Floor Statements

Thank you very much, Chairman, for yielding.

I rise in support of this resolution, of which I am an original cosponsor.

I think Members are very rightly concerned now, as the same technology that's used to put a satellite into space is also used to launch a ballistic missile. This experiment by North Korea is definitely an advance for them. It is definitely a threat to the region. It is definitely a threat to the United States because what we're talking about here are three-stage ICBMs.

It is estimated that North Korea has spent $3 billion since 1998 on that missile program, which is the amount of money that would have bought enough corn to feed that country over the last 3 years. I have been to North Korea, and I've seen the malnutrition. Instead of feeding its people, it continues to plow billions of dollars into its military. That's the type of despicable regime we're dealing with--where $3 billion went into this project instead of feeding the population. This is why the House has passed legislation to prohibit the United States from giving food aid to North Korea. When we do so, money is fungible, and we have found in the past that that aid is both used to feed the military and it's sold on the exchange for hard currency.

U.S. policy towards North Korea--hoping that North Korea will give up its weapons for aid--has been a failure. It has been a bipartisan failure, frankly, for decades, and it has gotten us now to this point. The hope that North Korea can be induced to abandon its ambitions for nuclear weapons and missiles distracts us, unfortunately. It distracts us from pursuing the very policies that might actually change the behavior of the regime and support its people.

In going forward, we need to move away from an unimaginative policy here to one with energy and creativity and focus. Let's tackle North Korea's illicit activities--its missile and drug proliferation, its counterfeiting of U.S. currency. This regime will do anything for money. As many North Koreans who have left will tell you, this is a gangster regime. Let's interfere with those shipments and disrupt the bank accounts that are used. Let's ramp up radio broadcasts into the country where there is evidence that the information wall is cracking. We see that with the defectors who are telling us about how much they oppose the regime now. Let's help the refugees who are literally dying to escape the prison north of the 38th parallel.

Severely weakening the regime is the only way to make the Korean peninsula secure. Until it was dropped in favor of a failed diplomacy program several years ago, the Treasury Department went after North Korea. If we can remember 2006, we went after North Korea's ill-gotten gains that were parked in a Macau bank. We put the brakes on North Korea's counterfeiting of U.S. currency. We cut the flow of currency to the regime. The head of state could not pay his generals. It created a crisis inside North Korea.

That policy was mistakenly dropped. I'd like to see it reapplied. Let's go back to where we are proactively defending U.S. interests instead of just condemning another North Korean provocation every few months. Let's do something that has been proven to work in terms of putting the pressure on North Korea.

I thank the gentlelady.

And I do think it's important, as we move forward here, to expand the State Department's rewards program. We have found a technique that works; and if we can deploy this in order to bring Joseph Kony to the bar of justice for the mass killings that he's committed with the Lord's Resistance Army, or if we can use it to bring to the bar of justice some of the international crime figures that would be turned in under this bill, then it could be very, very beneficial.

The bill has already passed the House. It was included as a provision in the State Department authorization bill that the House Foreign Affairs Committee moved earlier this year. I think it's regrettable that the Senate chose not to act on the House's comprehensive State Department authorization bill; but with today's action, this bill can now go to the President's desk for signature where it promises to have an immediate impact.

The House companion bill that I introduced, H.R. 4077, has enjoyed very strong bipartisan support, and I want to thank Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I want to thank Ranking Member Howard Berman and others for the support they've given to this measure.

As has been explained, this rewards program, to date, has had some very, very successful cases here; but it's been targeted mostly on those involved in drug trafficking, occasionally on terrorists.

Earlier this year, our subcommittee held a hearing where the State Department testified that one captured target, one narcoterrorist told DEA agents that he could no longer trust anyone in his organization after a reward was offered on his head.

He said, I felt like a hunted man.

And so he was turned in. Well, that was the plan--to make him feel like a hunted man, to make him feel like he could not trust anyone in his organization.

This bill would expand this program to additionally target those transnational organized criminals, those wanted for the most serious human rights abuses. Today, unfortunately, those involved in that line of work are diversifying. They're looking to sell anything to anybody. It could be arms. It could be intellectual property. It's even people. The overlap between the networks employed by criminals and employed by terrorists is growing. So this legislation helps us keep pace. And, very importantly, the legislation also allows the rewards program to target those wanted for genocide, to target those wanted for war crimes, for crimes against humanity--again, the world's worst human rights abusers.

The target of the new war crimes authority would be killers like Joseph Kony and the top commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army. This group has terrorized across Central Africa for over two decades with unspeakable crimes committed against children such as amputations committed against children, taking child soldiers, taking sex slaves. In accordance with U.S. policy, a small team of U.S. troops are currently in the field helping local forces hunt this killer. Our U.S. troops believe that a rewards program aimed at Kony could help generate intelligence and bolster their efforts. They are asking for this. They think this can make a difference on the ground. Let's answer their call and send this bill to the President for his signature.

I thank my colleagues for their support.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

I would like to begin by thanking Jeff Duncan and his staff, as well, for their good work on this legislation. But I would remind the Members, in terms of Iranian activity in this hemisphere, we think what first comes to mind is the attack in the 1990s in Argentina. But more recently, Hezbollah has penetrated our borders. One example I would give to you is Mahmoud Kourani, trained by Iranian intelligence. He paid a bribe in order to get to Mexico from Beirut. Once in Mexico, he paid a second bribe, this time to a cartel group, in order to have himself inserted into a special compartment in the back of a car.

The reason Mahmoud Kourani is important is because it was his brother who was in charge of security in Israel during the Hezbollah war. I was there at the time. I saw those missiles that were ordered launched by Hezbollah into the town of Haifa. Haifa was under attack. There were some 600 casualties in that hospital that were a direct result of those Iranian and Syrian missiles that were being fired on the hospital-- frankly, one of the targets--but fired on that town, fired on the residential sections of that city.

So the brother was caught coming into the United States. Actually, he was caught near Detroit. He's now serving time. There were some 50 other Hezbollah operatives who were also discovered here. When you go through the background of his training in terror in terms of weapons and in terms of the capabilities that Iranian intelligence gave him, you begin to realize why our intelligence officials are so concerned about Iran's attempts to penetrate here.

Look at Iran's attempt last year to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador on U.S. soil using a Mexican drug cartel. That's the latest example of the threat. I've had many ambassadors tell me that they dined in that same restaurant. You saw the commentary that they were willing to accept their deaths as collateral damage to the bombing in order to kill the Saudi Ambassador.

These are the designs of Hezbollah. This is the problem with Iran. Many believe that countries close to Iran and that they're courting in this hemisphere, they're doing it because they're trying to help them beat back these sanctions--the sanctions bill which Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and I are going to be meeting on this afternoon. This is an attempt of Iran to extend their authority and try to convince those would-be allies that they should help them avoid these sanctions.

I'll just quote our DNI, Director of National Intelligence. He told us:

The dangerous activities of Iran and Hezbollah so near our

borders demand a whole-of-government strategy, beginning with

an interagency review to understand and assess the

transnational multifaceted nature of this problem and to

mobilize friendly governments to respond.

We're concerned that the administration is not doing that. That's why in this legislation we are pushing for this action. This bill requires that review; it requires that strategy. It will kick the bureaucracy into gear, and it enjoys strong bipartisan support. I urge its passage.

This is an issue that the House Foreign Affairs Committee looks forward to continuing our oversight and work on in the 113th Congress. I really commend the chairwoman and Mr. Duncan for their work.

Mr. Speaker, on December 5, 2012, Typhoon Pablo (international name Bopha) swept across the southern Philippines, devastating Mindanao and parts of the Visayas. 450 Filipinos are dead and more than 750 injured or missing. Over 10,000 homes were destroyed and over 300,000 people have been displaced and are seeking shelter at evacuation centers.

I would like to express my deepest condolences to the harmed individuals and families in the Philippines. Given the close relationship the United States has with the Philippines, it is essential that we assist the Filipino people as best as we can in their time of desperate need.

I commend the ongoing rescue and relief efforts. The search for the missing becomes more critical as time progresses and focusing on rebuilding will be the next vital step in helping the Filipino people restore their communities.

Again, I express my sincerest condolences to the Filipino people. As the holiday season approaches, we extend our support as the nation heals from this devastation.

Mr. Speaker, on December 5th His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand celebrated his 85th birthday. I would like to take this opportunity to express my well wishes and best regards to him and to the people of Thailand.

Throughout his 66-year reign, King Bhumibol--currently the world's longest reigning monarch--has been a strong proponent for Thailand's development. Since the 1950s, he has initiated more than 4,000 development projects throughout Thailand, ranging from public health, agriculture productivity, environment, flood and drought, education and job creation.

These activities have helped raise the standard of living of Thais, particularly those in rural and difficult-to-reach areas.

King Bhumibol's hard work and contributions have earned him admiration worldwide. In 2006, the United Nations Development Programme awarded King Bhumibol its first-ever Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 5th, 1927, King Bhumibol has played an important role in promoting Thai-U.S. friendship, including his two state visits to the United States in 1960 and 1967.

As we celebrate King Bhumibol's birthday, it is an opportunity to look forward to next year's

celebration of the 180th Anniversary of the U.S.-Thailand treaty alliance. Thailand is our longest standing ally in Asia, and has been a reliable partner and friend in the region.

The United States and Thailand's partnership is wide ranging; we are economic partners, we participate in military training exercises together, and our cultural and people-to-people exchanges are on the rise. The two countries have cooperated on counterterrorism.

As our relationship continues to strengthen, we are delighted to join our friends in Thailand in celebrating the 85th birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5, 2012.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this STEM Jobs Act. Clearly, the focus on this provision is to try to bring people with skills here to the United States.

Graduates of American universities in science and in technology and engineering and math, these STEM fields, are, frankly, behind many of the innovations, many of the new businesses that are part of our present and future economic growth. If we want to look at jobs, this is where those new patents, those new ideas will come from that help create jobs. So we have talented students from around the world that contribute to the graduate STEM programs of our universities.

We are trying to focus on a way to make sure our immigration system here puts our interests first as a country.

We have the most generous level of legal immigration in the world, but when you think about it, we select only 5 percent of our immigrants based on the skills and education that they bring to America. Clearly, what we're trying to do is to make certain that these foreign graduates of U.S. universities in the STEM fields, because they're in such great demand here, many of them of course end up on years-long green card waiting lists and, as a result, many of them give up and go to work for one of our global competitors. So our focus is: What can we do to accelerate this?

This bill alters our current immigration system to encourage job creation by increasing the proportion of new entrants with high levels of education, with high levels of skills.

We know that skilled immigrants contribute mightily to the rising U.S. standard of living. They bring capital, as I say, they bring new ideas, and they produce new companies here. So, with this bill we can help grow innovation and we can create the jobs in this country. We've got plenty of examples, frankly, in California of IT firms that are founded by immigrants from China and from India that were educated here in our institutions.

This legislation also contains a family reunification provision, which allows graduates' spouses and children to live in the U.S. while waiting for their green card application to be processed.

One of the things that seems pretty clear to me is that, because we roll over the green cards every year for the next 4 years to make sure that they all are used, that, in point of fact, we believe that more of them will be used than under the Diversity lottery where they're not rolled over. So I think it's quite the opposite. I think we, in fact, focus here on exactly the type of skilled immigration that's most likely to create jobs here in the United States.

So I would urge my colleagues to support this bill in order to help our economy grow.

Madam Speaker, please excuse my voice today, but I did want to rise in support of this legislation, and also to associate myself with the observations made by my colleague, Congressman Berman, and certainly with Congressman Burton.

The legislation here that was originally enacted in 1974, Congressman Howard Berman is quite correct, this, during the Cold War, did play a very key role with respect to immigration. But today, that is long over. And with Russia joining the WTO in August, we have a problem here in the United States, and that is, Russia, in doing so, made tariff cuts for every country in the world except the United States. This bill would correct that. And of course, without this legislation, exporters here in the United States would lose.

I've never viewed Jackson-Vanik as an impediment to Russian relations today. But neither do I see it as very helpful in pressing Russia on issues like Iran or their conduct toward Syria. Russian opposition level leaders, however, and Russian civil society, and the Russian press, what free press remains in Russia today, really support this legislation.

I think what this legislation intends is sort of a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia, based on the rule of law, based on human rights. That's the hope. It includes the Sergei Magnitsky legislation that came out of the Foreign Affairs Committee, of which I'm an original cosponsor, and I do think we owe a debt of gratitude to Chairman Ros-Lehtinen for her determination to have that provision in the legislation.

I think if we reflect on the words of the Russian opposition in their Parliament, one said recently, this provision is very pro-Russian. It helps defend us in Russia from criminals. It helps defend us from criminals who kill our citizens, who steal our money and then hide it abroad. And that's the point. That's what we're trying to do in that provision.

And this bill, liberalizing trade while at the same time staying true to human rights, should have passed months ago. Sometimes we have a debate with the administration, in this particular case it was over the question of sort of quiet diplomacy with Russia, or whether we were going to speak out forcefully on these human rights provisions. I do not prefer silence on issues such as this.

I think that the systemic corruption we're seeing today in Moscow, and the abuse of power we're seeing from the regime, really demand inclusion of these provisions. And I think, thankfully, a bipartisan group in Congress, including Howard Berman, including Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and others, stuck it out, came together on this and insured the inclusion in this bill of these provisions in memory of Sergei Magnitsky, in order to take a stand. And I think that is the right course. I encourage all my colleagues to pass this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the STEM Jobs Act. It is time to alter the current immigration system. It is time to substantially increase the proportion of new entrants with high levels of education and skills.

Today, we are educating many of the best and brightest from around the world, and then, ironically, we're sending them back to work for our competitors. This makes no sense.

Skilled immigrants can contribute to a rising U.S. standard of living. They bring capital, they bring ideas, and they produce new companies. With this bill, we can help grow innovation, and we can create jobs in the U.S. We've got plenty of examples of IT firms in California that are founded by immigrants from China and India that were educated in our institutions.

Let's pass this bill and help our economy grow.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and celebrate Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Week. As Hispanic Heritage Month began September 15 and runs until October 15, 2012, I would like to acknowledge the numerous accomplishments the Hispanic community has achieved and continues to contribute to our nation. This week, September 16 to September 22, 2012, it is important to honor Hispanic Serving Institutions because they play an integral part in strengthening the Hispanic community through fulfilling students' higher educational needs.

In Orange County, California, I am proud to highlight California State University Fullerton (CSUF), my Alma Mater. In a county where 33.8% identify themselves as coming from Hispanic or Latino decent, not only is CSUF the only Hispanic Serving Institution in Orange County, it is the first in California and fourth in the United States in awarding baccalaureate degrees to Hispanic students. Additionally, it also ranks 19th nationally in Graduate Student enrollment. Educational institutions, like CSUF, embody the opportunity that translates to future success.

As the Hispanic community continues to grow, HSIs shape and promote education by providing the necessary tools to achieve academic success in fields ranging from science to business. Ultimately, these institutions empower citizens who work to give back and improve our nation. Where the Hispanic community remains an influential and growing force, not only in California, but nationally, it is important to distinguish HSI's commitment to academics as vital to the United States' success and growth.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6431) to provide flexibility with respect to U.S. support for assistance provided by international financial institutions for Burma, and for other purposes.

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

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

This afternoon, Congress was finally able to present Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal. Congress' highest medal was awarded for her courageous and unwavering commitment to peace, to nonviolence, to human rights, and of course to democracy in Burma. I was an original cosponsor of Mr. Crowley's legislation that set the stage for today's ceremony.

Of course, that legislation passed years ago, back in 2008, when Aung San Suu Kyi's house was her prison. Many thought, of course, that this day today would never come. That she was able to visit Capitol Hill today to accept this award, meeting with Members of Congress, is a testament of the changes taking place in her important country. The opposition has won seats in Parliament. Media restrictions have been eased. Hundreds of prisoners, including many this week, have been released.

Congress can be proud of the role that it has played in getting Burma to this point. Sanctions were important, but sanctions can't keep up the momentum for democracy in Burma today. That was the message that Aung San Suu Kyi delivered in Washington. Instead, she emphasized the role that the U.S. can play in helping to build up the institutions that Burma badly needs.

This country, once Southeast Asia's richest country, is now its poorest. Its corrupt and brutal generals have destroyed the economic landscape of Burma. The Burmese people are destitute. Democracy will not thrive in this economic despair.

Isolated for decades, the institutions Burma needs to run an economy are either very weak or they do not exist. International financial institutions could help Burma establish the economic infrastructure needed to reconnect with the world. This assistance also can help the Burmese with their basic needs. Without this in place, the potential for political backsliding is real.

However, several laws on our books direct the U.S. representative at each international financial institution to vote ``no'' when it comes to any proposal related to Burma. There is no waiver, which is very unusual when it comes to sanctions.

I'd note that a U.S. ``no'' vote is not a veto. It doesn't stop these institutions from being involved with Burma. It just stops us from being part of the process.

So we have to ask ourselves, when are the interests of the U.S. and the Burmese people best served? When the U.S. is playing a leading role, helping to shape these institutions' involvement with Burma, or are they best served when the U.S. representative is shut out of the room, left with only one option?

This legislation gives more options: yes, no, or abstain. When U.S. support is possible, that gives us leverage. We have great weight at these institutions, even while they are mainly funded by others.

Like other Members, I'm not happy with where Burma is today. I want all political prisoners released. There is too much ethnic violence.

This bill doesn't touch the import ban or asset freezes, of course, and those are targeted at the regime. The Treasury Department should use its authority to target any individual that is undermining progress in Burma.

This legislation is license to bolster reform, where appropriate and where possible, not a seal of approval. Given where Burma is today, it's appropriate that Congress respond in this way to ensure that the U.S. is in a position to continue to press for reforms.

Moving forward, Congress will need to ensure that these financial institutions are pushing stringent transparency and monitoring its impact on human rights. Those goals, which we all share, are best advanced by adopting this legislation.

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

We have no further speakers. I will close, if the gentlelady has no additional speakers.

Very good. In that case, I thank the gentlelady.

Mr. Speaker, it is said that Burma is undergoing a triple transition, from a military government to a more open and democratic government. Also, it's moving from conflict to peace, and it's moving from a closed economy to a more open economy. All three of these transitions, of course, are equally daunting.

Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to the United States tells us just how far this country has come, but she also reminds us how far Burma has left to go.

So our responsibility is to keep pushing Burma in the right direction, pushing it in the right direction so that all political prisoners are freed and so that a fully democratic government respects the rights of all of its people, including its ethnic minorities.

This legislation is an appropriate response to ensure that Burma continues moving in the right direction.

I urge the passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak in favor of the resolution I coauthored with the Wisconsin delegation here in solidarity with the Sikh community in Oak Creek and the Sikh community all across the United States.

In a strange coincidence, I had a previously scheduled meeting in California at a Sikh temple on the very day when that murderous attack in Oak Creek occurred. Obviously, our discussion shifted to the subject of that premeditated attack.

I was able to hear about the plight of being targeted because of one's religion, the plight of being targeted for one's appearance.

We are in a constant struggle against bad ideas, despicable ideas.

Passing this resolution will not ease the pain of those affected by this tragedy, but it does show to the world that people from across the United States can unite and denounce bigoted violence.

Our great country is rooted in religious tolerance. The Constitution makes freedom of religion first and foremost. There is no place in this country for religious-motivated terrorism, and this resolution that we passed reaffirms that.

I end by thanking Mr. Ryan and the Wisconsin delegation for their efforts on this resolution, but also I thank the leadership of both parties here today for working with us to make sure that this resolution came to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I'm an original cosponsor of this bill, H.R. 1410. This is the Vietnam Human Rights Act. And I guess it's no surprise to a lot of us that have followed what has happened in Vietnam, it denies its citizens basic human rights.

But here's the problem: The conditions there with respect to abuse of rule of law are getting worse and worse.

It used to be that we would watch show trials in terms of the abridgement of rights of the citizens of Vietnam; now they don't even have the show trials. Now the government just places those dissidents in police detention, and they do it without alerting the family, without alerting anyone. And at that point, you just have to say the rule of law has become nonexistent.

We received a really stark reminder recently. Human rights dissident Nguyen Quoc Quan was arrested by Vietnamese officials. He had attempted to enter the country at Ho Chi Minh City's airport, and the charge that he was held on was terrorism. Terrorism was the original charge.

He didn't come to Vietnam equipped with guns or explosives. What's the terrorism charge? Well, he came to Vietnam to meet with other grassroots organizations committed to peaceful discussions on human rights inside the country. To the Vietnamese Communist Government, that's terrorism. That really says it all.

The case of Nguyen Quoc Quan is not an isolated case. His treatment there has become the rule, not the exception for those who are trying to push for some modicum of free speech or religious freedom, and so you have a whole slew of dissidents who are treated like this or even worse. When I say ``worse,'' I want to give you another example.

It is that of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, a pastor of an outlawed Mennonite church. He was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison during a 1-day trial for ``sowing division between the Communist government and its citizens.'' Now, this treatment is nothing new for this particular pastor. To date, he has been aggressively interrogated over 300 times. He has suffered dozens of beatings, and some of us have seen the photographs of the aftermath of some of those brutal beatings. He has been forcefully removed from his residence many times and has been thrown in jail.

That is why it is imperative, my friends, that we pass the Vietnam Human Rights Act. I think the important point here is that this kind of action can be an inspiration to the brave dissidents inside Vietnam who continue to be brutally repressed. Part of this is to provide for information from Radio Free Asia to better be able to broadcast into the country, to better be able to shed light on this kind of activity, to leverage for change, and to

bring objective news--to bring the truth--to be a surrogate-free radio station for the Vietnamese people. The spread of democratic values in Asia, frankly, is critical to our security interests as well.

I, myself, have met with some of the Vietnamese dissidents discussed here today, and I've been denounced by the Vietnamese Government for simply meeting with those whose only wish is the freedom to speak their minds. That tells me that the Vietnamese Government is sensitive to international criticism and that the United States must continue to speak out about this issue. I don't think silence is an option for us in the U.S.

In closing, I want to thank Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen for her focus on human rights. I want to thank the author here, Chris Smith, for his efforts, and Howard Berman, Congressman from California, for his work on behalf of the Vietnamese people.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this is the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011, and I want to thank Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Ranking Member Berman for their support of this bill, and also I think we should thank the numerous Korean American organizations

from around this country that tirelessly advocated on behalf of its passage. They are the groups that originally came to me with the heart- wrenching problem that these orphans face, and they suggested an idea for a solution. I would like to recognize the Defense Forum Foundation, the North Korea Freedom Coalition, the Korean Church Coalition for North Korea Freedom, the Korean American Coalition, the Korean Churches for Community Development, the 300 Pastoral Coalition, and the 318 Partners. These are the groups that suggested that with a lot of hard work we might get this legislation through. They put through countless phone calls and meetings and rallies up here on Capitol Hill and I think really helped generate the widespread support that this bill has today.

Of course, the bill stems from the problem that for over 50 years North Korea has been one of the world's most repressive regimes. Every imaginable freedom that we enjoy here--speech or assembly or association or worship, and actually oddly enough, even the right to smile--is denied in North Korea by one statute or another. Meanwhile, the regime's elites live in luxury. Of course, the people, especially in the rural areas of North Korea, starve.

It is little wonder why tens of thousands of North Koreans, many of them women and children, flee to China. For many, it's a last resort. It's a final chance to avoid starvation for those children and avoid unspeakable oppression. Yet that choice is not always an easy one. That path to freedom is very perilous. Those fleeing North Korea often make their journey during the winter, and they cross over that Tumen River as it's frozen. Those temperatures there are subzero, and the terrain is treacherous. It is an obstacle course of checkpoints and of informants, and they make that a very dangerous journey. Sadly, but not surprisingly, many refugees succumb to the elements. There are many bodies frozen along that bank.

Those that survive also face dangers from human traffickers. As one dissident told National Geographic, crossing the Tumen was easy compared to what happened next as she was tricked into getting into a car that belonged to a sex trafficker. For the next year, she remained locked in a room, forced into selling her body. The result of all of this is that many North Korean orphans are left in China. Worse yet, they are stateless and they are without identification. Estimates show that thousands of children are left stateless in the border region between North Korea and China, and there they suffer. If they're sent back to North Korea, they suffer unimaginably.

Mr. Speaker, this is why we need to pass this legislation. This bill is a good first step in responding to this human rights crisis. Specifically, this bill would have the State Department develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea.

While many American families would welcome the opportunity to adopt a North Korean orphan, many hurdles remain. For example, children must certify that they have lost their parents or legal guardians and that they have absolutely no one to rely on. A child orphan in North Korea would have a very hard time proving that attestation.

Most of these children have great difficulty proving this to their own understanding, and they have no death certificate of parents, and many have no proof that they truly are orphans. By passing this bill, we will be taking an important step towards solving these problems.

We are not committing to any particular policies, but we are committing to doing what we can to help these defenseless children. We are trying to create a win/win for these desperate young ones, orphans living in deplorable conditions and their potential new families.

Again, I thank you, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, I thank you for your support, and we thank the numerous American Korean organizations, and we thank Ranking Member Berman for all of this help. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support. As Human Rights Watch noted, last year saw a steady stream of political trials and arrests, likely spurred, in part, by Vietnamese Government concerns that the pro-democracy Arab Spring movement might reach Asia.

As they explained, there's at least 24 convictions right now under article 79 and article 88 of the penal code that have been handed down. Hence the need for this resolution to pass this Chamber. We should all support it.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

I do rise in support of this measure. For too long, Taiwan has been left out of international organizations at the demand of China. Taiwan was denied access to the World Health Organization. It was unable to participate as even an observer for over 40 years. Thankfully, though, that changed in 2009, when a Taiwanese delegation was allowed to observe meetings in Geneva. Infectious disease knows no borders. And it was only proper that that change was made. Congress had long pressed for this action through bills and resolutions.

So it is fitting that we once again take to the floor to press for Taiwan's inclusion in the International Civil Aviation Organization. Despite being home to the world's 18th busiest airport, Taiwan has been kept out of an organization that aims to keep passengers safe.

Indeed, as this resolution finds, Taiwan's exclusion from the ICAO has impeded Taiwan's government from keeping up-to-date with aviation standards and prevented the implementation of new systems and new procedures. The 35 million passengers that travel to and from Taiwan each year are done a great disservice by Taiwan's exclusion.

Mr. Speaker, in a relatively short period of time, Taiwan has gone from poverty to prosperity. It has gone from autocracy to democracy. We have a strong relationship that stretches back for over half a century. Today, our relations remain strong. Passage of this resolution will only serve to strengthen this relationship, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure.