House backs Senate on torture guidelines

WASHINGTON – The House on Wednesday gave strong support to a measure that would ban torture and limit interrogation tactics in U.S. detention facilities, agreeing with senators that Congress needs to set uniform guidelines for the treatment of prisoners in the war on terror.

On a 308-122 vote, members of the House supported specific language proposed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that prohibits “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” of anyone in the custody of the U.S. government. While lopsided, the vote was largely symbolic and does not put the language into law.

U.S. Reps. Tom Allen and Michael Michaud, D-Maine, both voted in favor of the measure.

The vote specifically instructed House negotiators to include McCain’s language, word for word, in the fiscal 2006 Defense Appropriations bill, a decision that is not binding but carries with it significant political weight. The House also supported a McCain provision that would require officials in any Defense Department detention facility to follow interrogation standards in the Army’s Field Manual. That manual is currently under revision.