Ted Poe

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, the fourth branch of government is the bureaucrats. We don't know who most of them are, but they are everywhere. And what they do is, with a certain group of bureaucrats, they regulate. Congress has allowed them to do that, by law, and they make all kinds of rules about everything. Usually they will take a law, and then they will regulate or form rules about that law; and because of that, we have about 175,000 pages of regulation. Come a long ways since the Ten Commandments--10 words, basically. Now they have got 175,000 pages of regulations, rules by Federal bureaucrats on American businesses and American individuals. Do we really need 175,000 rules? Maybe a few thousand less would be better. The SCRUB Act tries to organize all of these rules because a lot of them are important. A lot of them are good, and a lot of them are bad. A lot of them are dumb, and a whole lot of them are very expensive to Americans. Now, let's just use one example. The Lacey Act was written in about 1900, and the Lacey Act says, if a crime is committed in another country regarding importing into the U.S., it is a crime in the U.S. if it is a crime in another country. So Abner Schoenwetter was charged with a crime under the interpretation of the Lacey Act because he had the audacity to import into the United States the Caribbean spiny lobster from Honduras that were too small, and he shipped them in paper boxes, cardboard boxes, instead of plastic boxes. Now, never mind that the Honduran Government did not enforce this law. In fact, the Honduran Government said, in a brief to the U.S. Government from the Attorney General of Honduras: Don't prosecute him. We don't enforce this law. But no, he is prosecuted under the interpretation of the Lacey Act for bringing in those little bitty lobsters and bringing them in paper rather than in plastic. So you know the result? He got 8 years in prison for this. Are you kidding me? I mean, I am a former judge. Do we really need to be spending America's money and time on prosecuting people for using paper instead of plastic? And that is what happened to him. So the SCRUB Act will go through and try to regulate the regulators and regulate the regulations. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, ISIS fighters hail from nations all over the world, including the United States. Americans who go to fight the jihadists overseas are able to freely travel back to the United States with their U.S. passports. These homegrown jihadists are not coming back home to open up coffee shops. They are coming home to harm Americans. We have to stop them by keeping them from coming back at all. That is why the United States House passed the Foreign Terrorist Organization Passport Revocation Act, which I introduced. The legislation is simple: revoke or deny passports of Benedict Arnold Americans who have assisted designated foreign terrorist organizations. Not only will the bill help law enforcement locate these individuals, it will prevent them from entering the United States at all. While my bill languishes down the hall in the Senate, Congress did pass a law allowing for the revocation of passports for Americans who are delinquent on their taxes. Mr. Speaker, what is a bigger threat to America and our national security? Tax offenders or terrorists? Congress must get its priorities straight. It is time for the Senate to pass the House bill and revoke passports of members of foreign terrorist organizations who may or may not be tax cheats. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I come here today with yet another example of China's egregious disregard for the most basic of human rights--the right to live freely. After the Falun Gong's rise in popularity in the 1990s, the Chinese Government perceived this peaceful group as a threat. Over the years, Falun Gong followers in China have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed. In fact, there are more Falun Gong practitioners in prison in China than any other persecuted group. Last month China hit a new low in its attempt to silence the Falun Gong community. Anastasia Lin is a Falun Gong practitioner who also happens to be Miss World Canada. The Miss World competition is held this year in China but Miss Canada can't go. Why? Because China refused to give her a visa. She was given no explanation why. However, the motive is clear. Beijing does not like how outspoken Ms. Lin has been about China's human rights abuses and religious oppression. Anastasia Lin moved from China to Canada when she was 13 years old. Yet she has not stopped fighting for the rights of her fellow members of the Falun Gong community. During a congressional hearing in July, Ms. Lin told Members that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed so their organs could be harvested and sold for transplants. Clearly, Beijing's only concern is remaining in power, not the welfare of the Chinese people. Last week, on the 65th annual International Human Rights Day, I gave another speech demanding Beijing put a stop to this atrocious practice of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience. It is high time China ends its illegal subjugation of Falun Gong practitioners. Justice must be served. Unfortunately, Anastasia Lin is an innocent victim of the Chinese Government's attempts to persecute the Falun Gong. It just goes to show how obsessed the Chinese Government is about persecuting the Falun Gong. Beijing is now censoring beauty pageants. But the courageous men and women of the Falun Gong community will not be silenced by Beijing's abuse--beauty pageant or no beauty pageant. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, before the Paris attacks, pundits sitting in far-flung capitals of the world were throwing lobs at Hungary for turning a blind eye to the plight of Syrian refugees. Now that we know that one of the attackers posed as a refugee to get into Europe and then stayed in a refugee camp as he made his way from Greece to Paris, I'd like to do something I know the pundits won't do: go back to an old story to make sure they got it right. First, the outside world's opinions of what Hungary should or should not do are wholly irrelevant. Hungary is a sovereign country that ultimately will make its own political decisions based on its interests and concerns on a case-by-case basis. Whether Hungary lets in refugees from a conflict that it had absolutely nothing to do with is a purely Hungarian question. Just like we wouldn't want Canada telling us what to do, nor does Hungary want countries like Germany telling it what to do. The fact of the matter is that the refugee issue is complex. There are two sides to the morality argument. Yes, there is a moral argument to helping those fleeing war, but let's not forget about the moral argument for a government keeping its promise to its citizens that it will protect them. Refugees pose serious economic and security concerns to the countries of Europe. Modest estimates suggest that Germany, who has touted a welcoming posture towards the refugees, will find itself spending as much as 10 billion euros in 2015 to accommodate these newcomers. If Hungary were to spend even half of that amount, it would cost the country upwards of 7% of its annual budget. While Germany may be financially capable of weathering the financial storm precipitated by the influx of refugees, Hungary's economy may not. Despite notable improvements in recent years in both trade and investment, Hungary's unemployment rate sits now at 10.5%. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development notes that, although Hungary successfully exited from recession in early 2013, the recovery of its economy is modest at best. The OECD notes Hungary must ``maintain fiscal discipline,'' underscoring Budapest's need to invest in its own people and economy--not spend billions accommodating others. Putting the economic factors aside, it is quite obvious that taking in Syrian refugees comes with a whole host of security concerns. ISIS has openly boasted in recent months that it is sending operatives to Europe under the guise of refugees, intending to fulfill the terrorist organization's threat to stage attacks in the West. European and American intelligence officials report that ISIS has set up a wing that specializes in launching terrorist attacks abroad, providing guidance, training and funding for attacks that kill the most civilians possible. Earlier this month British media outlets reported that the Tunisian leader of an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group was smuggled into Europe posing as a refugee in October before being arrested and deported to Tunisia. Unfortunately, we have seen the bloody aftermath of the attacks on Paris, which were carried out in part by an ISIS terrorist who entered Europe as an asylum seeker. The Hungarian Government does not think all of the refugees are terrorists. But the grave security concerns should not be written off for the sake of humanitarianism. Hungary has a humanitarian obligation to its own people too. Hungary has called on the European Union to set up the necessary institutions and orderly processes to handle this massive influx of people into the bloc. Hungary and its neighboring eastern and central European countries should not be expected to bear the burden of this sea of refugees. More than anything, these countries should not be judged for making decisions based on their own interests. That is simply their right. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative Sherman, on the other side, for cosponsoring this legislation; and I want to thank Chairman Royce and Chairman Engel for being original cosponsors of this bill. Mr. Speaker, this is another piece of legislation that has come out of the Foreign Affairs Committee--bipartisan, unanimously voted on, and approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee, as much of our legislation is. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank three staffers who have worked on the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade--Luke Murry, Oren Adaki, and Jeff Dressler, who now works with the majority leader's staff. These three individuals know more about terrorism, I think, than any three people on the Hill, and I want to thank them for their work not only on this bill but on legislation in general. As has been said, Mr. Speaker, terrorists' use of social media has exploded over the last several years. A recent study by The Brookings Institute found that ISIS now uses 40,000 Twitter accounts. Terrorists use social media to do the following: to recruit others, to raise money, to spread propaganda, and to even train future fighters. This legislation deals with foreign terrorist organizations. We are not talking about a person who claims to be a terrorist or who we think is a terrorist. It is specifically dealing with foreign terrorist organizations that are designated by our government. The recipes for the bombs used at the Boston Marathon were in al Qaeda's magazine, which was posted on social media before the attack. The al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab live tweeted the attack on a Kenyan mall that killed 72 people. The al Qaeda branch in Yemen, known as AQAP, which is another terrorist organization, held a press conference on Twitter, allowing users to submit questions that were then answered by AQAP and were posted back on Twitter the following week--a conference call by terrorists. In October, ISIS issued a new instruction manual on how terrorists can use social media. Today, wannabe terrorists don't have to go to the battlefield--to Syria--to get trained. They can get trained online--like receiving college credits--on how to be a terrorist and on how to be a fighter. Nationwide, the FBI is currently investigating 900 potential lone wolf terrorists in the United States. The Internet and social media serve as their playbook to carry out attacks. Since March of 2014, 71 people in the United States have been charged with crimes related to ISIS. Their backgrounds are very different, but nearly all of them had spent time online voicing their support for ISIS. Later, they were arrested after their online posts drew some attention by the FBI. In 2011, as the chairman has said, the administration released a report on countering violent extremists that recognized that online radicalization was a growing problem. The administration promised a strategy of how we can deal with this. Four years later, unfortunately, we don't have a strategy, and we don't have a plan. This is a problem because individual agencies are making their own unilateral decisions. This week, we learned that the Department of Homeland Security did not review the social media posts of Tashfeen Malik, who was granted a fiancee visa, but posted her radical views on social media prior to obtaining the visa. The State Department does not know how to effectively counter terrorist messaging because it does not have the expertise of the intelligence community. The intelligence community approaches social media as a ``capture everything'' because it has not been made clear what it can do and what it cannot do. The FBI does not know how far it should push social media companies to prohibit them from allowing terrorist organizations' content on their sites. So we must have a comprehensive strategy before we can effectively defeat the enemy on the cyber battlefield. Mr. Speaker, all U.S. departments really must be singing the same song on the same page in the hymnal about how to defeat foreign terrorist organizations that use social media--American social media companies. I will say this: Facebook has done a fairly decent job of bringing down terrorist sites, and Facebook has seen a drop in the number of terrorists that try to use their site, but not all social media companies have been as responsive to terrorism. Mr. Speaker, we already have technology that is used to make sure that child pornography is not posted online. Thanks to Hany Farid, the chairman of the computer science department at Dartmouth College, who invented a technology that is used with Microsoft. He said that we can use that same protocol that we do to bring down child pornography to bring down social media sites that deal with foreign terrorist organizations' propaganda and their spreading of murder. Here is what he said: ``There's no fundamental technology or engineering limitation. This is a business or policy decision. Unless the companies have decided that they just can't be bothered.'' So that is his opinion on how we can use this same protocol. This can be done. We can use the same protocol, and we can bring down those foreign terrorist organization sites. This is not a free speech issue--that has been discussed, and some are concerned about that--because we are dealing specifically with foreign terrorist organizations. The Supreme Court has already ruled regarding that issue in 2010 in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project that a foreign terrorist organization does not have constitutional rights in the United States under the First Amendment. So this is not a problem. In this 21st century fight against terrorists who are sophisticated and tech savvy, we have to defeat these organizations on all the battlefields: overseas, over here, and online. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I support free and fair trade. Where I come from in Houston, Texas, we are an export city. We make a lot of things, and we sell them all over the world, so I support trade. Let's go back to the year 1898, Mr. Speaker. The Spanish-American War existed then. To help finance the war, Congress taxed a newfangled contraption called the telephone. The war was over. Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders had stormed San Juan Hill before the tax was actually completely collected, but World War I came around, and the tax reemerged. Mr. Speaker, that war tax over 100 years ago is still on your telephone bill. You pick up your phone bill, and if you have a landline, you are still paying that war tax. The point being, Mr. Speaker, once Congress imposes a tax, it seems like it never goes away. But, shock, in this legislation, it prohibits a tax that is already being collected in some States. Some States tax Internet access. This bill does away with that tax. But it fairly allows States like Texas to phase it out until 2020. Good compromise. So let's eliminate a tax on Americans. Mr. Speaker, don't get too excited. We may be eliminating one tax, but that war tax over 100 years ago that was implemented-still exists. Maybe we will get around to eliminating that eventually. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Serbia's recent donation of $5.4 million to the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where thousands of Muslims were killed in the Yugoslav Wars, is a clear sign that the Serbian Government wants to do what they can to improve relationships with countries in the region. Mending these relationships is especially important as the Balkans are on the front lines of the refugee crisis. As of the beginning of November, the same month that President Vucic announced this large donation, over 300,000 refugees had flowed through the country since the beginning of the year. Most refugees are fleeing Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and travelling to Europe to seek asylum. Serbia is doing their part to process and protect these people. In October alone, 180,307 refugees were processed compared to 51,048 in September because of Serbia's commitment to improving capacity. It is critical for countries in the region to work together to process the influx of refugees while ensuring the safety of their own countries and the world. The Balkans are a transit region making it important for all the countries to have an open line of communication in order to ensure the ordered, safe, and peaceful flow of people and is especially important for bordering countries. Serbia's gesture to Bosnia is hopefully a signal of relationships on the mend at this very tense time in the world. While the importance of Balkan countries working together cannot be underemphasized, it is also of utmost importance for all freedom-loving countries throughout the world to work together to fight ISIS, a big factor in the flow of migrants and a threat to our way of life, in which all lives are cherished. Every country must do their part. We must all come together and obliterate this scourge on our world. As co-chair of the Congressional Serbian Caucus, I commend the Serbian Government for all that they have done to mend their relationships in the region and for their leadership during this incredibly trying time. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, the University of Houston Cougars capped off their thrilling season with a 24-13 win against the Temple University Owls in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game. Houston won by 11 points and led from the very start of the game. With this win, the Cougars finished the regular season 12- 1. They now face a matchup against the #9 Florida State University Seminoles in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. What is most amazing about the Cougars successful season is the fact that it was engineered by a rookie head coach: Tom Herman. Herman is a former national championship winning offensive coordinator at Ohio State University and a previous recipient of the Broyles Award for the nation's top assistant coach. He came to the University of Houston as a first-time head coach this season. This type of success in a coach's first season is rare. Herman's Houston team was led by its do-it-all quarterback, Greg Ward, Jr., who finished the season with 2,590 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions. The All-Conference quarterback also tacked on 1,041 rushing yards and 19 touchdown runs for good measure. The excitement of watching this team play brought me back to 1989, when Coach Jack Pardee's run-and-shoot offense led the Cougars to a 9-win season and quarterback Andre Ware took home the Heisman Trophy. Mr. Speaker, Tom Herman and the Houston Cougars aren't finished just yet. After the Cougars New Year's Eve duel with perennial powerhouse Florida State, the team will refocus its sights on coming back strong again next year. With the Cougars locking in Coach Herman to a contract extension and returning many of its key contributors, this team will be a force next year and hopefully for years to come. I look forward to spending December 31st ringing in the New Year with friends, family, and another Cougars victory. Go Cougars! And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Thanksgiving is meant to remind us of all the things in our lives we're grateful for. For many, this year's Thanksgiving came and went in its usual form: spent in the presence of loved ones and those who are closest to our hearts. But for others, this Thanksgiving was spent under a bittersweet shadow. Early that morning, Houstonians, Cougar alumni, basketball fans, and many others bid farewell to a legend: Guy Lewis. Guy Lewis was more than just a basketball coach. His innovations, both on and off the court, left ripples in our society that we still feel today. He was born in a tiny town in East Texas, where he lived until enlisting in the Army during World War II. Following the war, Lewis enrolled at the University of Houston, my alma mater, and joined the basketball team. He was instantly one of the best players on the team, averaging over 21 points per game as he led the Cougars to a conference championship. After college he worked as an assistant coach at UH under then-coach Alden Pasche. After Pasche's retirement in 1956, Lewis was appointed the new head coach of the Cougars; and the rest, as they say, is history. Under Lewis' 30-year watch, the Cougars enjoyed one of the best spells in collegiate basketball history. He led his teams to 27 straight winning seasons, 14 NCAA tournament appearances, 5 Final Fours, and two NCAA title games. Though he never won a national title, he is still universally recognized as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game. Despite all of his successes on the court, it was his actions off the court that many use to define Coach Lewis' lasting legacy. Prior to Guy Lewis, the University of Houston had never had an African-American player in its basketball program. According to former All-American, NBA All-Star, and member of Houston's first desegregated basketball team, Elvin Hayes, Lewis ``put everything on the line to step out and integrate his program.'' It was trailblazing like this and his fearless attitude that set Coach Lewis apart from the rest. Guy Lewis didn't care about what people thought, but he cared about doing what was right for his players and his school. He dedicated 40 years to the university as a student and as a coach, from his first day of college in 1946 through his last day as a coach in 1986. Even after his retirement Lewis was heavily involved with the school and its athletic department. His dedication to the institution he called home, the institution he helped evolve for the better, never once wavered. I remember sitting in the stands of the Astrodome in 1968 watching the ``Game of the Century'' that Coach Lewis helped organize. The undefeated UCLA Bruins, led by legendary coach John Wooden, came into the game riding a 47-game winning streak. This was the first nationally televised regular season collegiate basketball game in the history of the sport. Over 52,000 fans--myself included--went to the game, which set the record for the largest basketball crowd in history. I remember that game fondly. I can still see Coach Lewis on the sideline waving his red, polka-dotted towel that he seemed to always have with him. Led by the previously mentioned Elvin Hayes, the Houston Cougars went on to win 71-69. After coaching the Cougars to back-to-back Final Fours in 1967 and '68, he then guided his team to a trio of Final Fours in 1982, '83, and '84. Those teams, known simply as ``Phi Slama Jama,'' featured superstars Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, two members of both the NCAA and NBA Halls of Fame. Those teams emphasized a fast-paced, exciting style of play that helped revolutionize the game forever. When remembering Coach Lewis, we needn't just remember the legendary wins or the legendary players that he coached, but also his integrity and dedication. Whether it was his innovative work on the court or off, all of us familiar with the life of Coach Lewis have nothing but fond memories of the man. His legacy will live on. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today is the 65th International Human Rights Day. It is fitting that we remember how the Chinese Government has denied the human rights of so many of Falun Gong, their family members and their friends. The most basic human right is the right to live free. Today, there are more Falun Gong practitioners in prison in China than any other persecuted group. The Chinese Government's top priority is not to take care of its people; it is to stay in power. It sees Falun Gong rise in popularity in the 1990s as a threat. In reality, Falun Gong just wanted to be left alone. To silence this threat, the Chinese Government murders Falun Gong members, harvesting their organs to give to others deemed more worthy. We know this because brave men and women have come forward and reported these crimes, refusing to be silent. Those who have spoken out include the wife of a doctor who was forced to perform surgeries to remove the organs. A security guard who was ordered to stand watch while the surgeries take place has also spoken out about these practices. The evidence is undeniable of this detestable, inhumane practice by the Chinese Government. The practice is a billion dollar business for the Chinese Government. Organ harvesting is the number one source of revenue for Chinese medical centers. A medical center is supposed to save lives, not take lives. Apparently, in China, the lives of the Falun Gong do not matter. Reports indicate that more than 10,000 have been killed by these barbaric medical procedures; they have been murdered for their organs. The Chinese Government makes a profit and silences any group it sees as threatening. But they can't silence the Falun Gong nor human rights advocates. We know what they are up to. We cannot let this continue. The Chinese Government is an enemy of human rights. It is the enemy of its own people. As a former judge in Texas, I know a thing or two about justice. And, justice has not been served to the Falun Gong community. Over the years, Falun Gong followers have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed. But, despite Beijing's abuse, they continue to fight back. Today, China must end its persecution of the Falun Gong. The world leaders have been talking about climate change in Paris. There needs to be a ``climate'' change in China. The air is polluted with the cries of the innocents murdered by the government. The land is defiled by the acts of torture and organ harvesting. The blood of the Falun Gong is on the hands of the Chinese officials. I hope that one day soon all Chinese people will have the basic human right that the Creator endows to all creation: life. The Falun Gong deserves to live free of oppression and murder. They are courageous men and women. The Chinese Government, in its zeal to keep power, kills its own people. Power, not people, is the quest of the Chinese Government. If the Chinese Government was put on trial before the world of free peoples and tried for its violations of human rights, it would be found guilty of terrorism. Its government officials would be in prison. They would be locked up. They would not see the light of the morning sun. They would be in the cold damp darkness of the jailhouse--the place reserved for the evil ones who harvest the organs of the Falun Gong. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the Georgia Caucus along with Congressman Gerald Connolly, I would like to take a moment to discuss the importance of a strong U.S.-Georgia relationship. Our ally Georgia is a beacon of hope for democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe. In a region full of turmoil, Georgia continuously strives to spread the ideologies of democracy and freedom to all. While there is still work to be done, Georgia has made many advances in recent years to strengthen democratic values. Georgia has proved to be a strategic trade partner. U.S. trade with Georgia has increased over the past several years as Georgia continues to bolster its democratic and market-economy institutions. In light of this growth, it would be a smart move to initiate negotiations on a U.S.-Georgia Free Trade Agreement. In 2012, President Obama announced that Georgia and the U.S. had agreed to a high-level dialogue to strengthen trade relations, including the possibility of a free trade agreement. Now is the time to make this idea a reality. Another critical reason why we must strengthen our ties with Georgia is because Russian aggression in the region is more threatening now than ever. In 2008, I was in Georgia and saw Russian tanks roll in to Georgia, occupying 25% of the country. Back then I knew Putin's radical agenda would continue to threaten our ally for years to come. Sadly, I have not been proven wrong. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is another example of Putin's greedy appetite for conquest. The best deterrent we can offer Georgia is the protection we have given to European countries in the past from Russian bullying: NATO membership. It is time for the United States to put our full weight of support into ensuring that Georgia is given NATO membership. Even with the regional security threats stemming from Russia, Georgia has demonstrated time and again its commitment to being a force for good in the international community. For example, Georgia has provided more troops to the effort in Afghanistan than any other non-NATO member. Georgian troops have fought and died on the battlefield alongside our own American troops. We must recognize and reward their bravery and sacrifice. Georgia's ascension to NATO must be a priority for next summer's NATO conference. Mr. Speaker, we all should recognize the importance of strengthening our relationship with Georgia. It is in our national security interests to support this ally, and it is our duty to ensure we foster a healthy, mutually beneficial partnership. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, terrorists have used Twitter to convert thousands of young American minds and recruit new jihadists for ISIS. Federal law prohibits giving aid or helping a designated foreign terrorist organization. These FTOs use Twitter, an American company, as a tool, and no one is adequately stopping them. Why are American companies and the U.S. Government allowing social media platforms to be hijacked by terrorists? Some say shutting down terrorists' social media accounts would be violating free speech. That is nonsense. They are wrong. The United States Supreme Court has already ruled there are no constitutional protections for foreign terrorist organizations to incite violence. Allowing terrorists to wage their cyber war with America has helped radicalize thousands of foreign fighters and raise millions of dollars online. Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed my bill, co- authored by my friend, Mr. Connolly from Virginia, the Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act. This bill requires the administration to come up with a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists' cyber war and use of social media. Private American companies should not be operating as the war propaganda mouthpiece of designated foreign terrorist organizations like ISIS. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Chair, first off, I would like to thank Congressman Thornberry for leading this effort in the House. It is no surprise that the Bureau of Land Management under this Administration has become greedy. But their blatant disregard of the law and private property rights is shameful. One would think the federal government would be satisfied with the 653 million acres of land it currently controls and owns, which is over 27 percent of the total U.S. surface area. A lot of which goes unused, but apparently that is not enough. If anything the federal government should being selling land instead of trying to claim more. The Bureau of Land Management's actions are a cloud on the title of Texas ranches. Since the 1845 annexation of Texas into the United States, the federal government has owned very little to no property in Texas. The Red River Private Property Protection Act, if signed into law would settle these absurd claims and clearly define the borders. It is important that we support and protect Oklahoma and Texas landowners from this Administration's ridiculous attempt at another land grab.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and, of course, my friend, Mr. Connolly from Virginia, for their support on this bill. Madam Speaker, the Foreign Affairs Committee is probably more bipartisan than any committee in the House of Representatives. Almost everything that we do and the legislation we bring to the floor, the vast majority of Members support. Sometimes every Member supports the legislation. This is another one of those pieces of legislation that is good for the country and is really good for the whole world. Transparency and evaluation is what this bill is about. As I started out in my comments, many Americans don't know what we do with their money. Let me just give a few examples: Because of American aid, there are now millions of girls in other parts of the world who are getting an education. Because of Americans and their interest, half of the AIDS epidemic in Africa has been cut. It has been cut in half, the epidemic of AIDS in Africa. The life expectancy of people in Afghanistan, because of American aid, has grown 20 years. When it comes to the youth, many children throughout the world are dying because they have dirty water. It is not clean. Because of USAID and their help, that number has been cut in half. The children are now living because they are getting clean water. Those are just a few things that are being done. We should be proud of those accomplishments. We also want to make sure that those accomplishments and what we are doing with American money is transparent. We want to continue to evaluate it to see if it is working. If it is working, let's continue it, and if it is not working, then let's do something else. I do want to thank those involved for their support, especially the chairman and the ranking member. H.R. 3766 will give us the tools to make foreign aid programs efficient and effective, two words that sometimes aren't used with ``government.'' I strongly support this legislation. And that is just the way it is. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3766) to direct the President to establish guidelines for United States foreign development and economic assistance programs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, as I have no further requests for time, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his comments. A couple of things that he mentioned are worth mentioning again, I believe. This very bill that we have been working on for a long time passed unanimously in this House of Representatives 4 years ago in December. Why didn't it become law? Because, in the Senate's rules, one Senator was able to block the legislation from even being voted on in the Senate. So here we are again, 4 years later, trying to get this legislation passed. My friend mentioned USAID and their mission statement. Nothing in the definition of ``assistance'' in this bill precludes USAID from reporting on data fields that it currently reports on for the Green Book and for OECD. So, if they are already making reports, this legislation, to be very clear, does not prohibit them from also making those other reports, but they will comply with the legislation in this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Royce and the ranking member, my cosponsor on this legislation, Mr. Connolly from Virginia, for this legislation being brought to the House floor tonight. The Foreign Aid Authorization Act first passed Congress in 1961. If you mention foreign aid to many Americans, Madam Speaker, it raises their blood pressure. Members of our communities often are concerned about foreign aid to other countries because they are just not quite sure where that aid is going and what that aid is accomplishing. It is important that we, as Members of the House of Representatives, legislatively communicate to America how America's money is being spent in foreign countries. It is important that we are accountable and that that money, that aid, is accountable to the taxpayers. It may shock you, Madam Speaker--maybe it won't--but Congress has never passed a law requiring transparency and accountability of foreign aid. I will use a different phrase. We have never audited our foreign aid to see if it is working and to see what it is doing so people can see whether it is successful or not. The American public is uninformed about how much we spend and why we spend that money. A recent Publish What You Fund study rated half of U.S. agencies in the ``poor'' category when it came to transparency of aid. Transparency is important because it sheds light on where the money is spent. It is a lot harder to steal money if everybody knows where the money went and what it was for. The American people have a right to know what we are doing with their money. There are a lot of success stories, but many Americans don't know about them. So it is important that we post that information and that the agencies that help in foreign aid assistance post that information on the Web so we know who is getting the money and what they are doing with that money. Transparency will help foreign aid. It will make it harder for bad actors to steal that aid. It will make those who implement our programs work more vigilantly knowing the information will also be posted online. It will educate the American public about all the ways our country is helping other people around the world. As I said, Madam Speaker, there are a lot of success stories where people are better off because America is helping them. Transparency by itself, however, won't save all of foreign aid's problems, but without transparency, those problems will not be solved. We also need to evaluate our foreign aid program so we know what works. The key portions of this bill are transparency of the aid and evaluation of the aid: evaluate that aid to see if it is working, and if it is working may continue to do that aid; evaluate aid--if it is not working, then we cut it off and do something else. We have all heard about the boondoggles of foreign aid. Big infrastructure projects are especially prone to waste and mismanagement. That is why it is so critically important that, as part of this bill being implemented, licensed engineers who know how to do these infrastructure projects are more involved with their expert input and operational skills. Let me give you some examples of where foreign aid has been mismanaged. Schools are being built by Americans overseas, but some of those schools never had a student attend them. The Special Inspector for Iraq Reconstruction found out that at least $8 billion in American taxpayer dollars was lost to fraud, waste, and abuse. $44 million was spent on a residential camp to house international police trainers. The camp included an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The problem is, swimming pool and all, it was never used. The $43 million natural gas station in Afghanistan was built by the Department of Defense when it built the same kind of gas station for $500,000 in Pakistan. Let me explain that again. American taxpayers built a $43 million natural gas station. Besides the enormous, outrageous cost, nobody ever used the gas station in Afghanistan. So rigorous evaluations of our foreign aid are important because they can tell us whether or not we are really making a lasting impact. We have a long way to go, and the State Department really doesn't have a system in place to keep track of the dollars spent on evaluation of those projects. The State Department can only tell how much it plans to spend in the future, but as soon as it spends that money on evaluations, it has no way of tracking where the money went. So the State Department can't even tell how many evaluations were even done last year on the aid that we are already spending. Even in its policy, the State Department is moving in the wrong direction. Its new evaluation policy lowers the amount of evaluations that must be done. USAID has some troubling signs as well. USAID spent less money on evaluations in 2014 than it did in 2013. To solve some of these problems with transparency and with accountability of our foreign aid, Representative Connolly and myself have introduced H.R. 3766, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act. This bill requires the President to issue guidelines requiring tough evaluations. And on transparency, it codifies what is already being done and increases the amount of information required to be posted online, including actual expenditures and evaluations so everyone knows what we are doing and whether it is working or not. We need to be reporting on more foreign aid in a more understandable way. The American people want to know where their aid is going, what it is for, and if that aid is effective. Transparency and accountability for our foreign aid: this is a commonsense bill, and it doesn't cost any money, Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin).

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

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned that we are not doing enough to get the MEK out of Iraq. The MEK are Iranians stuck in a camp in Iraq because they oppose the Supreme Leader of Iran. The Iraqi government has capitulated time and again to the Supreme Leader by allowing armed militants to attack the MEK camp, even though the MEK voluntarily gave up their weapons and have no way to defend themselves. Dozens have died in this inexcusable brutality. The MEK has given us valuable information about Iran's nuclear program and simply wants freedom for all Iranian people. The United States State Department has been dilatory in helping protect these Iranian dissidents. We need to do more to resettle the MEK in another country besides Iraq. They are not safe there. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we all know that ISIS is not contained. ISIS, in fact, is expanding its reign of terror. Its fighters hold passports from different countries around the world. We know they are embedded in Western countries, are able to travel freely, and are hard to track down--and they want to do us harm. Under the current Visa Waiver Program, individuals from 38 countries are exempt from the standard vetting process to get a visa and come to America. Hold a passport from one of these 38 countries, and you can just jump on a plane and come here. Those 38 countries are supposed to share their watch lists with us, but some of them don't. That makes it easier for the bad guys to fly to America. So this bill fixes that real loophole in the current system. Those 38 countries will now be required to share their watch lists with us. If they don't, they are prohibited from being in the Visa Waiver Program. Foreign citizens who have recently traveled to Iraq and Syria will also be required to go through additional screening. Mr. Speaker, terrorist fighters have America in their hateful, evil sights. We must do all we can to stop them from coming here, and the status quo just won't keep us safe. As chairman of the Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I totally support this commonsense legislation. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, the Houston Cougars capped off their thrilling season with a 24-13 win against the tough Temple Owls in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game. Though Houston only won by 11, the team led from the opening gun until as Willie Nelson says ``The Party was Over''. With this win, the Cougars finished the regular season 12-1 and now have a matchup against the Number 9 Florida State Seminoles in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl to look forward to. What's most amazing about the Cougars' successful season is the fact that it was engineered by a rookie head coach. Tom Herman, a national championship winning offensive coordinator at Ohio State and recipient of the Broyles Award for the nation's top assistant coach, stepped in as a first-time head coach this season. Success like that in a coach's first season is hard to come by. Herman's Houston team was led by its do-it-all quarterback, Greg Ward Jr., who finished the season with 2,590 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions. The all- conference quarterback also tacked on 1,041 rushing yards and 19 touchdown runs for good measure. The excitement of watching this team play had me reminiscing back to 1989, when Coach Jack Pardee's run-and- shoot offense led the Cougars to a 9-win season and quarterback Andre Ware took home the Heisman Trophy. Mr. Speaker, Tom Herman and the Houston Cougars aren't finished yet. After the Cougars' New Year's Eve duel with perennial powerhouse Florida State, the team will refocus its sights on coming back strong again next year. With the Cougars locking in Coach Herman to a contract extension and returning many of its key contributors, this team will be a force next year and hopefully for years to come. As a University of Houston alum, I look forward to spending December 31st ringing in the New Year with friends, family, and another Cougars victory. Go Cougars. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory. So help us, Almighty God. Mr. Speaker, that was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's reaction to an attack on the United States. Last night, Mr. Speaker, President Obama held a rare Oval Office address to give his update on ISIS. His message--stay the course with the same ineffective strategy. Not as inspiring as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's address when the United States faced another enemy. The President has promised no ground troops and more gun control. He called ISIS the JV team. They defied American airstrikes and expanded their caliphate, killing everyone in their way. He declared ISIS was contained hours before 130 people were slaughtered in the City of Light. He said there was no immediate, credible threat to the homeland. Days later, 14 people died in San Bernardino at the hands of ISIS sympathizers. Mr. Speaker, Congress needs to approve an authorization to use military force, specifically against ISIS. ISIS is at war with the United States. It is time for the United States to be at war with ISIS, and the Commander in Chief should lead us to absolute victory. And that is just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, bullet holes are still visible in the walls of cafes, and the graves are fresh for those lives that were stolen by ISIS fighters in the streets of Paris. Meanwhile, the President is in Paris talking about his priority--the real threat-- climate change. While America has been unable or unwilling to defeat ISIS, it has been front and center in the war on climate change. Former CIA Director Mike Morrell said: ``And we didn't go after oil wells--actually hitting oil wells that ISIS controls because we didn't want to do environmental damage. . . .'' The President has decided that the threat to the environment is more serious to him than the threat of ISIS terrorism. Mr. Speaker, oil funds ISIS' murderous reign of terror, but the President's new limited war doctrine has one rule of engagement: no climate casualties. Mr. Speaker, it is time for bombs to rain down over the ISIS war chest. Stop the flow of the blood oil. Not one more life should be lost because of a negligent and backwards strategy of a limited war based on climate change, an environmental-waged war that promotes not harming the environment over harming people. And that is just the way it is.