Political Quotes

“I rise to speak about the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which is included in the Defense Appropriations conference report. I will submit a similar statement into the Record for the Defense authorization conference report because the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 is also included in the Defense authorization bill. The Detainee Treatment Act includes two provisions that were adopted in the Senate version of the Defense Authorization bill: the McCain Antitorture amendment and the Graham-Levin Detainee amendment. I was an original cosponsor of the McCain Antitorture amendment. I have spoken at length about the vital importance of this amendment on several other occasions. At this time, I simply want to reiterate a couple of points. Twice in the last year and a half, I have authored amendments to affirm our Nation's longstanding position that torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment are illegal. Twice, the Senate unanimously approved my amendments. Both times, the amendments were killed behind the closed doors of a conference committee--at the insistence of the Bush administration. I am pleased that the administration has changed its position. As a result, it will now be absolutely clear that under U.S. law all U.S. personnel are prohibited from subjecting any detainee anywhere in the world to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.…”