Bring Jobs Home Act--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. PAUL. Madam President, there is a doctor in Pakistan by the name of Shakil Afridi. He has been identified as a doctor who helped us with information in order to get bin Laden. The Pakistan Government has now put him in prison for 33 years. I think this is an abomination. While we can't tell countries what they must do with their internal affairs, we certainly don't have to reward them with taxpayer money when they put someone in prison for attempting to help America.

My point and my message to Pakistan is that if they want to be an ally, they should act like it. Putting this man in prison for 33 years for helping America get bin Laden, which Pakistan was ostensibly supposed to be doing, is a real travesty of justice. Bin Laden lived for nearly a decade in Pakistan, in a city, living comfortably a mile or two from one of their military academies. We finally got him, but it doesn't appear as if we got him with much help from the Pakistani Government.

Now this doctor is in prison for 33 years. And how does President Obama respond? President Obama, this week, gave them $1 billion--an additional $1 billion. We are rewarding bad behavior with more of our money--money we don't even have. We have a $1 trillion deficit and we are giving them an extra $1 billion.

Yesterday he was supposed to have an appeal. Dr. Afridi, the doctor who helped us, was supposed to get a chance to help prove his innocence. His trial has been indefinitely delayed. We have requested from the Pakistani Embassy whether there is going to be a trial. We want to know the date, and has the date been set for his appeal. We have gotten no answer. We have requested this information from President Obama's administration, from his State Department. Will Dr. Afridi get a trial? When will his trial be? We have gotten no answer.

If we can't get an answer--if they are going to continue to hold this man--I see no reason to send taxpayer money to Pakistan. I have the votes and the ability to force a vote on this issue. My plan is to force a vote on this issue next week. The vote will be on ending all aid to Pakistan, ending the aid until this doctor is freed.

This is not something I take lightly. This doctor's life is now being threatened. The information minister from that particular province in Pakistan says they want him transferred because they receive death threats on a daily basis toward him. They are worried about other prisoners killing him. I would hate for the Obama administration to have on their conscience the fact that this doctor, who helped us get bin Laden, is killed in prison. I would hate to have on my conscience the death of an innocent man, if he were to be killed in prison, whose only crime was helping America. At the very least, the Pakistani Government ought to immediately get him into a safe prison in one of the larger cities outside the tribal regions.

We are concerned about Dr. Afridi's safety, we are concerned about imprisoning him for life for helping America, and we are also concerned about American taxpayers' money being taken from hard-working Americans and sent to a country that seems to disrespect us. I am all for cooperating with Pakistan. I hope they will continue to work with us. But we shouldn't have to buy our friends. We gave them an extra $1 billion. Yet they continue to disrespect us by holding this man in prison.

I am very concerned about Dr. Afridi's safety. I am concerned his appeal was not heard today and his trial was canceled. So next week, if we don't have answers on his trial, we will be here on the floor until I get a vote on whether we should continue sending money to Pakistan while they hold him. This is a very important issue for Americans, and I hope all across America people are going to call their Senators and say: You know what. I am not so sure we should send our hard-earned dollars to Pakistan when they treat us this way.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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