[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 74 (Thursday, May 14, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NO WELFARE FOR TERRORISTS ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TODD TIAHRT

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 14, 2009

  Mr. TIAHRT. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the ``No Welfare 
for Terrorists Act of 2009.'' This legislation would proactively 
prohibit detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay from ever receiving 
government benefits at the federal, state and local levels.
  Today at Guantanamo Bay there are around 240 hardened terrorists who 
have killed and/or plotted to kill Americans. These terrorists are 
among the most dangerous people in the world, and the Obama 
administration wants to bring them here to the United States. Earlier 
today in the House Committee on Appropriations, Congressional 
Democrats, in a party-line vote, agreed to support the administration's 
policy to bring terrorists currently detained at Guantanamo Bay to our 
soil. Homeland Security personnel are working hard to keep terrorists 
from entering our country and now the president wants to make special 
arrangements to bring these proven terrorists here.
  The Obama administration has already authorized the release of 30 
detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Dennis Blair, the Director of National 
Intelligence, has said that these terrorists should receive welfare 
benefits: ``If we are to release them in the United States, we need 
some sort of assistance for them to start a new life. You can't just 
put them on the street.''
  We must not fool ourselves--those held at Guantanamo Bay are 
unrepentant terrorists determined to pursue their long held violent 
goals. Of the detainees already released from Guantanamo Bay, we know 
that over 60 have returned to a life of terrorism.
  Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar was captured in early 2002 and held at 
Guantanamo Bay for eight months. After his release, Ghaffar became the 
Taliban's regional commander in Uruzgan and Helmand provinces, carrying 
out attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces.
  In September, Saeed Shihri was responsible for an attack on the U.S. 
embassy in Yemen that killed nearly a dozen people. This was barely a 
year after he was released from Guantanamo Bay.
  Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti, was repatriated from Guantanamo in 
2005, and transferred into Kuwaiti custody. After he was acquitted of 
terrorism charges in Kuwait, he committed a successful suicide attack 
in Mosul, Iraq on March 25, 2008.
  Ibrahim Shafir Sen was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Turkey in 
November 2003. In January 2008, Sen was arrested in Van, Turkey, and 
charged as the leader of an active al-Qaida cell.
  These are just a few examples of the activities of the terrorists who 
have been released, thus far. The ones remaining at Guantanamo Bay are 
arguably even more dangerous.
  The administration must be honest with the American people that they 
want to bring terrorists to the United States. By bringing these 
terrorists to America, the Obama administration will provide them with 
legal status. This would then qualify them for food stamps, cash 
assistance and health care--paid for by you and me, the very people 
they desire to kill. The American people have spent billions trying to 
protect this country from terrorists before they can kill innocent 
Americans, and now the administration is laying out the welcome mat for 
terrorists to roam our streets.
  The ``No Welfare for Terrorists Act'' will prohibit any government 
benefits from being granted to any terrorists brought to the United 
States from Guantanamo Bay. The American people have already paid--with 
blood and lives. We're done. The American people, under no 
circumstance, should be required to pay welfare benefits to terrorists.
  I ask all my colleagues to join me in bringing sanity to this debate 
and prevent our constituents' hard earned money from going to put 
terrorists on welfare rolls.

                          ____________________