Wes Hickman 202-224-5972 or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made the following statement on a deal reached between the Bush Administration and U.S. Senators. The deal allows the terrorism trials of suspected terrorists to go forward at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It protects President Bush’s CIA program for High-Value Targets (HVT), addresses the use of classified information in the trials of terrorists, and upholds our nation’s long standing commitment to the Geneva Conventions. It also prohibits terror suspects from filing lawsuits in federal court against American troops and protects CIA agents from frivolous lawsuits. Graham said: “From the beginning we all shared the same goal. Now, we agree on the path to get there. “I’m very pleased with the productive negotiations we had with the White House. We fine-tuned the President’s proposal and have a much stronger work product than we did when we started. I appreciate the good faith negotiating done by Steve Hadley and Steve Bradbury. They are excellent advocates for President Bush and I appreciate their willingness to listen, understand, and work with us to address our concerns. “President Bush and I want to put terrorists on trial for their actions before, on, and after 9-11. We also want to protect our nation from future attacks. However we must do so in a manner consistent with our laws, values, and traditions. The legislation we put together accomplishes these objectives. Major Points of the Agreement: “The Supreme Court, in a decision I found troubling, decided to apply Geneva Convention protections to the War on Terror. Their decision is binding, but they gave Congress and the Administration wide latitude on its implementation. “It was a false choice to think we had to choose between protecting the CIA program and abandoning our Geneva Convention obligations. It was also a false choice to think that we could not protect national security if we allowed a tribunal defendant to confront classified evidence against them. I think our legislation shows we are able to accomplish both objectives. “We allow an effective and aggressive CIA program designed to gather good information to protect us from the terrorists to continue. The program will operate in a manner that will not put our troops in jeopardy today or in future wars by redefining or weakening our Geneva Convention protections. “We also allow a terror suspect to confront the evidence against them while protecting national security by using rules and procedures already in place in our military justice system. The trials of terror suspects will be conducted in a manner unprecedented in American history. They will provide the strongest protections for classified information, but do so in a manner that will not convict someone without them ever knowing the evidence. The Supreme Court: “Our efforts to put terror suspects on trial, gain convictions, and carry out a sentence are now two-thirds complete. The last hurdle – the Supreme Court -- will eventually judge whether our work product is constitutional. I think the fine-tuning done during negotiations give us a much better chance of passing constitutional muster. Conclusion: “Finally, I would not have been doing my job as Senator if I saw a problem with the President’s proposal – which I did – and didn’t work to address it in a constructive manner. I said it from the start, a conviction against a terror suspect in a military tribunal is no good if it is later overturned by the Supreme Court. “As a nation, we will be better served by taking a few extra days and doing the best job we can to ensure the work product will withstand constitutional scrutiny. If the Supreme Court again strikes the tribunal process down, it will send us back to the drawing board. More importantly, justice will once again be delayed against those who have committed terrible acts against our nation. #####

Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint today announced the city of Manning will receive a $879,600 loan and a $50,000 grant to construct a 6,400 square foot addition to the city’s fire station.

The loan and grant were awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint today announced Horry-Georgetown Technical College will receive a $1.5 million grant to support the renovation of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Hospital to serve as a regional Healthcare Education Center. The project will involve the conversion and renovation of the existing three-story shell of the former Base Hospital into a state-of-the-art Healthcare Education Center providing training programs for Grand Strand residents in nursing and allied health programs. This facility renovation will allow the addition and expansion of health professions training to meet the need of the region’s growing and understaffed health care sector. The renovated training facility will house nearly 52,000 square feet of instructional, meeting and office space. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, will be matched with $5.8 million in local funds. ####

Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Dole and Lindsey Graham wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab yesterday, calling on her to defend the American textile industry from countries that engage in unfair trade practices, specifically expressing their concerns about the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral agreement. Dole and Graham have placed holds on legislation that would authorize the president to grant permanent normal trade relations status to Vietnam, which would pave the way for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization. Dole and Graham are concerned about the potential negative impact that this agreement could have on Carolina textile jobs. “We believe that unless the government takes specific steps to ensure that the U.S. textile industry can be defended against a communist country that heavily subsidizes its textile and apparel sector, this agreement is likely to cause large-scale job losses in both of our states,” wrote Dole and Graham to Schwab. “We believe that it would be unreasonable to ask U.S. workers to compete with products manufactured under a state-run economy without at least providing an adequate mechanism for the industry to defend itself.” Dole and Graham pointed out that like China, Vietnam has a large and heavily subsidized textile sector that utilizes anti-free market principles to under-price producers in the United States. Vietnam is already one of the world’s largest exporters of textiles and apparel, and Commerce Department data confirms that Vietnam is the second largest supplier of apparel products that have been removed from quota control. Over the past five and a half years, Vietnam has increased its apparel exports by 1,186 percent in quota-free apparel categories. Dole and Graham urged Schwab to closely review all of the possible solutions to this problem and pledged to work closely with her on the issue. “The Carolinas are the heart of our nation’s textile industry… We want to ensure that this strong manufacturing tradition continues and that this industry will offer stable, good-paying jobs to our constituents well into the future,” wrote Dole and Graham. Background On May 31, the United States formalized an agreement that would pave the way for Vietnam to formally join the 149-member World Trade Organization (WTO). Congress must still vote on the WTO accession agreement for Vietnam. ###