Congressman
Henry E. Brown, Jr.

Stimulus Bill - Republican Job Creation v. Democrat's Wasteful Spending

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 30, 2009, 09:53 AM)

Despite promises to the contrary, the Democratic "stimulus" bill passed by the House this week will do little to create jobs for Americans.  The Democrat plan is full of wasteful spending and does not contain the infrastructure and job creating provisions that will help get our economic up and rolling again.  Instead of following the urgings of President Obama, House Democrats locked the door on Republican ideas for the stimulus legislation and turned a bill that could have created real jobs into a bill filled with wasteful spending on Democrat priorities that will do little to create real jobs.  Here are some links to information put out by House Republicans on the Democratic stimulus bill and job creating Republican alternatives:

Congressional Budget Office: Dems' Spending Plan Won't Lead to a Rapid Economic Recovery

House GOP Economic Recovery Alternative Will Create 6.2 Million New American Jobs

Non-Partisan CBO Confirms House Democrats’ Bill Tops $1.1 Trillion     

Transportation Committee Republicans on Stimulus: Where’s the Jobs?

Democrat Stimulus: Actual Job Creation is “Doubtful”

The American People Deserve Better than House Democrats’ Trillion-Dollar Spending Plan

Read the Text of the Republican Motion to Recommit, a plan to create jobs by investing an additional $36 billion in highways and an additional $24 billion in the Army Corps of Engineers while and reducing the overall costs of the bill by almost $104 billion.

Posted in Economy | View Full Posting

BROWN VOTES NO ON DEMOCRAT PORK-LADEN STIMULUS PACKAGE

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 28, 2009, 06:35 PM)

“With unemployment rising and our economy falling into recession, House Democrats have proposed a stimulus plan that is full of wasteful spending and contains only a small amount of the necessary infrastructure and job creation provisions that would stimulate our failing economy and get hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans back on their feet."

Read more... 

Posted in Economy | View Full Posting

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: TIME NAMES CHARLESTON #2 SPOT TO RELOCATE GITMO DETAINEES

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 23, 2009, 06:00 PM)

If Not Gitmo, Then Where Should Terror Detainees Be Held?
By Sophia Yan
Time Magazine
Friday, Jan. 23, 2009

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1873669,00.html

With President Barack Obama having ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military detention facility within a year, the U.S. faces the challenge of finding a new lockup for terrorism suspects currently behind bars, and those captured in future. Reports released by the Pentagon, the Center for American Progress, and Human Rights Watch, among others, have recommended several possible sites, most of them in military bases. But moving the Gitmo inmates almost anywhere on U.S. soil would likely set off a political firestorm.

Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha, a Democrat, is ready to see the captives moved to his own state, saying they would be "no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo." His constituents are far from convinced. Some see an economic benefit, because building a maximum-security prison would provide jobs. But others don't want terror suspects in their backyard. Diane Gramley, president of the 12,000-member American Family Association of Pennsylvania, has described Murtha's idea as "ludicrous." (See pictures from inside Guantanamo)

And Murtha is rare among legislators on Capitol Hill in his willingness to have the suspects incarcerated in his district. Most are vociferously opposed to the idea. Possible Gitmo replacement sites include:

1. U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Fort Leavenworth includes a 515-bed military prison, the only maximum-security prison in the Department of Defense. There are special confinement units in which inmates can be held for up to 23 hours a day. Other security protocols involve chaining prisoners' ankles before showering; when leaving their cells, inmates are always escorted by two or three staff members. The detention center presently holds 440 major offenders, most of them serving lengthy sentences. There are correctional and treatment programs on site.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, and Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican, have publicly opposed the idea of bringing Gitmo inmates to Leavenworth, which is in close proximity to its surrounding community, including an airport, farms, and hospitals. Brownback, terming such a transfer as "unwise and unsafe," has also introduced legislation calling for 90 days notice prior to transferring enemy combatants to another possible site, in Charleston, SC.

2. U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina
A medium security prison, the brig can hold up to 288 inmates — and has already been used to detain several terror suspects, including Jose Padilla and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marril. The facility is in walking distance to the Port of Charleston, and within two miles of civilian residences. Local Congressman Henry Brown, a Republican, has said moving Gitmo inmates there would be a "a high-risk move...I am fearful for what they might bring with them, and I think it would put the local citizens at risk."

3. Camp Pendleton, San Diego, CA
As the Marines' largest training facility on the West Coast, the 125,000-acre Pendleton is not lacking for space. But the local Republican Congressman, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, has mounted a fierce campaign against transferring detainees there. "The facilities, as they stand right now, are not designed to house large populations of inmates — they're not prisons," says Hunter's spokesperson, Joe Kasper. Pendleton has more than 2,600 buildings and structures, and 7,300 housing units with 14,000 military family members.

Hunter introduced legislation on Thursday to prohibit the transfer of Gitmo inmates to Pendelton or to the nearby Miramar Air Station. "Redirecting these detainees to Camp Pendleton would present a serious threat to surrounding military installations and resources, as well as the community's civilian population," Hunter wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates earlier this month.

4. Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, San Diego, CA
The 23-acre Miramar facility can hold up to 400 prisoners, and is currently staffed by over 200 personnel. It is roughly 50 miles from Miramar Air Station, home of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

Miramar was included in the bill introduced by Congressman Hunter to prohibit transferring Guantanamo detainees to existing facilities, or to construct new detention facilities in the same areas.

5. U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, Florence, CO
Called "Supermax" — and sometimes, the Alcatraz of the Rockies — this Federal prison 90 minutes outside Denver, "houses offenders requiring the tightest controls," according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Current inmates include convicted 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussawi, 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef, and self-styled 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski.

The 37-acre prison has 490 beds and at present holds 430 prisoners. Like Leavenworth, it has solitary confinement units enclosed by steel doors. Extreme security is enhanced by motion detectors, cameras, laser beams, attack dogs, 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors and 12-foot high razor wire fences throughout the facility.

6. Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City, NY
Located in lower Manhattan across the street from the Federal courthouse, the high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center primarily detains pre-trial or holdover inmates. These prisoners are held under high security.

Posted in Berkeley County, Charleston County, Defense, Homeland Security, Terrorist Detainees | View Full Posting

Brown, House Republicans Call On President Obama to End Support for So-Called “Freedom Of Choice” Act

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 22, 2009, 04:20 PM)

Congressman Brown, joined by over 100 other House Republicans have sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking that he withdraw his pledge to sign the so-called “Freedom of Choice” Act (FOCA), which would overturn hundreds of state laws nationwide protecting the sanctity of unborn human life.  During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-candidate Obama vowed that the “first thing” he would do as president is sign FOCA.   The letter (embedded below) notes that enactment of FOCA would increase abortions and divide the country.  The letter corresponds with the 36th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court, a day marked every year by the March for Life on the National Mall.  Congressman Brown took part in the March, and you can view his comments afterword here. 01-21-09_FOCA_Letter

Posted in Values | View Full Posting

Obama Signs Executive Order to Close Guantanamo; Brown: Congress Should Have Final Say

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 22, 2009, 03:36 PM)

Today, President Obama signed an executive order beginning the process that will eventually close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (you can read the executive order here). Many in the Congress, the press, and the security community have raised the point that this closure brings with it more questions than it answers - most importantly, what will happen to the detainees?

With the Naval Brig at Charleston continually named one of the possible locations for the eventual transfer of these detainees, Congressman Brown today clearly stated that any future decision for housing these detainees must be made by Congress and not a Washington bureaucrat:

"...while this executive order officially closes the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, it is essential that these individuals, some of the most dangerous terrorists captured during the War on Terror, only be moved after a full evaluation of all available and appropriate locations...Congress should have the final say as to where these most dangerous detainees are held if they move to the US, not the Washington bureaucrats. After all, the members of Congress are the ones who will potentially be moving the most dangerous residents of Guantanamo into their own backyards."

You can read the rest of the Congressman's statement here.

Posted in Berkeley County, Charleston County, Defense, Homeland Security, Terrorist Detainees | View Full Posting

What is around the Brig in Charleston?

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 22, 2009, 09:43 AM)

The Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, with some critical infrastructure elements highlighted:

Posted in Berkeley County, Charleston County, Defense, Homeland Security, Terrorist Detainees | View Full Posting

Charleston Chamber Opposes Transfer of GITMO Detainees to Charleston

Posted by: Brown Staff (January 03, 2009, 04:07 PM)

The Charleston Chamber of Commerce has come out in opposition to transfering terrorist detainees from Guantanamo to the Consolidated Navy Brig at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station.  Congressman Brown has introduced legislation to prevent this from occuring.

Charleston Chamber Letter on Gitmo Brig 122908

Posted in Berkeley County, Charleston County, Defense, Dorchester County, Homeland Security, Terrorist Detainees | View Full Posting