Directing the Secretary of the Senate to make a correction in the enrollment of the bill S. 2372.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4681) to limit assistance for areas of Syria controlled by the Government of Syria or associated forces, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this bill comes at a very critical time. After 7 years of devastating civil war, the destruction inflicted on the Syrian people by the Assad regime and its allies is catastrophic. By catastrophic, we mean a half million dead and we mean 14 million souls pushed out of their homes in that civil war.

Even now, Iranian-backed militias are engaged in sectarian cleansing. Ethnic cleansing was supposed to be something of the past. They are forcing people from their homes, and Russian warplanes continue to drop bombs on hospitals. Just 2 weeks ago, the regime again used chemical weapons outside of Damascus as part of an operation that has displaced 55,000 people in this latest operation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the ranking member of our committee, Mr. Eliot Engel, because during this period of time--and we have assisted in this effort--but during this period of time, he has tried to lead in getting a solution to the problem of that civil unrest in Syria, which began with people on the streets in Damascus marching, saying: ``Peaceful, peaceful.'' From day one, he has led an effort to try to focus us on trying to resolve this crisis.

Unfortunately, as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum noted in a recent report, the situation on the ground is getting even worse in Syria, and the worst, they say, is probably yet to come.

At the same time as this carnage is going on, representatives of Syria, Iran, and Russia have spread out across the international community trying to gin up reconstruction money. They will not find it here.

It would be unconscionable for U.S. Government function to be used for stabilization or reconstruction in the areas under control of the illegitimate Assad regime and its proxies, and I will tell you why: because the people in those areas that they have taken over are being pushed out. And the militia that are being brought in are militia-- whether it is Hezbollah or other militia--that are not indigenous to those communities. We are not going to support the building of infrastructure that is going to benefit Hezbollah, Iran's revolutionary guards, or foreign militias recruited and paid for by the Iranian regime.

If or when the day comes that the Government of Syria is no longer led by Bashar al-Assad and his proxies, then the U.S. can once again look at the prospect for assistance, if the day comes when people are allowed to return to their homes. We do have an interest in seeing a stable and secure--and not hostile--Syria one day.

But until then, murder, industrial level torture, starvation, deliberate targeting of schools, hospitals, and markets, and the shameless use of chemical weapons cannot be in the remotest way possible supported by U.S. funding.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that Members join with us to ensure no U.S. funding makes it into the hands of the Assad regime and his proxies.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Financial Services,

Washington, DC, April 16, 2018.

Hon. Ed Royce,

Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Royce: I am writing concerning H.R. 4681, the

No Assistance for Assad Act.

As a result of your having consulted with the Committee on

Financial Services concerning provisions in the bill that

fall within our Rule X jurisdiction, I agree to forgo action

on the bill so that it may proceed expeditiously to the House

Floor. The Committee on Financial Services takes this action

with our mutual understanding that, by foregoing

consideration of H.R. 4681, at this time, we do not waive any

jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in this or

similar legislation, and that our Committee will be

appropriately consulted and involved as this or similar

legislation moves forward so that we may address any

remaining issues that fall within our Rule X jurisdiction.

Our Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of

an appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate

conference involving this or similar legislation, and

requests your support for any such request.

Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter

confirming this understanding with respect to H.R. 4681 and

would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this

matter be included in the Congressional Record during floor

consideration thereof.

Sincerely,

Jeb Hensarling,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger), the primary Republican cosponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In closing, I would like to thank Ranking Member Engel and Representative Kinzinger for their exceptional work on this important bill. This bill will keep taxpayer dollars out of the hands of a murderous regime and its proxies.

Time and again, Mr. Eliot Engel has been this body's conscience on the issue of Syria. We have acted many times, passing the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act twice; adopting H. Con. Res. 121, which expressed the sense of the Congress supporting the establishment of a tribunal in Syria to try Assad's war crimes, another measure we had passed.

While we have made important progress in the military campaign against ISIS, there is no end in sight to the misery inflicted on the people of Syria by Assad and his proxies. Now is not the time to turn away. As we engage, we cannot allow U.S. taxpayer money to reward war crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the No Assistance for Assad Act.

This act, H.R. 4681, was written by me. I am proud to be the lead sponsor in this bill. And I am proud of the bipartisan support that we have gotten from Chairman Royce and others on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, every time we think that the crisis in Syria could not get any worse, the Assad regime manages to plunge the country into even deeper depths. Children living in besieged Madaya could not get food, so they resort to eating leaves. A 7-year-old and her mother tweeted good-bye messages from Aleppo under siege. What has happened recently in eastern Ghouta is just unfathomable.

The White Helmets--first responders--rushing to the scene of an aerial attack, have been targeted themselves once they arrived to render aid. And the regime has continued using chemical weapons, which the world swore we would never use again. But no matter how Assad's victims have met their ends--from nerve gas or barrel bombs or at the hands of Assad's Russian or Iranian patrons--the loss of innocent life is staggering.

My heart really bleeds for the people of Syria. What they have had to endure should not be endured by anyone. The United States needs to be vocal and we need to take action.

As we continue to find some way to end the bloodshed, we also need to start thinking about what will come down the road.

This bill says that American assistance for reconstruction in Syria should be available in areas controlled by Assad only if the regime stops indiscriminate use of weapons, ends attacks on civilians and civilian facilities, releases political prisoners, allows human rights organizations access to the prisons, and removes senior officials complicit in human rights abuses.

If Bashar al-Assad--the butcher of Syria--wants to destroy his own country and then expects the United States to pick up the pieces, he is sorely mistaken. That simply won't happen. He and Russia and Iran broke Syria, and now they have to buy it.

We were careful in crafting this legislation to ensure that these limitations won't affect locally administered projects. And the bill permits humanitarian assistance to all in need.

Recovery in Syria will be a slow and painful process. But we cannot allow those responsible for hundreds of thousands of murders to control American dollars meant to help the country rebuild.

Who in the Foreign Affairs Committee can forget those horrendous pictures taken of all these dead corpses lying one by one right next to each other? Who could ever forget those atrocities that are being put up with by the people of Syria each and every day?

I am grateful for the bipartisan support this bill has already received. I particularly want to thank Congressman Kinzinger, Congressman Boyle, and Chairman Royce for their partnership in crafting this legislation.

This legislation sends a message--particularly after the Assad regime again used chemical weapons--that we are closely watching the developments in Syria and that the United States will not assist those who are party to such heinous war crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, reconstruction and stabilization of a post- ISIS Syria is estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $300 billion.

And, by the way, I wish I could say a post-Assad Syria, because he is the one who really should go.

The Syrian regime has spent the last 6 years destroying civilian infrastructure and driving people from their homes. It is simply not the role of the United States to support reconstruction in Syria, especially if the Assad regime continues to suppress the Syrian people and there is no accountability for his war crimes.

For those who are considering investing in Syrian reconstruction in Assad-controlled territories, just know that Syria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Therefore, it should be expected that reconstruction money would be syphoned off to those who have perpetrated war crimes and those who facilitate terrorism. We must prevent this.

Again, we must not forget the plight of the Syrian people. We must continue to stand with the Syrian people. We must demand that there is an end to all chemical weapons and all weapons killing civilians with barrel bombs, with people trying to get out of the way, little children dying with their mothers, in their mother's hands. This cannot continue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and the co-chair of the Friends of a Free, Stable, and Democratic Syria Caucus with me, Representative Boyle, for their work on this bill.

In the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, we thought it was going to be peaceful. Since then, 500,000 Syrians are dead--50,000 of which are children--at the hands of the brutal Assad regime.

Assad, his regime, Russia, and Iran have committed genocide across Syria. They have targeted hospitals and schools, and they have destroyed critical infrastructure with indiscriminate barrel bombs and airstrikes. They reduced much of the country to rubble. As long as Assad is in power, they should be fully responsible for rebuilding.

The No Assistance for Assad Act would place conditions on American non-humanitarian assistance in Syrian territories controlled by the Assad regime or their allies.

By limiting our reconstruction assistance to Assad, we send a strong message that the American people will not support any efforts to legitimize or bolster the barbaric Assad regime--a regime that uses chemical weapons on its own innocent civilians, as we saw especially recently.

We have seen far too many horrifying images of the bloody and besieged children across Syria, suffering at the hands of an evil war criminal.

As of January 2018, the United States has provided more than $7.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria. We will continue to support the innocent victims with emergency food, safe drinking water, shelter, and other vital resources that they desperately need.

Separately, this legislation places strict conditions on the non- humanitarian assistance for things like early recovery, stabilization, and reconstruction in the Assad-controlled Syrian territories.

The release of all political prisoners and providing full access to Syrian prisoners for human rights investigations and removing those human rights abusers from positions of authority are just two of the conditions included in this bill. The Syrian Government must also end all attacks against civilians and halt the development and deployment of ballistic and cruise missiles.

For our own national security and that of our allies, we must do all we can now to prevent the next generation of terrorists down the road.

Without hope and opportunity, the people of Syria and those across the Middle East will become prime recruits for groups like ISIS, Hezbollah, and others.

The United States of America must take a stand against the genocide in Syria, the inhumane war crimes against the innocent people of Syria, and the oppressive strongmen, those like Assad.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4681, the No Assistance for Assad Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4681, the No Assistance for Assad Act, introduced by my good friend Rep. Engel, the Ranking Member of our committee. I commend Rep. Engel and Rep. Kinzinger for advancing this important measure in a bipartisan manner to demonstrate the broad agreement in this House that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has no future as the legitimate leader of the Syrian people.

Mr. Speaker, this bill would effectively block most categories of U.S. assistance to areas of Syria controlled by the Assad regime unless it is delivered through trusted local partners or serves basic humanitarian needs. In creating strict conditions for the provisions of U.S. assistance to regime-controlled areas, this bill ensures that the United States will not help those responsible for destroying Syria to profit from rebuilding it.

Mr. Speaker, the Syrian regime, Russia, and Iran have played both arsonist and firefighter in Syria's devastating civil war--and now they want to play the role of predatory developer, sopping up reconstruction contracts to pad their pockets and further determine Syria's future in line with their narrow political agendas.

Mr. Speaker, Assad long ago surrendered his last shred of legitimacy as president of Syria. His regime's horrific chemical attack this month in Douma placed this fact once again in high relief. The Trump Administration was right to respond decisively to this barbaric attack with targeted strikes to punish and deter such atrocities perpetrated with chemical weapons.

Mr. Speaker, I have long advocated concrete steps that would ensure the Assad regime, jihadi groups, and others responsible for mass atrocities in Syria face justice for their crimes. This bill rightly insists on the removal of war criminals from the Syrian government as one condition among many for releasing U.S. aid to the regime.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this timely and important measure.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I also want to thank and express my support for Ranking Member Engel's bill, H.R. 4681, the No Assistance for Assad Act. As he said, Assad is a butcher, a butcher of his own people.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad continues to murder the Syrians en masse and destroy what was once a great ancient land. Because of the world's inaction, he is close to victory. He has proven that evil triumphs when good men and women do nothing.

Now Syria is in ruins and it must be rebuilt, but in the lands that Assad and his thugs control, we should play no part in helping his regime look like the saviors of the country. He and his Russian and Iranian backers must foot the bill for the destruction they brought upon Syria. Assad and his murderous supporters will try to use any reconstruction to cover up for their crimes.

That is why it is important we pass H.R. 4681, to restrict any U.S.- funded reconstruction assistance to areas the Syrian regime controls.

The American people are kind; they are generous and will always help those in need. We always have--history proves it--but we will not pay for a propaganda win for brutal dictators like Assad.

Let Assad and his buddies, the Iranians and the Russians, rebuild Assad's territory. His regime has weaponized humanitarian aid throughout the war, and we can only expect him to continue to do so as he tries to retake territory.

So, for now, let Assad rule over the ruins of the old Syria, the Syria he destroyed, and no U.S. money should ever go to Assad. One day, the Assads will be gone, but until then, we should not provide a dime of American money to strengthen his rule and grip over that land.

And that is just the way it is.