C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, the amendment would allow, and probably require, that a very large number of detainees from Guantanamo are sent back home to their home country or a country that they might have come to. They're detainees for a reason. They are detainees because they inflicted harm or danger or threats or death to our American interests, our American soldiers. They came from the battlefield. Now, we know that two of the former detainees who have been sent back to their country established a group that's run by those two former Gitmo detainees, and so I don't think it's a good idea. I think we should keep the detainees that are dangerous. Until such time as they meet the requirements of the law, they should stay at Guantanamo. They would have to ensure that the remaining Gitmo detainees, whom most judge as the most dangerous, will not be released or otherwise brought into the homeland where U.S. citizens could be threatened. Second, the present law ensures that, prior to releasing Guantanamo detainees to a foreign country, a careful and deliberate assessment must be made that the detainee is not likely to reengage in terrorist activities. What's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with that, so why change it? Why turn these people loose to go back to the battlefield, which many of them that have been released have already done, causing additional harm to our troops. So I'm strongly opposed to this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I don't think it can be said any stronger or needed to be said any more often. These detainees are bad, bad people. They hate America. They've sworn to kill Americans, and, in fact, they have done so on the battlefield, and that's why, when they were captured, they were sent to Guantanamo. That's where they should stay unless the current law is abided by, and that is, to ensure that the remaining Gitmo detainees who are most judged as the most dangerous will not be released or brought into the homeland where U.S. citizens could be threatened. Second, they ensure that prior to releasing Guantanamo detainees to a foreign country a careful and deliberate assessment must be made that the detainee is not likely to re-engage in terrorist activities and the foreign government can maintain control over the individual. What's wrong with that law? It protects Americans. It protects America, and it keeps the bad guys where they need to be kept. And in this particular case, it's at Guantanamo. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, as I read the amendment, I'm assuming that the gentleman is trying to prevent any further construction or money of that type for the Guantanamo detainees. And I can understand that because we have just recently spent a lot of money building two brand new prisons, air-conditioned, comfortable, and we've already spent that money, so maybe we don't need to spend any money there. But what the amendment doesn't recognize is that since 1903, we have had a presence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for our own military purposes. The 4th Fleet is headquartered there and has been there for many years. Allied shipping, allied Navy facilities, allied forces move through Guantanamo Bay on a fairly regular basis. I don't know that they have any specific requests right now for any kind of construction, but I don't think we want to deny it in the event that the Defense Department finds it important to do a construction project there. So, understand, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been part of the United States military facility since 1903, and so I don't think this amendment is a good amendment because it would deny our troops, our forces not even involved with Guantanamo detainees the right for military construction, or the right for whatever needs to be spent. So, again, I just have to oppose this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I think the gentleman just made my case. We don't really need a lot more money for construction for Guantanamo detainees. We've already spent a lot of money there. The point is, we don't want to deny the ability of the Defense Department to provide whatever is needed for our own military forces at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, not part of the Guantanamo detainees. I think we've talked this one to death. We're repeating ourselves now. So, in the interest of time, I'm going to yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, I claim the time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, this is an issue that we can't sweep under the rug any longer. We have got to face it square on. The gentlelady's amendment helps do that. The subcommittee when preparing this legislation was extremely concerned about the issue, and we have included considerable amounts of money to deal with sexual predators and sexual assaults in the military, especially demanding that the military do a better job at enforcing the rules, the laws, to protect the rights of those who are sexually abused. I thank the gentlelady for offering this amendment, and we do support the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, I claim the time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Again, Madam Chairman, this is a good amendment. Those who are subject to sexual assaults, sexual attacks, and who have been separated from the military on grounds of a disorder need to have their records corrected if information indicates that that should be done. Sexual assault victims have already suffered a great deal. They deserve to have their military records accurately reflect their military service. Those victims who were improperly discharged on the grounds of a personality disorder deserve to have those records corrected. We do support the amendment. This bill already provides substantial funding to provide these services. I notice a very distinguished gentleman rising who would like me to yield, and I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, needless to say, we support this amendment. We have already robustly financed sexual assault programs. We fully fund the President's request for sexual assault prevention and response programs at the service level and at the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program office. I would like to emphasize ``prevention.'' If we can prevent these sexual assaults, then the other problems go away. So it is important that we do pay attention to prevention. In addition, our bill provides $25 million to the Department and the services, including the Guard and Reserve, to implement a Sexual Assault Special Victims program, such as the Air Force Special Victims Counsel program, to provide all victims with specially trained legal assistance throughout the investigation and prosecution process--fair play. That's important. We also support a number of policy changes that were including the FY 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. I think our bill goes a long way on this issue, and this amendment goes even further, so we enthusiastically support it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, first of all, I want to congratulate our colleague from Florida for having a very successful first few months in the Congress. He has done a really good job. I am happy to rise in support of this amendment. It is a responsible approach to a critical national security issue. We appreciate the gentleman working closely with the committee to address this issue in a responsible manner that protects our national interests. So I say, again, thank you for the initiative that you have offered here today.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I am very happy to yield 3 minutes to the very distinguished chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I am very happy to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlelady from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairwoman, I yield 2 minutes for the closing argument to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Cotton).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chair, I'd like to use my time to say thank you to the House and all of the Members who participated in some vigorous debate, for having conducted the affairs of the House in a most professional way, proving to our constituents that we can work things out, that we can work together. I just want to say thank you to Mr. Visclosky, who is handling the minority leadership on this bill for the first time. I think he deserves a lot of credit and a lot of applause for the good job that he did in keeping this schedule on track. Peter, thank you very much. While it seems a long time ago, it was only Monday night that we finally received the 100 amendments that would be filed and considered during the debate. We had to analyze those amendments by Tuesday-- yesterday--so that we could begin the debate on this bill. Our staff did an outstanding job in working late into the night Monday night analyzing these amendments so that we could consider where we would be on those amendments. I would like to read the names of the members of our staff, headed by Tom McLemore as staff director and Paul Juola in a similar position for Mr. Visclosky. Also, Becky Leggierri, Brook Boyer, Ann Reese, Megan Rosenbush, Tim Prince, Walter Hearne, B.G. Wright, Paul Terry, Maureen Holohan, Jennifer Miller, Adrienne Ramsay, and Sherry Young. They are a professional staff. It's hard to find any more of a professional staff than those that I just mentioned. Madam Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. There's no doubt that Iron Dome is an extremely effective missile defense system. And because of that, the committee fully funded this bill at $220 million for Iron Dome, which is fully in line with the President's request and the recently passed defense authorization bill. Additionally, this is the third year of consecutive funding for a 4- year commitment. The truth of the matter is they really can't spend it any faster or any more effectively. So as is so often the case, this motion is purely a political statement, and I urge its rejection. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Clerk be authorized to make technical corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 2397, including corrections in spelling, punctuation, section and title numbering, cross-referencing, conforming amendments to short titles, and the insertion of appropriate headings.