[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16814]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




SUPPORT OF: H.R. 1511, THE ``TORTURE VICTIMS RELIEF REAUTHORIZATION ACT 
                               OF 2009''

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 26, 2009

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I support H.R. 1511, the 
``Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2009.'' This bill was 
sponsored by Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey. The bill's 
purpose is to amend the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 to authorize 
appropriations for FY2010-FY2011 which will provide assistance for 
domestic and foreign programs and centers for the treatment of victims 
of torture. I support this bill and I urge my colleagues to support 
this bill as it provides needed rehabilitation treatment to those who 
have been impacted by the effects of torture.
  H.R. 1511, the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2009, 
authorizes appropriations for the Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS) to provide grants to programs in the United States to 
cover the costs of services provided by domestic treatment centers in 
the rehabilitation of victims of torture (including treatment of the 
physical and psychological effects of torture). It will also allow the 
centers to provide social and legal services as well as research and 
training of health care providers outside of treatment centers or 
programs to enable them to provide such services. It authorizes the 
President to provide grants to treatment centers and programs in 
foreign countries that carry out projects and activities specifically 
designed to treat victims of torture for the physical and psychological 
effects of torture. In addition, it provides grants to the United 
Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
  This bill is not only important, it is necessary. The Abu Ghraib 
prisoner abuse scandal and the myriad of consequential allegations of 
prisoner abuse across both Iraq and Afghanistan have cast a heavy 
shadow over our role in Iraq and our country as a whole. Under the Bush 
Administration, evidence indicates that torture was conducted on 
prisoners which included methods such as: waterboarding, weeklong sleep 
deprivation, forced nudity, use of painful positions, belly-slap and 
the exploitation of prisoner's fears of animals or insects. President 
Obama has since denounced these inhumane integration practices and has 
vowed that the United States does not condone torture. H.R. 1511 
supports the President's vow by providing treatment to victims which is 
designed to enable the victim to step back from the trauma, learn to 
identify and accept it and gradually become reintegrated into society 
and/or the working world. This treatment will also serve a social 
purpose in that it will enable the victim to restore ties that were 
severed by an array of clinical symptoms caused by being tortured.
  In the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the U.S. has gone to great 
pains to persuade the world that U.S. policy does not condone torture. 
If Congress enacts this legislation, it would reaffirm America's 
commitment to a world without torture and show the rest of the world 
that the U.S. is committed to rehabilitating those who have suffered at 
the hands of torture.
  We as a nation must set a clear example that we do not support 
torture, nor do we condone such practices. For the benefit or our 
troops, for the good of Iraq, for the good of America, and for the 
safety of the World, we must heal the wounds caused by torture to those 
victims domestic and foreign. A strong bipartisan message of support 
needs to be displayed by this body to right the wrongs and send a 
message to the world that America is committed to ending what President 
Obama called a ``dark and painful chapter in our history,'' by 
providing treatment to the victims of torture. I invite my colleagues 
to stand with me today and support this important legislation.

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