[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8967-8969]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1300
         NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT AND CURRENT EVENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to comment about the work done on 
the National Defense Authorization Act. I know Chairman McKeon has done 
a tremendous amount of work. I know, from dealing with him during this 
work on the defense budget, it has been extremely difficult for him.
  I remain concerned where we have an administration that has kept our 
people in Afghanistan with less than favorable rules of engagement, 
where we have people in harm's way and constantly being called on to be 
alert, be in positions where they may be in harm's way; and, yet, the 
authorization ends up being $45 billion less than the President's own 
projection for fiscal year 2014 budget request, and $30.7 billion less 
than that, that was enacted for fiscal year 2014 in the NDAA Public Law 
113-66.
  Back in the summer of 2011, I told our leadership that the deficit 
was a major problem, of course, as all of our conference realizes, as 
those on the other side of the aisle used to talk about until they got 
into the majority and blew the lid off the deficit.
  To raise the debt ceiling, set up a supercommittee that I knew was 
going to fail, said it was going to fail because the Senate Democrats 
would never allow an agreement because they wanted to be able to blame 
Republicans for not getting a deal.
  The mainstream media always buys whatever they said, even when they 
shut down the government, as Harry Reid did last September 30th, by 
refusing to take up even the most extreme compromises that this House 
was willing to make.
  So they know they will get coverage from the mainstream media, and 
even some amazing examples of complete abandonment of any type of 
journalistic integrity. They knew they would be protected.
  So they did refuse to allow an agreement. Even when Senators--
Republican Senators reached out, indications were they thought they 
could get a deal, but I knew they were not going to allow the 
supercommittee to reach an agreement, no matter how far they bent over 
backwards, and that is what happened.
  That meant the sequestration would occur. I had no problem with the 
amount of cuts in the sequestration. I had a problem with the number 
one job of the Federal Government, being to provide for the common 
defense, taking the biggest devastating hit in the sequestration. That 
was the problem.
  So, because of that, I am still very concerned about the massive cuts 
to our defense when we are more hated than ever, trusted less than 
ever. Our previous friends are now reaching out to China and Russia 
because they can't trust us.
  In trips abroad--I know the administration doesn't like Members of 
Congress to go abroad because we end up talking directly to people and 
finding out what they really think, so we don't get indirect 
misrepresentation, and you find out around the world, people don't 
trust this administration.
  Our allies are saying: Are we going to be the next ally that you 
throw away, as you have been doing in recent years under this 
administration?
  As I have said before, the elderly African in West Africa who told me 
how excited they were when we elected our first African American 
President, but ever since he had been President, he said, the United 
States keeps getting weaker and weaker, and you have got to stop. 
Please tell the people in Washington to stop allowing the United States 
to get weaker.
  As Christians, they knew, they said, where they would go when this 
life was over, but their hope, he said, for a more safe and free life 
here, even for a West African, would be when the United States does not 
get weaker, but stands against tyranny and stands against any threat.
  Like Boko Haram, that threatens innocent Christians anywhere, it will 
ultimately be a threat to Christians everywhere.
  I am also very concerned, as one who believes, as Abraham Lincoln 
says, as is inscribed in the north wall of the Lincoln Memorial, as 
part of his second inaugural address, that, as he quoted from 
scripture:

       The judgments of the Lord are just and righteous 
     altogether.

  I am very concerned that, when our Nation is the most powerful Nation 
in the world, at the time when Christian persecutions, by number--not 
necessarily by percentage, but by number--are probably the greatest 
they have ever been in the history of the world, since Jesus was on 
earth, and we do nothing except watch the persecutions grow and grow, 
there will ultimately be some accountability if, as Abraham Lincoln 
said, as he and I believe, the judgments of the Lord are just and 
righteous altogether.
  When someone is given much, of them, much is expected. We have an 
obligation. We have been put in a position where we can stand up for 
righteousness.
  It did take a while for this Nation to get to the point where the 
Constitution meant exactly what it said, but what helped us get there 
was what was originally in the Declaration of Independence, a belief 
that we are endowed by our Creator, not endowed by government, not 
endowed by a monarch, but we are endowed by our Creator with certain 
unalienable rights.
  When we fail to acknowledge that Creator, when we fail to stand up 
for those who acknowledge the Creator, when we fail to stand up and 
provide

[[Page 8968]]

for the common defense, then there will be a price to pay.
  Israel is feeling it. The mainstream media doesn't talk about it. 
Israel doesn't want to be considered a whiner, but they are being 
constantly under attack from rockets. Why? Because they are Jews and 
because they are in the Middle East, in the same location that was 
called the Promised Land where, around 1,600 years or so before 
Muhammad lived, King David was ruling in the land where they now are, 
and in the location, in Hebron, for example, where he ruled the first 7 
years as King of Israel.
  Some say, well, clearly, that is not Israeli land. People that 
worship Muhammad that came along 1,600 years after Christ--I'm sorry--
after King David was ruling in that town or 600 years or so after 
Christ, then, surely, they have a better claim; yet we tell Israel that 
they have to constantly be giving up and even to have our Secretary of 
State saying that they are guilty of apartheid, they are risking that 
guilt if they don't do everything that our Secretary of State says, 
where he has previously warned that, if they don't do what Secretary 
Kerry said, they may bring another wave of murder upon themselves. It 
sounded like a threat.
  There are consequences for leaders who put our friends in jeopardy, 
and for those that think, well, just because we have leaders making bad 
statements, making bad decisions, doesn't mean it will reflect on us in 
the country, but for those who believe what is in the Bible, as the 
huge majority did, of our Founders, those who wrote translations of the 
Bible, those who taught Sunday school--one of the Founders started the 
Sunday school movement in America.
  It is amazing the strength of ties. Even though some teach today that 
Ben Franklin was a Deist, his statements make clear that was not the 
case. As he, himself, said and then recorded in his own handwriting of 
the speech he gave, he said:

       I have lived, sir, a long time, but the longer I live, the 
     more convincing proofs I see of this truth. God governs in 
     the affairs of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to the 
     ground without his notice, is it possible an empire could 
     rise without His aid?

  Franklin said to the Constitutional Convention, as he went on:

       We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writing that, 
     unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that 
     build it.

  He said:

       I also firmly believe that without His concurring aid, we 
     shall succeed in our political building no better than the 
     builders of Babel.

  When God was telling Hosea why he was mad at the Children of Israel, 
I looked at different translations. One basically had him saying: 
because they have chosen leaders who are not my choice.
  A Nation is responsible for the leaders they select, and it doesn't 
matter that John Kerry was rejected by the Nation to be the national 
spokesperson and national President because, when he is Secretary of 
State and he makes statements that hurt our dearest allies, then we, as 
a Nation, will be accountable for his missteps and mistakes in 
judgment.
  We have an obligation to demand better from our leaders. It is a 
scandal with regard to the Veterans Administration, and for anyone to 
stand up and say, wow, I had no idea that these problems were going on, 
stretches the bounds of credibility when that same person said, back in 
2008, in condemnation of the Bush administration, that they were not 
doing enough for our veterans, and condemned the Bush administration 
and made clear that: when I get in office, I will clear up these 
problems, I will take care of our veterans.
  So as a former judge, those statements--prior statements against 
interest--would be allowed into evidence to show that something that 
was said yesterday was not truthful because the mental awareness was 
shown in 2008, was also shown by statements in 2009, 2010, and then we 
find out there was a document reflecting that there were these problems 
with the Veterans Administration.
  Our veterans deserve better. I was in the Army for 4 years. I don't 
deserve better. I never saw combat.
  I still think we should have, in 1979--I still feel guilty that, 
because we were not sent to respond at all to an act of war, in 1979, 
that thousands of Americans have died because we didn't take a stand in 
'79, so they got stronger and stronger and stronger until they have 
gotten to the place that the Taliban takes over Afghanistan.

                              {time}  1315

  You have a renegade regime in Iran that President Carter welcomed in, 
the Ayatollah Khomeini, as a man of peace. And, of course, it makes 
sense that the policies of this administration are as they are, when 
you have someone who is a featured speaker at the great tribute to 
Ayatollah Khomeini as the man of vision and peace.
  Well, he is one of the top advisers, even as I speak, at the 
Department of Homeland Security. He is giving advice, as are others who 
were named as being members of the Muslim Brotherhood by a periodical 
in Egypt in December of 2012 in which they were bragging about the top 
officials in the Obama administration who are members of the Muslim 
Brotherhood.
  Perhaps that explains why this administration has remained so loyal 
to the Muslim Brotherhood abroad, such that moderate Muslims, as you 
travel abroad, ask you: Why are you supporting your enemy? The Muslim 
Brotherhood wants to eliminate everything but radical Islam in America 
and in the world. Why are you helping them? They are your enemy. They 
are behind the attacks that have been made on the United States. Why 
are you helping them?
  Mr. Speaker, in Libya, where a former terrorist supporter had reigned 
since 2003--and, as some Israelis had said: He was the best help you 
had, besides us, on identifying and eliminating radical Islam and 
terrorism, but yet you took him out. And we did that with our air cover 
and the provision of weapons to rebels that we knew had al Qaeda in 
them. It turns out that they were far stronger than we knew, which was 
why some of us were saying don't be helping the rebels in Libya. We 
know they have got al Qaeda in them. Yet we helped them.
  As you travel abroad, you find people saying: You are still helping 
your enemy. We are worried you are going to turn on us next. You turn 
on your allies. You punish your allies, and you reward your enemies. 
What kind of foreign policy is that? It never works. You will not win 
over people that hate you by giving them money and arms. They don't 
think you are a wonderful country because you have given them money and 
arms. They know you are crazy and you need to be wiped off the planet 
because you don't deserve to be a superpower. You are too stupid. And 
you give your people too much freedom, which allows them to choose some 
other religion than radical Islam.
  Moderate Muslims around the world do not want radical Islam reigning 
over them, and that is why the people of Egypt rose up. And if this 
administration would do anything to show a powerful support for the 
nearly double the millions of people that allegedly voted for Morsi to 
be President, that came out and signed a petition, the two or three 
times as many millions came to the street demanding his removal as he 
said voted for him. There were fraud allegations. But from talking to 
the Egyptians, apparently Morsi had made it clear that if anybody 
objected to his win of the election, they would, as they said, ``burn 
Egypt down.''
  The people who are in charge in Egypt don't want radical Islam's 
return. But when you talk to them, you find out that one of their 
biggest problems--well, two of their biggest problems--is on their 
west, in the eastern area of Libya, since this administration made sure 
Qadhafi was eliminated. Now terrorist training camps, like the Taliban 
had in Afghanistan, are now in Libya. And they come in and out of 
Egypt. And because of this administration's support for Morsi, he was 
able to militarize and weaponize the Sinai like it had never been 
weaponized before, making it more of a threat to Israel and making it 
more of a threat to the lovers of peace in Egypt.

[[Page 8969]]

  There are consequences, even for those in this country who object to 
what the administration has done when they don't rise up and use their 
voices to make clear to this administration, through elections and 
through vocal objections, that they are making a huge mistake, and if 
they don't support lovers of liberty and Christian allies and Jewish 
allies that there will be a great amount to pay in the next election. 
And when that is made clear, I find my friends across the aisle get 
very responsive to the American people because--apparently, something 
that is a truth in America, as in other places--when someone is elected 
to a position they pursued, they like to stay in that position.
  Some of us wonder at times if it is worth it. But as I have been told 
before: You have got to stay; this is where the fight is.
  Well, I would also submit the fight is across America, for people to 
wake up, stop the apathy, and make it clear to those in this 
administration, to those in charge, that you are not going to stand for 
the kind of things that are going on. And when it is made clear that we 
will not, as a Nation, tolerate what this administration has been 
allowing and looking the other way on, in the Veterans Administration, 
then things will change. But not until then. And when it is made clear 
to this administration that ObamaCare is a threat to seniors--it did 
cut $716 billion from Medicare, which means they are not going to get 
the health care they need--when you are spending billions of dollars to 
hire IRS agents and navigators, more bureaucrats, then that is billions 
of dollars that will not be saving the lives of people that need 
lifesaving medications, need lifesaving procedures. Americans have got 
to wake up and demand better; and when they do, they will get it.
  But I also want to touch on the USA FREEDOM Act, as it was labeled. I 
had an amendment. Though I applauded the work that was done by my 
friend from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) to negotiate an agreement, I 
still had the same concern I had back in 2005 and 2006 as a freshman. 
At that time, I brought it to the attention of the Gonzales Justice 
Department. I brought it to the attention of the Bush administration 
that I am concerned about this part in the PATRIOT Act where it says, 
like in section 215, that you can go after anybody in ``an 
investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning 
a United States person or to protect against international terrorism.''
  So in both of those cases, they have to involve a foreign entity, a 
foreign agent, a foreign country, a foreign group of some kind, 
international terrorism. Those have to be involved for the PATRIOT Act 
to apply because as, apparently, Congress was told when the PATRIOT Act 
was passed back in desperation after 9/11/2001, we have got to protect 
against international terrorism, foreign agents, people who are dealing 
with foreign agents. That is what it was for.
  So this third part concerned me because it says, or to protect 
against ``clandestine intelligence activities.'' ``Clandestine 
intelligence activities,'' what does that mean? It is very vague. And 
it doesn't say ``foreign.'' It doesn't say ``international.'' And since 
we were told that we are not allowed to just go gather information 
about American citizens, then this should have the word ``foreign'' or 
``international'' in there.
  So my amendment to the USA FREEDOM Act that would amend this put that 
in there. It dealt with that, the amendment that was fought against by 
my friend from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner). They had too perfect of a 
cake that they had baked, and they, as MacArthur Park says, ``may never 
have the recipe again. Oh, no.'' They couldn't allow a change to their 
recipe. So they didn't allow any reference to ``foreign'' or 
``international.''
  And the other references within the PATRIOT Act and the other 
references, like in 18 U.S.C. 1842 talks about to obtain ``foreign 
intelligence information not concerning a United States person'' or 
``to protect against international terrorism or clandestine 
intelligence activities.'' So it needed the word ``foreign'' or 
``international'' somehow in there. I provided that, but the proponents 
of the USA FREEDOM Act did not want it in.
  Although my amendment originally passed in committee, it was revoted 
on a voice vote quickly after we were coming back from a vote on the 
floor and taken out. And although a majority of those in the Rules 
Committee said that my amendment needed to be in the law to protect it 
and to protect American citizens, when the rule came out, the rule said 
that my amendment was not going to be allowed to have a vote.
  So I had to vote against the USA FREEDOM Act because this is a gaping 
hole that allows the Federal Government to go after and spy on American 
citizens who have no contact with any foreign government, any foreign 
agent, have no ties at all to international terrorism, haven't 
necessarily ever even thought about terrorism. But with this, if they 
can be alleged to have engaged in any type of clandestine intelligence 
activities, you can go after them and spy on them.
  And what does that mean? Well, I have asked the question, and I have 
not gotten any satisfactory answer--any answer, really. Well, does that 
mean, if somebody looks over a fence into a Federal enclave, that that 
is trying to get intelligence and that might invoke this provision of 
the PATRIOT Act? Or how about if someone mistakenly goes to a Web site, 
does that invoke this provision that allows you to go after them? And I 
haven't gotten a good answer, and I haven't been told how this has been 
applied. I was hoping to get an answer that it has never been used, but 
I haven't gotten that either.
  As a result, I had to vote against the USA FREEDOM Act because I 
didn't want my name on a bill that leaves a hole this large, allowing 
the Federal Government to go after American citizens who have never 
even thought about terrorism and have never had any contact with a 
foreign agent.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to reiterate again that I think we will 
suffer if, having been given so much more freedom, more assets than any 
nation in the history of the world, we do not stand up for Jews and 
Christians being persecuted around the world.
  We have clearly gone to war and lost human life and limb on behalf of 
protecting Muslims in the world. It is time that we also stood for 
Christians and Jews around the world.
  I never thought I would see anti-Semitism arise in my lifetime like 
it has. On our college campuses in the name of open-mindedness, they 
have become anti-Semitic and racist, anti-Israeli. We have got to 
demand better from this administration, and we have got to stand up for 
those Jews and Christians who are being persecuted and oppressed in 
greater numbers than ever before.
  And with that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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