[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 175 (Wednesday, December 11, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7631-H7632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY FOR OUTSTANDING WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Swalwell) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory for its outstanding scientific work and 
the dedicated scientists who played a role in the effort that was 
recently awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
  Yesterday, in Oslo, Norway, the Organization for the Prohibition of 
Chemical Weapons, OPCW, received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its 
work enforcing the global ban on chemical weapons. The OPCW received 
this prestigious award in part because of the contributions from over 
21 scientific laboratories around the world. That work, in different 
capacities, led to identifying and destroying chemical weapons across 
the world. One of these laboratories is from the 15th Congressional 
District, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
  Over the past 13 years, Lawrence Livermore Forensic Science Center 
has worked closely with the OPCW to analyze samples and test for the 
possible presence of chemical weapons. The OPCW and Lawrence Livermore 
Laboratory were recognized specifically for actions that OPCW has 
recently taken in Syria--to identify, destroy, and dismantle the Assad 
regime's chemical weapons that they most recently used back in August 
on their own people.

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  I have been a sharp critic of proposed military action in Syria. I 
believed all along that there was a third way, that it was not a false 
choice between isolationism, not doing anything, and taking military 
action in Syria. The actions of OPCW and the United Nations have shown, 
in working in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory, that diplomacy can work. We can go into Syria and identify 
these dangerous chemical weapons; we can dismantle them and make sure 
that a ruthless dictator never again can use them on his own people.
  Together, the work of OPCW and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has 
created a safer world. But they recognize that their work will not be 
complete until the world is free of chemical weapons.
  I have been a tireless advocate for funding of both Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory and the other laboratory that is in my 
district, Sandia National Laboratory. The work that is being done right 
now with OPCW shows that the work being done at our national 
laboratories has value and that we cannot continue to chip away at 
Federal funding for our national laboratories.
  Congratulations again to OPCW for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, 
and I am very proud of the scientific community, the engineers at 
Lawrence Livermore for your work in support of OPCW and their efforts.

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