War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3851) to amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to provide for rewards for the arrest or conviction of certain foreign nationals who have committed genocide or war crimes, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, let me just start by thanking the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) who is very engaged on this issue; and my ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee as well, Eliot Engel. They introduced this bill together.

For the last 33 years, the Department of State War Crimes Rewards Program has authorized the Secretary of State to offer rewards for the arrest or the conviction of certain dangerous individuals. Originally drafted to be used against international terrorists, this successful program has been expanded over the years to include the use against others who threaten our safety and our security. So this now includes drug traffickers, war criminals, and perpetrators of genocide, some of those efforts I had authored years ago.

But in 2012, we expanded it further to transnational organized crime. At that time, my subcommittee held a hearing where the State Department testified that one captured target, a narco terrorist, told DEA agents that he could no longer trust anyone in his organization after a reward was offered on his head.

What he said was: I felt like a hunted man.

Exactly. That is the rationale behind that program, and that is why we expanded it then with my legislation and why we expand it today with the legislation of Virginia Foxx and Eliot Engel, because our goal here is to turn the table on these dangerous criminals and help ensure that they have no safe haven from justice.

The bill before us today clarifies these authorities. The current statute authorized rewards for the arrest or conviction of foreign nationals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Many people often think of those things in connection with international tribunals. But the U.S. also has domestic statutes on the books that criminalize war crimes and criminalize genocide. This bill makes clear that the State Department's rewards can be used in connection with the prosecution of foreign nationals in U.S. courts for those crimes, as well to make sure that inducement is there.

Tragically, these authorities continue to be necessary and we know continue to be important. We live in a world where crimes against humanity are perpetrated. We have seen two declared genocides in as many decades. One in Darfur in 2004. I remember seeing firsthand a young boy who had his hand amputated by the Janjaweed and by ISIS in 2016. Any of us can pick up our iPhone and see the results of that kind of terror. We also see tragic ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya right now in Burma.

So I again want to thank Congresswoman Foxx and Mr. Engel for their work on the bill. It deserves our support.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the author of this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, when we consider the human cost in terms of those who commit war crimes or crimes against humanity, I reflect on some of the victims of Charles Taylor's activities in Liberia and Sierra Leone. We saw young children who had limbs amputated at the hands of the Revolutionary United Front, supported by Charles Taylor. We have met with children whose parents have been murdered by the perpetrators of violence who believed they were beyond justice.

The concept behind having the Department of State Rewards Program serves such an important purpose when we consider that it has helped bring to the bar of justice around this planet those who have been involved in war crimes. It has turned the table on dangerous war terrorists and criminals.

This bill, sponsored by Virginia Foxx and Eliot Engel, continues to expand that very effort to help ensure that they face justice but, just as importantly, to send the message that others in the future who contemplate behaving like Charles Taylor or committing this kind of mayhem will also face the bar of justice. It will also encourage those who are working with them to turn them over in order to get that reward, leaving them in a state of perpetual anxiety so that they know that, at any time, anyone in their organization could turn them over for international justice. This bill helps advance that effort.

Again, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) and my good friend from New York (Mr. Engel), as well, for sponsoring this bill to make clear that this important authority includes justice meted out by U.S. courts under U.S. law. This makes it clear that the international provisions we seek to expand include the actions taken here in the United States, and I congratulate them for bringing this bill forward.

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

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Royce very much for his help on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to speak in support of the War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act, introduced by my good friend Eliot Engel and me. It is another excellent example today of bipartisanship here in the House.

As Chairman Royce said, this bill expands and reforms the War Crimes Rewards Program, which provides bounties for perpetrators of the world's worst human rights abusers.

The current program authorizes these rewards only for the purposes of prosecutions in international tribunals. While experts can attest to the necessity of international tribunals or mixed court tribunals in limited circumstances, the program fails to offer

the same advantages and incentives to prosecutions in national jurisdictions using national courts.

There is already broad consensus that prosecuting perpetrators of atrocities like the genocide that plagues religious minorities at the hands of ISIS has the greatest impact when the prosecutions are conducted within the society in which the crimes occurred.

When governments can keep these prosecutions within national jurisdictions, witnesses have easier access to courts, public awareness of these brutal atrocities is maximized, and parties will more likely understand domestic laws. Furthermore, domestic trials are often cheaper, quicker, and less resource intensive, meaning more resources can be devoted to items like discovery and analysis.

Congress has already attested to the threat that these crimes posed to U.S. interests, including the heavy price tag in the forms of regional instability, refugee flows, economic losses, and reconstruction costs.

A related program, the Rewards for Justice Program, authorizes similar bounties for terrorists wanted by the United States for violations of United States law, most famously, the one that was placed upon Osama bin Ladin. The bounties have led to the disruption of terrorist activities, but also to the prosecution of terrorists like Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Our bill would bring the War Crimes Rewards Program into conformity with that standard by explicitly listing violations of U.S. law as a basis for issuing the reward, not just the conviction by an international tribunal. It would also allow the U.S. to work with our allies to issue joint rewards, another provision in the terrorism authorization that the human rights provision lacks.

This bill will leave important safeguards already incorporated into the current program in place. These safeguards include the ineligibility of government officials, consultation with the Attorney General, and congressional notification of the awards.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, national governments are sovereign, and the U.S. Government shouldn't be neglecting their proper role by offering this tool solely to tribunals. Currently, there are efforts to encourage the prosecution of ISIS perpetrators of rape and genocide against Yazidis in national courts using domestic laws that provide for such prosecutions. This bill would make it clear that the U.S. Government should also be encouraging such efforts.

The genocide by ISIS fighters in the Middle East; war crimes perpetrated by Syria's brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad; and the North Korean regime's crimes against its own people must all be opposed by the United States. It is my hope that the passage of this bill will send the signal that these brutal atrocities and the cowards who perpetrate them will be hunted down and punished with all means possible.

I thank my good friend and ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, for his role as the lead Democrat cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation. Again, I thank Chairman Royce for bringing this to the floor. Lastly, I thank the committee staff for their thoughtful contributions and assistance.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill.

I would like to recognize Congresswoman Virginia Foxx and Ranking Member Eliot Engel, along with Congressmen Randy Hultgren and James McGovern, for their work on this bipartisan piece of legislation.

The War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act would clarify the War Crimes Rewards Program. This program is an important tool for bringing to justice the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Under current law, the United States uses the program to pay rewards for the arrest or conviction of foreign nationals who commit some of the most heinous acts. In the past, bounties have helped find fugitives from the former Yugoslavia to Rwanda.

The statute providing authorization for this program specifies that rewards can be paid to individuals who furnish information leading to arrests or convictions for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, as those terms are defined under the statutes of international tribunals.

H.R. 3851 clarifies that the Secretary of State can also choose to pay rewards for arrests and convictions that take place under the laws of the United States as well as other individual countries.

Under certain circumstances, prosecutions will have the greatest impact when they take place in domestic courts within the societies in which those crimes occur. Doing so can help ensure the parties understand the law, witnesses have access to the trials, and public awareness is maximized. The clarification provided in this bill will help build on the program's success, providing the State Department with clear authority to use rewards for a wide range of prosecutions, when appropriate.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Congresswoman Foxx, as well as Ranking Member Engel, for their legislation, as well as the other legislators who worked on it.

This bill will help ensure that the War Crimes Rewards Program can be used to the greatest possible effect, bringing the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide to justice. It will give the State Department clear authority to use rewards for perpetrators who are brought to justice under international tribunals and in domestic courts.

America must stand against human rights abusers and war criminals abroad, and this bill helps advance that goal.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3851, the War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act, which targets perpetrators of genocide or war crimes, and commend my friend Virginia Foxx for authoring it. The War Crimes Rewards Program, administered by the State Department, has helped apprehend perpetrators of atrocity crimes on the run from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. But our current law does not explicitly authorize rewards to enable prosecutions in the United States or domestic courts in other countries. This bill would make it clear rewards can be used to support domestic prosecutions.

Tribunals like those for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda have done yeoman's work and we should continue to support them. That is why I have called for the United States to support and help stand up a Syria war crimes tribunal. But domestic courts are also essential for prosecuting perpetrators. With so many fugitive terrorists who committed atrocity crimes in Iraq or Syria, and can be tried in the domestic courts of their home country or another country, this legislation is especially timely.

I support this bill and encourage my colleagues to do likewise.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I call on the Senate to finally vote on and pass H.R. 390, the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act.

This House passed it unanimously last June 6 and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously passed it last September 19. The Committee Chairman, Senator Corker, has since been holding it hostage and will not permit it to proceed to the full Senate for a vote.

The bill would authorize the State Department and USAID to direct some aid to Christians, Yazidis and other religious and ethnic minorities targeted for genocide to enable them to survive in their ancient homelands. It would enable oversight to ensure the career bureaucrats are fully implementing the policy of the Administration and provide clear, detailed authorization for appropriations.

H.R. 390 also authorizes the State Department and USAID to support organizations conducting criminal investigations into ISIS perpetrators of atrocity crimes and collecting evidence that can be used in domestic courts and tribunals. This advances our counter-terrorism initiatives and justice for the victims. The House voted on H.R. 390 and the Senate should be given the same opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent for Roll Call No. 51 (H.R. 4547, Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act), Roll Call No. 56 (H.R. 772, Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act), Roll Call No. 61 (H.R. 3851, War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act), and Roll Call No. 62 (H.R. 1997, Ukraine Cybersecurity Cooperation Act). Had I been present, I would have voted Yes on each of these bills.