FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. KIRK. Madam President, I wish to talk about two topics today, first on this health care bill and then on the situation in Egypt.

I rise today in support of the amendment to repeal the health care law. We made a mistake last year in passing this law, and a large majority of American people know it. In the face of the largest debt in our history, it was the height of folly to create a new spending program, offering subsidized health care to 30 million Americans. It is a promise we cannot afford to keep and one that our lenders may force us to retract.

Before losing our credit rating or suffering the humiliation of foreign lenders denying us new loans, we should take the decisive action now to end this entitlement. Congress should replace this mistaken law with bipartisan reforms that prohibit the government from overriding the decisions you make with your doctor, that defend your right to buy insurance from any State in the Union, and to make lawsuit reforms to lower the costs of defensive medicine.

The failed health care law now ruled as unconstitutional by two Federal courts uses the commerce clause of the Constitution to create an unlimited government that could require Americans to buy what they do not want. The very heart of the Constitution was the creation of a limited government that could only accomplish its defined missions, leaving all else to the people and to the States.

These courts are right, the law is unconstitutional. It spends over $2.6 trillion, it hurts small businesses, it cuts senior health care under Medicare, and levies billions in new taxes against our economy in the teeth of the great recession.

Recently, I visited Decatur Memorial Hospital in Decatur, IL. Their president, Ken Smithmier, warned me that the Medicare cuts required by the new health care law would cut $10 million annually from their hospital, resulting in the loss of over 200 jobs. Decatur is not alone in its troubles. In nearly half of my State's counties, hospitals are among the top three employers. They are the backbone of our local economies, and their employment would be greatly harmed by this health care law.

We made a promise to seniors who depend on Medicare that we would take care of them. This law cuts Medicare and hurts them. We should honor, instead, our promises to defend the Nation, to support seniors on Social Security and who depend on Medicare before making an extravagant promise that is irresponsible and cannot be kept under the health care law.

EGYPT

Madam President, I also wish to take this time to speak on an entirely different subject, which is what is going on in Egypt.

I entitle this discussion ``The Muslim Brotherhood: Its Leaders in Their Own Words.''

Will Egypt follow Poland or Georgia to foster a new democratic government or will it follow Iran's revolution, converting Egypt into a state sponsor of terror?

While U.S. policy should support human rights and democracy, we face the risk that the Muslim Brotherhood, the al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, could seize power. Who is part of the brotherhood and what are its political objectives?

A detailed study shows why these questions should command the attention of the Congress and the President. With so much at stake in the Middle East, Americans must be clear-eyed about the Muslim Brotherhood and its radical Islamic agenda with a pledge of jihad against the West and the State of Israel.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest Islamist movement in the Middle East and is widely described as the most organized political force in Egypt. Its membership is estimated at over 600,000.

Although it claims to be nonviolent, this conservative organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, has profoundly influenced Islamic terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas. One of its disciples was the prominent Islamist theologian Sayyid Qutb who provided the intellectual underpinnings of al-Qaida. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's second in command, was once a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

As recently as 2004, the organization's motto was as follows:

Allah is our objective.
The Prophet is our leader.
Qur'an is our law.
Jihad is our way.
Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. Banna is famously quoted as saying that ``it is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law in all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.''

The Muslim Brotherhood has a violent history. Back in 1946, the U.S. Army issued an intelligence report stating that the Muslim Brotherhood ``maintains commando units and secret caches of arms.''

Throughout the 1940s, the paramilitary branch of the movement carried out targeted bombings and assassinations.

In 1948, the Muslim Brotherhood was implicated in the murder of Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Naqrashi. In 1954, the group allegedly tried to assassinate then-Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser. The government banned the brotherhood as a political party that very same year.

The Muslim Brotherhood went underground only to resurface during the 1980s. It claimed to disavow violence and attempted to win political power as a religious and social organization. It was increasingly successful with allied candidates, winning 17 seats in the Parliament in 2000 and then a stunning 88 seats, or 20 percent of Egypt's Parliament, in 2005.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not a monolithic organization, but it does maintain a leadership structure and a core set of beliefs. Its leader is called the general guide. He has several deputy guides. Below them is a guidance council, comprised of 15 to 16 senior leaders as well as a broader body, the Shura, comprised of roughly 100 members.

Mohammed Badi was elected as the eighth general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in January of 2010. As noted by the U.S. Government's Open Source Center, Badi is ``influenced by the writings of famous Muslim Brotherhood idealogue Sayyid Qutb, and is known for his conservative views.''

In an April interview in 2010, Mr. Badi said:

We will continue to raise the banner of Jihad and the Koran in our confrontation with the enemy of Islam. The Muslim Brotherhood still considers the Zionists to be its main and only enemy. The Jews who occupy Palestine have their eyes set on Egypt.

Two days ago, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammed Ghannem, reportedly told Al-Alam Iranian news network that he ``would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for a war against Israel,'' adding that the world should understand ``the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.'' He went on to say that the Suez Canal should be ``closed immediately'' and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease ``in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.''

In 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood released a political platform which contained a number of indications on how this organization would govern Egypt if it came to power. According to the Congressional Research Service, the platform called for ``the establishment of a board of religious scholars with whom the President and the legislature would have to consult before passing laws.''

As noted by Mohamed Elmenshawy--the editor-in-chief of Taqrir Washington and Arab Insight:

Reminiscent of Iran's Guardian Council, this undemocratically selected body could have the power vested by the state to veto any and all legislation passed by the Egyptian parliament and approved by the president that is not compatible with Islamic Shari'a law.

The same document raises the important question of the Muslim Brotherhood's commitment to a pluralistic society. Despite pledges to treat minorities and women as equals, the platform allows neither to hold high public office. As stated in the platform: ``Nonmuslims are excused from holding this mission.'' For women, the post of President or Prime Minister would ``contradict her nature, social and other humanitarian roles.'' The draft also cautions against ``burdening women with the duties against their nature or role in the family.''

The people of Egypt and apparently its army are mandating the fall of the Mubarak regime. While we support human rights and democracy, we must heed the growing warnings about the Muslim Brotherhood, their leaders, and plans for taking Egypt all the way back to the 13th century. We, as Americans, have seen this movie before--in Iran, in Lebanon, and in Gaza.

To prevent a strategic reversal on the scale of what happened in Iran, the United States and her allies should do all they can to support Egypt's armies and secular leaders, ensuring no future for the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt, locked under Shari'a law and oppressing women, Christians, and Jews, would be a catastrophic setback for progress in the Middle East. Such a state could renounce the Camp David peace accords or even start yet another war with Israel.

Decisive action and influence now will benefit the national security and economy of the United States later. The defeat of the Muslim Brotherhood and victory for Egyptian secular nationalists would be the best way to avoid war and restore economic confidence in the Middle East and the wider world.

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