Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, forty-five years ago, after the signing of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, 556 American military personnel and twenty-five civilians boarded American C-141s

and finally ended their long, extremely trying captivity in Vietnam.

For most Americans, Operation Homecoming marked the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. However, the heroes that survived torture and mistreatment within Vietnamese prison camps, such as the infamous ``Hanoi Hilton,'' know that the job is not finished.

One of our most sacred vows to members of our Armed Services is that no American soldier will be left behind on the field of battle. None understand this better than the gentleman from Texas, Congressman Sam Johnson--fighter pilot, prisoner of war, and American hero.

Colonel Sam Johnson's 29 years in the Air Force was marked with valor and selfless service. A combat veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, he was twice awarded the Silver Star, our nation's third highest award for gallantry in action, and the Distinguished Flying Cross for valor and heroism in aerial flight, in his more than eighty career combat missions.

Since regaining his freedom 45 years ago, Congressman Johnson has remained a staunch advocate for veterans and their families, as attested by being awarded the National Patriot award, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's highest civilian accolade, for his tireless work to help improve livelihoods and to provide closure for families of missing U.S. soldiers.

The Department of Defense estimates that more than 82,000 U.S. personnel have still not been accounted for from previous wars and conflicts. We must ensure that we do everything we can to fulfill the promise to our nation's heroes: that we will not leave anyone behind on foreign battlefields.

As this resolution importantly recognizes, cooperation with foreign governments is key to efforts to recover, identify, and account for all missing U.S. personnel. I thank the gentleman from Texas, Sam Johnson, for his life of service, and for authoring this legislation.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

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

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

We are here, really, to reaffirm a very important commitment that we have to one of our closest partners in the Middle East, and that is Jordan. I think all of us agree that, over the generations, it has been astounding the way Jordan has always offered safe haven and refuge through the generations to others.

This bill gives us an opportunity to continue that close working relationship that we have with Jordan because, as we know, Jordan is locked--has been locked--in a struggle with ISIS, or Daesh, as they call it in that part of the world. They have been involved on the battlefield, and this bill addresses both the military and economic elements of the close relationship we have with Jordan.

As they valiantly fight ISIS, Jordanians have struggled to absorb, most recently, more than 1 million Syrian refugees; and they are doing this, obviously, while coping with a tough economy, with an overburdened infrastructure, and with high unemployment for their youth. I have been to some of the schools in Jordan to see the Jordanians as they once again reach out a hand of friendship to help those who are in this predicament.

Although Jordan has successfully worked with the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the World Bank to address some of the economic challenges, it really has not been enough to create the level of vital economic growth needed in the circumstances that Jordan is in.

Economic opportunity and prosperity in Jordan are one element of our bulwark against extremist groups, against the Iranian regime, the IRGC, who seek to spread chaos and destruction, and as ISIS seeks to spread death.

In addition to supporting existing efforts, including regional water and energy projects that bring needed resources and will bring increased cooperation between neighbors, this bill calls for the establishment of an enterprise fund for Jordan. This is a measure previously authorized, previously funded by this body, and this fund will help create economic opportunity through private-public partnership, through investments in small and medium enterprises, and it will also create market development in Jordan.

Although not a familiar measure to many, enterprise funds have already been very successful in Tunisia, and we have seen that. We have seen that success.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our colleagues for their support for this measure for our ally and friend, Jordan, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

In closing, I would like to thank my colleagues. I would like to thank the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Engel, but I would also like to thank Mr. Eagle over there, Brendan Boyle, and I would

like to thank Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as well.

Jordan, of course, is a key partner in our struggle against ISIS and against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and other destabilizing actors in the Middle East. This bill supports our joint efforts on the battlefield and will help Jordan achieve much-needed economic growth.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill and, once again, extend the arm of friendship to our closest partner, Jordan.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle) be allowed to reclaim his unused time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1997) to encourage United States-Ukraine cybersecurity cooperation and require a report regarding such cooperation, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, we are here to talk about Ukraine and the U.S.-Ukraine cyber cooperation. Ukraine, of course, is on the front lines of digital combat as we have learned. Few countries have endured as great a level of cyber invasion and aggression as has Ukraine at the hands of Russia and at the hands of other malicious actors as well.

I led a delegation of four Democrats and four Republicans into the east, into Dnipropetrovsk in the Donbass region, and we had an opportunity to hear about what is being done to try to tear that country apart.

This is in addition to the invasion in the east, the occupation of the east. This is the farthest east one can go in Ukraine today, and you can see the struggle that everyday people are having with the disinformation campaign launched against them relentlessly. As President Poroshenko said, ``Cyberspace has turned into another battlefield for state independence,'' and that is so true for Ukraine.

Their struggle to defend their independence and their territorial integrity from Russian aggression extends far beyond the armed conflict of the occupation of its territory. In 2014, hackers targeted Ukraine's electoral infrastructure just days before its presidential election. The following year, a malicious cyber intrusion shut down the country's electric grid, turning off the lights and turning off the heat in the dead of winter.

Ukraine's critical infrastructure, including its national railway system, its major stock exchanges, and its busiest airport, have been repeatedly targeted by sophisticated cyber attacks.

Most of these continuing assaults have been identified by experts as Russian in origin. By working with the government in Kiev, we can better prepare ourselves as well as our friends in partner countries against similar aggression, including combating Russian disinformation efforts that rely heavily on disseminating propaganda. That propaganda poses as legitimate news.

So this bill will enhance our cooperation with Ukraine in addressing shared cyber challenges, including cybercrime and the protection of critical infrastructure.

Modern society requires an internet worldwide that is open, that is reliable, that is secure, which can only be ensured if all those who seek to preserve it join forces to defeat those who wish to destroy it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), who is an esteemed member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. And besides Brendan Boyle here, he is another big Philly Eagles fan.

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to also recognize and thank my colleagues, especially Mr. Boyle and Mr. Fitzpatrick, one Democratic and one Republican, both from Philadelphia, the sponsors of this bipartisan legislation. I want to thank Mr. Boyle for his work on this important bill because I think the threat to Ukraine and cyberspace is not isolated. It shouldn't be ignored. I think that when we talk to the researchers, they have warned that the attacks on Ukraine by state and by nonstate actors might be a test run for even larger additional attacks in the future on the United States and on our NATO allies.

While we must bolster our own capabilities, we should also cooperate with our friends and partners such as Ukraine because we have got to be sharing best practices; we have got to improve joint capabilities; and we have got to provide that mutual assistance to prevent, mitigate, and respond to those international cyber attacks.

This legislation is going to enhance that effort. And in so doing, it is going to strengthen our ability to protect our own country from those who seek to do us harm.

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 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 move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3445) to enhance the transparency and accelerate the impact of programs under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I have been honored to serve as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee for the past 5 years. Over this period, there has been no shortage of threats to our national security. But I must share with you, there have also been great opportunities--opportunities to make America safer, to make this country more prosperous through strategic investments in diplomacy, and also investments in development.

This bill before us today is one example. The African Growth and Opportunity Act and Millennium Challenge Act Modernization Act seeks to facilitate trade and private sector growth in poor but relatively well- governed countries. This is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr. Speaker, I would share with my colleagues the goal here is so that they can grow their own way out of poverty. What this legislation does is it seeks to help countries graduate from the need for foreign aid, while simultaneously opening doors for American businesses to break into the most promising emerging markets. For those of you who have followed this, you have watched trade double and then triple with sub-Saharan Africa.

Through AGOA--as we call this African Growth and Opportunity Act-- goods produced in eligible African countries enter the United States on a duty-free basis. But to be eligible, countries must be committed to the rule of law, to eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment, to combating corruption, and to supporting counterterrorism activities.

So AGOA, as you can see, advances U.S. interests on so many different levels. I am proud to be a member of the AGOA coalition from the beginning. I was one of the original authors of the bill and I have witnessed its transformative impact.

So despite its benefits, AGOA does remain underutilized in too many countries. Prior to its reauthorization in 2015, I set out to learn why, and I traveled to many countries in southern and eastern Africa, where I met with U.S. and African trade officials, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. I visited garment factories and power stations. We saw trade hubs.

I heard a lot about poor infrastructure. I heard a lot about competition with China and burdensome U.S. regulations that are difficult to understand.

Then I walked into an artisan shop in Addis Ababa, and it was run by a remarkable woman. Her name was Sara Abera. I learned that she, in fact, had benefited from technical assistance through the U.S.-East Africa Trade and Investment Hub. She was now exporting to the United States through AGOA. I learned that she was, though, an exception to the rule. She is not the rule.

Other than Sara, there were very few businesses and very few business leaders and entrepreneurs that seemed to have the knowledge of how to access AGOA. To fix this, the bill before us today would make information about AGOA available to an easily accessible public website. This bill also urges U.S. Embassies in eligible countries to more consistently promote AGOA and trade hubs, and it seeks to bring greater transparency to commitments made at annual AGOA forums to followup on these commitments.

So this bill strengthens the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which is already one of our most effective tools for incentivizing policy reform and unlocking market-based growth in developing countries. It increases the MCC's flexibility to promote regional trade, collaboration, economic integration. It does this by allowing up to two simultaneous compacts with an eligible country. It also improves transparency and accountability. It does that by streamlining and strengthening congressional oversight.

Trade and free-market principles, frankly, if we think about it, have helped lift more than 1 billion people out of poverty over the last decade. But it is not just this humanitarian goal that leads us to invest in communities abroad. It is clear that investments targeted towards greater health, towards growing a healthier society, and towards growing a more sustainable society also helps advance U.S. security and economic interests.

It is, therefore, vital that we ensure that two of our most impactful development and trade facilitation tools--that is the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and our Millennium Challenge Corporation--are efficient, effective, and fully utilized. This bill will do exactly that.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this important measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Committee on Foreign Affairs,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, December 8, 2017.

Hon. Kevin Brady,

Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Brady: Thank you for consulting with the

Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to forgo a sequential

referral request on H.R. 3445, the AGOA and MCA Modernization

Act, so that the bill may proceed expeditiously to the House

floor.

I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure

does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of

your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives

on this resolution or similar legislation in the future.

I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3445 into the

Congressional Record during floor consideration. I appreciate

your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward

to continuing to work together as this measure moves through

the legislative process.

Sincerely,

Edward R. Royce,

Chairman.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to close if the gentleman has no other speakers. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I will sum up here. What this bill does is unlock a greater potential for AGOA, for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, so communities in Africa can strengthen their own economies and become U.S. trade partners rather than aid recipients. It also enhances the impact of MCC by accelerating regional economic integration trade.

It is good for American taxpayers. It is certainly good for job creators in the United States. It is good for our national security. It is good for Africa--for the people of Africa.

I think this legislation is the product of more than 2 years of negotiations. It enjoys very broad support. As I say, it doesn't cost the taxpayers anything.

I really want to thank some of the Members who worked hard on this. I thank Representative Karen Bass for her good work, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Ranking Member Engel, and Representative Chris Smith; Senators Corker, Cardin, Isakson, and Coons. I thank them for their help on my measure here today and for their continued commitment to reducing poverty through market-based economic growth.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3776) to support United States international cyber diplomacy, 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 on this measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying the United States is increasingly under attack by foreign actors online. Nobody knows this better than our members on the Foreign Affairs Committee, but especially Mike McCaul, who assisted me on this bill. As you know, Mike McCaul also chairs the Homeland Security Committee.

So this legislation is focused on correcting a serious threat.

Malicious cyber activities by state and non-state actors threaten our U.S. foreign policy, our security, and our economic interests right now around the globe.

Last year, the intelligence community's Worldwide Threat Assessment summed this up well. As they looked at the problem, they said: ``Our adversaries are becoming more adept at using cyberspace to threaten our interests and advance their own, and despite improving our cyber defenses, nearly all information, communication networks, and systems will be at risk for years.''

But it is not just the security of our networks that the United States needs to protect. It is the very fabric of the internet itself that is increasingly under assault by governments that want to erect digital borders, that want to impose more control, and that want censorship online.

The State Department has a critical role to play in promoting an open and secure cyberspace by developing international norms of responsible state behavior and deterring malicious actors from carrying out destructive cyber operations.

Last year, the President signed an executive order charging the Secretary of State with creating an interagency strategy to protect the American people from cyber threats along with a plan to improve international cooperation in cybersecurity.

Despite the prominent role assigned to the Department by the President's executive order and support from this body for such work, the office tasked with leading this effort for the State Department was merged into the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. The concern is that this limits the Department's ability to confront the full range of issues in cyberspace--such as security, internet access, online human rights, and cybercrime--beyond the clear economic challenges.

So I believe this sends the wrong signal to Moscow, to Beijing, and to other governments around the world. The United States should make it clear that we place a high priority on the whole range of cyber issues, including cybersecurity, internet access, online rights, deterrence, and cybercrime.

In testimony before the Foreign Affairs Committee--and here is the good news--I was relieved to hear our Deputy Secretary Sullivan say that this was just an interim step and that he expects cyber issues will ultimately be elevated to a Senate-confirmed role. This is exactly what this bill requires.

So now, more than ever, we need a high-ranking cyber diplomat at the State Department to prioritize these efforts to ensure that we keep the internet open, keep it reliable, and keep it secure. The bipartisan Cyber Diplomacy Act is going to help counter foreign threats on the internet, it is going to promote human rights abroad, and it is going to also, by the way, create new jobs and economic growth here at home.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), who is the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank Mr. Sires. I appreciate his efforts in supporting this legislation. I thank Mr. Engel and Mr. McCaul, as well.

As the birthplace of the internet, it is the United States that has been most impacted. We have a foreign policy and economic interests and have been working internationally to ensure that the internet remains open. Part of our idea is that this would be capable of carrying the free flow of ideas. We thought it should remain reliable and secure.

But increasingly authoritarian regimes are very aggressively promoting a different vision from the one that Americans brought to the table, their vision of cyber sovereignty, which they sometimes call it. What cyber sovereignty means for these governments is state control over cyberspace. That does run counter to the values of a free people and the values of individual and economic liberty.

Working with our allies and partners, I think the United States has got to be prepared to advance our own vision of cyberspace when it is under this kind of attack and censorship. The Cyber Diplomacy Act will give us the tools to do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their help with this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1660) to direct the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to submit to Congress a report on the development and use of global health innovations in the programs, projects, and activities of the Agency.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1660, the Global Health Innovation Act. I thank Mr. Sires of New Jersey, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, for bringing this forward in a timely manner.

Over the past two decades, we have made unprecedented progress in addressing some of the most difficult global health challenges of our time. When you think about it, global rates of child mortality have dropped by 53 percent. The prevalence of tuberculosis has been cut, in fact, by half. Malaria deaths are now down 47 percent.

Five countries in sub-Saharan Africa once ravaged by HIV/AIDS are on the verge of controlling their epidemics. The eradication of polio is within reach. The only place it still exists is on the Pakistani-Afghan border, which the Taliban controls. As you know, the Taliban resists vaccinations. They, in fact, assassinate health workers who vaccinate. That is the only reason we have not been able to eradicate this last spot where polio continues to create damage to young lives.

Yet, despite these successes, we still do have a long way to go. Part of that is reflected in the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that resulted in 11,000 deaths in 10 countries. It serves as a very stark reminder of the global threat of infectious diseases.

Though global child and maternal death rates have been cut in half, there is still an estimated 830 mothers around the world who continue to die from preventable causes every day. That is why we talk about maternal health.

USAID is working to address these global health challenges by harnessing the power of science, technology, and innovation to develop low-cost, high-impact health technologies. They are devoting considerable time and resources to developing these innovations.

This bill makes sure that we ensure that they are being effectively deployed. It supports USAID's efforts, while also enhancing congressional oversight. It directs the Administrator of USAID to report on the development and use of global health innovations in its programs, particularly those related to HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and combating infectious diseases to ensure that our investments in global health are deployed and are delivering results.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Mr. Sires of New Jersey, ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. I thank him for bringing forward this timely measure.

The Global Health Innovation Act seeks to accelerate USAID's work to identify, develop, and expand access to low-cost, high-impact health technologies that will enhance the U.S. global health security agenda. Frankly, that will save a lot of lives.

What it does is ensure that the time and the resources that are being directed toward developing these technologies are put to good use, and are put to good use quickly.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill and I urge its adoption.

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. Speaker, today we stand with the people of Iran. We stand with people who are engaged in legitimate protests against an oppressive, corrupt regime.

There is a certain irony to this. This is a great people, the people of Iran. It was the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, who drafted the first declaration of human rights, the Cyrus Cylinder.

As you enter the United Nations, you see this quotation from him. This was a document meant to protect other cultures and it secured a special place in the history of civilization. His humanitarian values that he laid out of freedom for all peoples, respect for culture, for religious liberty, recognition of the fact that it is better to be loved than to be feared, these are remarkable attributes, especially at that point in time, and they were handed down as part of this deep Persian culture.

We, who live in free societies, owe a great debt to the Iranian people. They are the heirs to this culture. They are those who hold those values and ideas for governance that originally inspired the European Enlightenment, leaders of our own government here, our own Founding Fathers. It was Thomas Jefferson who told his grandson: These are the ideals you study first of Cyrus the Great in terms of governance.

Now, it is amazing that Iranians at this moment enjoy far fewer rights than their forefathers did. Cyrus was lauded for the protections he offered religious and ethnic minorities. We look at the state of affairs today and we see the repression of Iran's ethnic and religious minority populations from the Azerbaijanis to the Balochs, from the Kurds and the Arabs to the Baha'is and the Christians and the Zoroastrians.

You know, the regime authorities routinely deny those citizens the most basic human rights, and they do it through harassment and intimidation and detention and violence. And if you want to know what kind of violence, talk to the young Persians or talk to the young minorities who suffered through the torture in those prisons.

Why do they suffer through it?

Because they are trying to bring attention to the oppressiveness of that regime. Those young people yearn for human rights. They stand for the celebrated culture of the Persian people and for human rights. As this resolution makes clear, the United States House of Representatives fully supports those who have taken to the streets in Iran to exercise the fundamental freedom of expression and assembly.

We join them in the hope that their bravery will build the foundation for the emergence of a freely elected, open democratic political system in Iran. It is a moral imperative to support those who risk their lives demanding the freedoms that people in free societies enjoy every day.

That is why this resolution calls on all democratic governments and institutions worldwide to join us in clearly supporting the Iranian people's right to live in a free society. We all face a clear choice. We stand with the protesters and we stand with those who demand the basic rights and opportunities enjoyed in free societies.

We are not going to stand with the oppressors, those who steal the wealth of a great nation to enrich themselves and to fund violence abroad. Supporting the people of Iran is a strategic imperative. These brave men and women are standing up against the Revolutionary Guard's violent intervention in Syria and Lebanon as well. We must join them in demanding an end to the single greatest source of instability in the Middle East, and this is this obsession that the regime has with this ideology.

In standing with the Iranian people, we must explain that they are not the target of our sanctions. U.S. sanctions target the oppressive destabilizing regime, not the people of Iran. That is why, as this resolution makes clear, Congress has provided authority to license communications technology that improves the ability of the Iranian people to speak freely.

Today we call on the agencies involved to expedite those licenses. U.S. international broadcasting must also turn up the volume of its efforts in Iran and convey a message of hope and support. This should be conveyed by the young that know that this debate today in the American people's House is about this issue. Iranians must know that they are not alone in their struggle for freedom.

We also call on companies to reject requests by the regime to cut off the Iranian people from social media.

These technologies are at their best when they are used to empower people and undermine the efforts of oppressive regimes.

There is more we can do, and I welcome Chairman McCaul and Congressman Deutch's introduction of bipartisan legislation that will give the administration greater leverage to target those responsible for ordering and carrying out human rights abuses in Iran. This includes the regime's practice of holding Americans and other foreigners hostage. Many of the regime's hostages are people of Iranian descent who came to visit family members, came to visit loved ones.

I am also working to introduce legislation that has the same goal as those who have bravely taken to the streets: to push the corrupt revolutionary

guard out of the Iranian economy. In doing so, it seeks to deny the guards the funds they use to hold power over the Iranian people while destabilizing Syria and destabilizing Lebanon.

Mr. Speaker, Congress and the administration have a great opportunity. We must work together on an approach to Iran that empowers the Iranian people and targets the corrupt regime which oppresses a great people. We cannot be quiet with the passage of this resolution. We state that America stands with the Iranian people.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin).

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 535) to encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels, 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 to include extraneous material on this measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 535, the Taiwan Travel Act, and I recognize Mr. Chabot for his longstanding dedication and support to the people of Taiwan.

Mr. Speaker, Taiwan succeeded in a momentous transition, a transition which took them to democracy. They did this decades ago, and since, it has become a beacon of democracy across the Asia-Pacific.

Taiwan is a strong friend and critical partner to the United States. Congress has been central to this longstanding bond, championing a strong relationship with Taiwan through a number of landmark measures, like the Taiwan Relations Act, impressing successive administrations to fulfill their obligation to sell defensive arms to Taiwan. Today, Congress continues this legacy with this Taiwan Travel Act, which has gained strong, bipartisan support.

We should encourage our officials to visit Taipei, to meet with their democratically elected counterparts on the many issues, the many programs, that we work on together, such as global health, commercial ties, global cooperation and training, the framework that we have in place. We should also welcome Taiwanese officials here.

Mr. Speaker, there are, in fact, no laws that bar our executive branch officials at any level from visiting Taiwan. The EPA Administrator in 2014 was the last executive branch official to visit Taiwan. A total of six Cabinet-level officials have visited Taiwan since 1979.

As our 10th largest trading partner, Taiwan deserves more attention. U.S. interests in the region deserve more respect. This bill encourages officials, at all levels of the U.S. Government, including Cabinet- level officials, to travel to Taiwan to meet their counterparts and vice versa.

Mr. Speaker, we must build stronger ties in our relationship with Taiwan.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), the chairman emeritus of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who is the author of this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am a decades-long supporter of Taiwan; and as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have made supporting stronger U.S.- Taiwan economic and security ties a priority for our committee. I have traveled to Taiwan many times, as have members of the committee.

I really want to thank Chairman Chabot for introducing this important measure, and I want to thank him for being a long-time champion for Taiwan, especially when he was chairman of the Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee.

The U.S. and Taiwan share a common commitment, and that commitment is to democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. Taiwan's successes serve as an example of what can be built on these important principles. We should be supporting countries that have achieved democracy to serve as an inspiration for those values across the world.

The Taiwan Travel Act is important because it will encourage more interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan. This is long overdue. It is needed, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 535.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3320) to direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, 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 to include extraneous material.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), the author of this important bill which counters the harmful and unacceptable efforts being made to undermine Taiwan's inclusion at the World Health Organization.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), our chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

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

Mr. Speaker, it was 20 years ago that we here in Congress spoke with one voice. We passed a law to support Taiwan's inclusion in the World Health Organization. It took a decade of advocacy; it took pressure before Taiwan was finally invited to participate in that assembly for the first time in 2009. So you can imagine it is with great disappointment that we learned that Taiwan was excluded from the meetings last year for the first time after 8 years of consecutive participation in Geneva.

Mr. Speaker, Taiwan's participation at the World Health Organization is a matter of public health, as our friend, Mr. Sherman, and as the chairman of the Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, Mr. Yoho, have both reminded us. This is a matter of public health.

Taiwan has contributed greatly, so greatly to the international efforts to prevent epidemics. It has provided critical humanitarian aid and medical training around the world; financial assistance, investing $6 billion in international medical and humanitarian aid efforts since 1996, all over this globe, 80 countries.

During the 2014 Ebola crisis, it was Taiwan that was there, providing also 100,000 sets of protective gear for health workers. Through the global cooperation and training framework, the U.S. and Taiwan have jointly conducted training programs for experts to combat diseases from Dengue fever to Zika.

Mr. Speaker, yes, as Mr. Yoho reminded us, and Mr. Sherman, we know

from this experience that infectious diseases know no borders. They so quickly spread, and the global health community does not benefit when Taiwan is kept in the dark on these critical matters. We are all safer when Taiwan has meaningful, unobstructed participation in international health cooperation forums.

All of us recall that Taiwan had an awful experience during the SARS epidemic that was 15 years ago when the World Health Organization directed Taiwan officials not to approach them, but to approach Beijing for information-sharing instead.

It is clear that Taiwan's exclusion from last year's World Health Assembly will only hurt. The health and safety of the people of Taiwan should not be needlessly held hostage by politics, and world health should not be put at risk. Taiwanese doctors have so much to offer, given their experience providing this humanitarian assistance around this world.

Last fall, I met with the Director-General of the World Health Organization.

I pressed him for Taiwan's participation. Unfortunately, this meeting did not relieve my concerns about Taiwan's future outlook. And it is for this reason, Mr. Speaker, that it is all the more important that the U.S. use all of its diplomatic leverage to support Taiwan's efforts to regain observer status to the WHO.

I applaud the administration for sending our Health Secretary to meet with the delegation Taiwan sent to Geneva for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the assembly meeting last year, and I think, by doing so, the U.S. demonstrated leadership by putting international cooperation ahead of politics. Passage of this bill demonstrates our support for Taiwan's inclusion.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), chairman emeritus of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

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

In closing, I would like to share with the body that I led a delegation to Taipei this last summer, and I was there when Taiwan pledged to donate $800,000 in disaster relief to Houston. That was in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It is generous actions like this that I can think of, 80 occasions, that remind us again and again that Taiwan is a positive actor in the international community, and that is why we must continue to support Taiwan's international standing and well-being.

So I would like to say in closing that I thank my colleagues for being original cosponsors on this bill. In addition to Mr. Yoho and myself, I want to thank Mr. Engel. And I want to thank Mr. Sherman. I want to thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue, and Mr. Connolly as well.

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

Mr. Chairman, with all due respect to the arguments on moral equivalency with respect to Iran, the reality is that this is a government that starts its morning prayers with: ``Death to America. Death to Israel.'' The Ayatollah makes it clear he means it.

So, yes, we should try to remove the plank from our eye, but we should not remove our eyes from the fact that what we have in terms of policy being directed from the Ayatollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a policy that calls for the destruction of the United States of America.

Now, Mr. Chairman, this bill has a powerful goal, and it is to expose the corrupt nature of the Iranian regime. But when we talk about why, the answer is because the personnel responsible for carrying out these assassinations, that have us concerned about carrying out terror are, in fact, the leadership in Iran of these organizations that we attempt to identify here. That is the job of doing terror research and cutting off terror finance. That is what we are supposed to be doing.

This regime claims to be more than a government. It claims to be a revolution. They call themselves the Islamic

Revolution. But when you look at it closely, as this bill requires the Treasury Department to do, the regime in Tehran resembles something else, a criminal enterprise, because, from the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guard, these so-called servants of the Revolution control one-third of the Iranian economy because they seized it. They seized everybody's privat property in terms of these companies. The Supreme Leader's empire alone is worth $95 billion.

This is called the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, or Setad. It holds stakes in just about every sector of the Iranian industry, including finance, oil, and telecommunications.

These funds are not simply used to enrich Iranian officials. That is not our problem here. It is not that they are propping up the regime. It is thanks to Iran's lack of money laundering control they are easily used to destabilize the entire region. That is what they are doing now by funding terrorism abroad and fueling Iran's ballistic missile program at home.

These ICBMs, by the way, they announce, are intended for us.

So that is why, as this bill says, the Treasury Department--and the bill notes this--has identified Iran as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern. This means that any transaction with Iran risks supporting the regime's ongoing illicit activities, their terrorists activities.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague, Mr. Poliquin, for introducing this bill and Chairman Hensarling for working with us to get it to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 407) condemning the persecution of Christians around the world, 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 on this measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me begin here by thanking the gentleman from Wisconsin, Representative Glenn Grothman, for his work on this resolution.

As many in our country are preparing to celebrate this season of peace and joy, thousands of Christian believers around the world are marking the holiday in a much more somber way. They are marking this holiday under a threat of persecution and under a threat of violence.

Pope Francis has said: ``When we read the history of the first centuries, we read of so much cruelty toward Christians. I tell you: There is the same cruelty today, and to a greater extent.''

Those were his words.

According to research, Christians today are more targeted for attack than any other body of believers.

While about 30 percent of the world's population identifies as Christian, 80 percent of all reported acts of religious persecution right now are directed at Christians. Open Doors charity reports that, each month, around the world, 300 Christians are murdered--this would be for their faith--and more than 200 churches and properties are destroyed. This is each month.

Over 770 acts of violence are committed against Christians, including beatings, abductions, rapes, arrests, and forced marriages.

For example, across the Middle East there are historic Christian communities that are only one or two generations away from extinction. These were the indigenous people to this region. In Iraq, there are now fewer than 250,000 Christians remaining of a community that once had more than 1.4 million believers.

Last Congress, the House took the lead in declaring the violence against Christians committed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria as genocide. Since then, Congress has pushed hard to make sure that these vulnerable communities are protected and receive the assistance that they need.

I have visited these communities up in northern Iraq, and I can attest to the amount of persecution that they have been through.

Of course, our brave men and women in uniform deserve our praise for leading the fight to destroy ISIS, the so-called caliphate, allowing for the safe return of Christians and other religious minorities in the region.

We are blessed to live in this country free to enjoy our religious festivals in peace and security. We must not turn a blind eye to the atrocities happening elsewhere in the world.

With passage of this measure, we acknowledge the disturbing rise in persecution of Christians around this globe and recommit our Nation to support the religious freedom of all people.

We also call on other world leaders to end persecution of Christians and other religious minorities that are also persecuted at the national, local government, and community level. This includes persecution, of course, by violent non-state actors like terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISIS.

With this call to action, we work to advance our Nation's historic goal to promote ``peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.''

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), the author of this resolution.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank Mr. Engel for his leadership in bringing these issues to the floor and, certainly, our colleague, the cosponsor of this resolution, Carolyn Maloney. I thank, again, Congressman Glenn Grothman for authoring this important resolution here.

Christians around the world are being assaulted, raped, tortured, and murdered. Believers in North Korea, for example, have ``disappeared'' by the hundreds. They are hidden away in labor camps for decades. Many of them are worked to death, as you know by the conditions in those camps. The reason they are there is they attempted to practice their faith: Christianity.

We know that, at the hands of ISIS, brutal atrocities have risen to the level of genocide. Wherever ISIS goes, you see the consequence in the terror that is visited upon Christians, Yazidis, Jews, and other races.

In terms of the positioning that ISIS had in the Middle East, they had ready access to the Christian communities. Having visited those Christian communities in the aftermath of those attacks as they escaped into the Kurdish regions, it was absolutely heart-wrenching to hear the accounts of the survivors about what had happened among the Christians and Yazidis.

These are just a few of the examples of the persecution against Christians that is happening around the world.

I urge my colleagues to join me in this call to world leaders to work to stop the global persecution of Christians.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 336) reaffirming a strong commitment to the United States-Mexico partnership.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Engel. This is his bill. Let me also say that the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Mike McCaul, who was his primary cosponsor for this, has worked hard on this resolution. It represents a broad, bipartisan acknowledgment of the importance of the relationship between the United States of America and the country of Mexico.

The United States and Mexico share strong ties. Passage of this resolution will signal this body's commitment to strengthening our bilateral relationship with Mexico, a relationship that impacts Americans on a daily basis.

Today, the United States is grappling with challenges, just as Mexico is grappling with some challenges. We have a deadly drug crisis where more than 1,000 people a week die from opioid-related overdoses. This is a crisis that started with overprescribed pain medication here in the United States but is now fueled by heroin and fentanyl supplied by drug cartels.

We have got to strengthen our partnership with Mexico and continue working with Mexican security forces to stem the tide of these illegal drugs entering into our communities and to harden our shared border against terrorism and criminality.

This resolution also affirms the strong commercial relationship between our two countries. Mexico was the second largest export market for U.S. goods last year. It affirms our long history of cooperation on environmental and natural resource issues.

For example, this past September, our two countries signed an agreement to improve reservoir levels in Lake Mead and in the Colorado River Basin that will help prevent water shortages currently affecting Americans in the Southwest United States.

There are, of course, areas that I think we can improve the U.S.- Mexico relationship. Mexico needs to do more to combat the corruption that has taken its toll on its citizens' trust.

But this resolution comes at an important time in the U.S. with our relationship with Mexico and should signal to the people of Mexico that the people of the United States want to continue to work with Mexico on matters of mutual concern, from security to combating the illegal drug trade, to strengthening our respective economies.

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank the author, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Engel, and I thank Congresswoman Norma Torres, as well, and the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Mike McCaul, for their work on this important resolution recognizing the U.S.-Mexico partnership and recognizing our important economic relationship. As our countries continue to work together, this resolution signals our commitment to strengthen our ties with our Mexican neighbors.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 357) reaffirming the strategic partnership between the United States and Canada, recognizing bilateral cooperation that advances United States national interests, and urging increased bilateral cooperation on security, economic issues, and energy, 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 include any extraneous material in the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, I just want to recognize the leadership of Mr. Duncan, who, until recently, served as the chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, and Mr. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member, in bringing this important resolution forward.

I also want to recognize Mr. Huizenga, chairman of the Capital Markets, Securities, and Investments Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee, who led the delegation this past fall with the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group in Windsor, Canada.

This resolution affirms the already strong partnership we enjoy with our neighbors to the north, while recognizing that this bilateral relationship has advanced U.S. national interests.

Canada and the U.S. share the longest international border of any countries in the world. Canada is one of the largest trading partners with the U.S., and our largest agricultural export market. U.S. exports of goods and services to Canada supported 1.6 million jobs in the United States last year.

In addition, the U.S. and Canada enjoy a very close and vital security

relationship, which is seen most acutely in our close border security collaboration, as well as in defense arrangements such as NORAD and our shared NATO mutual security commitments.

Our two countries have an exceptionally close energy relationship. Canada is our largest supplier of oil, natural gas, electricity, and uranium. Our two countries collaborate on environmental concerns, particularly with our shared responsibility for the Great Lakes, which are the world's largest freshwater ecosystem and contain 20 percent of the Earth's surface freshwater.

This relationship gives Congress the opportunity to reaffirm, through this resolution, our important and close bilateral ties with Canada and to renew our commitment to growing and improving that relationship to the benefit of both countries.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Washington, DC, December 8, 2017.

Hon. Kevin Brady,

Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Brady: Thank you for consulting with the

Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to forgo a sequential

referral request on House Resolution 357, Reaffirming the

strategic partnership between the United States and Canada,

so that the resolution may proceed expeditiously to the House

floor.

I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure

does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of

your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives

on this resolution or similar legislation in the future.

I will seek to place our letters on H. Res. 357 into the

Congressional Record during floor consideration. I appreciate

your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward

to continuing to work together as this measure moves through

the legislative process.

Sincerely,

Edward R. Royce,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan). He is the author of this resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to once again thank Representative Duncan and Mr. Meeks and Mr. Huizenga and Mr. Engel for their commitment to the U.S.- Canada relationship and for bringing this important resolution forward.

This resolution affirms the already strong partnership that we enjoy with our neighbors to the North while recognizing that this bilateral relationship has advanced our national interests.

In addition to working together on trade, on border security, on energy, Canada is also a valuable partner in security. As my colleagues know, Canada is a founding member of NATO and leads a NATO battalion in Latvia--I happen to have seen that battalion recently in Latvia--while maintaining 200 Canadian military trainers in Ukraine.

Our shared values and proximity have rendered Canada one of our most important allies, and this resolution allows this body to stand together in affirming that relationship. I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 90) condemning ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and calling for an end to the attacks in and an immediate restoration of humanitarian access to the state of Rakhine in Burma, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days

to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material in the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, for decades, the Burmese Government and its military has systematically oppressed the people known as the Rohingya, a Muslim minority living in the Rakhine State of Burma.

A 1982 citizenship law denies the Rohingya citizenship, even though most of them have lived in the country for generations. They have been denied freedom of movement, access to healthcare, and education. The Rohingya have been marginalized at every level of the Burmese Government, from the top to the bottom.

Making matters worse, Burma's military is engaged in a new brutal crackdown on the Rohingya that the U.S. has rightly deemed ``ethnic cleansing.'' More than 600,000 Rohingya people have been driven from their homes in recent months, forced to cross the border into Bangladesh.

Hundreds have been killed, though with journalists denied access to large areas of Rakhine State, that number is clearly very much higher than those reported. At least 200 villages have been burned to the ground. Land mines have been placed inside Burma's border with Bangladesh, maiming refugees seeking safe haven. There are reports of rapes and all types of violence committed against the Rohingya by the Burmese security forces.

Importantly, this resolution not only condemns the attack against civilians by Burma's security services led by General Min Aung Hlaing, it also reaffirms the crimes committed against the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing. Recently, Secretary of State Tillerson made this strong but warranted determination, a decision that deserves our praise here.

Bangladesh also deserves credit for opening its borders in order to handle the human refugees that are streaming out of Burma, but its government has to honor its promise to build shelter for new arrivals and provide medical services.

In response to this crisis, Secretary Tillerson recently announced an additional $47 million in humanitarian assistance for Burma and Bangladesh, bringing the total U.S. assistance to more than $150 million this year. It is very much needed.

State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the de facto leader of Burma, must make it a top priority to provide for the safety of those in Burma, including the Rohingya. The safe and voluntary return of the victims displaced in Bangladesh must also be a top priority.

But to get to the point where the Rohingya will feel safe enough to return to their homes, the Burmese Government and military must honor their responsibility to ensure the protection of all of the people of Burma, regardless of their ethnic background, regardless of their religious beliefs.

The violence against the Rohingya must stop, and those responsible for those atrocities must face justice.

The protection of human rights has long been our Nation's top priority in Burma, including freeing Aung San Suu Kyi. Today, that must include the Rohingya. This is a moral issue and a national security issue. No one is secure when extremism and instability is growing in this part of the world.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats.

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

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of what our colleague Joe Crowley brought up today, there is new urgency in this argument and new urgency to us getting the point across to the Government of Burma. Let me speak for a minute as to that issue.

Many people at this moment are in grave danger. Many people who are in certain areas in Rakhine State are in danger at this moment. They are at risk of mass killings.

State security forces as well as armed civilian perpetrators stand poised. So the situation right now, it is possible that we have not seen the worst of this in terms of mass killings.

As we speak, the Government of Myanmar confines 120,000 Rohingya men, women, and children to more than 45 internment camps in these eight townships in Rakhine State, which we are most concerned about at this moment. They have been confined for the last 5 years, as we know. They have been denied aid, and they have been, obviously, deprived of their dignity.

Since August 25, the Government of Myanmar has obstructed, as shared with this body today by Joe Crowley, has blocked food aid, humanitarian aid to some of these internment camps, systematically weakening that population. They are at grave risk.

This is notice to the Government of Burma. The authorities there continue to block the delivery of this humanitarian aid, this food aid to these women and children. If this does not end now, it will constitute acts of genocide. It must end now.

And also, of course, the authorities there continue to enforce severe restrictions on freedom of movement and severe restrictions on the livelihoods of these people.

It is more than worrisome, the extent to which the Burmese Government and security forces have continued to thwart international observers from moving into these camps and have thwarted international organizations. The world should demand access now for impartial fact finders. Any continued resistance can only reinforce our suspicions that Burma has something to hide and that the evidence will show will constitute acts of genocide if this continues. It must end now.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), the chairman of the Committee on Small Business and a senior member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

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

I just wanted to, again, thank Joe Crowley, our colleague, and Mr. Steve Chabot for their work on this measure, and Mr. Eliot Engel as well, our ranking member of the committee. They have all along been leaders on this issue, and I thank them for authoring the measure.

I think all of us know that even before this latest resurgence, this massive displacement, this ethnic cleansing, many considered the Rohingya to

be one of the most persecuted minorities, one of the most persecuted populations on the planet. I think this particular resolution rightly shines a light on the abuses committed against them, calling for an end to all violence.

I urge all Members here, but also I urge the Government of Burma, to consider that we are at a point of crisis. If the government there does not reverse course immediately, it will do irreparable damage to its standing in the world and earn it a place among the most egregious human rights abusers in modern history. So what we ask is a reversal of these policies.

I urge all colleagues to vote in favor, send a clear signal that the U.S. will not turn a blind eye toward these atrocities.

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.