Eliot Engel

The conclusion was also reached by nonpartisan military leaders across the services.

I'm not for releasing anybody who was guilty, but I'm also not for keeping people in prison year after year after year with no trial.

We should clean up this stain on America's commitment to justice and democracy.

An overwhelming majority of national security and military experts... think it should be shuttered.

The costs of closing the facility are far, far less than the costs of keeping it open.

Guantanamo was a mistake. History will reflect that. It was created in the early days as a consequence of fear, anger, and political expediency. It ignored centuries of rule of law and international agreements. It does not make us safer…

Under no circumstances will these people be released onto American soil.

Closing Gitmo and transferring detainees to other secure prisons would free up $85 million a year.

It's also important to reflect on where our policies have gone astray and maybe made the situation worse.

We're reminded again today of the terrible cost of violent extremism.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for calling this hearing.

There has been until recently a bipartisan consensus that there are significant national security and foreign policy risks associated with keeping the facility open.

But that's not how were supposed to work as a nation. That's not what we stand for, and I don't believe that we should abandon our principles if we can still be safe.

Fear is precisely what our enemies want to instill in us.

They're called super max prisons for a reason. No one has ever escaped from one.

The better question, perhaps, may be what are the costs of keeping it open.

I would like to recognize Ranking Member Engel for his work to strengthen and rationalize U.S. Government efforts to increase American exports.

I am pleased to be the lead Democratic cosponsor of H.R. 2449, your bill to extend the current U.S.-South Korea civil nuclear cooperation agreement until 2016.

I am happy to support Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's measure expressing our concern over truly unsettling reports of state-sanctioned organ harvesting in the People's Republic of China.

This resolution calls on the Chinese Government to allow an investigation into this issue and urges the State Department to include an analysis of state-sanctioned nonconsensual organ harvesting in the annual human rights report.

I think the timing is not designed, frankly, to promote more dialogue and more thought with respect to our bilateral relationships with Cuba.

I must respectfully oppose this measure today, the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Preservation Act, and the reason is in my view the legislation simply isn't necessary.

The people of Cuba overwhelmingly want to see an end to the U.S. military occupation of the eastern side of the island.

I think our foreign assistance budget remains constrained, which I think is an absolute mistake.

Let me first say, Ms. Hyde, your leadership of the MCC has been exemplary.