Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would prohibit funds from being used to provide defense counsel to foreign terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Simply put, Mr. Chairman, our tax dollars should not be going to defend foreign terrorists. Hard-working taxpayers should not foot the legal bill of noncitizen terrorists who plotted to kill innocent Americans.

I recently visited Guantanamo Bay and learned firsthand of the outrageous amount of time these detainees spend with their taxpayer-funded counsel. I have asked the Department of Defense to provide me with the exact amount they have spent in legal defense services for detainees, but I have received no response. Mr. Chairman, I am sure millions of dollars have been spent defending these foreign terrorists.

Legal resources provided by the Department of Defense should be prioritized for American servicemembers. The pool of judge advocates that represents detainees at Guantanamo is a stand-alone unit. They are only assigned to act as defense attorneys for suspected terrorists. Meanwhile, there is another pool of military lawyers to represent all other American servicemembers.

Why should the DOD resources be assigned to defend foreign terrorists when they could, instead, be used to defend our own men and women in uniform? I am confident most Americans would agree that this money could be better spent within the Department of Defense, perhaps by making sure that our servicemembers are provided their legal counsel ahead of noncitizen terrorists.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I want to make it simple.

This amendment is quite clear. If you don't want American tax dollars being spent to protect foreign terrorists who plotted to attack and kill innocent Americans, then vote ``yes.''

I yield back the balance of my time.

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