Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. COTTON. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment would very simply prohibit the use of funds in this legislation from being used to transfer detainees at Guantanamo Bay to their country of origin or any foreign country.

There are two main reasons why this amendment is necessary, both related to the President's action in trading five senior Taliban commanders for Private Bowe Bergdahl.

First, he has proven that section 1035 of the National Defense Authorization Act is inadequate; and, second, we need to review conditions of the release of the Taliban Five.

On the first point, this Congress granted the President, last year, expanded authority to release detainees from Guantanamo Bay, conditioned on 30 days' notice to the Congress, as well as certain conditions.

The President abused that authority by releasing the Taliban Five without notification, even to the so-called Gang of Eight, the senior leaders of both parties in both Chambers, the senior leaders of both Intelligence Committees in both Chambers.

The President, having duly signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law with those restrictions, but then did not obey those restrictions, did not claim his core article II constitutional powers to override them. Therefore, it is imperative on our institution to reclaim, on principle, our constitutional authority.

Second, the Taliban Five have been released into the country of Qatar. We need to take a year to review the conditions of those released. As many of you have seen, they appear to be moving about freely in the country of Qatar without any restrictions on their movement, absent the requirement that they remain in Qatar.

This would allow them--senior commanders, mind you--to communicate freely with Taliban on the battlefield against our troops in Afghanistan. We should be able to take at least 1 year to see if such conditions are adequate to support the release of such hardened terrorist commanders.

What does this amendment not do? This is not a permanent ban on transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, nor does it authorize indefinite detention. It simply says we will take a 1-year pause to evaluate the conditions under which five senior Taliban commanders were released and to reassert our constitutional prerogatives.

Who are these detainees? They are not goat herders who were innocently swept up by the American military, nor are they foot soldiers or couriers. These are the worst of the worst, 149 hardened terrorists, which Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay says 120 of are high risk to return to the battle.

In fact, just this week, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee was arrested in Spain, recruiting for the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group that is currently rampaging through both Syria and Iraq.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, stand up for your honor as a coequal branch, stand up for our national security, and stand up for the safety of your constituents.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. COTTON. Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, I would simply say that the 149 terrorists left at Guantanamo Bay are not goat herders, they are not couriers, and they are not even foot soldiers. They are bomb-makers, they are commanders, and they are intelligence experts who have killed American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines around the world.

Yes, there have been releases in the past, but many of those release were of less dangerous terrorists. The Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay says 120 out of 149 of the remaining detainees are at high risk to return to the battlefield. That is over 80 percent.

Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``yes'' vote to put a pause on the President's lawless release of the Taliban Five from Guantanamo Bay.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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