WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman George Holding (NC-13), Co-chair of the House Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, released the following statement regarding the pending sale of 8 F-16 aircraft to the Government of Pakistan:

“The pending sale of 8 F-16 aircraft to the Government of Pakistan is deeply troubling. Pakistan has continually proven to be an unreliable and unwilling partner for the United States on numerous fronts – chief among them our effort to combat the growing threat of terrorism. It is difficult to see how this sale strengthens our national security and more importantly, how this sale would improve stability in the region. I believe this sale requires further assessment by Congress and urge the Administration to suspend any further action on this sale.”

Congressman Holding sits down with Don Curtis to discuss ISIS, the economy and the unfortunate state of politics in Washington. Listen to the broadcast of Carolina Newsmakers here.

Congressman Holding congratulates Seymour Johnson Air Force Base on being named the new home of the KC-46A tanker

Raleigh, NC – Today, Congressman Holding released the following statement:

“The U.S. Air Force officially announced that our nation's new aerial tanker, the KC-46A Pegasus, will now call Seymour Johnson Air Force Base home. The KC-46A is a major leap forward, towards modernizing our aerial tanker fleet. The Air Force's decision to locate these new aircraft at Seymour Johnson is a tribute to both the proven record of the 916th Air Refueling Wing and to the commitment of the people of Goldsboro to support our airmen.”

End Political Wars

Beheading its enemies. Burning prisoners alive. Selling women as slaves. It's like a return to the Dark Ages. And, at times, it seems the whole world is on fire.

In 2011, after a team of Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden, the Secretary of Defense announced "defeating al-Qaeda" was within our grasp. But this year, the Director of National Intelligence told Congress flat-out - with no ifs, ands or buts - the threat of 'terrorism is worse than at any point in history.' 

What went wrong? 

During World War II our leaders asked our generals, What do you need to win? Then they stepped out of the way. Today, we need to Defeat ISIS. But then tell our military leaders to not put boots on the ground. That's an example of a political war. 

For example, Forbes Magazine reports that three out of every four times we send American warplanes to attack ISIS "they return without dropping any bombs or firing any missiles." 
  
 Why? Our pilots are having difficulties identifying their targets. Forward air controllers would fix that but, again according to Forbes, our leaders 'fear that additional boots on the ground' would 'be unpopular with the general public.'

Flying combat missions but not dropping bombs - that's a phony war. And it's how wars are lost. 

A former CIA official who led covert operations in Afghanistan recently warned we are losing the war to stop ISIS because the politicians are "waging the war they want to fight but not the one that will lead" to victory. 

You cannot ignore evil. You cannot turn your back on evil. And when you try to walk away from evil there is a price to be paid. 

It's time we stopped fighting a political war against ISIS. And started fighting a war to win. 

         The News and Observer recently wrote a story about a veteran who'd served almost three and a half years in combat, including two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. After his enrollment was up, two years ago, he left the army, then, struggling with the horrors he’d seen, asked the VA for help.
 
         He was assigned to a therapy group - a circle of veterans - for two months. He asked to be enrolled in another group and to see a therapist regularly. But neither happened. Then, last December, two days before Christmas, he called a VA Crisis-line depressed, thinking of killing himself. The VA couldn't schedule an appointment for him to meet with a psychiatrist until five weeks later - on February 3rd.
 
         Before the appointment, instead, he called the VA again, erupted in rage on the telephone, and said if he didn't get help soon he'd come to the VA and start shooting. Two days later, he was arrested as a "threat to the government." He spent the next four months in jail and, if convicted, faced up to five years in prison. To put the ordeal behind him, he pled guilty to a lesser charge.
 
         What happened to this veteran is a travesty. But it's not an isolated case.

         More than a year ago the long 'waiting times' at the VA hospital in Phoenix erupted into a national scandal. An investigation showed more than 110 VA facilities had maintained secret lists to hide their 'long wait times' in providing care to veterans. Congress immediately provided additional funds so veterans, who had to wait to receive care from the VA, could go to private doctors. But, as the News and Observer's report proves, the problem runs even deeper: The VA is plagued by mismanagement, fumbling and corruption.

         It's time - past time - to fix the VA.

        New legislation has been introduced to give more veterans the choice of going to private doctors - and to change civil service laws to give the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs new powers to quickly remove negligent employees.

         No veteran in need of care should have to suffer this type of neglect.

         The Export-Import Bank was created in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its mission, back then, was to help small companies. However, like many of today's government programs, over the years, it has changed. What it was intended to do and what it does today are two different things. 

         The Export-Import Bank's focus is no longer small businesses. Instead, it primarily provides - as Forbes magazine reports - what amounts to corporate welfare for large corporations. 

         For example, the Wall Street Journal reported, the Ex-Im Bank guaranteed a $10.3 million loan for the "infamous Solyndra" Corporation - before it went bankrupt. 

         Even harder to understand, through the Export-Import Bank, American taxpayers have provided loan guarantees to foreign corporations. 

         According to the Journal, "Ex-Im has provided near record-breaking loans to subsidize a firm co-owned by Saudi Aramco - the world's largest oil company. It provided millions to one-time Washington energy darling Enron. There is a reason for these deals, and for why more than 60% of Ex-Im's money in 2013 benefited just 10 rich companies - it's called politics."

          Another Journal report, on April 26th, described how the Ex-Im Bank even guarantees loans for foreign state-sponsored corporations: "Ex-Im has given hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-backed guarantees to the state-owned Russian bank Vnesheconombank (VEB). Ex-Im only recently suspended new deals after the bank was targeted by American sanctions in the past year."

         The article continued: "VEB has a long and sordid history. Known until 2007 as the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the U.S.S.R., VEB maintains an operating agreement with Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport 'to promote the exports of Russian military products and boost their competitive edge in the world market.' Rosoboronexport also handles more than 80% of Russia's weapon exports. In this capacity, it has become a chief weapons supplier to Bashar Assad's regime in Syria and has supplied advanced missile systems to Iran, according to reporting last year in the newspaper. VEB has said that its practices fully comply with European Union and United Nations sanctions.

         "Americans probably assume that Washington wouldn’t use taxpayer money to help a company that supports these regimes. Yet the bank's records indicate that VEB received a $497 million loan guarantee in 2012 and a further $703 million in 2014. American taxpayers still haven't received thank-you cards from President Assad and the mullahs."

         I believe that when President Roosevelt pushed for the creation of the Ex-Im Bank in 1934, he did so with the intention of helping America's struggling small business owners dig themselves out of the Great Depression. But in today's world, the Ex-Im Bank no longer does what it was intended to do: help struggling small businesses.

         More to the point, American taxpayers subsidizing foreign corporations like this doesn't make a bit of sense. I will vote against authorizing the Export-Import Bank. 

President Obama supports the agreement with Iran.  He argues it means:

1. Iran will reduce the number of centrifuges it has (to enrich uranium) from 19,000 to 6,104. And Iran’s heavy water reactor will only be used to produce low grade plutonium, so that it cannot be used to make a nuclear weapon.
    
2. There will be inspections.
    
3. And, even if Iran breaks its word, it will require a year to build a nuclear weapon. So there will be time to stop them.
    

Opponents of the agreement disagree and point out:

1. Iran claims it only wants to build a nuclear power plant. But it doesn’t need centrifuges or a heavy water reactor to do that. So, both should be dismantled.
    
2. Iran’s not destroying centrifuges; it’s simply disconnecting them and could reconnect them whenever it wants.
    
3. The plan for inspections is unclear and unreliable.
    
4. And when the agreement ends, Iran will be free to build nuclear weapons.
    

Eighteen months ago, when we began negotiations, our goal was to dismantle Iran’s centrifuges and its heavy water reactor – so Iran could not build nuclear weapons.

Somehow, a year and a half later, we’ve ended up with an agreement that all but locks into place their path to nuclear weapons.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, he pointed out that, today, terrorists like ISIS are armed with rifles and mortars. But Iran is on the road to building a nuclear weapon. Then he said the greatest “danger facing the world today is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.”

I agree. This is a bad deal.  A nuclear Iran is too great a risk to take. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 3, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman George Holding (NC-13) issued the following statement after voting against the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 240):

"There has been a lot of heated political rhetoric about President Obama’s executive actions.  I won’t add to it.  The issue here is straightforward: Does the president have the power – the legal power – to change our immigration laws?  A federal judge, Andrew Hanen, has ruled he does not – that no law gives the president that power.  I believe that is correct, and today I voted against funding these unlawful actions." 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 3, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman George Holding (NC-13) released the following statement after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress earlier today:

"Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with blunt common sense – he said, ‘Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam. ... The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.’  

"Who can doubt a nuclear Iran would be a threat to our nation and Israel?  An agreement that leaves Iran a year away from building a nuclear weapon doesn’t cut the mustard.  Instead, an agreement between the United States, its allies, and Iran must completely shut the door on a path for Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb."

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