Blog
May 19 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON -- United States Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Joe Lieberman (ID-Connecticut) today introduced legislation prohibiting enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from being released into the United States.
Under the Graham/Lieberman legislation, enemy combatants ordered to be released will be transferred into the custody of the Department of Homeland Security while waiting to be returned to their home country or if they unable to return there, another nation. Media reports have suggested that there is consideration of the release of Chinese Uighurs (Wee-gurs), who trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and have been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, into the northern Virginia suburbs.
“The legislation is clear -- former enemy combatants should not be released into the general population of the United States,” said Graham. “Any decision to do this will put Americans at unnecessary risk. Former enemy combatants should be turned over to the Department of Homeland Security until they can be repatriated to another nation. Even though they may not present a direct threat to the United States, it is important to remember the Uighurs were captured in an Al Qaeda training camp and many of them have radical religious views which make it difficult for them to assimilate into our population. Additionally, our immigration laws prohibit the release into the United States any persons who have been part of a terrorist organization. The Uighurs are certainly guilty of this offense.”
“It is imperative that we make it clear that the closing of Guantanamo prison will not result in the freeing of any detainee into American communities,” said Lieberman. “Any detainee cleared for release should be transferred to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. That is a common-sense solution that protects our security and keeps potential terrorists off American streets.”
The Senators noted that the 17 Uighurs currently being held at Guantanamo Bay have petitioned for release into the United States.
####May 15 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on the decision by President Obama to use military commissions to try terror suspects.“I support President Obama’s decision to seek a further stay of military commission trials. Today’s action will afford us the opportunity to reform the military commission system and produce a comprehensive policy regarding present and future detainees.
“In my first meeting with then President-elect Obama in Chicago in December 2008, we discussed a path forward for Guantanamo detainees. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with him and focus on the types of reforms that would protect our national security interests and help repair the damage done to our nation’s image. I continue to believe it is in our own national security interests to separate ourselves from the past problems of Guantanamo.
“Since that initial meeting I have personally met with the President on two occasions and with his staff numerous times to discuss detention policy. Our meetings have covered a wide range of topics including the various ways we could improve the military commission system to ideas on establishing a proper and appropriate oversight role for the federal courts.
“I have had extensive discussions with military commanders and other Department of Defense officials about the overall benefit to the war effort of reforming our nation’s detainee policies. The commanders believe a reformed system would be beneficial to the war effort as long as such a system is national security-centric.
“Detainee policy is very complex. The President wants to collaborate with Congress to reform detainee policy and we should use this additional time to come up with a sensible national security policy regarding terror suspects.
“I believe a comprehensive plan should be in place before Guantanamo is closed.
“I also believe that no detainees should be released into the United States. Detainees determined by the military or a federal judge to no longer be held as enemy combatants should be transferred to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security pending their transfer to another country.
“I agree with the President and our military commanders that now is the time to start over and strengthen our detention policies. I applaud the President’s actions.”
######May 12 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) made this statement on Social Security Trustees Report.
"The day the Trust Fund begins to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes is the beginning of the end for Social Security. Due to the long and deep recession our nation is mired in, that day is now closer than anticipated. The recession has had a disastrous effect on the general economy and the finances of the Social Security program.
"The good news is that with decisive action by the Congress and President we can make adjustments to repair the system in a permanent fashion. These adjustments would be done gradually over time. No solution would harm to those currently receiving Social Security benefits or near-term retirees. They will be protected.
"Congress and the President must act quickly and in a comprehensive manner to save Social Security from impending bankruptcy. The sooner we take action the less drastic the solution. The longer we wait the more draconian.
"With a popular President and a strong contingent of Members of Congress from both parties who see the need to act now, we can get this done. I stand ready to meet the President and any Member of Congress who is ready and willing to act. This is an opportunity to repair the safety net that millions of Americans will rely on for their future retirement. Let's not miss this opportunity."
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May 07 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Joe Lieberman (ID-Connecticut) today wrote to President Obama expressing grave concern over the impending release of photographs of detainees captured in the war on terror and held by American military personnel.
The release of photographs is in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
“We know that many terrorists captured in Iraq have told American interrogators that one of the reasons they decided to join the violent jihadist war against America was what they saw on Al-Qaeda videos of abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib,” wrote Graham and Lieberman. “Releasing these old photographs of detainee treatment now will provide new fodder to Al-Qaeda’s propaganda and recruitment operations, undercut the progress you have made in our international relations, and endanger America’s military and diplomatic personnel throughout the world.
“The release of these old photographs of past behavior that has now been clearly prohibited can serve no public good, but will empower al-Qaeda propaganda operations, hurt our country’s image, and endanger our men and women in uniform,” wrote Graham and Lieberman.
Graham and Lieberman noted that the abusive practices at Abu Ghraib began Congressional involvement in detainee policy. Congress then passed the Detainee Treatment Act and the Military Commission Act. That legislation along with a series of executive actions, including some orders the Obama Administration has issued, are all aimed at preventing a repeat of this unacceptable behavior.
“America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have made great progress in improving detention and interrogation procedures,” said Graham and Lieberman. “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to fight the release of these old pictures of detainees in the war on terror, including pursuing all legal options to prevent the public disclosure of these pictures.”
#####May 05 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on remarks by House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) that he may not support funding for American operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than one year.
“It is disappointing and somewhat unbelievable the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee would talk about putting a one-year deadline on funding for operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Signaling to our enemies that funding may stop within a year if they can create enough chaos not only emboldens our enemies, it puts our own troops at increased risk. Our military commanders, service members and their families are under enough stress.
“Al Qaeda and the Taliban are patient and resilient. They view their struggle with the United States as a test of wills. As Americans, our will to win must be greater than their will to defeat us. In Iraq we learned that if we provide the needed support to our forces they can accomplish great things.
“Thus far, the Obama Administration has made reasoned and solid decisions regarding the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. It is vital to our long-term national interests that we finish the job in Iraq and regain lost momentum in Afghanistan. After our success in Iraq, Afghanistan is becoming the central battle in the war on terror.
“I’m glad Chairman Obey did not have his way in Iraq. I hope President Obama will stand up to this kind of rhetoric and let our men and women in uniform, our allies, and just as important -- our enemies -- know we are in this to win.”
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Apr 30 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) made these statements after he voted against President Obama and the congressional Democrat’s $3.4 trillion budget plan. Graham is a member of the Senate Budget Committee.
On Spending Levels:“President Obama has already spent $12 billion every day he has been in office. This budget is not good news for the American taxpayer. It transforms the country in a way I don’t think is helpful. We’re going to have a hard time looking the next generation in the eye and saying, ‘You’re going to have a chance to do better than us.’ This budget sustains massive deficits for years and explodes the national debt to 67 percent of GDP by 2014. We’re growing the size of government in a way future generations simply can’t afford.”
On Taxation:“The Democratic budget raises taxes by $1 trillion on entrepreneurs and small business owners. This means less money for the people who start businesses and create jobs. The day we start rewarding the government and punishing people for the risk they take as entrepreneurs is the day the American model of free enterprise beings to dim.”
On Protecting our Nation:“Whether the Democrats like it or not, we are the arsenal of democracy. Now is not the time to get cheap on defense and that is exactly what the Obama budget proposal does.”
On Health Care:“Using reconciliation for something as critical as health care is a complete misuse of the budget process. It’s likely the Democrats plan to introduce a radical health care plan that will lose the support of many of their moderate Democrats and all the Senate Republicans. Surely the Obama Administration, if it truly believes in bipartisanship, will be able to find one Republican to get to 60 votes and not have to resort to reconciliation.”
On the Future:“There is a better way. Let’s keep taxes competitive and as low as possible, realizing we’ve got a government to run. Let’s spend wisely. Let’s reform health care so the federal government doesn’t decide what doctor you see and what treatment you get. To my Democratic colleagues, you run this place now. The mistakes Republicans made are real, but you don’t fix those mistakes by spending more than we did. You don’t fix the problems facing the next generation by growing the government at a pace and level they can’t pay for. This lack of bipartisanship and business as usual spending is the complete opposite of what President Obama campaigned on. This is not the change anyone voted for and it’s certainly not change I can believe in.”
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Apr 23 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), one of the strongest supporters of nuclear energy in the Senate, today introduced legislation S. 861, ‘Rebating America’s Deposits Act.’
Electric utilities have been paying into the Nuclear Waste Trust Fund to construct and operate a permanent federal nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The utilities have been charging their costumers a monthly fee in each electricity bill to make these payments. Through 2008, South Carolina residents alone have already contributed more than $1.2 billion to the fund, which has collected a total of more than $30 billion in fees.
The legislation introduced by Graham would rebate these monies back to electric utilities and consumers. Seventy-five percent of the amount rebated to utilities would be returned to their customers and the remaining portion will be used to make upgrades to on-site storage facilities.
Additionally, the legislation authorizes payments to states currently housing defense nuclear waste scheduled to be transferred to Yucca Mountain. These payments begin in 2017, the date in which Yucca Mountain was to set to receive shipments of defense nuclear waste.
“No one should be required to pay for an empty hole in the Nevada desert,” said Graham. “The decision by the Obama Administration to close Yucca Mountain was ill-advised and leaves our nation without a disposal plan for spent nuclear fuel or Cold War waste. It was a political, not scientific, decision. It is incumbent on the Administration to come up with a disposal plan for this real problem facing our nation.”
The major provisions of the Graham legislation include:
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Presidential Certification: The Department of Energy has spent billions of dollars and decades studying the suitability of Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent nuclear fuel and defense waste. Consistently, the science has borne out that Yucca Mountain is the best site to dispose of nuclear waste. Within 30 days of passage, the President must certify that Yucca Mountain remains the preferred choice to serve as the federal repository for spent nuclear fuel and defense-related nuclear waste.
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Failure to Certify Leads to Rebates: If the President fails to make the above certification, or revokes the certification at a later date, all funds currently in the Nuclear Waste Trust Fund shall be rebated back to the utilities. Seventy-five percent of the amount rebated to utilities would be returned to their customers and the remaining money will be used to make security and storage upgrades at existing nuclear power plants.
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Defense Waste: Currently, there is at least 12,800 metric tons of defense-related waste at nuclear weapons complex facilities around the country. Unlike commercial spent fuel, this waste has no potential future defense or civilian uses. In many states, the accumulated waste poses the largest potential public health threat. In order to help mitigate the risk associated with the indefinite storage of defense waste, the legislation authorizes payments of up to $100 million per year if defense waste has not begun to have left the states by 2017.
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Waste Confidence: In order to continue to renew or issue licenses for civilian nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must have reasonable confidence that the waste will be disposed of safely. The legislation includes waste confidence language that allows for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue to license nuclear reactors in the event the Presidential certification is not made.
“Our nation needs real options as a result of the uncertainty created by the Obama Administration’s change in policy,” said Graham. “I will push this legislation forward and hope to have a vote on it soon.”
Co-sponsors of the legislation include Senators Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), Mel Martinez (R-Florida), and John McCain (R-Arizona)
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Apr 22 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), John McCain (R-Arizona), and Joseph Lieberman (ID-Connecticut) today sent the following letter to President Obama strongly urging him not to prosecute government officials who provided legal advice related to detainee interrogations, and to move forward in a constructive fashion to address the significant challenges our country faces on the detainee issue:
“We write with concern about proposals to prosecute previous administration officials for their legal analysis related to the CIA interrogation program. Pursuing such prosecutions would, we believe, have serious negative effects on the candor with which officials in any administration provide their best advice, and would take our country in a backward-looking direction at a time when our detainee-related challenges demand that we look forward.
“We agree with your position that CIA interrogators, carrying out operations that had been deemed lawful by the Attorney General, should not be the subject of prosecution. Indeed, we addressed such a possibility in the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, which holds that “good faith reliance on advice of counsel should be an important factor, among others,” when considering whether CIA interrogators had good reason to believe that their activities were legal.
“We disagree, however, with Administration statements suggesting that the lawyers who provided such counsel may now be open to prosecution. Some of the legal analysis included in the OLC memos released last week was, we believe, deeply flawed. We have also strongly opposed the overly coercive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, that these memos deemed legal. We do not believe, however, that legal analysis should be criminalized, as proposals to prosecute government lawyers suggest. Moving in such a direction would have a deeply chilling effect on the ability of lawyers in any administration to provide their client – the U.S. Government – with their best legal advice. Providing poor legal advice is always undesirable, and the Department of Justice is currently conducting an internal ethics review of the OLC memos, but that is a quite a different matter from making legal advice with which we may disagree into a crime.
“Given the great challenges that face our country in dealing with detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Airfield, and elsewhere, along with detainees that will undoubtedly fall into U.S. custody as the result of future operations, we have every interest in looking forward to solutions, not backward to recriminations. That is why we do not support the idea of a commission that would focus on the mistakes of the past. “As you have made clear, we are a nation at war. Appreciating that reality, we look forward to working with you on the panoply of detainee issues, ranging from interrogation standards to the disposition of detainee cases, which will engage our country going forward. In the interest of national security, it is the future, rather than the past, on which we believe America’s gaze must be fixed.”
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Apr 21 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on the nomination of Chris Hill as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Graham voted against the nominee.
“I believe our nation would have been better served appointing someone who has experience in the region, speaks the language and has experience dealing with the key players. Former Ambassador Ryan Crocker spent his career studying and working in the Arab world. He spoke the language, understood the history, and knew the culture. Our success in Iraq is due in large part to the close partnership of Ambassador Crocker and our military commanders.
“I respect Chris Hill but I do not believe he is the best fit for this most important assignment.”
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Apr 16 2009
Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on the decision by the Obama Administration to not prosecute CIA officers who were authorized to use harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects.
Graham is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee.
“I support the Administration’s decision to look ahead, not back. President Obama’s decision to not seek retroactive prosecution of these agents, who were following approved procedures and guidelines, is in the best interests of our nation.
“During the time periods in question, the Geneva Convention did not apply to terrorist detainees and the war crimes statute was so ill-designed that it could not be used for prosecution. Over the objections of the Bush administration, Congress began to address the gaps in our interrogation laws through the passage of the McCain Amendment in 2005 which prohibited cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. The Military Commission Act in 2006 further clarified our war crimes laws. We now have in place a very robust war crimes statute that provides adequate notice to all federal agencies as to what constitutes lawful interrogation.
“Water boarding is clearly a violation of current law and in my opinion, constitutes torture. However, during the time periods in question there was no such clear guidance and the agents were following orders and procedures approved by the appropriate authorities. As such, these agents should not face prosecution.
“To apply current laws retroactively, or to hold CIA agents accountable for following orders from the appropriate authorities, would be unfair and serve no higher purpose.
“Let it be clear that as our nation goes forward, we have new rules and policies in place. They clearly prohibit water boarding and other techniques that constitute a violation of Common Article III of the Geneva Convention which now applies as well as a newly passed war crimes statute. These changes in the law are necessary to restore our standing as a nation and to give clear and concise guidance to those who are tasked with fighting this war.”
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