USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005

USA PATRIOT AND TERRORISM PREVENTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 22, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. SANDER M. LEVIN
OF MICHIGAN
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2005

The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3199) to extend and modify authorities needed to combat terrorism, and for other purposes:

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Chairman, I supported the State Department Authorization (FY 06-07) bill as reported by the International Relations Committee, and supported many of the amendments offered here on the floor of the House. However, this bill now also includes three major amendments which came up on the floor of the House, which are misguided and which I opposed.

The Rohrabacher amendment correctly acknowledges the importance of intelligence gathering, while it ignores allegations of serious abuses at Guantanamo Bay. These instances of abuse, combined with others have damaged our credibility around the world and hindered the effectiveness of our efforts in Iraq and the war on terror.

As to the Ros-Lehtinen amendment on Iraq, I have never supported setting a deadline for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. We do need an effective plan in place to transfer responsibility for Iraq's security to the Iraqi people as soon as possible. This requires specific and meaningful benchmarks to gauge progress and determine when our troops can return home. The Ros-Lehtinen amendment, which was never discussed in Committee, makes no reference at all to any benchmarks and contains language that gives support to a vague, open-ended commitment to keep our troops in Iraq indefinitely.

Finally, I support U.N. reform. The Hyde legislation regarding the U.N. when brought up separately in the House was opposed by 195 Members and was the subject of serious objections from the Bush Administration. It was also quite clear that it could not pass the Senate, so it is being bootstrapped to this bill. The Hyde Amendment lacks the flexibility needed for the Administration to effectively seek the necessary reforms at the U.N. For example, if a single one of 14 specific goals set forth in the amendment are not met by 2007, 50 percent of our dues would be withheld. Such a rigid approach would weaken the Bush Administration's hand to implement the changes which are necessary at the U.N.

Because the final State Department Authorization bill contains those three amendments, which I opposed, I am voting against final passage. I hope the Senate and Administration will seek the necessary improvements in this legislation.

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