Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, last week, a new national poll was released by a respected pollster, Patrick Caddell, a Democrat, and John McLaughlin, a Republican, making clear that the American people still don't feel they know the truth about what happened in Benghazi nearly 14 months ago.

According to the poll commissioned by Secure America Now, 63 percent of Americans ``think the Obama administration is covering up the facts about Benghazi''; and only 29 percent of registered voters say the Obama administration has been honest about Benghazi. Think about that for a moment. A supermajority of Americans believe they have been misled by their government about what happened in Benghazi. This is remarkable.

The American people know how significant it is that Ambassador Stevens, the President's personal envoy to Libya, was the first Ambassador killed in the line of duty in four decades on September 11, 11 years to the day that nearly 3,000 people were killed by al Qaeda terrorists.

The American people intuitively understand that a plot of this scale was not spontaneously inspired, as claimed by the administration's now infamous talking points. The American people also know that it is remarkable that no effort was made by Washington to rescue the Americans in Benghazi or dispatch a hostage rescue team after the Ambassador went missing that night.

I think the American people also wonder just what the CIA was doing in Benghazi. Was it involved in the collection and transfer of weapons to foreign countries? Possibly to support the Syrian rebels? And could some of those weapons have fallen into the wrong hands, like the Syrian jihadists?

It is too easy to say that this is ``classified information'' and expect the American people to look away. Four Americans were killed that night, several were wounded, and no one came to help them.

Was it because the CIA was conducting a covert operation and if something went wrong, that was just the price of doing business? Were the CIA activities in Benghazi part of the reason the consulate and annex were targeted?

These are legitimate questions the American people are asking that deserve clear answers.

The McLaughlin-Cadell poll also found that 62 percent of the American people support creating a ``special bipartisan committee with broad powers to get to the truth about the attacks in Benghazi.''

Eighty percent of Republicans and 58 percent of independents support the idea. Notably, nearly half of Democrats said it was important to create a bipartisan committee to learn the truth.

The bottom line is Americans from across the political spectrum recognize that not only are they not being told the truth, but they feel Congress needs to change its approach to the investigation by creating a special committee.

Why is it that, despite more than a year of investigations in five separate committees, the American people feel they still don't know the truth about what happened?

Perhaps it is because, despite more than a year of investigations by five committees, most of the questions raised about that night remain unanswered.

Perhaps it is because, despite more than a year of investigations by five committees, hardly any of the key witnesses responsible for the government's response that night--or lack thereof--have publicly testified.

Perhaps it is because, despite more than a year of investigations, none of the survivors that could help answer key questions have publicly testified before Congress.

Perhaps it is because, despite more than a year of investigations, so few committee hearings have been held publicly.

Or perhaps it is because, despite more than a year of investigations, what little the American people have learned has come from news reports from CNN, CBS, FOX, and other news organizations and not from congressional hearings or testimony.

I think all these factors have contributed to the sense among the American people that Congress has failed in its oversight responsibility.

The American people know they haven't been told the full story about what happened that night, and they believe they have been intentionally misled by the administration.

I have come to the floor today to once again call on my leadership to create a House select committee on Benghazi.

I am often asked what is holding up the creation of this select committee. The simple answer is because the Speaker has not agreed to it. I like the Speaker. He has a tough job, and he may have good reasons for not wanting to establish a select committee, but I don't know what it is. And more importantly, I don't think the American people know what it is.

Let me be clear: my criticism is not with the chairmen of committees that are looking into this. They are all good men. They have worked very hard. Their hands are tied. They are required, though, to stay within their jurisdictional lanes, examining only what they are allowed to investigate according to their committee charter.

What happened in Benghazi is interrelated. The ``lanes'' crisscross. The White House, the State Department, the CIA, and the Defense Department were all involved, resulting in overlapping, but uncoordinated, investigations.

Benghazi was a terrorist attack. We need a team effort to find out what happened, why it happened, and how we are going to bring the perpetrators to justice. Any of these chairmen would be capable of leading the select committee, and other members of their committees would be very good to serve as well. They would do a good job. I have confidence in them.

And let me be clear: I have no intention of chairing or serving on the select committee. I will not serve on the select committee. I just want to learn the truth, just like the American people.

There is a history in Congress that when things overlap between committees and transcend jurisdictions, select committees were established. Two well-known examples are Watergate and Iran Contra. And I will submit a list of the past select committees over the past 50 years at the end of my statement.

A select committee would take members from each committee with their individual expertise--and many of the members from these various committees have tremendous expertise--and have them work on this investigation

day in and day out, with no other distractions. It would also prevent the administration from saying one thing to one committee of jurisdiction and something else to another.

I am reminded of the poem ``Blind Men and the Elephant,'' which is said to originate in India. In the poem, six blind men touch a part of an elephant and each has a different description of what the elephant must look like. They argue at great length among themselves. The poem ends by saying that while each is partly right, they are all wrong.

The moral of the poem is that, independently, people may think their understanding of the situation is correct; yet they don't know the truth until the full picture comes into focus.

Each of the five committees may not be seeing the entire picture of what happened that night. Regular order has limited the committees from going beyond their jurisdictions. One group ought to have the responsibility to get to the bottom of all parts of this tragedy. One group needs to lay out a roadmap to obtaining and reporting that information to the American people so we can restore confidence that Congress has a serious oversight plan on Benghazi.

Remember, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We need to see the whole of this tragedy.

My bill to create a select committee, H. Res. 36, now has 178 cosponsors--more than three-quarters of the Republican Conference and more than a supermajority of the majority.

Nearly three-quarters of the Republican members who serve on the committees already investigating Benghazi now support a select committee. That means a plurality of the members who have been directly involved in committee investigations believe a select committee would be a more effective approach.

The bill has been endorsed by the American Legion, representing so many vets who have sacrificed and given their time and effort to serve this country; the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents the diplomatic security agents that were present in Benghazi--the people who represent them and who were present in Benghazi support the select committee; groups representing the highly respected Special Ops community, who serve this Nation so well; and the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal.

Perhaps, most important, it is being endorsed by some of the family members of the Benghazi victims, like Sean Smith's mother and Ty Woods' father, who want to know the truth about what happened to the children that night and why their country fell short in its response.

Nothing will bring their children back, but we can at least provide them with the clear answers and assign accountability for those responsible for intelligence failures and the inept response that night.

The best way to do this is to break down the stovepipes between the five committees, hold public hearings, and issue subpoenas to all the survivors from Benghazi, those who were in Tripoli, and those who were in Washington responding that night.

We need a public hearing with the principals involved in the decisionmaking process in Washington on September 11, 2012, including former Secretary Panetta, former Secretary of State Clinton, former CIA Director Petraeus, former White House adviser and current CIA Director John Brennan, and former AFRICOM Commander General Ham, as well as the White House.

We also need a similar hearing with each of their deputies and others who were witness to the calls for help and the decisions surrounding the response not to help.

Unless we hear from these people publicly, the American people will never learn the truth about whether there were warnings prior to the attack, what calls for help were made that night, whether the CIA security team was in fact delayed in leaving to respond to the initial attack at the consulate, and what the response was from Washington, among many other questions.

Also, the American people should know of the bravery of the men who were there in Benghazi.

Until these key individuals are sitting side by side at the witness table answering questions under oath in public, we will never get a clear picture of who made the decisions that night and why.

Again, the hearings must be in public. The American people can handle the truth. Failure to get these answers means there will never be any accountability, which further erodes public confidence in government.

Absent a select committee, the Congress will fail to learn the truth about what happened that night because the administration will continue to use the jurisdictional barriers between each committee to continue to slow-walk or deny information.

There are a number of new developments in recent weeks that make a select committee more timely than ever.

First, our colleague, Mike Rogers, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, confirmed earlier reports, telling Fox News that the plot against the consulate and the CIA annex in Benghazi appears to have been weeks, if not months, in the making and that at least two of the plot's leaders had close connections to senior al Qaeda leadership.

Nearly a year ago, I circulated a memo to all members prepared by respected terrorist analyst Thomas Joscelyn detailing the apparent connections and likely coordination between al Qaeda affiliates in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen that resulted in threats and attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in those countries the week of September 11, 2012. Unfortunately, the committees have not held public hearings looking at the connection between these threats.

Last week, Fox News' Catherine Herridge first reported that:

At least two of the key suspects in the Benghazi terror

attacks were at one point working with al Qaeda senior

leadership, the sources familiar with the investigation tell

Fox News. The sources said one of the suspects was believed

to be a courier for the al Qaeda network and the other a

bodyguard in Afghanistan prior to the 2001 terror attacks.

Catherine Herridge went on and said:

The direct ties to the al Qaeda senior leadership undercut

earlier characterizations by the Obama administration that

the attackers in Benghazi were isolated extremists--not al

Qaeda terrorists--with no organizational structure or

affiliation.

And then, on Sunday, CBS' ``60 Minutes'' aired a segment by Lara Logan, further explaining what happened that night and the increasingly clear connection to al Qaeda. And I am very grateful for ``60 Minutes'' covering this story.

Logan reported:

Just a few weeks ago, Abu Anas al-Libi was captured for his

role in the Africa bombings and the U.S. is still

investigating what part he may have played in Benghazi. We've

learned that this man, Sufian bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo

Bay detainee and a longtime al Qaeda operative, was one of

the lead planners, along with Furaj al-Chalabi, whose ties to

Osama bin Laden go back more than 15 years. He is believed to

have carried documents from the compound to the head of al

Qaeda in Pakistan.

It is particularly notable how al-Chalabi reportedly delivered documents from U.S. facilities in Benghazi to the head of the al Qaeda in Pakistan, establishing a direct link between the Benghazi attacks and the most senior leadership of al Qaeda.

Among the other revelations in the ``60 Minutes'' segment was that al Qaeda stated its intent to attack Americans in Benghazi, along with the Red Cross and the British mission, well in advance of September 11.

Lieutenant Colonel Andy Wood, the top American security official in Libya in the months leading up to the attack, told CBS that both the State Department and the Defense Department were well aware of the threat and the attacks on the Red Cross and British missions. He said it was obvious to the Americans in Libya that it was only a matter of time until an attack on the U.S. facilities.

When the terrorists stormed the consulate property they said, ``We're here to kill Americans, not Libyans,'' and they spared the lives of Libyan guards.

Confirmation of that information I detailed on the House floor in July, noting:

A quick reaction force from the CIA annex ignored orders to

wait, and raced to the compound, at times running and

shooting their way through the streets just to get there.

The Americans faced a ``professional enemy'' as they encountered waves of

intense fighting on the CIA annex in Benghazi during the early morning of September 12. Mortars fired during the final wave of the assault hit the roof of the annex three times in the dark. Lieutenant Colonel Wood described hitting a target like that as ``getting the basketball through the hoop over your shoulder'' and that it took ``coordination, planning, training, and experienced personnel'' to pull off such a ``well-executed attack.''

Two Delta Force operators who fought at the CIA annex, apparently as part of the impromptu team that flew in from Tripoli with Glen Doherty during the attack without permission from Washington, have ``been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross--two of the military's highest honors.'' We owe them a debt of gratitude.

The U.S. already knew that senior al Qaeda leader Abu Anas al Libi was in Libya and was ``tasked by the head of al Qaeda to establish a clandestine terrorist network inside the country; al Libi was already wanted for his role in bombing two U.S. Embassies in Africa'' where constituents from my congressional district were killed. Notably, the administration made no mention of his connection to the Benghazi attacks in its announcement of his capture last month.

Some of the key questions that remain unanswered are why the CIA security team was ordered not to respond to the attack at the consulate and ``why no larger military response ever crossed the border into Libya--something U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Hicks realized wasn't going to happen just an hour into the attack.''

It is particularly noteworthy that Logan addressed the pressure on witnesses she encountered during her investigation, saying:

An extraordinary amount of pressure on the people involved

not to talk and an extraordinary amount of pressure on anyone

in the government--the military side, the political side--not

to say anything out of official channels.

This is consistent with the concerns I have repeatedly raised on the House floor about efforts by this administration to silence survivors and witnesses to the Benghazi attacks and response.

What are they afraid of these witnesses sharing with the American people, and how can the Congress stand by and allow this to happen knowing full well it is taking place?

CNN in July reported:

Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the Agency's

mission in Libya have been subjected to frequent--even

monthly--polygraph examinations, according to a source with

deep inside knowledge of the Agency's workings. The goal of

the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if

anyone has been talking to the media or to Congress.

That was reported by CNN in July.

In a separate piece in July, FOX News reported:

At least five CIA employees were forced to sign additional

nondisclosure agreements this past spring in the wake of the

Benghazi attack.

That is what FOX News said in July of this year.

As someone who represents thousands of Federal employees and contractors, including many who work for the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and the Defense Department, I know from years of firsthand experience how agencies can sometimes use various forms of pressure and intimidation to keep employees from sharing information of concern with Congress.

I know the Benghazi survivors and other witnesses that night from those agencies need the protection of a ``friendly subpoena'' to compel their testimony before Congress, particularly on matters as sensitive as this, in order to protect them. So far, the committees have failed to provide this protection to allow survivors and other witnesses to share their stories publicly so the American people can hear them.

Based on disclosures in recent news reports, I now believe that the Benghazi plot represents a significant intelligence failure by the United States at several levels. Understanding these failures, as well as the government's inexplicable response during and after the attack, is critical to preventing future attacks.

I want to outline a number of the apparent intelligence failures leading up to the attack, which I believe a select committee investigation would confirm:

First: The State Department and CIA failed in their assessments of the militia groups working for the Americans in Benghazi, including the February 17 Martyrs Brigade, responsible for guarding the consulate property which abandoned the Americans and may have even facilitated access to the compound for the terrorists;

According to a May 21 article by Eli Lake at the Daily Beast:

CIA officers were responsible for vetting the February 17

Martyrs Brigade, the militia that was supposed to be the

first responders on the night of the attack, but melted away

when the diplomatic mission was attacked;

Second: The State Department, the Defense Department, and the CIA apparently failed to adjust their security postures to support the Americans in Benghazi based on the growing number of attacks on Western targets in Benghazi during the summer of 2012;

To date, no one has explained or been held accountable for why the U.S. submission was so poorly secured despite pleas for assistance by the Embassy staff in Tripoli to Washington;

No one has adequately explained why the Defense Department's emergency response team was on a routine training mission in Croatia during the week of September 11 when it should have been on alert to respond, especially given the threats to the U.S. Embassies in Cairo and Egypt earlier in the day before the Benghazi attack. So the emergency response team was on a training mission in Croatia at the very time and on the very date that everyone knows, September 11. Given the threats to the Embassy, it is shocking that this is the case;

Third: The intelligence community apparently failed to understand the size and scope of the attack brewing in Benghazi in the months leading up to September 11;

As Chairman Rogers acknowledged to FOX News' Catherine Herridge last week, this was a well-coordinated attack that was many weeks, if not months, in the making;

Earlier this year, CNN reported on the number of foreign fighters who arrived in Benghazi to participate in the attack in the days leading up to September 11. A witness in the ``60 Minutes'' report noted how black al Qaeda flags were openly flying in the months before the attack, and he also noted the announced threat against U.S., British, and Red Cross facilities;

How did the government miss these warnings or were they just simply ignored?

Fourth: The intelligence community seems to have more broadly failed to understand and anticipate how al Qaeda was metastasizing in North Africa;

This administration has been quick to take credit for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, and declared throughout the 2012 Presidential campaign that as a result of its efforts that ``core al Qaeda'' has been decimated. However, the facts don't support the administration's narrative;

In a CNN report on Monday:

Terrorist attacks hit a record high in 2012, and ``more

than 8,500 terrorist attacks killed more than 15,500 people

last year as violence tore through Africa, Asia, and the

Middle East.'' Increasingly, this includes North African

countries likely Libya;

CNN also said:

``Despite the death of Osama bin Laden and the capture of

other key al Qaeda leaders, the group has exported its brand

of terrorism to other militant Muslims.'' These groups

include affiliates like Ansar al Sharia in Libya;

Additionally, following a report on Benghazi, CBS' Lara Logan noted earlier this week:

It became evident to us during the course of our research--

this is what she said--that very little is known publicly

about the true nature of al Qaeda's network in Libya, and

that has consequences beyond Benghazi and beyond Libya. It

has consequences that speak to the national security

interests of the United States of America;

Most of these affiliate terrorist groups have sworn an allegiance to al Qaeda and appear to closely coordinate their activities and plots with the core al Qaeda leadership, including Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's successor.

To dismiss or minimize the relationship with al Qaeda's senior leadership is misguided and, I believe, dangerous as we have seen over the last several years. I fear that this administration's insistence in treating core al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan differently

than groups like Ansar al Sharia in Libya has led to a dangerous mischaracterization of the threat and that it has apparently resulted in the failure to anticipate attacks like the one that was carried out in Benghazi;

Fifth: It appears that documents were taken from the consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi in the wake of the attacks;

As I said earlier, ``60 Minutes'' reported that terrorist Faraj al Chalabi, whose ties to bin Laden go back nearly two decades, is ``believed to have carried documents from the compound to the head of al Qaeda in Pakistan.''

What was taken from the consulate and annex and given to al Qaeda's leadership? We don't know;

Additionally, as Lara Logan noted following the report:

We did not expect that we would find the U.S. compound in

the state that we found it. There was still debris and

ammunition boxes and a whiteboard that had the day's

assignments for the security personnel at the compound as of

September 11, 2012;

Clearly, in the chaos of the fighting and evacuation that night, information was left behind at the facilities that may have consequences for Americans operating in the region.

I also believe the administration's response to the Benghazi attack over the last year has been nothing short of shameful and that it also merits a full investigation by a select committee.

From the first hours of the attack, when it became apparent that no help was coming to assist those under attack--either from U.S. forces or from our allies in the region--to the failure of the FBI to gain access to key suspects in Tunisia and Egypt over the last year, this administration has sent a signal to terrorists that the U.S. will not strongly respond to an attack on Americans abroad.

The failure to either arrest or kill any of the scores of terrorists responsible for the attacks more than a year later is inexcusable and reflects an unwillingness by this administration to bring diplomatic pressure to bear on countries harboring these terrorists.

I am increasingly convinced that this administration is more comfortable in using the ongoing FBI investigation as an excuse not to answer questions than it is in bringing these terrorists to justice.

As I said on the House floor in July of last year, Tunisia detained the first suspect in the Benghazi terrorist attacks, Ali Harzi, after he was deported from Turkey in the weeks following the attacks.

Tunisia, despite being a beneficiary of more than $300 million of U.S. foreign aid--American taxpayer money of over $300 million goes to Tunisia--refused to allow the FBI access to this suspect for nearly 5 weeks.

It was only after congressional threats to cut off the aid that the government of Tunisia reconsidered its position.

Ultimately, the FBI interrogation team returned to Tunisia and was allowed just 3 hours to interview Harzi with his lawyer and a Tunisian judge present.

Not long after the FBI interview, Harzi was inexplicably released by Tunisian authorities, and his release was celebrated by Ansar al Sharia terrorists.

Last month, it was confirmed that Harzi has been involved in at least one assassination of a Tunisian political leader.

In another equally concerning case in Egypt, the FBI has been denied access to Muhammed Jamal, an al Qaeda-connected terrorist who ran training camps in Egypt and eastern Libya prior to the Benghazi attack.

Several of Jamal's associates are believed to have participated in the Benghazi plot, and terrorism analysts believe that Jamal may have communicated directly with Zawahiri and al Qaeda leadership about this and other terrorist attacks.

Although Jamal has been in Egyptian custody for more than a year on other terrorism-related charges, the U.S. has never been provided access to him under both the Morsi government and now the current military government.

I personally delivered a letter to former Ambassador Patterson in Cairo asking then-President Morsi to provide the FBI access to Jamal and his documents. I don't believe the Ambassador ever delivered the letter, and if she did, she never told me. That in itself is very, very troubling.

Jamal's connection to the Benghazi attack is particularly noteworthy given that both the U.S. and the United Nations formally, both the U.S. and the United Nations, formally designated him as a terrorist earlier this month.

However, in another example of this administration's aversion to discussing terrorist connections to the Benghazi attack, the U.N. designation clearly notes Jamal's connection to the Benghazi attack, whereas the State Department designation omits it. So the U.N. designation clearly notes Jamal's connection to the Benghazi attack; the State Department omits it. The UN says, and our State Department omits it?

I believe there has been pressure from the administration to omit this type of information from U.S. intelligence products, sending conflicting signals to both our allies and to countries that may have Benghazi suspects of interest to the FBI. I have a lot of confidence in the FBI if they are just allowed to do their job.

But if we are unwilling to identify their involvement in the attacks, it further erodes U.S. credibility in asking for access to these individuals. This willful blindness is disingenuous and, I believe, ultimately dangerous.

In early January, when I offered an amendment to create a select committee to the House rules package for the 113th Congress, Speaker Boehner told the Republican Conference that he didn't believe that we had ``reached the threshold'' for a select committee. He suggested that we might get to the threshold, but the committees of jurisdiction just needed more time.

That may have been the case in January, but nearly 11 months later, I think the broad support that has built up over the last year makes it clear we have more than passed the threshold for a select committee now.

I believe, and I believe the American people believe, that the threshold has clearly been reached in terms of cosponsors, endorsements, and new revelations from the press reports, and a deep concern the American people have for this issue.

I was particularly struck by the comments made by Ambassador Stevens' deputy, Greg Hicks, in the 60 Minutes segment on Sunday:

For us, for the people that go out onto the edge to

represent our country, we believe that if we get in trouble,

they are coming to get us, that our back is covered. To hear

that it is not, it is a terrible, terrible experience.

It is not enough for the administration to just say there is nothing more that could have been done, especially given that evidence indicates that they didn't try much at all to assist the Americans under fire in Benghazi.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for a unified, bipartisan select committee. Let's get to the truth once and for all so we can find out what happened and restore the American people's confidence in congressional oversight and confidence in government.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, today marks the 30th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, which took the lives of 241 American servicemen, as well as 58 French servicemen in a separate building. It was the deadliest attack on the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima during World War II.

This attack against our country by Hezbollah, which was coordinated with the Iranian regime, marked the first major terrorist attack targeting the U.S. This is the same Iranian regime that continues to sponsor terrorism, develop nuclear weapons and threatens the U.S. and our allies in the Middle East still today.

In some respects it was an opening shot fired in a battle that continues to this day against radical Islamists and terrorist elements bent on the destruction of this country and all that it represents.

I have visited the site of the barracks near the airport. Today, there's nothing left but a parking lot--not even a memorial or plaque to recognize the lives that were lost. In a cruel twist of history, the airport itself, which the Marines were guarding in 1983, is now controlled by Hezbollah.

However, there are now memorials to the servicemen at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut as well as at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. This morning, the 30th Beirut Observance Ceremony was held at the memorial at Camp Lejeune.

Today we pause to remember those lost in the attack--to honor them and their family members. We remember their sacrifice and reaffirm our commitment to learn the lessons of the past to prevent such tragedies in the future.

As President Reagan said in a televised address from the Oval Office following the attack, the Americans serving in Beirut, ``were not afraid to stand up for their country or, no matter how difficult and slow the journey might be, to give to others that last, best hope of a better future. We cannot and will not dishonor them now and the sacrifices they've made by failing to remain as faithful to the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been.''

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, the veterans of the battle in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 3rd, 1993--commonly referred to now as ``Black Hawk Down''--gathered at two different events in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and in Texas at the ranch of Ross Perot, Jr., to observe the 20th anniversary of these events and remember the 18 servicemen who were killed in action.

I submit for the Record a statement I received from Lt. Gen. William G. ``Jerry'' Boykin who was the commander of Delta Force during this battle, which took the lives of 18 men and wounded 73 others.

As Lt. Gen. Boykin notes in the statement, ``What came next was hours of fighting between ninety-nine Americans and tens of thousands of the Somali militia, all armed with rifles, grenades, and rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and determined to kill as many Americans as possible. The battle was now a matter of principle. No American would be left behind. It made no difference that the two pilots were already dead, their bodies would be brought out and returned home with dignity. No man was willing to leave his comrade's body because each man lived by an ethos known as the `Ranger Creed', which says in the fifth stanza `I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy . . .' ''

Black Hawk Down Twenty Years Later

(By Lt. Gen. William G. ``Jerry'' Boykin)

October 3rd, 1993 was a day when ``Uncommon valor was a

common virtue,'' according to John O. Marsh, Jr., the former

Secretary of the United States Army. Known to his friends as

Jack, Marsh was speaking at a memorial service at the Delta

Force facilities at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in November,

1993, just days after the unit had returned from Mogadishu,

Somalia, where sixteen of their comrades had died and another

72 had suffered wounds. The battle that Marsh was referring

to was later chronicled in the Ridley Scott and Jerry

Bruckheimer movie ``Black Hawk Down.'' Last week two key

commemoratives occurred in different places which drew the

participants of that battle together to honor their fallen

comrades. The first was at Ft Bragg, NC on October 3rd where

Rangers, Delta Force personnel, aviators from the 1/60th

Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and a small number of

US Navy and US Air Force warriors gathered on the twentieth

anniversary. On the 5th of October, many of the same group,

along with family members, attended an event sponsored by

Ross Perot Jr at his ranch in Grapevine Texas. Both events

were characterized by solemn camaraderie and stories of old

team mates who never made it home from that battle. Jack

Marsh was right about the valor shown that day in the most

intense firefight that US troops had been in since the Viet

Nam conflict.

One of the somewhat obscure facts about the ``Blackhawk

Down'' battle is what those men were fighting for. The

mission that day was to capture three Somali militiamen who

were part of the network of a brutal tribal leader named

Mohammad Aideed. That mission was accomplished fairly quickly

and the task force was preparing to return to their base when

a Blackhawk helicopter, call sign

Super 61, was shot down in the vicinity of the Bakkarra

market. The pilot and co-pilot were killed on impact and

trapped in the twisted wreckage. Two other crew members

survived the crash along with three of the Delta Force

operators, all of which were injured. Every man from the task

force was directed to leave their targets and to get to the

crash site and to recover the bodies of the dead crewmembers

and protect the survivors until they could be evacuated. Some

of the injured survivors were evacuated fairly quickly by the

quick reactions of courageous helicopter pilots who saw the

situation and reacted instantly. After a very tough block-by-

block street fight, the task force finally assembled around

the crash, only to discover that the bodies of their comrades

were hopelessly entangled in the wreckage and would be nearly

impossible to remove without tools, which the task force did

not have. What came next was hours of fighting between

ninety-nine Americans and tens of thousands of the Somali

militia, all armed with rifles, grenades, and rocket

propelled grenades (RPG) and determined to kill as many

Americans as possible. The battle was now a matter of

principle. No American would be left behind. It made no

difference that the two pilots were already dead, their

bodies would be brought out and returned home with dignity.

No man was willing to leave his comrade's body because each

man lived by an ethos known as the ``Ranger Creed'', which

says in the fifth stanza ``I will never leave a fallen

comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy . . .'' So the

die was cast and it quickly became obvious to all the

Americans in Mogadishu that until the necessary tools arrived

that would allow the task force to rip the helicopter apart,

the battle would continue; and it did, for eighteen hours.

Additional casualties were taken by the task force as they

stayed and defended the bodies of Cliff Walcott and Donovan

Briley. It was not until just before daylight on October 4th

that a relief force carrying the necessary equipment was able

to reach the surrounded Americans and extract the two bodies.

At that point, the entire force fought their way out of the

city and back to their base on the airfield in Mogadishu.

While the cost was high, every man knew that he had done

what was expected of him and had no regrets. Fighting and

sacrificing for a fellow warrior is fundamental to the

warrior ethos. These men battled against incredible odds to

defend fallen comrades and did so without hesitation or

reservation. Honor was preserved but at a price. Given the

same dilemma again, it is a sure bet that every man would do

the same thing. That is one of the things that makes a man a

warrior and America is blessed to have people that know that

there are some values for which they will risk everything,

including their lives.

Mr. Speaker, in Luke 12:48, Jesus said:

From everyone who has been given much, much will be

demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much,

much more will be asked.

The Congress and the President have been entrusted with much, namely, the responsibility to govern this country. The American people rightly expect us, regardless of party affiliation, to come together, especially during times of crisis, and find ways to get things done. They are understandably fed up with the current dysfunction, and I am, too.

Each side thinks it's winning, but, in reality, the country and the American people are losing. Senate Chaplain Barry Black says there is a level of insanity involved in the current government shutdown. Asked what it would take to end the current impasse, the former Navy chaplain said, ``It's going to take humility.'' Wise words. Proverbs 16:18 says:

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a

fall.

There is too much pride poisoning this debate. The American people should be the winner, not one party or the other, not the administration or the Congress. Shortsighted political victories aimed at capturing the latest headline in a 24-hour news cycle will not stand the test of time, nor will they be viewed well through the lens of history, especially if, on our watch, the trust that must exist between elected officials and the electorate is frayed beyond repair.

For those of us who think ObamaCare is a disaster--and that is a growing number of people in our country--its future will not be decided by the shutting or opening of the government. In fact, the current failings of the system, including the widespread glitches plaguing the Web site, are not getting the news coverage they should because the story has become the shutdown. The public debate surrounding ObamaCare, which will undoubtedly be at the forefront in heading into the midterm elections, will play second fiddle until the government is once again operational.

It also bears mentioning that, while important, ObamaCare must be placed in a larger context of the exploding national debt and deficit and unsustainable spending and entitlement programs set against the backdrop of a public discourse bereft of civility. Only through enacting reforms based on the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles recommendations will we ever solve the drivers of our deficits. We have put these tough but important reforms off for far too long.

To my colleagues in the Congress and to President Obama who think they are ``winning'' at this particular moment, we would do well to remember the words of Napoleon Bonaparte in speaking of the changing nature of public opinion. Napoleon said:

The crowd which follows me with adulation would run with

the same eagerness were I marching to the guillotine.

I return again to the sentiments of Scripture: We have been given a great trust, and it is demanded of us to come together to solve these problems. It is time to show some humility. It is time to govern. Let's get the government back open, ensure we don't default on our debt, and then commit ourselves to curbing unsustainable entitlement spending.

Mr. Speaker, I submit a letter I sent to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday clarifying the statutory restrictions on bilateral cooperation with China, which were misrepresented by NASA Ames Research Center staff and reported in a recent article in the Guardian newspaper. I expect NASA to immediately correct the record on its policies and await a response from Administrator Bolden.

In the letter, I also raised the rationale for congressional restrictions on additional collaboration with the Chinese government, including its abhorrent record on human rights abuses and its continued cyberattacks, espionage campaigns and development of space weapons to use against the U.S.

I also challenged Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Geoff Marcy, who made public comments disparaging statutory and NASA policies, to advocate for the 2010 Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident who has been jailed by Beijing since 2009, saying ``It's an ethical breach that is unacceptable. You have to draw the line.''

Will Dr. Marcy similarly ``draw the line'' regarding China's deplorable human rights record and join the Nobel Committee in speaking out for Liu Xiaobo? The Nobel Committee took the unprecedented step of holding Liu Xiaobo's ceremony with an empty chair on stage because he and his wife were not allowed to leave China to receive the award. Whether Dr. Marcy receives the award or not--and I hope he does--he and the other Nobel nominees should speak out for Liu Xiaobo. This will be a real test for the science community.

Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives,

October 8, 2013.

Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr.,

I want to thank Chairman Crenshaw for yielding. I want to also thank him and Chairman Rogers for their help today and on Saturday. I also want to thank their staffs. The staffs and leadership have been incredibly helpful in bringing this legislation to this floor.

Madam Speaker, I think if you look at the vote on Saturday, I and all Members believe that Federal employees should be paid, period. Too many Federal employees and their families don't know when their next paychecks will arrive and are worried about paying their next mortgage payments, paying utilities bills, filling up their cars with gas, or paying for their children's tuitions, which are coming up very soon. We need to fix this.

That is why I joined last week with Mr. Moran and others in our delegation--colleagues on both sides of the aisle--to bring bipartisan legislation to the floor last Saturday to ensure that all Federal employees, whether exempt or furloughed by no fault of their own, are paid once this shutdown ends. I'm pleased that this bill passed the House 407-0.

I heard that both a Republican and a Democrat Senator had this bill on hold. I don't understand, Madam Speaker, the Senate's ways of going about this, but I think, if any Senators have a hold, they ought to feel strongly enough that they ought to do it publicly so we know who they are, but I understand it's both a Republican and a Democrat. On behalf of the people who are having a very difficult time, I would ask them to lift that hold.

Additionally, this House acted to ensure that members of the military and Defense Department civilians exempt from furloughs would be paid on time. I am pleased that the Pay Our Military Act, which the House passed by 423-0, was quickly approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President.

Today's legislation builds on these efforts by ensuring that other exempt Federal employees like the FBI team in Nairobi investigating the attack by Al-Shabaab; the CIA, which is looking at things coming in with regard to al Qaeda; the DEA, which is stopping drugs from coming into this country; the Border Patrol agents; doctors and nurses at VA hospitals; Federal firefighters; air traffic controllers; and prison guards will be paid as soon as possible. I hope the House today will follow the bipartisan precedent we have set over and over and vote for this legislation.

In closing, I know my colleagues recognize that Federal employees aren't just nameless faces behind desks. They are real people, out in the field, who work day in and day out to keep our country safe.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Turner and Chairman Rogers and his staff. I also want to thank Leader Cantor and his staff and Mr. Moran and Mr. Cummings and the others and all the staff, my staff included, but all the staff who did this very quickly.

This was done during the Reagan administration. It was done during the Clinton administration.

Who are the Federal employees? The Federal employees are the FBI agents that everyone would call if they got a call and found out their loved one was kidnapped. The first person they would call would be an FBI agent, a Federal employee.

I was with Mr. Hoyer 2 weeks ago at the Navy Yard. The 12 people who were killed at the Navy Yard and those who were wounded, they were all Federal employees. Mr. Hoyer can tell you, when the CNO talked about it, he said they were a part of the fleet.

The Capitol Hill policemen that we all got up the other day and gave a standing ovation, they are Federal employees.

The VA doctors that are working out at Walter Reed, working on young men and women who have lost limbs and served in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are Federal employees.

I remember, I was again with Mr. Hoyer when we were down at OPM earlier this year when they had stars on the wall of 27 Federal employees who

have died since 2012, and since that time the number of stars have increased tremendously.

I saw the movie ``Zero Dark Thirty.'' If you looked at that movie, it was about catching bin Laden. The woman who did it, Maya, has she been furloughed? Where is Maya? We don't know where she is. But has she been furloughed? Should she not get paid?

Lastly, I remember being at the memorial service. Seven families walked in; seven individuals died. I saw the young families, the families who were mourning their parents, and they were Federal employees.

There are 12,000 CIA employees who have been furloughed and are gone, maybe missing that one communication from al Shabaab or al Qaeda.

I strongly urge a strong vote for this.

I also want to thank Chairman Issa, Chairman Rogers and the leadership, including Congressman Eric Cantor--who has quickly scheduled this measure--and their staffs, and mine, for their efforts to prepare this bill.

This bill--which Mr. Moran and I have introduced with strong bipartisan support--follows in the bipartisan tradition of precedents set during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations: that we ensure that Federal employees, who are out of work and unpaid by no fault of their own, are made whole once the government reopens.

Despite the difficult and unfortunate circumstances that have shut down our government currently, there is bipartisan agreement that signal to the millions of Federal employees that they will be paid for the duration of this shut down.

Who are these Federal employees? They are the Navy Yard employees killed and wounded last month. They are the Secret Service and Capitol Police officers who ran into harm's way earlier this week.

They are the FBI agents, DEA agents, Border Patrol agents, Weather Service meteorologists, Park Rangers, NASA astronauts and engineers, VA doctors and nurses.

I think we can all agree that they deserve the confidence of knowing that they will receive back pay for the time they have worked or have been furloughed.

My hope is that by moving this legislation now we can provide some reassurance to our valuable workforce and their families.

By passing this bill today, Republicans and Democrats can come together to send a powerful message to the Federal workforce.

In April my friend, Congressman Steny Hoyer, and I went to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, otherwise known as OPM Headquarters. We were there to recognize the lives of 27 Federal employees who died in the line of duty since January 2012. Twenty- seven.

Two weeks ago I was at the Marine Barracks honoring the 12 people killed at the Navy Yard. The speakers did not talk about military or civilian. They talked about ``one Navy'' serving the fleet.

A hurricane watch was posted on Thursday. Who is monitoring that? Federal employees. What happened after the hurricane watch was posted? Furloughed Federal employees started to be recalled.

Who is working around the clock to protect us from another terrorist attack? Federal employees?

It has been reported that 70 percent of civilians working for our intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency will be furloughed. This could include 12,500 employees at the

Mr. Speaker, I'm calling for the government to reopen. I'm calling for leadership on both sides to resolve these issues. The FBI is being impacted. The CIA is being impacted. The National Counterterrorism Center, which is looking at leads that are coming in to keep this Nation safe, is being impacted. The NIH and cancer research and Alzheimer's research is being impacted. People and families are being impacted.

This is bad for America. It's bad for America. Enough is enough. It's time to be leaders. It's time to govern. Open up the government.

I thank the chair.

Mr. Speaker, the government should stay open. I support the legislation, but it can be improved.

All employees who work without pay should be paid on time, including, for example, the CIA. I went to the memorial service where the CIA employees were killed in Khost; and they're side by side with the American military. The FBI, who is on the scene in Kenya now, investigating al-Shabab and the attack; DEA, Customs and Border Patrol agents, prison guards, doctors and nurses at VA hospitals, air traffic controllers, and Federal firefighters, many who gave their lives fighting wildfires around the country. Otherwise, they would be working without pay if the government closes.

I believe that all Federal employees should be paid. We should not forget that several Federal employees were killed at the Navy Yard. I went to the memorial service and saw the pain of their families. And the CNO, who spoke, said they were supporting the fleet.

So in closing, I am going to support this amendment; but Federal employees and their families should not be punished because the administration and the Congress cannot agree.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor Ms. Su Webb, who will be receiving a Loudoun Laurels Medal for her lifetime of civic leadership in the Loudoun County community.

Ms. Webb is receiving the award in the category of ``Extraordinary Stewardship'' on October 11, 2013 at the River Creek Club in Leesburg, Virginia. The Loudoun Laurels Medal recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the common good in our region.

Ms. Webb has long been committed to cultural and environmental preservation in Loudoun County. She is the chairman of the Loudoun County Farm Heritage museum and serves on the boards of the Aldie Heritage Association and the Lovettsville Park Advisory Committee. She has also served on Loudoun County's Parks, Recreation and Open Space Board for over twenty years, during which time she was instrumental in transferring the operations of Historic Mt. Zion Church and Aldie Mill Park to the Parks authority, the establishment of Gilbert's Corner Regional Park and the planning for White's Ford Regional Park.

I want to commend Ms. Webb for her tireless commitment to preserving the wealth of cultural history and environmental beauty in Loudoun County.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor Mr. Edgar B. Hatrick III, who will be receiving a Loudoun Laurels Medal for his lifetime of civic leadership in the Loudoun County community.

Mr. Hatrick is receiving the award in the category of ``Extraordinary Stewardship'' on October 11th, 2013 at the River Creek Club in Leesburg, Virginia. The Loudoun Laurels Medal recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the common good in our region.

Mr. Hatrick has been a tireless advocate for quality public education in Loudoun County. His tenure with the Loudoun County Public School System began in 1967 as an English teacher at his alma mater, Loudoun County High School. He worked in a variety of roles within the Loudoun County Public School System, including chair of the English Department and Assistant Principal at Broad Run High; principal of Loudoun County High School, then director of special education, guidance supervisor, foreign language supervisor, director of instruction, and assistant superintendent for planning and pupil services. He has served as the superintendent of the Loudoun County Public School System since 1991.

I want to commend Mr. Hatrick for his work to make public education in Loudoun County a model for the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, today I was unavoidably detained and missed roll call vote 491, to concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1412, the Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act, and roll call 492, on H.R. 3096, which would designate the FBI Building in Vienna, Virginia, as the Michael D. Resnick Terrorist Screening Center. I was hosting a STEM Careers Fair in my congressional district, which was a longtime commitment to the students of Northern Virginia. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on both roll call 491 and 492.

Personal Explanation

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, FOX News reported that ``massive amounts of highly sensitive U.S. military equipment'' has been stolen in Libya by militia groups aligned with terrorists.

These new developments, along with earlier reports that hundreds of surface-to-air missiles may have been stolen around the time of the Benghazi attack, beg the question: Just what has the U.S. been doing in Benghazi and around Libya over the last year?

Today, the State Department inspector general issued a new report criticizing the Department for failing to take any meaningful steps to improve diplomatic security at high-risk posts, like the facility attacked in Benghazi, over the last year.

That is why, Mr. Speaker, a select committee is needed now more than ever--not just to investigate the attack in Benghazi but also to answer the question about U.S. operations in Libya involving stolen weapons and arms transfers over the last year.

One hundred and seventy-seven Members have cosponsored H. Res. 36 to create a select committee. Without a select committee, we are never going to know what happened in Benghazi.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the opening of the Boulder Crest Retreat in Bluemont, Virginia.

At the opening, I was joined by dozens of Wounded Warriors, including two wounded skydivers who jumped in with an American flag, 1000 spectators, 100 volunteers and senior military officials, including Admiral James Winnefeld, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This new facility will provide our nation's Wounded Warriors and their loved ones a place to get away from hospitals and rehab centers and reconnect as families. The 37-acre retreat is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains nearly 55 miles from Washington and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

In addition to beautiful cabins to accommodate guests and a lodge where families can gather together, Boulder Crest offers extensive outdoor amenities, recreational programs and healing activities. Some of these activities include archery, nature walks and fishing as well as yoga, meditation and canine and equine assistance therapy.

I want to congratulate Retired Navy Master Chief Ken Falke and his wife Julia who came up with the idea for the retreat after many visits to Walter Reed. The Falke's donated the property and have worked tirelessly for nearly three years to make the retreat a reality. I also commend the volunteers and donors for their efforts on behalf of this notable cause.

I am proud to have this remarkable facility in my congressional district and I submit the following American Forces Press Service article on the opening of Boulder Crest Retreat.

[From the American Forces Press Service, Bluemont, Va., Sept. 6, 2013]

Vice Chairman Joins in Opening Wounded Warrior Retreat

(By Amaani Lyle)

Bluemont, VA.--On a sprawling, tree-framed landscape, the

vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff joined about 400

guests today for the official grand opening of Boulder Crest

Retreat for seriously wounded service members, veterans and

their families.

Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr. commended retired Navy

Master Chief Petty Officer Ken Falke and his wife, Julia, who

donated the land and realized their vision of providing free

use of a lodge, cabins, activities and programs that provide

respite and aid in reconnection, recovery and rehabilitation.

``As more than 12 years of war come to a close for the

magnificent men and women who have been fighting it, our

collective obligation to take care of them will not end,''

Winnefeld said. ``The majority of the seen and unseen

injuries our warriors have endured from Iraq, . . .

Afghanistan and other places are scars they'll bear for

life.''

Wth medical facilities such as the Walter Reed National

Military Medical Center and others just a road trip away,

Boulder Crest Retreat, Winnefeld said, goes the extra mile to

not only be a home away from home, but a home away from

clinics and hospitals.

``The severity of many veterans'' physical and emotional

trauma suggests long-term care needs that will surpass our

publicly available medical capacity well into the future,''

the admiral said.

The 37-acre, Americans With Disabilities Act-accessible

retreat already has proven popular, with bookings in each of

its four private cabins through 2013 and projected recreation

and resources for 250 to 500 families each year.

Each cabin accommodates up to six people and is available

for two- to 14-day stays, and guests also can gather in the

6,000-square-foot, two-story lodge to connect with other

families and participate in programs.

Visitors also can enjoy outdoor amenities such as an

archery range, nature trails, a playground, an organic

garden, a bird sanctuary and a fishing pond, while

recreational activities include nature walks, Shenandoah

River kayaking and swimming, and golf and tennis.

In addition to the retreat's healing offerings of yoga,

meditation, massage therapy, journaling, art and music

therapy, Winnefeld also noted featured assistance therapy

with dogs and horses, which resonates well with wounded

warriors who may be weary of sudden noises and movements.

Winnefeld directly addressed wounded warriors, lauding them

for their courage and buoyancy. ``I'm continually amazed by

your grit and resilience [and] your commitment to ability

over disability.''

Julia Falke, too, admired the courage not only of her

husband, an explosive ordnance disposal technician, but also

of fellow military families, which she said ultimately

inspired her journey to Boulder Crest Retreat.

The Falkes lived in military family housing in both

Scotland and her native England. ``We'd always invite the

young families stationed there to come and have dinner and

feel the comforts of home,'' she said. ``You could really see

the difference it made.''

Thirty years later, the Falkes bought 200 acres of land in

rural Virginia, where they took residence in a large, stone

farmhouse atop the hilly grass and briar. The couple began

visiting wounded warriors and their families at nearby

military hospitals, and soon resumed the tradition of

inviting guests over for home-cooked meals and relaxation.

But sending the troops back, Julia said, became less and

less practical. So when a friend suggested a writer's retreat

for the Falkes' countryside, Julia thought of something more

meaningful.

``The more we started talking about [Boulder Crest

Retreat], the more other people would come to us and say, 'If

you start it, we will help you,''' Julia said.

The Falkes soon secured a 501c3 charitable foundation

status, and in less than a year, various donors poured more

than $5 million into the organization.

Julia said contributors ranged from the Boy Scouts of

America to multi-billion-dollar corporations. ``There has

been every kind of involvement, the outcome has been

unbelievable,'' she said.

But the nascent project will continue to grow with the

ideas and donations of those who support it, Julia said.

``I've been crying all day long,'' she added. ``To see it in

reality is so amazing.''

Perhaps the most interesting style of arrival to the grand

opening was that of wounded warrior Dana Bowman, who

parachuted in by way of tandem jump with an American flag in

tow.

In 1994, Bowman, a former special operations troop who once

served with Falke, lost both of his legs after being injured

while serving on the Army's Golden Knights parachute team.

Standing tall on legs of steel, Bowman didn't lose his

courage, and he became the first double amputee to re-enlist

in the U.S. military. So when Ken Falke asked him to attend

the Boulder Crest Retreat grand opening, Bowman said, the

decision to help his former comrade was easy.

``Absolutely, I said I'd be there to bring the American

flag in . . . and to land on target, and that's exactly what

we did,'' Bowman said. ``We're able to come back, bring the

whole team and tandem jump a warrior in for this special

event and day.''

Bowman said the retreat, at is essence, is about giving

back.

``At the end of the day,'' he added, ``we all bleed the

same way, so we have to rally our troops from the different

services to come out and make a difference.''

Elected and public officials, corporate and private

organization representatives as well as Vietnam veteran and

former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier all

attended the grand opening.

I want to thank Chairman Rogers for moving this bill. It is very important.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.J. Res. 59, providing continuing appropriations for the initial weeks of fiscal year 2014 through December 15. This bill is needed to keep vital government services and programs operating past the end of the current fiscal year on September 30.

As the gentleman from Kentucky has stated, the Committee on Appropriations has made significant progress in moving annual appropriations bills. However, additional time is needed to allow for the prompt completion of our fiscal year 2014 appropriations work.

This resolution continues funding for discretionary programs at the current, post-sequestration level, including critical programs under the jurisdiction of the CJS Subcommittee, such as the operation of the Federal prison system. You can't shut down the Federal prison system. The FBI counterterrorism activities, the FBI team that's working with regard to Benghazi, as the former spokesman said, is also working on counterterrorism.

The weather forecasts. We have seen major storms hit this Nation all the way in the past year. To shut that down and the warnings and the satellite programs that they depend on. And also for the continued development of NASA space exploration programs.

Our Nation is in serious financial trouble, and it is well past the time that we put everything--every, every thing on the table, including entitlements, and agree on a long-term budget solution which includes an end to sequestration.

Hopefully, the 76 days provided in the resolution by the chairman will be enough time for an overall agreement to be reached, and also to allow us to pass regular appropriations bills for FY14.

I urge my colleagues and all Members of the Congress to support this CR, avoid a devastating government shutdown, and create a window of time for the Congress to fulfill a basic Constitutional duty: the appropriation of funds for government programs and services.