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Congressional Record—House H7631 December 11, 2013 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H7631 Republicans, a plan guided by indi- they drag on, the less legitimate the Pennsylvania (Mr. THOMPSON) for 5 vidual freedom of choice and open com- overall system appears. Meanwhile, our minutes. petition. civilian judicial system, which many Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. This will only happen if there is a congressional critics have derided as Mr. Speaker, the Food Network re- massive change of heart by the con- not up to the task of handling ter- cently broadcast an episode of their hit gressional Democrats who imposed this rorism cases, has disposed of a long reality-based cooking television series, nightmare on our country. Now is the line of defendants—from Richard Reid, ‘‘Chopped.’’ Aspiring teen chefs high- time for all Americans whose lives the Shoe Bomber, to Omar Farouk lighted their culinary skills and com- have been upended by their folly to Abdulmutallab, the Underwear Bomb- peted for a scholarship that would be share their stories with their Rep- er, and Faisal Shaizhad, the Times put towards a leading culinary school. resentatives and to pray that they ac- Square Bomber—all successfully pros- Competition aside, these young chefs tually can touch some hearts and ecuted in America’s civilian courts, are ambassadors of career and tech- change some minds during this holiday and none will ever be released again. nical education programs. They season. Otherwise, I am afraid that amazed professional judges and made b 1015 New Year’s Day will be nothing to cele- the viewing public second-guess mom’s brate. By lifting its restriction on transfer- cooking. ring these detainees to the United f As cochair of the bipartisan Career States for trial, Congress could give and Technical Education Caucus, CLOSING GUANTANAMO BAY the administration the flexibility to which I am proud to lead with my good The SPEAKER pro tempore. The transfer many of those now in the mili- friend, the gentleman from Rhode Is- Chair recognizes the gentleman from tary commission system to Article III land (Mr. LANGEVIN), I congratulate the California (Mr. SCHIFF) for 5 minutes. courts for prosecution. These civilian Food Network and ‘‘Chopped’’ for pro- Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, when it courts can be more expeditious, more moting these young culinary profes- was first opened in the immediate effective, and, in the eyes of the world, sionals. aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the more just than military tribunals. Mr. Speaker, inspiration is like light- Guantanamo Bay prison may have The remaining detainees—some 46 ning; it doesn’t strike in the same seemed a reasonable stopgap measure men—will be the most difficult cases. place twice. With 2014 quickly ap- as a shocked Nation marshaled its re- These are detainees considered too dan- proaching, we should do everything in sources and figured out how to dispose gerous to release or transfer, but who our power in order to support the cul- of detainees taken in Afghanistan and cannot be prosecuted. For some, evi- inary arts and the entire range of other elsewhere. dence cannot be presented without re- career and technical education pro- But even in those early days, the vealing critical sources of intelligence grams and fields that offer aspiring problems we were creating with Guan- and methods. Others were tortured, or young minds and transitioning adults a tanamo’s patchwork of military rules evidence against them was collected gateway to success in a rapidly evolv- and commissions were readily appar- through torture or some other unlaw- ing and dynamic job market. The fu- ent. Since 2002, I have introduced nu- ful means. For still others, the evi- ture of America deserves as much. merous bills and amendments to try to dence of past acts and future dan- f bring Guantanamo into conformity gerousness, while not sufficient to with American and international law prosecute, argues compellingly against RECOGNIZING LAWRENCE LIVER- and to stop it from becoming a jihadi any release or transfer. MORE NATIONAL LABORATORY recruiting tool. The administration announced over FOR OUTSTANDING WORK But reform of this prison system has the summer that it would begin a re- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The been elusive and progress towards view of these cases, and as a result, Chair recognizes the gentleman from bringing its detainees to justice almost others may be cleared for transfer or California (Mr. SWALWELL) for 5 min- nonexistent, as U.S. courts have taken prosecution. It is likely that many, if utes. strong issue with its improvised legal not most, of the detainees in this final Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. process. category will remain in American cus- Speaker, I rise to recognize Lawrence In one of his first acts as President, tody. But where? Livermore National Laboratory for its Barack Obama ordered the closing of Even if we ultimately decide to outstanding scientific work and the Guantanamo, but the Congress almost maintain these detainees in custody, dedicated scientists who played a role immediately stepped in and erected a that does not justify continued oper- in the effort that was recently awarded series of statutory barriers that have ation of Guantanamo Bay. Instead, the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. prevented the transfer of detainees to they should be transferred to civilian Yesterday, in Oslo, Norway, the Or- the United States and made transfer to or military confinement in the United ganization for the Prohibition of Chem- third countries extremely difficult. States, an option currently blocked by ical Weapons, OPCW, received the 2013 Today, there is a renewed push by the Congress. Nobel Peace Prize for its work enforc- administration to shutter Guantanamo Every day that it remains open, ing the global ban on chemical weap- for good. Doing so will not be easy, but Guantanamo Bay damages the United ons. The OPCW received this pres- the cost of keeping the prison open—to States. Because there are other, better tigious award in part because of the our values, to our pocketbook, to our options for prosecution and detention contributions from over 21 scientific reputation, and to our security—have of these inmates, we are not safer for laboratories around the world. That become too great to bear. Guantanamo’s existence. In fact, it work, in different capacities, led to There are now 164 detainees at Guan- makes us more vulnerable by drawing identifying and destroying chemical tanamo, 84 of whom have been cleared new generations to the jihad. weapons across the world. One of these for transfer to their home country or The Congress, the administration, laboratories is from the 15th Congres- another country willing to accept and the military can work together to sional District, Lawrence Livermore them. These detainees should be proc- find a solution that protects our people National Laboratory. essed and transferred as soon as secu- even as we maintain our principles and Over the past 13 years, Lawrence rity considerations will allow. devotion to the rule of law. The Presi- Livermore Forensic Science Center has This would leave 80 remaining de- dent has indicated that he would like worked closely with the OPCW to ana- tainees, who are roughly split into two to work with Congress to end the lyze samples and test for the possible groups. The first group, which includes Guantanamo era. We should take him presence of chemical weapons. The Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and other key up on that important challenge. OPCW and Lawrence Livermore Lab- 9/11 plotters, consists of detainees slat- f oratory were recognized specifically for ed for trial under the military commis- actions that OPCW has recently taken sions that were established by the Bush SUPPORTING CAREER AND TECH- in Syria—to identify, destroy, and dis- administration. NICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS mantle the Assad regime’s chemical These proceedings have been mired in The SPEAKER pro tempore. The weapons that they most recently used pre-trial wrangling; and the longer Chair recognizes the gentleman from back in August on their own people. VerDate Mar 15 2010 03:14 Dec 23, 2014 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD13\RECFILES\DEC2013\H11DE3.REC H11DE3 bjneal on DSK2TWX8P1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE.
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