Curt Weldon

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor and pleasure to wish a very happy birthday to Mrs. Rebecca Brown of Media, Pennsylvania on the occasion of her 100th birthday. Mrs. Brown will reach the century mark on June 30 of this year, an incredible milestone. Mrs. Brown was born in Media/Upper Providence, Pennsylvania and has lived in Delaware County, Pennsylvania all her life. She fell in love and married Theodore Mitchell Brown and they were blessed with one son, Theodore Earl Brown. Her husband passed away in 1957 and she never remarried. Now Mrs. Brown lives with her son and daughter-in-law, Joanne McHugh Brown, in Upper Providence and she enjoys the company of two grandchildren--Kevin Brown and Karen (Brown) Ranieri and six great-grandchildren: Matthew, Daniel and Timothy Brown and Ryan, Tyler and Becca Ranieri. Mrs. Brown is blessed by many years, and all who spend time with her are blessed by her company. Her friends know her to be kind, generous and an inspiration to all. I know all of Delaware County, Pennsylvania joins me in wishing Rebecca Brown a happy, happy 100th birthday.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his response.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, this amendment I am offering on behalf of myself and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and a number of other Members, and I want to thank the distinguished chairman and ranking member for their cooperation and support, both in the subcommittee and the full committee. This is a very important amendment, Mr. Chairman, that takes $50 million out of the homeland security personnel account and transfers it into the SAFER program, which provides SAFER grants for the 32,000 fire and EMS departments across the country to deal with the issue of staffing. Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned earlier, it was this subcommittee who did so much to provide over $2.1 billion over the past 3 years to 17,000 fire and EMS departments in America to allow them to purchase needed equipment, firefighter breathing apparatus, interoperable communications, apparatus and trucks and vehicles, safety training, training for the firefighters, a whole host of activities. This grant program has been so successful, and I know that every Member of Congress understands the impact in their district, because there is no politics in it. The evaluations are done by firefighters themselves, who volunteer to come to Washington and review all the applications. In the first year of this program, we had over 30,000 applications from 32,000 departments. Mr. Chairman, this legislation establishes a program to deal with the personnel issues. It allows paid departments to hire additional firefighters and paramedics and allows them to phase out the Federal portion over 4 years and then make a commitment to pick up the cost of that firefighter after that time period, but unlike other programs, like the COPS program, this program is administered and evaluated by their peers. There is no process of agencies. It is done by people involved in the fire service. Mr. Chairman, why is this so important? Each year in America, we lose 100 firefighters who are killed in the line of duty. There is no occupation in America that has 85 percent of those 100 people who volunteer who die in the course of volunteering to serve America. Our military personnel are paid, our police officers are paid, some of our firefighters are paid, but the bulk of them are volunteers. This program provides dollars so that volunteer fire departments can recruit more volunteers, so that volunteer departments who need paid drivers can bring in paid drivers, and so that paid fire departments who are woefully understaffed can finally have the beginning of the resources they need to properly protect their cities. This legislation does so much more than just provide protection for the homeland. It allows our emergency responders to deal with fires but also deal with terrorist incidents, HAZMAT incidents, all the typical concerns that we have across America. I want to thank the distinguished chairman for his cooperation. He is a hero to the fire service of America. I want to thank the ranking member and all of our colleagues, and I would ask that we get the vote not just for this amendment but also hopefully for the entire legislation with broad bipartisan support.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this legislation and praise both parties for their outstanding work on homeland security. The chairman has done an absolutely fantastic job in bringing together the appropriations necessary to fund our homeland security operations, and I appreciate the work of the ranking member as well. Mr. Chairman, prior to 2000, there was not a dime of Federal money for the Nation's first responders for firefighters. Not a dime. In 2000, 1 year before 9/11, it was this body that began that funding through the Assistance to Firefighter grant program. It was this body who did that. In the past 3 years, this committee has appropriated $2.1 billion to 17,000 out of 32,000 fire and EMS departments nationwide. Large and small, they have applied directly. There is no middle person. There is no agency. They evaluate the grants themselves. There is no politics in it. It is the most successful program that Congress runs today because it works. In the area of interoperability, it is the number one priority. In this bill, the chairman has money, the Congress, that Chairman Ridge is authorizing so that cities and States across the country are now implementing interoperable plans. It is a priority. There is funding going for that purpose. Every fire department in America, all 32,000, look at the work that has been done by this Congress with pride. Granted we may not have all the money that everyone wants, but no committee in this Congress, especially on the appropriations side, has begun to address local needs the way this subcommittee has. I applaud the chairman for that, and I applaud the ranking member. It has been a bipartisan effort. On behalf of the firefighters of America, I say to all of you, thank you. Keep up the good work.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendments.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to consider this amendment en bloc.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, this amendment has been worked carefully with the distinguished leader, the chairman of this committee, the ranking member, the distinguished gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. (Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, this debate has been dominated by one side, and I think we need to have everyone have a chance to air their feelings here. We are arguing over $450 million and who is going to get the bulk of that money. Four hundred and fifty million dollars is not going to protect New York City from another attack. If Members want to put the money into where it is going to do the best good, then put it into our intelligence system because that is where they are going to understand where the next threat is coming from. When we understand where the threat comes from, then we can deal with it. If we want to put the money into a capability, we need that kind of a capability to respond to the kind of threat that we saw on September 11. Perhaps if we had done back in the 1990s more in this body and not cut the legs off our intelligence community when we stopped the CIA from using those sources that, in fact, were considered to be tied in with corruption, we would have been better able to understand where the emerging threats were coming from. Mr. Chairman, I think it is unfortunate that we say that this money going to cities will protect them. I was in the Trade Center the day after the disaster occurred and I was down at ground zero. Did I see all of New York's people there? Yes. But I saw urban search and rescue teams from Delaware, from New Jersey, from Pennsylvania. I saw them there from Michigan. I saw them there from Georgia. Twenty-two urban search and rescue teams came from all over America to assist New York because New York could not handle it. The fact is, Mr. Chairman, as a Nation if we are going to deal with threats, we must deal with them from a national perspective, not based on one city or one particular urban area. Mr. Chairman, on January 28, 1975, I was the assistant fire chief in a town of 5,000 people. On that night we had the largest incident in America. Two ships collided, killed 29 people, and burned out of control for 3 days, $100 million of property damage. According to this standard, that will never happen in a small area. It will only happen in a big city. For us to try to argue over how we can split up $450 million, and my district borders Philadelphia, by only giving it to the inner-city urban areas I think is wrong. I think the chairman has done a good job with the ranking member, and I support the chairman's mark and oppose the amendment.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague for yielding me this time. Madam Speaker, I first met Ronald Reagan through a local leader in our State, Faith Whittlesey, who was one of Ronald Reagan's earliest supporters in the eastern part of America for the Presidency. And it was a glorious day in 1984 when Ronald Reagan came to my home county, stood on the steps of the courthouse where I was then the vice chairman, and held my hand up alongside of another famous American, Tug McGraw, and endorsed me for the congressional seat. I did not win that year, Madam Speaker, but I came within 412 votes of unseating a 10- year, very popular incumbent. I won the seat 2 years later and have been here ever since. But I took up two of Ronald Reagan's key issues: his work with the Soviet Union, now Russia, and his work on missile defense. And over the past 18 years that I have been in Congress, it has been my pleasure to try to live up to the expectations and to the role model that Ronald Reagan established for all of us. Madam Speaker, he was someone who understood the Russian people, and he was someone who taught us in America that in the end, if we would simply trust but verify, if we would simply stand up and be candid with them, that in the end they would respect us. On the issue of missile defense, it was Ronald Reagan who said that we should not leave America unprotected and vulnerable. How amazing it is 18 years later, Madam Speaker, that one of the most popular officials in Russia today is Ronald Reagan. In polls that have been conducted in Russia, they look to Ronald Reagan because he was a leader of stature and because he was someone who the Russian people respected, because he saw through the Communist leadership and held fast with the Russian people for a better time. So it was appropriate that when I last traveled to Russia 3 weeks ago for my 37th trip that we discussed a new initiative with the Russian people, in honor of Ronald Reagan, taking their radar systems and using them with our radar systems to develop a joint missile defense system. How proud Ronald Reagan would be. But for all of his work in helping us defeat communism, in helping us move toward missile defense, and helping to reinvigorate our economy, I will remember Ronald Reagan, Madam Speaker, most for what he was as an individual person. He was a very humble man. He would take the time to meet with anyone regardless of their stature in life. As a first-term Republican, I had the honor of being invited to the Oval Office with my family. I took my five kids down to the Oval Office with my wife, and my youngest was then 4 years old, and he was more concerned with the inside furnishings of the Oval Office than he was with the stature of the President. That did not matter to Ronald Reagan. In fact, I would later find out that in the book of the favorite photographs of Ronald Reagan, this photograph would appear, which is also on the wall of the Reagan Presidential Library in California. How proud I am that my family had the chance to meet Ronald Reagan and that my 4-year-old son, who is now 21 years old, who is here making faces at the camera, received a signed personal photograph from Ronald Reagan and received words of encouragement back then that are still important to each of my five kids today. I remember Ronald Reagan most for not just what he did for the world, but what he was as a role model for everyone that met him. He was someone who genuinely cared about people. He was someone who would take the time to reach out to a 4-year-old or a 6-year-old and give them words of encouragement. Ronald Reagan is a role model for all of us, and for that we give thanks, and we thank his wife and send our sympathies to the entire Reagan family.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I had the great pleasure and honor to participate in the Ridley High School Memorial Day Program on May 28, 2004. I was presented with a very special compilation of poems composed by the students from Ridley High School's Advanced Placement American History/Honors English classes. The assignment was voluntary and those students, whose work is reflected here, searched their hearts for their feelings about America's military men and women. The result was a wonderful collection of poetry that expresses their pride and gratitude for those who make personal sacrifices to protect our freedoms and democracy. I join with these students in their continued support and appreciation for our troops at home and abroad. I hope my colleagues find both inspiration and gratitude in their words so beautifully expressed. With Every Step With every step through your daily life Quietly, they whisper Whisper courage to the young children Playing under the warmth of the sun Whisper sacrifice to all Enjoying the freedom they provided. From their peaceful rest they whisper Going under with the honor of a nation And their love of country The willing force for freedom Makes the land of the free The home of the brave. In kind words, we whisper Do not forget the contributions Of our fallen countrymen In this time of terror They protect us still. Tabatha Sabatino

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, sometimes the bureaucrats in this city just do not get it. Before coming to Congress, Mr. Speaker, I was an educator, but I was also a volunteer firefighter and a fire chief in my home State of Pennsylvania. There are 32,000 fire departments across this country, and 85 percent of them are volunteers. There are 1.2 million men and women each year who risk their lives to protect the properties in their towns and that of their neighbors from the ravages of fire. Each year, 100 of them are killed in the line of duty, most of them volunteers. Mr. Speaker, the Congress established a Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act for these brave heroes years ago. In establishing this program, the Federal Government did not set any age limitations. Rather, the Federal Government said where a firefighter is recognized by his or her State, that firefighter is eligible for public safety officer benefits. In some States, the age for firefighters is 18. In other States, it is 16. In others, it is 14. In my State of Pennsylvania, where we have 2,600 fire departments, you can be 14 years of age to be a firefighter, a recognized firefighter in a local fire department. There are certain rules on what kind of work you can perform at the scene of a fire, but you are a legitimate firefighter, and, therefore, you are eligible for Federal public safety officer benefits. On May 4, 2002, Mr. Speaker, 14-year-old Christopher Kangas was killed responding to a fire in Brookhaven Borough, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. His bicycle was run over by a vehicle, and he was killed at the scene, one block from the firehouse. He was a regular firefighter. He had trained, he knew what he could do and what he could not do at the scene, and he was recognized by the Borough of Brookhaven and by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a firefighter. When he passed away, and they gave full honors to him, the Borough of Brookhaven provided the full benefits to his family as a fallen firefighter. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recognized Chris Kangas as a fallen firefighter and gave him full honors. Mr. Speaker, the representative of the President of the United States to the Fire Service, the U.S. Fire Administrator Dave Paulison, sent a letter of condolence to the family, recognizing Chris Kangas as a firefighter. But the bureaucrats over at the Department of Justice who administer a program that Congress enacted ruled now for the second time that Chris Kangas was not a firefighter. The bureaucrats in Washington determined that he could not be a firefighter, even though the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Brookhaven Fire Department legally maintained Chris Kangas on their rolls. Mr. Speaker, this is outrageous. Regardless of age, Chris Kangas was a firefighter; and he was killed in the line of duty. No bureaucracy, no bureaucrat in the Department of Justice should be able to determine who is a firefighter. We have had firefighters who were in their 60s and 70s directing traffic at a fire scene and were killed and were recognized by the Federal Government's Department of Justice as a fallen firefighter. So a 70-year-old can be a firefighter but a 14- year-old recognized by a legitimate State authority cannot. Mr. Speaker, this is outrageous. It is appalling. It is a disservice to every volunteer in America. Those one million volunteers out there are joining with me in demanding that Congress change this terrible action by the Department of Justice. Therefore, today I have introduced legislation, H.R. 4472, cosponsored by all the cochairs of the Congressional Fire and EMS Caucus, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith). We are calling for the immediate definitional change so that everyone understands a firefighter in a State, determined by that State's laws, is a firefighter under the guidance of Federal regulations for death benefits. No bureaucrat in Washington should be allowed to make that decision. It is a slap in the face to the Kangas family and to every firefighter across America. I urge the White House to join with us in asking for the courts to move in on this in an appeal, but I ask my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 4472 to correct this gross action so that Chris Kangas' name can be added to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial at Emmitsburg, to be recognized for the American hero that he was and that he is. Mr. Speaker, I submit herewith for the Record an op-ed that I produced on this story. On May 4, 2002, Christopher Kangas, a 14-year-old junior firefighter with the Brookhaven Fire Department, was struck by a car and killed while riding his bicycle in response to a fire emergency. Christopher's death struck a devastating blow to the Kangas family, the Brookhaven Fire Department and the local community. His death was a horrendous tragedy and marked the loss of a true local hero. Make no mistake--regardless of his age Christopher Kangas was a firefighter killed in the line of duty. As a member of Congress with direct legislative oversight on homeland security and first responder issues for 18 years, founder of the Congressional Fire and EMS Caucus, a former junior member of my local department and former volunteer fire chief, it is my professional and expert opinion that Christopher Kangas met every conceivable definition of a firefighter. I am not alone in that opinion--The Brookhaven Fire Department, Brookhaven Fire Chief Rob Montella, Brookhaven Borough and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania all agree. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Borough of Brookhaven awarded the deceased public safety officer benefits to the Kangas family, recognizing his death as occurring in the line of duty as an official member of the fire department. This week, the Kangas family, the Brookhaven Fire Department, the local community and firefighters across the country suffered a second devastating blow when the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its ruling denying Christopher Kangas full firefighter status under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act (PSOB). As a result, his family will not receive a $267,000 line-of-duty benefit. Even more damaging than the loss of monetary benefit is the fact that Christopher will not take his rightful place at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland, along side his fellow fallen heroes. Inexplicably, the DOJ determined that Christopher was not a ``public safety officer'' under the PSOB Act. In so ruling, the DOJ not only ignored the facts, but also the letter and spirit of the law. When Congress passed the PSOB Act, it intended to provide benefits to any firefighter serving as an officially recognized member of a legally organized fire department. There is no question that the Brookhaven Fire Department is a legally organized department and that they officially recognized Christopher as a firefighter. With its ruling, the DOJ is inappropriately rewriting the law and narrowing the definition of firefighter to exclude individuals based on age. The Act does not contain a single requirement based on age or the type of activities that must be met to entitle an individual to benefits. The Act clearly and simply states that an officially recognized firefighter killed in the line of duty is entitled to benefits. Whether a 30-year-old firefighter is killed manning a hose, a 60-year- old firefighter is killed directing traffic at the scene, or a 14 year-old firefighter is killed while mobilizing supplies, providing emergency medical supplies or performing many other duties necessary for the suppression of fire, he or she should be entitled to benefits. On May 4th, 2002, like thousands of Junior Firefighters across the country do every day. Christopher Kangas fulfilled his duty and answered the call to a fire emergency. Tragically, while answering that call, he was killed in the line of duty. As a result of DOJ's ruling an entire class of firefighters who serve, protect and die while responding to an emergency are now deemed inconsequential. Congress never intended for the PSOB Act to make judgment calls about what roles a firefighter must perform to entitle them to benefits. Furthermore, Congress made no distinction with regards to the specific tasks that an officer must be able to perform at the scene of a fire to be considered a public safety officer. In fact, most firefighter fatalities arise from causes other than burns and asphyxiation. Every year, more public safety officers are injured or killed in motor vehicle and other incidents on the highway at the scene of an emergency or while en route or leaving the scene of an emergency than by fire or smoke. The DOJ's ruling completely ignores the every day risks that our first responders face when responding to emergencies. More disturbing, is the thoughtless message the ruling sends to Junior Firefighters across the country that they are somehow less important or meaningful to the fire service than adult firefighters. Although not surprised by the DOJ's ruling, I am appalled by the lack of understanding displayed by the Department's myopic decision. In response, I will introduce the Christopher Kangas Fallen Firefighter Apprentice Act to retroactively prevent the DOJ from denying firefighter eligibility for PSOB status based on age. When passed, Christopher Kangas and all junior firefighters will be given the status they deserve. Fighting fires requires preparation, dedication and above all else--teamwork. Each member of the team must perform his individual duty to the fullest extent of his or her ability and accept the inherent risk of their position. Only when each member of the team performs their assigned duty, can the entire team achieve success. The firefighter providing maintenance on the equipment, operating a hose, searching a building, providing first aid to the injured or directing traffic on the scene all assume a risk to their safety and play vital role in the team's success. Firefighters across the country understand the importance of teamwork and heroically accept the risk that their duty requires. Christopher Kangas understood this principle and bravely faced the risk of his position, let's hope his memory will force the DOJ to come to that same understanding and honor those like Christopher that have paid the ultimate sacrifice protecting our communities.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 191, 192, 193, 194 and 195 I was speaking to 400 WWII veterans from my district. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on all 5 rollcalls.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank our chairman of the committee for an outstanding bill. I think it is one of the best Defense bills since I have been in Washington in 18 years, and I want to also thank the distinguished ranking member who is one of the finest gentlemen in this Congress and someone that both the chairman and I are proud to serve with. I tell my colleagues that the chairman is correct. This bill is for the soldier. It directly deals with the issues that our soldiers are experiencing and the problems and challenges they are experiencing in the Iraq and Afghan theater, and it provides an aggressive and appropriate response. In fact, we are proud of the fact that under our chairman's leadership we have had almost every member of the committee visit Iraq and Afghanistan to interact with our troops so that we did not base our own decisions in a vacuum on what was told to us by our military leaders; but rather, we went over and we talked to the troops. We interacted with them in a firsthand way and then came to terms with the President's budget request and what we thought was needed. We increased funding just within my subcommittee's jurisdiction by $4.3 billion for additional programs and modernization. That includes $700 million of additional money for up-armored Humvees. It includes additional money for improvised explosive devices, for UAVs, for personal protection, for surveillance, for the Predator and the Shadow, for the Bradley fighting vehicle modernization, for Hellfire missiles; and across the board we provide the funding that we know our troops need. The gentleman referred to a shortfall. I can tell my colleagues, after we got the President's budget, we asked the services, what are your unfunded priorities. The total amount of unfunded priorities, as given to us by the service chiefs, was $12 billion. We more than compensated for the unfunded priorities and look forward to what the costs are going to be to continue our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we took care of that because of the vision of our chairman and our ranking member in working together. Now, we are going to have to come back and ask for additional dollars, yes; but this bill does a more than adequate job to take care of the needs that we have identified and that our service chiefs have identified, but it goes beyond that. We specify in this bill that any modernization must also be given to our Guard and Reserve units based on their being deployed in the theater. So the new equipment we buy will not just go to our active duty forces; but under this legislation, it will go to Guard and Reserve units who have been serving over there and who need the latest state-of-the-art equipment. But we even go further than this. We deal with some tough issues. We deal with the issue of outsourcing. Under the chairman's leadership, starting last year, we put money into a fund to come up with innovative ways to have manufacturing components done here in the U.S. as opposed to overseas. This year, we added $50 million of additional money to that pot. And we have challenged our companies to work with labor unions so that when they contemplate outsourcing 10 or more jobs, we have a financial mechanism in place to bring labor and management together to find common solutions that will allow that company to reduce costs and keep those potential outsourced jobs right here in America. So this bill covers a lot of territory. It is good legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to accept it and vote for it.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I offer this amendment with my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha). This amendment is a sense of Congress that gives the authority to the administration and the Pentagon with the appropriate approval of the new government of Iraq to dismantle the Abu Ghraib Prison that has been the site of so much torture under Saddam's rule and the most recent embarrassment we have had with our troops that have been administering that prison. In the era of Saddam Hussein, Mr. Chairman, Abu Ghraib, 20 miles west of Baghdad, was one of the world's most notorious prisons with tortures, weekly executions, and vile living conditions. As many as 50,000 men and women were jammed into Abu Ghraib at one time in 12-by- 12-foot cells that were little more than human holding pits. Under Saddam Hussein, there were 4,000 prisoners executed in this prison in 1984. In December of 1997 more than 800 prisoners were executed, including 30 members of the Iraqi National Congress in an effort to clean the prison. On April 27, 1998, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. 2,000 inmates were executed in mass firing squads and hanging halls in an ongoing cleaning of the prison. On December 13, 1998, there was an execution of 81 political detainees, including 18 members of the armed services. Between October and December of 2000, Qusay Hussein executed 1,000 prisoners at this site. The closed wing of the prison housed only Shiite prisoners who were kept in 12-by-12-foot cells containing an average of 40 prisoners each. Many of the Kurdish prisoners who were held in this prison and were out of sight were subjected to experimental chemical and biological programs. If we look at the studies by Amnesty International and other U.N. groups, under Saddam Hussein, torture victims in Iraq in this prison were blindfolded, stripped, suspended from their wrists for long hours. Electric shocks and probes were used, including areas of the genitals, ears, the tongue and fingers. They were beaten and whipped. Every type of treatment that was inhumane and unimaginable was done in this prison. It should have been closed down and it should have been torn down when we liberated Iraq, and it was not done. Unfortunately, for several months last year a small number of our soldiers, as yet to be determined, were involved in embarrassing situations with Iraqi prisoners that we detained. Now, our justice system works very quickly. And I am proud to report to our colleagues today that within 2 hours, the first soldier that was involved in committing acts that many would call in violation of the Geneva Final Accord was convicted, having pled guilty to crimes against prisoners. This will follow very quickly a justice system that will not drag out for months or years, but within a matter of weeks will hold our American service personnel, a very small number of them, accountable for acts that they committed at this same prison. What we are saying in this amendment very simply, Mr. Chairman, is assuming the new Iraqi Government, which will take place on July 1, agrees, and it will be their decision because it will be their country, then we are encouraging our Defense Department to work with that government in tearing down this symbol of terrorism, in tearing down this symbol of torture and hatred, to send a clear signal to the Iraqi people that this era of terrible atrocities has really ended; and a new prison will be constructed either at that site or some other site, to allow Iraq to house the prisoners that they have to hold for proper trial and for jurisprudence. It is the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should assist the Iraqi Government, with the approval of that government, in destroying the prison and replacing it with a modern detention facility. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished ranking member and good friend for his comments. Just for the record, I would remind my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) that there will no provisional authority when this bill becomes law. The fact that we vote on this tomorrow does nothing because this bill has to go through the process of working with the other body and being signed by the President. That cannot happen and will not happen until probably October or November of this year. By October or November of this year, there will be no more provisional authority; it will not exist. There will be an Iraqi Government. And that is what this amendment says; it says only if the Iraqi Government suggests and approves that this action be taken is our Defense Department encouraged to cooperate in that effort. I would say to my friend and colleague, in the institution he cited in Ireland, there was no U.S. involvement that I am aware of in committing atrocities at that Irish prison. And so perhaps that prison stands to the atrocities caused by those people in Ireland who committed them. In this case, as all Arabs know, there were in fact very serious incidents caused by Americans. I do not want that prison to be a testament to American atrocities when the greater symbol for the Iraqi people should be the liberation of that country so that they can take care of their own jurisprudence as we have called for and allow them to move forward without the stigma of what was accomplished by a very small number of American soldiers in that prison.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. I would say in closing, Mr. Chairman, this does not mandate one thing. This does not require one action. This amendment simply says to the Department of Defense, if the new Iraqi legitimate government decides they want to proceed, we should assist in tearing down this prison. If the new Iraqi regime and government decides they do not want to proceed, then this amendment has no bearing. I think it makes sense and I think it lets the new Iraqi Government know that we will be there if they decide to destroy this symbol of terrorism. That should be their decision. And if they make that decision, we should authorize our Defense Department to assist them in removing this symbol of terrorism and torture that has been there for so long. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, this legislation will pass after July 1, so there is no way that this legislation can apply to a government that exists today because, by the time this legislation is completed, it will be the time frame of October or November or later this year. So by the time this bill is signed into law, there will be no provisional authority. There will be a legitimate Iraqi Government duly elected by the Iraq people under their constitution. So to reference a date is a moot point because by the time this legislation is passed, that date will far have been over.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.