Congressman Luke Messer Highlights School Choice Week and Provides a Statement to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs

(Washington, D.C.)— Today, Congressman Messer gave a one-minute floor speech highlighting National School Choice Week, saying that “when parents have a choice, kids have an opportunity.”  Messer sits on the Education and the Workforce Committee.  The full speech as prepared for delivery can be read here and watched here.

Congressman Messer also sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provided her view of the terrorist attack on Benghazi.  Congressman Messer attended the hearing and provided the below statement to the Committee:

Mr. Chairman, thank you for scheduling this important hearing today.  Madam Secretary, I want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to appear before this Committee.  I know that your tenure as our Nation's Secretary of State is coming to an end and you are looking forward to your next venture.  I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. 

I am a new member to this Committee representing the 6th Congressional District of Indiana, and as I was campaigning over the course of last year, I traveled all over my district, which covers 19 counties, and spoke with thousands of Hoosiers about the issues that concerned them most. 

In the days and weeks following the September 11th attack on our compound in Benghazi, I encountered some of the most intense feelings of distrust and anger at Washington.  The individuals I met with could not understand how President Obama and his most senior advisers were incapable of grasping what seemed to be obvious to the American public.  When something explodes at any U.S. facility on any given day, but especially on September 11th, the American collective mind instinctively thinks terrorism.  Instead, the Administration offered up one inconsistent statement after another, and in general, expressed reluctance to characterize the attack as terrorism.  Among the excuses was the now discredited home video as the cause for the attack. 

This hearing is so important because we are examining the findings of the Accountability Review Board's report not with the purpose of casting blame but rather with the purpose of providing a framework to avoid such tragedies in the future to assist this Committee in providing the necessary legislative remedies.   Today, however, we must look back and examine what happened.  

Mistakes of judgment were made.  Madam Secretary, they were mistakes made by your Department - and your Department alone - and that is why your testimony today is so vital to this Committee’s oversight work.  I want to know, as leader of the State Department, what responsibility do you believe lies with you.  More importantly, what advice would you give to your successor to help ensure the safety of our loyal U.S. employees throughout world? 

It was obvious to the world, at the outset, that the attack on our compound in Benghazi was an act of terrorism; however, the narrative coming out of the Administration blamed faulty intelligence reports.  Both the Accountability Review Board's report and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs report acknowledge that there was growing evidence that Benghazi was becoming an increasingly dangerous place. 

A United States compound located in a war-torn country is attacked, four of our fellow Americans lie dead and this all happens on September 11th.  How could there have been any doubt that this was not an act of terrorism? 

Requests from the field for additional security were denied by Washington-based officials.  The Accountability Review Board report found that Ambassador Stevens made the decision to travel to Benghazi independently of Washington, per standard practice and that his status as the leading U.S. government advocate on Libya policy, and his expertise on Benghazi, cause Washington to give unusual deference to his judgments.  I would like to know why then wouldn’t Washington extend the same level of deference to the judgment of the Regional Security Officer based in Libya?  Instead, it appears that the Department defaulted to a “Washington knows best” approach and resisted his requests for additional security personnel.  

We know from testimony that the refusals were not due to a lack of resources.  On October 10th, Charlene Lamb, who was then the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, was asked "Was there any budget consideration and lack of budget which led you to not increase the number of people in the security forces there?  Ms. Lamb responded, "No, sir."

As I read the Accountability Review Board's findings, I am troubled at the extent to which our people in the field had to rely on a Libyan militia for their security.  I am also hoping that you can address Libya's responsiveness – or lack thereof - on the night of the attack and in our ongoing investigation.  These questions cannot go unanswered. 

 Let me finish by honoring our fellow Americans who gave their lives - J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty. These Americans exemplify what it means to be a public servant. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you Madam Secretary.

About Luke Messer

Luke Messer is the Congressman for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, a 19 county region of east-central and southeastern Indiana comprised of manufacturing and agricultural communities. Elected President of the Republican Freshman Class by his peers, Messer serves on the House Committees on Budget, Foreign Affairs, and Education & the Workforce.

Luke and his wife Jennifer have two daughters, one son and three dogs.  Luke has also served as an elder at his church and is the author of a children's book about Indiana entitled “Hoosier Heart.” To learn more about Luke Messer, log on to www.Messer.House.gov.

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