Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment would strike section 512 of the bill, which prohibits the use of funds to construct or expand any facility in the United States to house any individual detained at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Simply put, this section is designed to prevent the closure of Guantanamo.

Mr. Chairman, we are still holding 122 people at Guantanamo, 57 of whom have been cleared for release. These people have been found guilty of nothing, are believed to be guilty of nothing, and have been judged not to pose any danger. Nonetheless, they are not released. By what claim of right do we continue to imprison them?

As for the detainees who have not been cleared for release, this bill is designed to ensure that we will continue to hold them at Guantanamo indefinitely. We don't know whether these people are enemy soldiers or not or are guilty of anything or not. Some of them may be, and some of them probably are not. Those facts must be determined in a fair proceeding of some sort, but, at Guantanamo, there are no proceedings. The military tribunal process at Guantanamo has been at a complete standstill for years, and we cannot hold civilian trials at Guantanamo, so we are holding people for no purpose with no proceedings, no hearings, no opportunity to determine their guilt or innocence, and we are holding them, essentially, forever.

I recall a briefing last year at which Representative and now-Senator Cotton said that these people had been determined to be guilty by Congress. Aside from the fact that Congress has not determined anybody to be guilty and aside from the fact, if Congress tried to determine someone to be guilty of a crime or of anything, that it would be a violation of the bill of attainder section of the Congress, it is simply not true. These people have been determined to be guilty of nothing, and they deserve, like anybody else, to have a day in court. How long will we let this shameful episode in American history continue?

To overcome this challenge to one of the founding principles of the United States, which is that no person may be deprived of liberty without due process of law and, certainly, may not be deprived of liberty indefinitely without due process of law, we must close the detention facility at Guantanamo now so that they can be properly charged and tried in a Federal court. This will afford the detainees no additional constitutional rights. The Supreme Court has already ruled that detainees at Guantanamo have the same constitutional rights as they would if they were to be brought to the United States.

The government should transfer to Federal court any detainee against whom it has evidence. The Federal courts, in contrast to the military tribunals, have an excellent record in prosecuting and convicting terrorists. Anyone not charged should either be classified as a ``prisoner of war'' and treated as such or should be released back to his home country or elsewhere if that prevents a problem to his life or safety. This is not a radical suggestion. It has been our tradition for the entire history of our country and has been our unbroken legal practice until now.

The President can and should without delay authorize the Secretary of Defense to use existing certification and waiver procedures to repatriate and resettle abroad all prisoners who have been cleared for release, and he should arrange trial in the United States for all prisoners who are not cleared for release.

We must close this facility. We must try and convict and sentence the people who are guilty of acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States or, in accord with our moral and constitutional principles, release those who are not guilty of offenses against the United States. Only so can we restore our national honor. This amendment is necessary to start this process because without our bringing some of these prisoners to the United States for trial, we cannot try them. I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I note in his opposing this amendment that the gentleman simply said it is part of a larger policy discussion about Guantanamo. He is correct. He said that there is identical language in other bills. He is correct. He said that we should remove that language from the other bills, and he points out that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other high-value prisoners are at Guantanamo. He is correct.

We are to bring them to the United States. We are to try them and convict them and either sentence them to death or to life in prison without parole or whatever. That is our tradition. We don't simply declare someone is a bad guy and hold him forever without a trial. Our Federal courts in the United States have an excellent record of trying and convicting people accused of terrorism. In the military tribunals at Guantanamo, they can't even run a trial. It has come to a complete standstill.

It is really missing the point to say that there are some very bad people at Guantanamo. Yes, there are. There are also some perfectly innocent people at Guantanamo. Those people ought to be released. The people who we think are guilty of something should be charged and tried. To simply say that someone is not going to be charged and tried but be held for life imprisonment without a trial is not what this country is about.

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