld, had no time to wait, to plan. They had to go right now. It was a war of choice. It was not a war where there was any impending danger to us. It is very clear now. But they wanted to get in and get it done as quick as possible before anybody figured out what they were up to. So they rushed in, totally ill prepared, and put these young people that they are now convicting and throwing out of the military. I was a psychiatrist during the Vietnam era, and I saw these people coming back from Vietnam. A lot of them wound up in the brig, and I would see them. And let me tell my colleagues something. Giving somebody a bad conduct discharge really scars them for life. Every time you go for a job, you are asked, do you have an honorable discharge? Well, no, I do not, I got a bad conduct discharge. They are going to have trouble getting jobs the rest of their lives on the basis of orders given to them by somebody who will take his very generous Federal pension and go off in real luxury for the rest of his life. Those six or seven people that are being dumped out on their ear or will be dumped out in the near future are being treated unfairly, and everybody should know that, and everybody should be able to see it. Now, today, there was also a story in the Los Angeles Times, because you have to read widely in this country. You cannot just read the papers here in Washington, DC. The L.A. Times carries a story by Richard Serrano entitled ``3 Witnesses at Iraq Abuse Hearing Refuse to Testify.'' ``Three key witnesses, including a senior officer in charge of interrogations, refused to testify during a secret hearing against an alleged ringleader of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal on the grounds that they might incriminate themselves.'' They took the 5th. An officer of the United States military took the 5th, and this House does not have an investigation. We do not think it is worthwhile to find out what is going on here. ``The witnesses appeared on April 26 at a preliminary hearing behind closed doors for Corporal Charles A. Graner, who has been identified in court-martial documents as the leader of a band of military police guards who humiliated and abused Iraqi detainees and compiled a bizarre photographic record of their activities. The prospective witnesses' refusal to testify is described in court-martial documents obtained by the Times on Tuesday. ``That all of the prospective witnesses called up by prosecutors invoked the military equivalent of the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination indicates the key players in the abuse scandal may be closing ranks to save themselves and one another.'' So here comes the coverup. And if the House of Representatives, with the responsibility for oversight given to us by the Constitution, shirks their duty on this issue, they are participating in the coverup as well. There is no way the House can excuse itself from investigating this, and our leadership just laughs and says it is a frat house prank. This was no frat house prank. This has ruined our reputation in the world. It has taken away our moral authority to deal because not only did we do it, but we will not own up to it and talk about how it happened. Just a week after the hearing on May 3, the judge, Major Dewayne McOsker, Jr., ruled there was enough evidence to proceed. He cited a CD-ROM containing photographs and videos taken inside the prison showing detainees being abused and humiliated, along with written statements from four of the other six guards implicated in the scandal. ``I believe there is enough credible evidence to establish reasonable grounds'' that Graner is guilty, McOsker concluded. Now he went ahead and did it anyway in spite of the fact that a senior officer said I cannot talk about this because I might incriminate myself. The New York Times, May 19, ``Two Generals Deny Issuing Orders to Allow Prison Abuse in Iraq.'' Big surprise, right. ``The two generals in charge of the occupation of Iraq took responsibility today for the prison abuse scandal there, but they also denied having issued or approved any orders that they say could have been interpreted to allow humiliation or mistreatment of prisoners.'' Now if there is nothing to hide, we should have an investigation. Why do we not bring it out? That is the question that this House must face. Members cannot go out with a straight face and talk to the friends and the families and the loved ones of people who have died in Iraq and say that you have done your job as a U.S. Congressman if you have not participated in demanding an investigation. To say that this will be handled by the Army, the Army will handle it, I guess they will. ABC News, May 18, ``Definitely a Cover-Up. Former Abu Ghraib Intel Staffer Says Army Concealed Involvement in Abuse Scandal.'' `` `There is definitely a cover-up,' the witness, Sergeant Samuel Provance said. `People are either telling themselves or being told to be quiet.' ``Provance, 30, was part of the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib last September. He spoke to ABC despite orders from his commanders not to. `` `What I am surprised at was the silence,' says Provance. `The collective silence by so many people that had to be involved, that had to have seen something or heard something.' ``Provance, now stationed in Germany, ran the top secret computer network used by military intelligence at the prison.'' This is not just some guy who heard scuttlebutt around someplace. He was in the unit doing the intelligence work. He said while he did not see the actual abuses, the interrogators with whom he worked freely admitted they directed the MP's rough treatment of prisoners. I do not know, it sounds like a smoking gun if somebody wanted to look at it. Anybody who has been in a military organization realizes there is something called the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the UCMJ. And as an enlisted person at the bottom, you are responsible to carry out the orders of your superior. Privates carry out the orders of corporals, sergeants and lieutenants and captains and major and so forth up the line. Failure to do so leads to a court-martial or to an article 15 or some kind of punishment, and everybody knows it. So the fact that they threw this poor guy out today with a bad conduct discharge, and we will see if anything more happens. If by the end of a few weeks all we see are seven people that they threw out as rogue soldiers, the injustice and the cover-up started by the people in the Department of Defense will be clear as it is in the sunshine. This House cannot allow that to happen. The New York Times again, ``Officers Say U.S. Colonel at Abu Ghraib Prison Felt Intense Pressure to Get Inmates to Talk.'' When they sent Colonel Thomas Pappas over there as the head of military intelligence, he was under enormous pressure from his superiors to extract more information from prisoners there, according to senior Army officers. People knew this. This is not something that was not known, it is just that the House of Representatives does not want to ask. They do not want to look. They want to close their eyes and hope it will go away. This is not going to go away because the world is watching and looking and reacting to it. Maybe you can close your eyes until after the election is over, but you will not be able to close your eyes to the impact that it has on the United States and to our troops. These pictures have stirred up the opposition, the people out there. All they have to do is show those pictures around, and people will say, yes, I will get them, which makes it more dangerous for our people every single day. Being out there in a guerilla warfare is awful. I heard about it from the soldiers and sailors that I dealt with in Vietnam. I did not experience it myself. I did not have to. I know it was awful. We are making their job tougher by not saying we committed a mistake, we were wrong, we are going to right it. It is not just going to be the folks down at the bottom. There is a wonderful movie that everybody in the House of Representatives ought to have to see, ``Paths of Glory.'' It is a story from the First World War about French troops who did not want to get up out of the trenches and charge into the fire because as they got to the top of the ladder, they were getting their heads shot off, so they failed to charge. The general called a court-martial and picked three guys at random. They shot them in firing squads, and the movie is about how they were selected, who they were, and why they were picked. These six or seven people will be those same sorts of people, while the generals sit in the back, have a steak, drink a glass of wine, take their pension and go off with their life. This issue is too big for this House to ignore. Mr. Speaker, as the third-ranking person in the United States of America, ahead of you is only the President and the Vice President, you are the Speaker, the one who controls the House of the people, for you to allow this to go uninvestigated is absolutely unacceptable. In this next election, the American people ought to turn out the Republicans wholesale if they do not deal with this issue because what it has cost us, never mind the money, the $200 billion we have already spent and $25 billion more they are going to ask for in a few days; the money is important, of course, but what we have done to our reputation and our ability to lead the free world may be irreparable. I hope not. If we act quickly and decisively, I think we can change it, but it cannot be dragged along and acted as though this is all right. It is not all right, and it will not be solved by throwing seven people out of the United States Army.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, like the economy the war and the United States' credibility around the world, health care is another casualty of the Bush administration. Today, nearly 44 million Americans are without health insurance. The vast majority of those people live in households where someone is working full time. The cost to cover the uninsured is about 5 months' worth of the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, Americans who have health insurance are being forced to pay more than ever before. And the administration wants to shift even more of the burden to every American under the guise of reform. A new study by researchers at Oregon Health and Science University put it bluntly, ``We spend much more than any other industrialized country in the world on a per capita basis and we get much less in return.'' Health care is a crisis that demands real leadership and real solutions. So health care will remain a crisis as long as the administration remains in office. The 2nd of November cannot come soon enough for Americans without health insurance.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, my remarks are 1 minute long. During this minute, the economic policies put into place by the President and Republican leaders will force America to spend almost $1 million more than it takes in. That is right. We are free-spending $1 million a minute we do not have. This President has created the worst budget deficit in history and the worst economic climate since the Depression. The administration keeps rewarding its friends with seven-figure incomes. They are doing it by mortgaging America's future. There is a payment coming due this November, and America has saved up. It is called an election. Soon a new President and Democratic leadership will restore fiscal sanity to this house of cards. It is not soon enough to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. And the Chair is keeping time?

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Are we in the 1-minute section of the calendar?

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, where is the investigation of the House of Representatives into the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison? Why are the Republican leaders dragging their feet? What are the administration and the war department afraid of? Every day, the American people face new revelations, new allegations and more damage control by the administration. It is time to get it all out in the open. It is time to figure out how high up the chain of command this scandal goes. It is not credible for military commanders and the Secretary to claim justice will be served, when they themselves may be deeply involved in the scandal. Is the new definition of justice in America to have those under suspicion serve as judge, jury, defense and prosecution? Today, top civilian and military leaders are again portrayed at the center of the scandal by mainstream media around the world. Is it true? We need to know. Today's New York Times carries a story entitled ``Military Police Receive Orders to Strip Iraqi Detainees.'' For the first time, a story places a senior military commander, a colonel, in the midst of the scandal. The revelation comes from a source reading a transcript of the military investigation to Times reporters. Today's Christian Science Monitor carries the story, ``Military lawyers advised Pentagon two years ago to protect prisoners, but JAGs said Pentagon political appointees had a harsher agenda.'' JAG stands for Judge Advocate General. They are military lawyers. It contains a quote given to ABC News by a general in charge of the JAG Corps from 2000 to 2002. Rear Admiral Don Guter told ABC News ``If we, `we' being the uniformed lawyers, had been listened to and what we had said put into practice, then these abuses would not have occurred. That's about as clear-cut as it gets.'' Our own military lawyers were on the record, and ignored by the civilians in charge. Here is another insight the American people need to hear. United Press International today is running a story with the headline, ``Army, CIA Want Torture Truths Exposed.'' Why? Because they fear being made scapegoats by the administration and civilian Pentagon leaders. Quoting this story, it says, ``Indeed, intelligence and regular Army sources have told UPI that senior officers and officials in both communities are sickened and outraged by the revelations of mass torture and abuse and also by the incompetency involved.'' The most serious allegations are contained in the report by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in the current issue of The New Yorker magazine. Let me read the first paragraph. The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists, but in a decisions approved last year by Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld to expand a highly secret operation which has been focused on the hunt for al Qaeda. He wanted to move it over to Iraq. ``Rumsfeld's decisions embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of the elite combat units, and hurt America's prospect in the war on terror.'' This one paragraph alone ought to be enough to have the Republicans on their feet demanding an investigation. Instead, Republican leaders in this House remained silent as each new revelation damages U.S. credibility around the world, not to mention the morale of our soldiers. The stories place Rumsfeld, Under Secretary Stephen Cambone, and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in the decision-making roles in the scandal. Is that true? The American people and the world need to know. Denials by Rumsfeld's spokesman will not silence the calls for truth. Indeed, if Secretary Rumsfeld has no prior knowledge, he ought to be the first person demanding an impartial inquiry by the House of Representatives. The time has come for full disclosure, not carefully orchestrated photo ops. I call on the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives to begin an impartial and open investigation into the atrocities that occurred in Iraq. The American people are resilient. They are resilient enough to face the truth. So is everyone else who has nothing to hide.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from New York. His description of the bill is quite adequate, I think. H.R. 4193 is basically a bill that was passed about 10 years ago, and the census data used at that point was the 1990 census. We now have the 2000 census, and this is simply making this bill work better. Communities like Yakima, Washington; Hamilton, Ohio; and Mobile, Alabama, will be among the many beneficiaries of this change in the law. It is not a big law. We did not even bother having a hearing in the Committee on Ways and Means on it. So it must not be too big, and I urge the adoption of the bill.