The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SUPPORTING THE SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2936-H2937 on June 22.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORTING THE SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Waltz) for 5 minutes.
Mr. WALTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about our local allies in Afghanistan, those that are trying to come to the United States through the Special Immigrant Visa program.
Beside me here is one of the brave Afghan interpreters who stood alongside my Special Forces unit, my fellow Green Berets, in Afghanistan during one of my tours. He volunteered for that duty. He stood with us in combat. He faced extremism head-on.
And when these brave Afghans stand up, Mr. Speaker, to stand with us, to stand with our soldiers, as a critical asset that enables us to deal with the populous and communicate with the populous that we are trying to protect, but also fight alongside our Afghan security forces partners, we could not do what we have done in the last 20 years in Afghanistan and around the world in places like Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and in places like Africa, without these brave individuals who not only put their lives on the line but put their families' lives on the line to stand with us against extremism.
We called him Spartacus. We didn't use his real name, because if the Taliban found out that he was with us, they would not only track him down, they would track his entire family down.
Well, unfortunately, after our redeployment, Mr. Speaker, the very thing that he needed to get a visa to the United States, the identification paperwork that he had fought with the United States, that he had fought with America, was found on him in a Taliban checkpoint. He was taken back to his home village and beheaded, along with his brothers and cousins in his family.
This story of Spartacus is happening right now, as we speak. The Taliban, as they slowly and methodically take over Afghanistan, are hunting these brave individuals down who stood with us against extremism.
We need to ask ourselves, as Americans, what message are we sending in terms of keeping our promises, not only with the Afghans, but again, around the world? The bottom line is, we need to get them out. We have a moral obligation to get them out.
This is not just a moral obligation, but it is a national security obligation. The State Department has a 14-step process that takes over a year to do the appropriate vetting and to assign these visas. We don't have time for that anymore with U.S. forces withdrawing within weeks.
The Defense Department is ready to do an evacuation right now. The Governor of Guam has said he is ready to accept these people, as they have done with our partners in South Vietnam, as they did with the South Koreans, as they have done with Cubans. We can process them in a safe third country and then bring those individuals home.
The Defense Department says they are ready; Guam says they are ready. Everyone is waiting on the green light from the White House.
Where is that green light, Mr. Speaker? Where is it? Will President Biden stand up and stand with those and do the right thing for those that fought with us?
And I have to be candid, he hasn't always done so. He didn't support the evacuation of our South Vietnamese allies when he was a Senator. I pray and hope he will correct that past sin and stand with those who stood with us against extremism.
I mentioned this is a national security issue as well. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mr. Speaker, just testified that he believes there is a decent likelihood, a medium probability, that al-Qaida will come roaring back in the wake of our withdrawal. So we must also ask ourselves, when our soldiers have to go back into Afghanistan, who are they going to have to fight alongside? Will they have anyone left that will not have been hunted down like Spartacus was?
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Finally, this isn't just an interpreter issue. Twenty-five percent of the Afghan Parliament is set aside for women. These women are also being hunted, abused, forced to stay home, not go into their elected office. Some have had acid thrown on their face. Some are even executed themselves.
Civil society leaders, journalists, all those who have spoken out against the atrocities that we have seen, that we have fought against are also being targeted.
We have an obligation, as an American people, as a military, to support those who have stood with us.
Mr. Speaker, should we not, time is running out. The world is watching, and when that last American soldier goes wheels up, these people will have a death sentence, and there will be blood on this administration's hands.
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