Increasing The Statutory Limit On The Public Debt

Floor Speech

Mr. LeMIEUX. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the incident that occurred on Christmas Day, when our Nation was targeted by a terrorist who attempted to bring down a plane with 278 passengers and 11 crew members. This attack would have resulted in mass casualties. Thankfully, it did not occur. Much in part due to the vigilance of nearby passengers and for the grace of God, this terrorist was unable to detonate the explosives he carried with him under his clothes.

We should be responding as if the worst happened. What would we be doing today if that plane had exploded over the skies of Michigan and all of its passengers had died?

When the plane landed, the Nigerian terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab, was taken into custody and questioned by authorities. But what happened next is very worrisome. Instead of treating Mr. Abdulmutallab like the terrorist and enemy combatant he is, he was afforded all of the protections of the U.S. Constitution, as if he were a U.S. citizen. He was provided his Miranda rights--the right to remain silent, the right to have an attorney, and the information that if he did not remain silent, it could be used against him. Of course, as best we know, once he was provided with these rights, he stopped talking to those who were questioning him.

What information did we fail to learn? What information about Yemen, the newest breeding ground for al-Qaida and other terrorist groups launching attacks against our country, did we fail to learn? What did we fail to learn about the next attack that is coming, whether it will be again in an airplane or another type of terrorist attack?

Those questions were not asked, and they could not be answered because we treated the terrorist like an American citizen. We gave him all of the constitutional protections. Yet those protections were never meant for people we are fighting against in a war.

That is why I come today to the floor of the Senate because we are treating these terrorists--from the Christmas Day bomber to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom we are going to try in a Federal court, a civil court in New York--as if they are common criminals. In so doing, we are losing ground in the war on terrorism. We cheapen the value of being an American citizen, with all the rights that are afforded to us, when we grant terrorists who seek to end our way of life with those same protections.

Why are we providing Miranda rights and other constitutional protections to terrorists at the expense of the security of the American people? Who in our government is making this decision? Who is saying these terrorists should have these rights? Who made the decision to Mirandize the Christmas Day bomber and treat him as a criminal defendant instead of an unlawful enemy combatant?

Instead of treating this as a criminal law enforcement action, we need to recognize that we are at war. It is not the kind of war that our grandfathers
fought in World War II or the one our fathers fought in Vietnam; it is what they call an asymmetrical war. But it is a war nonetheless. The people who are waging this war against us are trying to destroy America as we know it--not unlike the enemies we have had in our past wars.

We lose the edge against these enemies in this war by failing to gain the information that we could gain, and should gain, from lawful and proper interrogation--information that is not gained as soon as Miranda rights are given.

This week the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, the National Counterterrorism Center Director, Michael Leiter, and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, all testified before committees of the Congress and the Senate surrounding the incident concerning Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Each of them admitted they were not consulted by anybody in the administration, specifically the Department of Justice, on prosecuting Abdulmutallab in a civilian rather than a military court. These are the people who are supposedly on the frontlines of protecting the homeland and fighting against terrorism.

The Director of National Intelligence, a position created to stand on top of all of the other intelligence-gathering organizations, to break down the silo so we could gain information and connect the dots--which as you hear, of course, did not happen for this event--but the chief intelligence officer of the United States of America was not informed as to why we were prosecuting him as a civilian.

I had the opportunity to question Michael Leiter, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who is trying to counter the terrorism that is affecting our country. Although he was careful not to contradict the administration, it is clear to me that he would rather we treat these enemy combatants as what they are and not as common criminals.

So who made this decision? Was it the Attorney General of the United States? Was it the President? Whoever made this decision, we need to know. That information needs to be before the Senate because it is a questionable call at best. In fact, I submit it is the wrong call to treat these non-American citizens as if they had all the rights we do. We are losing the war on terrorism if we do not gain the valuable information to stop terrorist attacks before they start. Someone from this administration needs to come forward and own up to this decision. I call upon the administration to do so. The American people deserve answers. Our policymakers have to come clean. We should be able to ask them questions and ask the right person questions as to why this decision was made.

We should not be trying terrorists in civilian courts. We should not be giving them Miranda rights and other constitutional protections. We should be fighting the war on terrorism as if our very lives depend upon it because they do.

HAITI

Mr. President, I wish to speak about the situation in Haiti and the tragic events that occurred last Tuesday around 5 p.m. when a massive earthquake, measuring 7 points on the Richter scale, occurred near Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.

As a Senator from Florida, I have a deep connection to the Haitian people because we have more than 200,000 Haitians in our community in Florida. Watching what happened on television and the graphic pictures we have all seen on the news of the tragedy that has occurred--families have been separated and lost, children have been orphaned--we have also seen encouraging shots, those of people being rescued. We all saw the shot a couple days ago of the 75-year-old lady who was rescued, and yesterday a small boy and his sister were pulled out of the rubble, amazingly buried alive for a week and they made it out. It gives us hope. But the projections are grim with perhaps as many as 150,000 Haitians dead. It is a staggering figure. It is a tragic loss of humanity.

Last week, I was in Miami, along with the Governor and other officials, as we met to talk about what our response would be. We worked with the Coast Guard and Southern Command to make sure our rescue teams from Miami that have done work all around the world would have the opportunity to join the other search-and-rescue teams to help bring out the living and to find the dead to return them home. We have been very successful in doing that. We are very thankful for all of those Americans and very proud, as I am, especially of the ones from Florida, who have been doing such great work.

While I was down in Miami, I had the chance to go to Little Haiti, which is our largest Haitian-American community, and visit the students at St. Mary's School. It is the school next to the Catholic cathedral in Miami, Dade County. I visited with Monsignor Terence Hogan and Sister Jane Stoecker, who is the principal of the school. I saw these beautiful Haitian children who were there in their school uniforms. They came to school that morning, the day after the earthquake, crying because they have family and loved ones on the island of Hispaniola. They put their pennies and quarters together to raise $500 to send to rescue and help the Haitian people. It is a touching story.

The American people have been touched, too, because now we know tens of millions of dollars have been raised. Former President Bush and former President Clinton have come together under the request of President Obama to lead a relief effort so that we all can contribute, and we all must and we all should.

I am thankful to RADM Steve Branham of the 7th District of the U.S. Coast Guard who has been on the ground and instrumental in making sure the relief efforts and the Coast Guard could be there to help these folks. One thing specifically he has been able to help with, which I will talk about in a moment, concerns the students from Lynn University in Boca Raton.

I would like to talk about some of the heroes, some of our Floridians who have been so instrumental in helping the Haitian people.

I wish to talk about a Fort Pierce-based nonprofit organization called Missionary Flights International that began flying food and supplies to Haiti daily. Since the earthquake, the organization has collected donations and gathered volunteers to load food, water, and supplies on their planes. In 1 day alone, the organization sent more than 400,000 ready meals to be eaten in Haiti.

Another organization, the Big Heart Brigade in Palm Beach, is shipping 140,000 meals ready to eat this week. The Big Heart Brigade provides meals to many in South Florida, but in the wake of the tragedy, they have focused their efforts on Haiti.

I wish to talk about Mr. Hank Asher in Boca Raton, FL, whom I happen to know well, who immediately took his plane and started flying doctors and nurses from Jackson Memorial and needed supplies into Haiti and brought back the wounded and the injured to Florida. We were able to give them some assistance in getting in and out shortly after the disaster.

The good people of Florida and the good people of this country are opening their hearts and wallets and pocketbooks to help the people of Haiti, as they should. I look forward to going to Haiti once the search-and-rescue portion is over to assess the situation myself to see what I can do to help that nation recover.

Also, as I mentioned a moment ago, I wish to talk about Lynn University students. Many folks watching on television today have seen the parents of these students. There were 12 there with faculty members. Some of them were able to get home. They were recovered and returned but alive. Now we know there are four students still missing and two faculty still missing. We remain hopeful that these young ladies and their two faculty members will make it back home to Florida. We have Christine Gianacaci, Stephanie Crispinelli, Courtney Hayes, and Britney Gengel, along with faculty members Patrick Hartwick and Richard Bruno.

I have been talking with Dr. Ross, the president of Lynn University. My office, with other Members of Congress, is trying to assist in the efforts to find these students who were in the Hotel Montana, which fell shortly after the earthquake.

Yesterday, I sent a letter to Secretary Clinton, Administrator Shah, and Secretary Gates. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a copy of this letter dated January 21, 2010, at the conclusion of my remarks.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. LeMIEUX. Mr. President, in that letter we have asked that the search-and-rescue efforts continue. We saw the miraculous discovery of that young boy and young girl yesterday. There are people potentially alive still buried in the rubble. We must continue while there is some hope to look for survivors. But if there are no survivors, we request in this letter that their loved ones be brought home so they can be here in the United States. It is a request I think we all understand. We have been working with Secretary Clinton's office. We know they share the same view. I wanted to bring that to the attention of the Senate.

As a parent of young children, I cannot imagine the loss and the feeling of loss of these parents from Lynn University and others who are still waiting for the potential recovery, as the days grow longer and the hours go by, of their family members, especially the loss it must be for these parents, the idea of losing a child. There is nothing more tragic one can think of. Our hearts go out to them. They are in our prayers. We look forward to the hopeful return of these students and faculty, but if not their return alive, then at least bringing them home so they can have rest and peace back in the United States of America.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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