Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 599 I was at a meeting in the Rayburn Room and missed the vote. Had I been present, I would have voted, ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 1545, the PEPFAR Stewardship and Oversight Act, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I echo the words of my friend, the chairman. This important legislation, which passed the Senate by unanimous consent, reauthorizes key authorities that have helped the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, called PEPFAR, change the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS epidemic around the world.

Before President Bush announced PEPFAR in his 2003 State of the Union address, and Congress passed authorizing legislation in May of that year, HIV and AIDS were ravaging the continent of Africa. By then, more than 25 million people had died from HIV/AIDS, and 14 million children had been left as orphans.

Another 42 million people were infected and, though lifesaving treatments had been developed, far too many people had no access to the medications necessary to save their lives. Therefore, PEPFAR became and remains the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease internationally.

Today, nearly 6 million people are receiving life-sustaining anti- retroviral treatment.

Last year, more than 46 million people received HIV testing and counseling. Of these, more than 11 million were pregnant women, and, as a result of treatment, the one-millionth baby was born HIV-free this year.

HIV/AIDS is no longer threatening to wipe out an entire generation on the continent of Africa. In fact, a sustained commitment by the United States to fighting this epidemic has made it possible for experts and researchers to talk about achieving an AIDS-free generation.

PEPFAR is in the midst of an important transition as countries take on greater ownership of their HIV/AIDS programs. At this critical juncture, the PEPFAR Stewardship and Oversight Act is an important demonstration of our ongoing, bipartisan support for the fight against

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), who has been so instrumental in fighting for this legislation and other AIDS legislation for so many years in the Congress.

I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor now to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), our Democratic leader who has, I think, done more than anyone else to fight for these things from almost the time that she came to Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), a very valued member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), a classmate of mine.

(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands, Dr. Donna Christensen.

Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time is remaining.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes).

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

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

In closing, let me just, again, say what I said at the outset. I want to thank Chairman Royce. I am really proud of this legislation. It is truly a bipartisan product.

We are doing something really, really good here today. We are doing something that we can be proud of today. We are saving lives, and we are showing once again that the United States is the most compassionate Nation on Earth. When all is said and done, isn't this really one of the greatest things that we can do?

So I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize an outstanding leader in the field of aging and long-term services and supports. Audrey Weiner is the outgoing chair of LeadingAge, and I congratulate her on what she and her organization have accomplished during her two-year term.

LeadingAge members and affiliates touch the lives of 4 million individuals, families, employees and volunteers every day. The LeadingAge community includes 6,000 not-for-profit organizations in the United States, 39 state partners, hundreds of businesses, research partners, consumer organizations, foundations and a broad global network of aging services organizations that reach over 30 countries. The work of LeadingAge is focused on advocacy, education, and applied research. The organization promotes a full range of aging services, including adult day, home health, hospice, community-based services, PACE, senior housing, assisted living residences, continuing care communities, and nursing homes as well as technology solutions and person-centered practices that support the overall health and wellbeing of seniors, children, and those with special needs.

LeadingAge's leadership imperatives--strengthening not-for-profit leadership, engaging consumers, expanding long-term services and supports, financing options, innovation and technology and developing workforce talent--have shaped the organization's agenda throughout Audrey Weiner's service as LeadingAge's chair. She has overseen LeadingAge member task forces working on policies to advance these goals on behalf of people who need long-term services and supports.

In addition to her leadership of LeadingAge, Ms. Weiner has worked extensively with elders and their families facing the need for long- term services and supports. She heads one of the largest and oldest faith-based, not-for-profit long-term services and supports organizations in the country. Jewish Home Lifecare, located in New York City, provides a full array of long-term services and supports to thousands of people every year. These services include skilled nursing, short-stay rehabilitation, home care services, telehealth, geriatric care management, adult day services, informational resources for family caregivers and affordable senior housing. The integration and high quality of long-term services and supports achieved by Jewish Home Lifecare help individuals and families facing the enormous challenges of long-term disability.

I hope my colleagues will join me in commending Audrey Weiner for her long-standing service to America's older adults, her advocacy to make long-term services and support affordable and her commitment to ensure all seniors have a place to call home.

Mr. Speaker, why did our Republican colleagues shut down the government? Why don't our Republican colleagues allow the United States to pay its bills?

House Democrats want to open the government and have the country pay its bills. Senate Democrats want the same. Even Senate Republicans want to open the government and pay its bills. But not House Republicans.

Do you remember when you were in school, Mr. Speaker, and we learned how a bill becomes law? One of the tenets of this great Nation is that majority rules.

Put the Senate CR on the floor, Mr. Speaker. Let a majority of the House make a decision. Why is democracy being thwarted by the Republican majority? Pass the CR.

The American people are tired of these political games. We have the votes here to pass a clean CR and open the government again. If the Republican leadership allowed that bill to come to the floor, we could do it today.

I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I rise in support of this compromise legislation before us today. I believe that H.R. 3204 will enable our country to further secure our pharmaceutical distribution chain and help keep patients who depend on compounding pharmacies safe.

I am proud of the Energy and Commerce Committee because concerns that many of us had about the previous version of this track-and-trace legislation have been taken care of in this bill. They have been addressed in this bill. The previous bill was H.R. 1919, and we had difficulty with it. So I look forward to supporting this bill. We held hearings, and we are compromising on both sides. I wish Congress would take our lead on other issues and compromise, but I am happy to support this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2848, the Department of State Operations and Embassy Security Authorization Act, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to say once again, it has been a pleasure to work with Chairman Royce once again in a bipartisan fashion. I am very proud of what we have done on the Foreign Affairs Committee this year in a bipartisan fashion, and this is just another example of it. Everybody had input. All sides had corrections. We incorporated many, many different things together, and I think we have a very, very good product.

This important legislation authorizes the resources necessary to protect our dedicated diplomats and provides basic authorities to the State Department to advance United States interests and values around the world. The funds authorized in this bill support all of the State Department's global operations for less than 3 percent of the Defense Department's total budget. To me, that's a very, very wise investment in U.S. national security.

As all of us know, our diplomats and aid workers face unprecedented threats

in the Middle East, South Asia, North Africa, and other volatile regions of the world. The attack on our consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, 2 weeks ago, is a stark reminder of these very real dangers.

The bill before us today fully funds the President's request for diplomatic security. This will allow the State Department to construct six new secure embassies, support 151 new diplomatic security personnel and build facilities for 26 additional Marine Security Guard detachments.

This legislation also includes a number of other provisions to better protect our men and women serving abroad, including many that were included in an embassy security bill that I introduced earlier this year. Among other things, H.R. 2848 would enhance the coordination between the State and Defense Departments in times of emergency, require security and language training for State Department employees before they deploy to dangerous locations, and improve the process by which the State Department makes security-related decisions.

In addition, this legislation includes elements of a bipartisan bill introduced by Representatives Radel and Frankel that gives the State Department flexibility to award local guard contracts at high-threat posts on the basis of best value rather than on who had the lowest bid. In the past, having to accept the lowest bids sometimes resulted in poorly trained local security forces that endangered the safety of our diplomats and development experts.

Finally, this legislation includes another bipartisan provision, drafted by Representatives Perry and Meng, that provides additional accountability for State Department officials when their job performance is unsatisfactory.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to point out that we haven't had a State Department authorization bill signed into law since 2002. The chairman and I are both convinced that this is something that needs to be changed. That's another reason we're doing this very, very important bill.

In order for Congress to properly oversee the State Department's operations and activities, we need to resume the practice of passing our authorization bill on a regular basis and encourage our Senate colleagues to do the same.

Again, I want to commend Chairman Royce for his hard work on this legislation, and I look forward to working with him to further improve the bill as it moves through the legislative process, again, in a bipartisan manner.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), a very senior and important member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from New York (Ms. Meng), a very valuable member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, whose provision will hold the State Department more accountable, and her provision was incorporated into this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned before Ms. Frankel had worked very hard, and we incorporated some of her work into this bill as well. So I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel).

It is my pleasure now to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), a former member of our committee.

I yield the gentlelady 1 minute.

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

I again would like to thank Chairman Royce for his efforts in putting this bill together.

I have a copy of the bill in front of me. It is H.R. 2848. It says:

In the House of Representatives, July 30, 2013, Mr. Royce,

for himself and Mr. Engel, introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

I read that because I think, again, it highlights, as so many of our colleagues have said, that this bill is really Congress at its best and the committee at its best. People had concerns; we worked together, and we thrashed them out. We put together a product that those people who were most concerned with this were able to agree. I hope that that will be infectious, and perhaps we can take it out of our committee and move it to the Congress on other things that we're not having so much agreement with these days. But I again want to thank Chairman Royce.

The State authorization, an embassy security bill, is a very, very important part of our oversight of the State Department. The bill will bolster the State Department's security efforts, and who really can oppose that.

So I urge its passage. I thank the chairman again, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, by refusing to advance a resolution that can pass the Senate, the Republican majority has made the reckless and irresponsible choice to shut down the Federal Government.

The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It was passed by a majority in this House and the Senate. It was signed into law by the President, and it has been upheld by the Supreme Court. To try to repeal the Affordable Care Act at a time when we are talking about funding the government is like mixing apples with oranges. I've heard so many horror stories about the Affordable Care Act, all of which are irresponsible. Let me say some facts about it.

In my State of New York, people who enroll in the highest tiered plans our health insurance exchange will offer can expect to see a 53 percent reduction compared to this year's individual rates. The average approved rates for the individual silver plan in New York are 10 percent lower than previously forecasted by the CBO. These reductions don't even take into account the subsidies that will be available for many New Yorkers who are purchasing coverage on the exchange, which will lead to even lower costs.

It is time for Republicans to accept reality and to allow this law to start helping the American people. The government should not be shut down. This is a very, very dangerous course. Would you rather see small business owners struggle as the SBA will be unable to review loan applications or loan guarantees? Republicans should not shut the government down.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to two diplomats, Security Council Ambassador Kim Sook and Ambassador Byrganym Aitimova, the Permanent Representatives of Korea and Kazakhstan both of whom are ending their terms representing their respective countries at the United Nations.

On September 16, 2013 I attended a special farewell reception and dinner in their honor hosted by my dear friends Ranju Batra, Chair of the Diwali Stamp Project and former president of the Association of Indians in America NY, and Ravi Batra, an accomplished attorney, Chairman & CEO of Greenstar Global Energy Corporation and Chair of the National Advisory Council on South Asian Affairs. It was attended by numerous UN Ambassadors, and members of the judiciary and local elected officials.

Ambassador Kim has a long and honorable record of serving his country overseas. Among his many postings, we have been fortunate to have Ambassador Kim represent South Korea in the United States. Throughout his career he has worked to keep the US-South Korean alliance strong, enhance our alliance's public diplomacy, and maintain peace and security on the Korean Peninsula. Since May 2011 he has served as South Korea's ambassador to the United Nations and I am sad to see his term come to an end. I wish him and his family all the best. I would also like to wish Ambassador Kim a happy birthday, which he celebrated on September 19th.

Ambassador Aitimova also has a long and distinguished career of serving her country. She has taken important leadership roles at the United Nations including serving as Vice-President of the Executive Board of UNICEF and as a board member of UN WOMEN. She has served as Kazakhstan's ambassador to Italy and Israel. Her public service at home has included serving as Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Education and Science; and of Youth Affairs, Tourism and Sport. She also served as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee of Youth Affairs and Senator of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. She is ending her tour as the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to return home and once again serve her country as a Senator. I congratulate her on her distinguished career and wish her all the best.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 476, the Unfair Food Stamps (SNAP) Reduction Act, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I want to associate myself with the remarks of President Obama last night in his speech to the Nation.

I, like everyone else, hope that a diplomatic solution can be found and that

somehow, between Russia, Syria and the United States, we can find common ground where Assad will not have his weapons of mass destruction and will be put under international control.

But if this is possible, I believe it was only possible because there is a credible threat of U.S. military might, and that causes the equation of both the Russians and the Syrians to think about the United States.

And that's why I believe so strongly that if this falls apart, we need to strike in Syria to let Assad know that it is unacceptable to gas the civilian population. It is indeed a war crime.

Many of us today watched pictures of children foaming at the mouth and dying and shaking, and it's just something that will live with me for the rest of my life.

So I think what the President's proposing is balanced; it's moderate. I will vote ``yes,'' and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Azem Hajdari, an Albanian democratic leader and parliamentarian who was assassinated in 1998. Today, September 12, marks the 15th anniversary of his tragic death.

Born in 1963 into a working class family, Azem Hajdari grew up in Albania's mountainous northern region of Bajram Curr. While he was a student in Tirana, Albania's capital, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to increased popular unrest in the communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. In Albania, thousands took to foreign embassies in an effort to escape the country. As political and social tensions continued to escalate, in December 1990, students began protests against their worsening living conditions.

Azem Hajdari was committed to democratic change in Albania and quickly emerged as a leader of the student movement. The student demonstrations helped to precipitate the fall of the regime, and Azem then became one of the founders of the Democratic Party, the first non- Communist political party in Albania since the Second World War. He became the Democratic Party's first chairman and was elected in 1991 to the Albanian parliament, where he championed democratic reforms.

In 1997, Azem was shot inside the Albanian parliament and severely injured, yet he refused to be intimidated. He persisted in his mission to build democracy in Albania despite several additional attempts on his life. However, on September 12, 1998, Azem was murdered as he stepped out of his party's offices in Tirana.

Azem Hajdari's death shocked the nation and he was posthumously recognized as a martyr for democracy. Through his words and actions, he taught the people of Albania that freedom is not given--it must be won, through struggle, determination, and faith.

During the conflict in Kosova, Azem also supported the Kosova Freedom and Independence Movement. He was a close friend of Kosova's President Ibrahim Rugova and dedicated significant time and energy to the Kosovar cause.

Today, Albania has made great strides. It has a vibrant political system and is a member of NATO, and Albanians are able to travel freely throughout Europe. Kosova also is a free and independent country, aspiring to join the European Union. Both Albania and Kosova are building strong democracies, just as Azem dreamed.

Azem Hajdari has received many awards after his death, including Albania's ``Order of the Flag'' on what would have been his 50th birthday earlier this year, the ``Honor of the Nation'' award, and the ``Gjergj Katriot Skenderbeu'' ("Skanderbeg's Order"), which was conferred by Albanian President Bujar Nishani and former presidents Alfred Moisiu and Bamir Topi.

On the 15th anniversary of Azem Hajdari's untimely death, the Albanian people will once more honor a truly historic leader of Albania's democratic movement. On this day, September 12, Albanians from across the country and from around the world, including Albanian Kosovars, will gather to remember Azem and escort him to his final resting place in Tirana's Martyr's Cemetery.

Mr. Speaker, Azem Hajdari was a stalwart champion of democratic values and hero to many Albanians. I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished colleagues join me in recognizing Azem Hajdari for his historic contributions to building democracy in Albania.

Mr. Speaker, I extend my congratulations to the Alpha Epsilon Pi International Fraternity on the celebration of its centenary. With more than 177 active chapters across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Israel, and over 9,000 undergraduate brothers, there is certainly much to celebrate.

The fraternity is celebrating the largest event in its history--the Centennial Celebration on August 8th honoring the first 100 years of its existence and its success in cultivating generations of Jewish leaders on college campuses across the world.

The first 100 years are said to be the hardest, but the success of Alpha Epsilon Pi is a wonderful start.

I wish the fraternity every success in the future and look forward to seeing more leaders from Alpha Epsilon Pi take their place in the world.

AEPi was founded in 1913 at New York University, initially as a brotherhood of young men from similar backgrounds, but expanded in time with the goal of giving them the best college and fraternity experience. Since then approximately 100,000 men have been members of the fraternity.

More important is the leadership training provided by AEPi. Its members include Wolf Blitzer, Mark Zuckerberg, former Florida Congressman Ron Klein, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, James Brooks, a producer/director of The Simpsons, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and architect Frank Gehry, plus numberless more.

Celebrating a Centennial is a rare event. AEPi has contributed to the nation and the world for 100 years and if past performance is any indication, this will continue for many generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.

I rise in strong support of H.R. 850, the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013.

It's been a pleasure working with Chairman Royce to craft this bipartisan legislation, which, by the way, passed unanimously in the Foreign Affairs Committee. Every Republican, every Democrat voted ``yes'' on this. It now has more than 370 cosponsors. We share the goal of preventing a nuclear-capable Iran, and I could not ask for a better partner than Mr. Royce in this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I think all of us agree that a nuclear-capable Iran would pose a grave threat to the U.S., a threat to our allies in the region, and a threat to the future of the global nonproliferation regime. All of us are aware that Iran has violated numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions and repeatedly blocked IAEA inspectors seeking to investigate its nuclear program.

After many years of deceit and stonewalling by the Iranian regime, I continue to hold out hope that we can achieve a peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear crisis through diplomatic means. But time is growing short. According to the IAEA, Iran is installing advanced centrifuges to enrich more uranium and continues to build a heavy water reactor that could produce plutonium.

We must not allow the Iranians to play the same old game, engaging in endless negotiations with no results while continuing to advance the nuclear program. That's why we must continue to pursue a two-track approach to Iran, one that incorporates both pressure and negotiations.

The legislation before us today will significantly ratchet up the pressure and hopefully give our diplomats the leverage they need to persuade Iran that its only viable option is to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Among other things, this bill seeks to cut Iran's oil exports by another 1 million barrels a day, a reduction of two-thirds from current levels. It also strengthens existing sanctions by authorizing the President to restrict significant commercial trade with Iran.

In addition, the bill seeks to deny the Iranian regime hard currency by enhancing efforts to cut off Iran's access to euros.

Finally, the legislation imposes new sanctions against Iranian shipping ports and expands existing sanctions against Iranian human rights violators.

Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues argue that we should delay sanctions until after the new President of Iran takes office. I respectfully disagree. I know they share the goal of preventing a nuclear-capable Iran, but I believe we should take a different approach.

Our efforts to impose new sanctions should not be based on the Iranian political calendar. In my view, the paramount consideration should be the Iranian nuclear clock, the nuclear calendar, the amount of time it will take Iran to achieve a nuclear weapons capability.

I have no reason to believe that the results of the recent Iranian election will fundamentally alter Iran's current course. The unelected supreme leader, the Ayatollah, remains the one true decision-maker at the pinnacle of the regime. And president-elect Rouhani, who was directly involved in efforts to deceive the international community when he served as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, made clear during the campaign that he supports Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself an additional 30 seconds.

If Rouhani truly has the willing authority to make a bold gesture on Iran's nuclear program, like suspending enrichment, he has a small window of opportunity before this bill becomes law. I think all of us would welcome such a gesture, but I'm not holding my breath.

In closing, I would like to reiterate that by strengthening sanctions we are not calling for an end of diplomacy. After many years of fruitless negotiations, it is clear that talks will only succeed if the regime feels pressure to change course. That is what we are trying to accomplish with this legislation today.

I look forward to working with Chairman Royce to ensure that the strongest possible sanctions are enacted into law, and I reserve the balance of my time.

It is my pleasure now to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the minority whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the Democratic leader, Ms. Pelosi.

At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request.

(Mr. HASTINGS of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

I am pleased to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green).

At this time I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutch), the ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remaining time.

We have to look at things as they really are, not as we wish them to be. To my friends who say, What's the hurry? The hurry is we don't have time to wait. While we're talking, centrifuges are spinning and Iran is getting ever closer to having a nuclear weapon. By waiting, we're only aiding and abetting them.

Mr. Rouhani is no moderate. Moderates were not allowed to run in this Iranian election. He may be the least hard-core of all the hardliners; but make no mistake about it, he was directly involved in efforts to deceive the international community when he served as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator. And he made clear during his campaign that he supports Iran's nuclear ambitions.

This is a bipartisan bill, and for good reason we have over 370 cosponsors. I respectfully ask my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this bill.

As far as I am concerned, this is just another attack on the EPA. Some of my colleagues have spent hundreds of hours this session attacking the EPA. May I remind them that Congress set up the EPA to regulate dangerous and toxic substances in order to keep our air and water clean. We must continue to support the EPA in this task. Who would not want clean air and clean water? I think the EPA does a fine job in protecting us.

My district has one of the highest asthma rates in the country. It is one of the reasons that I championed clean energy and have argued for strong EPA rules to help protect our children.

If this bill had been law already, the EPA could have been delayed or blocked from finalizing the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which set emissions limits for new coal- and oil-fired power plants for mercury and other toxic air pollutants. Why would anyone want to block the EPA from doing that? The EPA estimates that these new standards will save up to 11,000 lives and prevent 130,000 asthma attacks. That's good enough for me.

There are many, many reasons to continue to support the EPA. This bill, unfortunately, does not do that, so I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and to support the EPA in a goal we should all share of protecting our air and water.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I might consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1897. I'd like to thank the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and once again thank the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Royce, for their leadership in advocating for human rights in Vietnam.

Despite Vietnam's transition to a more open economy in recent years, political and religious freedoms for the people of Vietnam remain severely curtailed.

Just last week, President Obama hosted the President of Vietnam for a visit. I was there for the luncheon at the State Department, and I am pleased that he urged the Vietnamese leader to respect freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly. At that very luncheon, I sat next to one of the Vietnam ministers and urged the same thing to him as well.

As the United States and Vietnam build a closer and more cooperative relationship, we must continue to be candid in calling for more progress in protecting the human rights and civil liberties of the Vietnamese people.

I certainly remember the Vietnam War, as I know many of my colleagues do, and it seems a bit strange that the United States and Vietnam are, in many ways, allied and working together. That's fine. But human rights is so important to us, and it's not something we can just sweep under the rug.

This legislation, the Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2013, takes a step in the right direction by prohibiting an increase in nonhumanitarian assistance to Vietnam above fiscal year 2012 levels unless the Government of Vietnam makes significant progress on critical human rights issues.

The bill makes it clear to Vietnam that the only factor limiting U.S. aid is positive action by the Vietnamese Government on political, human, and religious rights.

The Government of Vietnam has an important choice to make: Will it protect human rights and provide religious and political freedom to its citizens, or will it shirk those responsibilities and forsake the closer relationship that it wants with the United States?

Again, I think a closer relationship with Vietnam is something that I would like to see. But, you know what? We have principles, and the Vietnamese have to respect those principles. We respect them. They need to respect us.

So I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.