Ike Skelton

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I think this is a good amendment, and I join the gentleman; and I urge its adoption. We support the Iraqis. Everyone in America knows that, and we are supporting them with nearly 140,000 troops, $87 billion-plus in reconstruction funds, and I think the Americans expect this oil-rich country to help pay for reconstruction. This is not unreasonable to expect that they start investing in their own future as well. As their oil sector recovers, they should be reinvesting those revenues in their own future. I think all across our country people will say why not, what is wrong with the Iraqis paying for their very own reconstruction and helping us in the process. So I congratulate the gentleman, and I urge the adoption of this.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I happen to think the gentleman has a good amendment. In my opening statement on the bill in the committee, if the gentleman will recall, I suggested this very, very strongly. And without going into great detail, I will just reiterate what I said then and I will agree with the amendment of the gentleman.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, let me take a moment. I rise in support of this amendment offered by my good friend from Florida. When the Secretary of Defense appeared before the House Committee on Armed Services testifying about the prison abuses, he stated he could not possibly monitor each of the thousands of ongoing cases which might be important enough to warrant his needed attention. He does not need to do that. He needs to monitor only those ones that have potential strategic impact; and during that hearing and in subsequent discussions and investigations, it has become apparent that he has no mechanism to lift those sorts of matters to his attention expeditiously. The gentleman from Florida's (Mr. Meek) amendment does just that, and I support it.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I do support the amendment; however, if I may, I wish to point out a couple of things. The Hunter-Meehan language that is in the base bill takes a major step towards this whole matter of the Abu Ghraib Prison situation, which of course is deplorable, and I think it is a good provision that is already in the bill. I wish, however, that four Democratic amendments had been made in order on the prisoner abuse situation: one by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) that specifically lists prohibited interrogation techniques, which makes them very clear; one by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel) that requires very detailed reporting on the role of contractors as interrogators; one by the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) that would close loopholes in existing law on how contractors who commit crimes can be prosecuted; and one by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), which would make a database of detainee names available to families and create an international commission to monitor detainee treatment. Each one of those, individually and collectively, I think, would have made this bill all the better. But I must express my position in support of this amendment, because we do know that there are major steps to be taken, and we further know that there are so many young men and young women doing positive work in Iraq and Afghanistan; and we hope that the terrible and deplorable situation in that prison that has dominated the news now for a good number of days does not detract from their excellent work. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), as the ranking member of the Committee on Government Reform.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In line with my responsibility for oversight, I made a request a good number of days ago in a letter to the President asking when the White House, when the Defense Department, when the State Department received the International Red Cross report that was provided to me just recently, but dated back in February of this year. In line with that, I am expecting to hear from the White House day by day, and I call them day by day. That is part of my oversight responsibility, to find out these matters as to when they received that International Red Cross document concerning the prison abuse. Hopefully, they will get an answer to me to help me fulfill my oversight responsibility. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I claim time.

Mr. SKELTON. I will support the amendment, but I claim the time to speak.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I have made my statement regarding my request to the White House for the information, and I hope I do not have to make another phone call tomorrow to receive the letter. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, all one has to do is listen to the debate that we have had on this floor today. We are short of troops in the United States Army. We help correct that in this bill by authorizing, through the supplemental, 10,000 additional Army troops, 3,000 additional Marine troops; and, hopefully, this will continue for the next 3 years. We are short of troops. Go anywhere you can and talk to our soldiers, whether it be here within the continental United States, Fort Leonard Wood, or wherever, Fort Jackson, you pick it, or go somewhere overseas; go to Iraq, Afghanistan, and talk to those young folks in uniform. They are stretched, and they are strained. As a matter of fact, we brought it up on the floor earlier today; 4,000 Army soldiers are being transferred out of South Korea, a brigade, into Iraq. This is exhibit A. It is not a good idea to do this. This is for Border Patrol and police work.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

Mr. SKELTON. I think coercion is certainly absolutely wrong. I would say to the gentleman that we would do everything we could to correct the mistake. I am certainly positive that the military would stand behind a mistake that they made.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), a member of our Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).

Mr. SKELTON. If the gentleman will yield, I am familiar with the article and I have asked my staff to make official inquiry with the Reserve component of the United States Army to answer this.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. May I respond to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham), my friend. I am most appreciative of his kind words. This is a very important bill, Mr. Chairman. We are at war. Needless to say, a lot of legislative work went into this bill, and of course there are some disappointments that go along with it. But the bottom line is, it is going to be very helpful in both the anti-guerrilla effort in Iraq and the antiterrorism effort in Afghanistan as well as supporting the troops all over the globe. Cicero once said that gratitude is the greatest of all virtues, and through this legislation, in our own way, Mr. Chairman, we are expressing our gratitude to the young men and young women who wear the uniform of our country. We thank them for doing their duty, for understanding what their duty is, for being professionals at what they are, and bottom line, being patriotic. So we thank them in so many ways, in the amendments and in the paragraphs and the figures, as well as in the speeches in this Chamber, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), my friend, our chairman, and Members on both sides of the aisle. So, Mr. Chairman, I fully support the bill. And at the end of this debate, I say thank you to the troops and I thank the majority, especially our chairman, for the cooperation that we have had. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Projection Forces.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire of the time remaining, please.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Total Force.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez), a member of the Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Readiness. (Mr. ORTIZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)