Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, put out the following statement after President Trump issued a pardon for TX-26 resident Paul Slough.   

“This is a Christmas miracle for the Slough family,” said Burgess. “Paul, along with three other team members, were sentenced to a mandatory minimum of thirty years in prison after being found guilty of firearms offenses under 18 U.S.C. 924 (c), a statute enacted in the 1980s to reduce violence during the height of the war on drugs. It is unthinkable that civilian contractors, who are required to carry weapons by the U.S. government to protect U.S. personnel overseas, have faced unintended consequences of this statute.

In 2007, Paul Slough and his team members, employed as State Department contractors during Operation Iraqi Freedom, were escorting a U.S. diplomatic convoy through Baghdad when an oncoming suspicious vehicle failed to stop. The team opened fire to defend the convoy, unfortunately resulting in 14 Iraqi deaths after engaging in a fire fight. These brave men were sentenced for discharging their firearms under a statute that was never meant to apply to U.S. federal government employees defending Americans overseas. To ensure this never happens again, I introduced legislation to exempt overseas federal contractors from mandatory minimum sentencing requirements under 18 U.S.C. 924(c). 

“I appreciate President Trump for righting this wrong, and I hope that Congress will take up my legislation to ensure this doesn’t happen to other Americans.”