Today news reports indicate that the Obama administration is considering a criminal trial in Washington for a Guantanamo Bay detainee suspected of bombing a Bali nightclub that killed 202 people.  This would bring one of the most notorious terrorists to U.S. soil and would allow him the opportunity to be tried steps away from our nation’s Capitol.  This man committed a crime outside of the United States, yet President Obama thinks it would be in our best interest to bring him to epicenter of our country and government.

I do not believe terrorists who kill innocent people should be housed on U.S. soil and granted the same rights as American citizens.  President Obama and House Democrats support the idea of bringing terrorists onto U.S. soil as a way to honor the Constitution.  Affording terrorists constitutional protections does just the opposite – it weakens our judicial system and undermines our Constitution.

Yesterday the President said, “We are at war. We are at war against al Qaeda, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred that attacked us on 9/11, that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, and that is plotting to strike us again.”  If we are at war, then why is an al Qaeda terrorist who tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day being arraigned in a federal court today?  Why is he not being treated as a prisoner of war?  I call on the president to explain clearly his definition of “war against al Qaeda.”

I do not believe terrorists who kill or attempt to kill innocent people should be housed on U.S. soil and granted the same rights as American citizens.  President Obama and House Democrats support the idea of bringing terrorists onto U.S. soil as a way to honor the Constitution.  Affording terrorists constitutional protections does just the opposite – it weakens our judicial system and undermines our Constitution.

Today the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on four important bills: the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, a Continuing Resolution that will fund the federal government, a bill to yet again increase our nation’s debt limit, and a “Jobs Bill.” Late last night, around 9:30 P.M., House Democrats posted three of the four bills online then scheduled votes on these bills starting at 10:00 A.M. this morning.  Why the rush?  So Speaker Pelosi can catch a plane to Copenhagen.

I would ask the Speaker, what is more important, ensuring that Members of Congress and the American people have a chance to read these bills or attending a climate change conference?

Record spending bills have been passing the House all year without a chance for Members of Congress and the American people to read them.   Earlier this year Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) and I introduced H.Res. 554, a resolution requiring the House of Representatives to make bills and conference reports available online for 72 hours before they are considered by the House.  This resolution will enhance public participation in our democracy and help restore the public trust in government by raising the level of openness, order and discourse. I urge the Speaker to cancel her flight so Members can stop voting blind.

Today President Obama announced that more than 70 detainees from Guantanamo Bay will be moved and housed indefinitely in Thomson, Illinois. The Obama Administration has yet to explain how transferring these terrorists to American soil will make our country safer. While the president may see a change in venue as a way to win approval overseas, I see it as a first class ticket to the United States for terrorists who seek to harm Americans.  

Terrorists who kill innocent people and do not abide by international law should not be housed on U.S. soil and granted the same rights as American citizens. President Obama and House Democrats support the idea of bringing terrorists onto U.S. soil as a way to honor the Constitution.  Bringing terrorists to the U.S. and affording them constitutional protections does just the opposite – it weakens our judicial system and undermines our Constitution.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has announced plans to extend the $700 billion TARP program through next October.  The bailout program has strayed wildly from its original purpose of providing short-term support and stability for the financial system.  TARP was intended to address a crisis in our financial markets, and it was understood that American taxpayers would be repaid once the immediate crisis subsided. 

I have pushed Secretary Geithner to unwind this program immediately and to dedicate all repaid funds to reducing the federal government’s record deficit.  As recently as September, Secretary Geithner assured me that repaid TARP funds would be used for deficit reduction.  Now the Obama Administration and the liberal leadership in Congress want to use TARP funds to pay for additional stimulus spending, while saddling us with more growth-stifling debt.

The United States currently faces an urgent fiscal crisis, and if we do not stop spending money, we risk moving further down an unrecoverable path.  As a dedicated fiscal conservative, I will continue pressing to use TARP funds to pay down the $12.1 trillion national debt.  I have signed a letter addressed to Speaker Pelosi urging her to use the TARP funds to pay down the debt instead of a revolving slush fund to promote the liberal agenda. The Republican alternative to the bill would simply end TARP and require that TARP funds go towards debt reduction.

House conservatives believe that the best way to stimulate the economy is to cut taxes and spending drastically. It is time to start trusting and empowering individual Americans instead of the federal government. It is time to let Americans keep more of what they earn and for the government to spend less.  I believe that by taking these steps, our economy will experience the growth and prosperity that have defined America for generations. 

Two Navy SEALs are scheduled to be arraigned in a military court today and another on a date yet to be determined, on charges that they mistreated one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq. The terrorist, Ahmed Hashim Abed, is the alleged mastermind behind the murder and mutilation of four American security contractors in 2004. It is difficult to forget the images of the burned bodies being drug through the streets of Fallujah and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. It is even more difficult to comprehend that three of our soldiers are facing a court marshal for Abed’s successful capture.

What has become of our nation when we are providing counsel and constitutional rights for terrorists while we investigate and prosecute our military and intelligence officials?  I cannot in good conscience stand by and let this sort of backward logic drag down the morale of our military and intelligence community. I have signed on to a letter asking Secretary Gates to review the court martial proceedings. I also plan to offer an amendment this week that will crack down on the overzealous prosecution our military and intelligence community. 

We sent our armed forces into combat with the instructions to defeat the terrorists who seek to do us harm. Over the past ten months, we have threatened them with investigations and court proceedings for doing the job we asked of them. The men and women who put their lives on the line each and every day should not have to second guess themselves on the battlefield and neither should we.

This year liberals have sought to control the banks, the auto makers, your health care, and now they want your money after you die.  By seeking to make the death tax permanent, Speaker Pelosi is keeping our economy from recovering and ensuring that the life savings of hard-working Americans are not passed on to their children, they are confiscated by the government.

Not only is it unfair and immoral to tax someone for dying, it also undermines job growth and wage creation. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 205, the Death Tax Repeal Act, which repeals the federal estate and gift taxes.  Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former Congressional Budget Office director, estimates in a new study that the economy would create roughly 1.3 million more small business jobs with no death tax instead of Speaker Pelosi’s planned 45% permanent rate.

Today President Obama is holding a jobs summit to look for ideas on how to create jobs here at home.  He can start by vetoing this bill.  Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to create jobs for the past 10 months. Their misguided policies of more government control, higher spending, and tax increases have made our bad economic situation measurably worse.  Americans have made it clear that they want less government control, less spending, and lower taxes.  It is time for the president and the leadership in Congress to listen.  

Today House Democrats passed yet another bill that adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit.  In an awkward attempt to fix the formula that determines doctor’s reimbursement rates, Democrats have buried us deeper in debt only to replace one flawed formula with another.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Democrats’ “doc fix” bill, H.R. 3961, will increase the deficit by $210 billion.  Economists report that the bill will add an additional $1.9 trillion to Medicare’s unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years. Medicare’s current unfunded liabilities already stand at a staggering $37.8 trillion according to this year’s trustees’ report.

The United States is facing an urgent financial crisis that threatens our fiscal and economic stability. Our government is currently borrowing about 50 cents for every dollar we spend. Medicare is already paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes and Social Security is expected to do the same in less than five years.

I strongly support a permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR).  Today I voted for the Republican alternative that would provide physicians with a 2% payment rate increase over the next four years without adding to our growing deficit.  Using savings generated from a combination of medical liability reform, streamlining and simplifying administrative policies for health insurance plans, and existing resources from the “Medicare Improvement Fund” we can ensure that doctors are properly reimbursed without drowning our country in debt.  

Today we thank our military and reflect upon their service. We honor those veterans who have served our country and protected our freedoms. This day reminds us all that “freedom is not free” and that we must always remember the debt of gratitude we owe to those who serve and put America first.

We also honor and remember those soldiers who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Texans’ and Americans’ hearts are heavy with sadness over the senseless killings that occurred at Fort Hood. We will never forget the brave men and women who lost their lives. Together we honor their service and salute their proud legacy as they are laid to rest.

Last week House Democrats unveiled a formal government takeover of health care bill that will increase taxes, increase premiums, increase spending, and cut Medicare. This bill is the wrong kind of reform and it ignores the millions of Americans who have stood up and said “no” to government run health care.

Fiscal conservatives recognize that our health care system needs a tune up, not a trade in. We have put together a better alternative for health care reform that will cut costs; eliminate the waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare; make insurance portable; allow small businesses to pool together to negotiate coverage; and provide tax credits, not penalties, to businesses that insure their employees.

I believe we need to empower patients, not burden them with government mandates. We need to preserve the doctor-patient relationship, not let government bureaucrats make health care treatment decisions. Most importantly, we need to make high quality coverage affordable for everyone, not pick winners and losers. By taking these steps, I believe we can fix our health care system while strengthening our economy.