Neil Abercrombie: “I think it is really a little bit beneath what our committee represents on armed services to think that Mr. Skelton…”

“I think it is really a little bit beneath what our committee represents on armed services to think that Mr. Skelton would be responding to headlines. Mr. Skelton brings this motion because of what was in the Senate bill that was supposed to be under consideration for us during conference, a conference which we have not had. Geneva Convention in our known facilities? Perhaps that is true. I expect it is true and it should be true, but that is what we are talking about. Mr. Rumsfeld routinely responds to these questions on behalf of the Department of Defense. This question is before us because it is in the bill that we have to take up by way of conference. And the question that needs to be answered I raised publicly with the chairman while Senator Warner was there and while Ms. Harman was there. I asked does this language or anything having to do with the accusations that have been made whether in the newspapers or elsewhere, does any of that find its way into this bill, into our conference discussions in a way that deals with the outsourcing of torture, with renditions, a word which is now coming into our nomenclature, where we send people out for others to do it. That is at stake here and is clearly and explicitly involved in the motion to instruct. That is what we are trying to deal with. {time} 2230 Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?”