Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5480) to improve programs and activities relating to women's entrepreneurship and economic empowerment that are carried out by the United States Agency for International Development, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE of California. 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. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am the author of this measure. It is the Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act, and I want to thank those members on the staff that worked on this measure: Amy Porter, Joan Condon, Jessica Kelch, and Emily Cottle, and I thank them because around the globe, women make up the majority of the world's poor. This is due, in part, to gender constraints that in some places deny women access to basic financial services, like savings accounts. Today, more than 1 billion women remain left outside of the formal financial system, and women-owned, small-and medium-sized enterprises face a $300 billion credit gap. A 2014 analysis found that closing the gender gap and access to credit for small- and medium-sized women-owned businesses would increase per capita GDP by 12 percent in developing countries. That is because when women exercise greater influence over finances, literally, everyone benefits. Childhood survival rates, food security, children's education, economic opportunity for families, all of that increases. Investment in women yields results for entire communities. Indeed, countries with high female labor force participation rates are more resilient to economic shocks and suffer fewer slowdowns in economic growth. A 2016 report estimated that achieving global gender parity in economic activity by 2025 would add as much as $28 trillion to annual GDP, an amount equal to the combined economies of the United States and China. Confronting the barriers that keep women from being able to fully participate in their local markets is key to generating sustainable, economic growth. And this means not only expanding women's access to the financial system, but also, as cell phones become more and more available, expanding their access to new financial technology like mobile money. The Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act addresses barriers to women's economic inclusion in developing countries by requiring that all USAID strategies and projects and activities be shaped by a gender analysis and by expanding the agency's microenterprise assistance authorities to support small-and medium- sized women-owned businesses. This is critical as small- and medium- sized enterprises create four out of five new jobs in developing economies. So the bill is the result of the committee's extended focus on empowering women and girls through U.S. foreign policy, which has been the subject of five full committee hearings and other subcommittee hearings in recent Congresses. Our women's empowerment initiative has produced significant legislation including: the Girls Count Act of 2015, the Protecting Girls' Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act, and the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, among others. Mr. Speaker, I believe that we should invest our limited foreign assistance dollars wisely, and I have seen the good things that happen when we focus on empowering women. That is what this bill does, and I ask for my colleagues' support in helping to make it happen. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), chairwoman emeritus on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and I ask unanimous consent that she may control that time.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, as leaders gather at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit this week, it is important that we send a strong message of support and commitment for trans-Atlantic security. For more than six decades, the NATO alliance has promoted peace, freedom, and prosperity in Europe and the United States. Its continued strength is vital to America's national interests. Mr. Speaker, I've just returned from an important trip to the Nordic and Baltic regions, where I met with partners who are facing increasing pressure from Russia. Russia's naval vessels in the Baltic Sea are ratcheting up their aggression. Russian jets frequently violate Baltic airspace. Recently, Russia conducted its largest land based military exercises to date along the border with our Baltic allies, the ``ZAPAD'' exercises. General Pavel, Head of NATO's Military Committee, stated that the ZAPAD exercises appeared to be a ``serious preparation for big war,'' and raised concerns that Russia's lack of communication with NATO forces nearby greatly increased the possibility that human or technological error could cause skirmishes and lead to a full-scale conflict. After announcing its intention to increase collaboration and military exercises with U.S. Marines, Norway was directly threatened by Russian leaders that it would suffer ``consequences'' for that decision. And our allies in the region that are not formal members of NATO, Finland and Sweden, are also feeling the pressure. In fact, last year Sweden discovered that Russia had covertly stationed a submarine just off the coast of Stockholm. Russia has combined its traditional military with asymmetric hostile actions, including by leveraging energy supplies for political influence as well as increasing the frequency and scope of propaganda among minority populations to destabilize and weaken Eastern and Central European countries. House Resolution 256, authored by Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee, sends a strong message of support to our allies in the region that are confronted by this increasing pressure from Russia. Specifically, it condemns any threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of NATO allies and pledges that the U.S. will continue to maintain strong leadership and its commitments to the alliance. It condemns Russia's ongoing illegal occupation of Crimea and supports maintaining related U.S. sanctions on Russia until Ukraine's sovereignty over that region is restored. House Resolution 256 also calls for keeping related strong sanctions on Russia for its illegal and aggressive actions in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements which, among other things, calls for the full removal of Russian military equipment, as well as illegal armed groups, fighters and mercenaries from Ukrainian territory . . . This resolution also supports the U.S. European Deterrence Initiative program of military support to our Eastern European and Baltic allies, and calls on our European allies to make the promised investments in their individual, regional and collective defenses in accordance to the NATO guidelines for membership. Finally, this measure acknowledges the valuable contributions by Central and Eastern European allies to NATO's collective security and peace operations around the globe, such as ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. This is an important message to send to our allies at a critical moment in history. I encourage my colleagues to join me in support.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 256) expressing support for the countries of Eastern Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment to the text at the desk.

Mr. ROYCE of California. I have an amendment to the preamble at the desk.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5626) to amend the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to require the Secretary of State to report on intercountry adoptions from countries which have significantly reduced adoption rates involving immigration to the United States, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this measure. It is the Intercountry Adoption Information Act, H.R. 5626. Here in Congress, I have been honored, as has my friend here, Doug Collins, the author of this measure, to help bring families together through overseas adoptions. These children are deeply loved by American parents from all different backgrounds who give them incredible care and give them opportunity. Sadly, international adoptions do not always go as planned. Over the years, I have met with countless families who were matched with a child, bonded with that child, financially supported that child, only to have their child's adoption stalled or, worse, stopped completely due to policy changes in the child's birth country. Obviously, this is devastating, devastating to the child, devastating to the families involved. In September of 2013, President Joseph Kabila of Congo suspended exit permits for more than 1,000 children already adopted by international couples, mainly from the United States and France. These adoptions had already been approved by the Congolese courts. The children had been issued passports from their new countries. Parents had come to spend time with those children, but without the exit visas from the Congolese Government, they could not leave. The children could not leave. Families were forced to spend thousands of dollars, travel across oceans, and navigate foreign courts to fight to bring those adopted children home. Making matters worse, many children had serious medical issues. Tragically, I have to report to you that 25 died while stuck in this bureaucratic chokehold. They were living in horrid conditions, lacking the most basic care. Thankfully, through a coordinated push by the previous administration and Congress, hundreds of children in the DRC were freed to come home to the United States. It took multiple trips to get the job done. I personally traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to raise these issues at the highest levels of the Congolese Government. Within 60 days afterward, more than 400 children were released to their adoptive American families. But still, many children remain at risk worldwide. We do not know exactly how many children are waiting to be united with their families in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Intercountry Adoption Information Act introduced by our colleague from Georgia, Doug Collins, seeks to lessen this problem by enhancing the information available to families who are adopting. Those families wish to adopt overseas, and they need to know. They need to know the situation. This bill requires the State Department to include in its existing annual report information on countries that have enacted new laws or policies that would impact intercountry adoptions. This information would have been helpful, for example, when the Congo and Ethiopia imposed sweeping new policies that put a hold on adoptions for American families. With the passage of this legislation, families could see not only how many children are being adopted by American families from certain countries and how long these adoption proceedings are taking, but if the country has recently changed its laws or if policies have been changed by a head of state that could make adoption more difficult or shut it down completely. Just as importantly, this legislation would also require that the annual report include what positive steps the U.S. Government is taking to reduce the burdens or barriers on stalled adoptions to unite children with their families. I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the Intercountry Adoption Information Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), who is the author of this bill.

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

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me just thank my colleagues; the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Eliot Engel; as well as Congressman Collins, the author of this bill; and two other Members who worked hard on it, Congressman Kinzinger and Congressman Schneider. They made improvements to the legislation during markup. In closing, I urge my colleagues to support the Intercountry Adoption Information Act. I think it is very important. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 644) strongly condemning the slave auctions of migrants and refugees in Libya, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE of California. 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. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking Congresswoman Bass, the ranking member of our subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations. I thank her for authoring this important resolution, because modern-day slavery continues to devastate the lives of tens of millions of human beings around the world. The perpetrators of these dastardly, disgusting acts prey on the defenseless. They prey on those without power, including preying on young children. I think many of us have had an opportunity or a responsibility to work with survivors of human trafficking in our districts. I can tell you that one of the things that it taught me was the horror of trafficking lies not in statistics; it lies in stolen lives. These crimes are common for one reason: they are profitable and people get away with it. The International Labor Organization estimates that there is $150 billion in illegal profit made from forced labor each year, making human trafficking the third most valuable criminal enterprise on the planet and providing fuel to violent extremist organizations. Unfortunately, Libya has become a major center of human trafficking. The country continues to be a fractured and failed state. There is no government to control its territory. This vacuum, when combined with Libya's proximity to Europe, has made Libya the primary transit hub for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa attempting to reach Europe. Various bad actors, including extremist groups, have taken advantage, profiting from the unrest by mercilessly preying on migrants and refugees from some of the poorest and most war-torn countries in the world. News reports tell of people being forced to work without pay; others have shown people being sold at slave auctions in Libya. The resolution before us today rightfully condemns these dehumanizing acts and calls on all parties in Libya to investigate these crimes and to hold perpetrators accountable. It urges the United Nations to investigate and to impose sanctions against those responsible for these abuses, and it calls for greater access for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor and publicly report on refugees and migrants in Libya. Finally, the resolution calls on the administration to address these issues in a strategy to tackle Libya's political and security challenges, and to ensure that the Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report fully reflects the situation in Libya. The Government of National Accord in Tripoli has made some encouraging steps toward investigating some of these crimes, but all parties, nationally and internationally, must do more to stop this exploitation. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan resolution, which puts the House on record as standing against modern- day slavery and other forms of human trafficking in Libya. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. In closing, I thank the author of this measure. I thank Representative Karen Bass for her work on this resolution. She is the ranking member of our Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations. I also thank Ranking Member Engel for his work on this resolution. The world was shocked by the videos of the slave auctions in Libya. The videos are proof that slavery and human trafficking exist, despite efforts to eradicate these evils. The resolution before us now shines a light on this human trafficking in Libya. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2259, the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act. To serve in the United States Peace Corps is a worthy mission. The Peace Corps promotes cultural understanding and creates strong ties between volunteers and the communities they serve. I've often heard foreign leaders, particularly in Africa, reflect upon their own interactions with volunteers who taught English or helped establish a fishery in their village. And I've seen many returned volunteers become leaders in industry and government at home--including serving here in Congress. This bill is named after one of them, former Representative and returned Peace Corps volunteer Sam Farr. But serving in the Peace Corps also involves risk. Volunteers are expected to adapt to unfamiliar areas and customs. They may face political instability or crime. And they are exposed to countless infectious and tropical diseases, often without access to reliable care. Too often, we hear stories of Peace Corps volunteers suffering from debilitating illnesses that could have been prevented, falling victim to sexual assault without justice, or even dying. This is why the bill also is named for Nick Castle, a young Peace Corps volunteer who died while serving in China from a completely treatable illness. The bill before us today strengthens the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of the Peace Corps by enacting a number of important reforms. It requires disclosures that will enable aspiring volunteers to better understand the risk they will face before they are deployed. The Peace Corps is not for everyone. This legislation provides assurances to volunteers that qualified medical personnel will be accessible to them while serving overseas and here at home, should they experience a service-related injury or illness. And, importantly, it extends and expands upon a number of the provisions previously included in the Kate Puzey Act, which provides support to volunteers who have been victims of sexual assault. Earlier this year, the Senate unanimously passed a similar version of the legislation: We have been working closely with the House sponsors, the administration, advocacy groups and our colleagues in the Senate to ensure that this important legislation can be enacted without further delay. I would like to thank the lead sponsor in the House, Judge Poe, for his steadfast commitment throughout this process. I would also like to acknowledge the important work of the Committees on Education and the Workforce and Oversight and Government Reform, without whom we could not consider this bill today. I urge Members to support this bill.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the time that has been set aside here, and I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I have got to say at the outset, one of the great tragedies of the half a million deaths in Syria is that I think it was quite avoidable. If we think back to 7 years ago and how it started, it began with people marching in the streets of Damascus saying, ``peaceful, peaceful.'' Their goal was to try to get some element of human rights in a country in which people were being abducted and disappeared in these chambers where they were tortured and killed. We know a lot more now than we did at the time because of a brave military photographer by the name of Caesar, and Caesar brought those pictures out to the West, 55,000 of them. The way in which the regime conducted itself drove the population in Syria to react. And now, after 7 years of war, brutal war, the atrocities continue in Syria; and in many ways, after listening this morning to Caesar and seeing his photographs again, they are worse than they were. I say that because, as we speak, despite a ceasefire agreed to by Russia, the Assad regime, backed by Russian war planes and backed by the Iranian militia from neighboring Iran on the ground, is engaged in a brutal assault on southern Syria. They are engaged there, and more than 45,000 civilians have fled as Russian and regime forces have intensified their shelling and their air raids again on civilian populations. So yesterday alone, three hospitals were bombed. The United Nations has said that more Syrians were displaced in the first few months of this year than at any period in the last 7 years of war--the first few months of this year. This is happening as we speak. This is one of the children affected by this brutal campaign. The numbers are staggering. As I shared with you, there are over half a million Syrians that have been killed. Think for a minute about the families of those who are on the move trying to escape. Fourteen million Syrians have been displaced; tens of thousands remain in the regime's dungeons. That, for me, is the most horrifying aspect of this. It is because the regime will not, despite international pressure, change what it does within those dungeons, the same torture that was exposed to the world in the Caesar photos, in the 55,000 photos. And the horrific part of this--I don't know why totalitarian regimes do this, but they have a habit of taking the picture of every tortured, mangled body that they have killed and then numbering it with a number, and then number after number after number. It is now a process of civil society in Syria trying to figure out and tie these families together. And the population that was massacred, whether it is Shia or Sunni or Alawites or Christian, it is as though the regime knows no bounds in terms of its suspicions. It is like Joe Stalin's rampage when he decided, in the 1930s, to begin his process of eliminating anyone who could potentially be an opponent: take them in and put them to the torture. That is what is happening as we speak. And if the regime retakes southern Syria, thousands more will be detained and meet the same fate as those who are in those torture chambers today. So this morning, we had the honor of welcoming Caesar. Adam Kinzinger and I and other members of our committee had the opportunity once more to speak to the Syrian military defector who took those photos. Four years ago, he met with our committee in his first public appearance following his defection. Those photos gave us an eyewitness account of the Assad regime's horrific brutality. And today, Caesar provided new, chilling testimony about the Assad regime's attacks against the Syrian people. Industrial-scale torture, as I have told you, is being committed against thousands of detainees. And I will tell you, one picture that especially moved me showed a young woman. She was an architect in the city. She had had her eyes gouged out. She was tortured to death and her crime was that she had delivered food and humanitarian aid to individuals targeted by the Assad regime. As you know, the Blue Helmets in Syria who run into collapsing buildings in order to pull out victims, pull out civilians, they are nondenominational. These are people who volunteer, and they are frequently targeted. It is often those who are doing the rescuing who are targeted by that regime. Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, there can be no real peace in Syria as long as the Assad regime, as long as Assad, himself, remains in power. We need a strategy that, in the name of humanity, moves beyond Assad to achieve a political solution that will secure a lasting peace among all of the parties there. The House has twice passed legislation named after Caesar, sponsored by Ranking Member Eliot Engel and me, to impose sanctions on supporters of Syria's Assad regime, including sanctions on Iran and Russia, because that is where the materiel comes from. That is where the bombs come from. This legislation will help cut off funding that fuels Assad's war machine, and it gives our diplomats much-needed leverage in the political process. Additionally, the Caesar bill will support the prosecution of the regime's war criminals. This includes U.S. assistance for cases being tried around the world, many based on evidence in the Caesar file, such as the one recently filed by prosecutors in Germany. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Senate still has not acted on this critical legislation. It is time to sanction Assad. It is time to sanction his backers. It is time to hold war criminals accountable and give justice to victims. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to quickly move forward. Please move this legislation to help protect Syrian civilians. Again, I want to thank my colleague not only for his efforts and for his service to this country, including on the battlefield, but also for his service here today in the interest of humanity.

Mr. ROYCE of California

Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5841) to modernize and strengthen the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to more effectively guard against the risk to the national security of the United States posed by certain types of foreign investment, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE of California. 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. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr Hensarling), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time.