Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6297) to reauthorize the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. Before yielding to the gentlewoman, I do want to express this body's special appreciation for the work of my predecessor's, Ms. Ros- Lehtinen--our chairman emeritus--because Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's foresight and legislative work in prior Congresses, as the author of those measures, is what put into place the statutory sanctions regime upon which we continue to rely; so I thank her for that underlying legislation.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I will reserve the right to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Mr. Engel for his help in bringing this bill to the floor during the 114th Congress. The ranking member and I have been to this floor debating Iran many, many times. For most all of it, we agreed. For some of it, we didn't. But we never doubted each other's sincere views or motives and always conducted the debate in the tradition that is befitting of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and this House. Mr. Speaker, since it was first passed 20 years ago, the Iran Sanctions Act has been at the center of the U.S. response to the threat posed by the Iranian regime. Despite the Obama administration's dangerous nuclear deal, this law remains critical to U.S. efforts to counter the full range of Iran's malicious activity. This law will expire at the end of the year if Congress does not pass an extension, denying future administrations a critical tool. Its expiration would compound the damage done by the President's dangerous nuclear deal and send a message that the United States will no longer oppose the destructive role of Iran in the Middle East; and that is why we are acting today to provide clear statutory authority to reimpose or snap back many of the most powerful sanctions on Iran's energy industry if the regime rushes toward a nuclear weapon. I look forward to putting this bill on the President's desk for his signature before the end of the 114th Congress and then returning next year to work with Mr. Engel, to work with a new administration, to work with all the members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs as the United States and our allies confront the growing aggression of the Iranian regime. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. 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

Mr. ROYCE. 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. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. From Syria to Afghanistan to Sudan, armed conflicts are raging all over this globe, and efforts to negotiate their ends are more important now than ever. We know that when women are included in these discussions that we are much more likely to see an enduring peace. As a witness at our hearing on women's participation explained: including women is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. The legislation before us today will strengthen U.S. efforts to promote the inclusion of women in peace negotiations in order to create more sustainable agreements and reduce that likelihood that we have seen over and over and over again of a return to conflict. I take this moment to thank Representatives Noem and Schakowsky for their bipartisan work on this measure. I also want to mention a few staff members who have not only worked on our series of focusing month after month on empowering women in negotiations, but on issues beyond that--human trafficking. I especially want to thank Jessica Kelch, Janice Kaguyutan, Renee Munasifi, and Elizabeth Cunningham. I thank them all for their efforts throughout the years on these issues. As we close, I really urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), the author of this bill.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, first of all, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel). He is the ranking member of this committee, but he has also been the leader in authorizing this critical legislation and also has been such a prophetic voice on this subject of Syria policy from the beginning, from that first day when we saw people out, on CNN, out on the streets in Damascus, saying, ``peaceful, peaceful,'' only to see the automatic weapons of the regime open up on those citizens. From that day forward, he has tried to focus us on this issue. I wish this body and I wish the White House had done more to heed his calls, for what we have now is a grim lesson, a grim lesson in human suffering. The Syrian regime has launched wave after wave after wave of unrelenting destruction, and I am talking about the airstrikes, the chemical weapons, the starvation, the industrial-scale torture, and the deliberate targeting, as we have seen time and time again, of hospitals and of schools and of marketplaces with precision bombs, and then with crude barrel bombs, and then with chemical weapons. These are the hallmarks of life for millions of people in Syria. The number of dead from this alone exceeds 450,000, and another 14 million souls have been driven from their homes. ISIS plays a role, also, for the people of Syria in the violence that they face there, and so it is that they face this twin challenge. But it is Bashar al-Assad and his backers that have this instrument of death from the air, this capacity. It is Russia, it is Iran and Hezbollah who now are the primary drivers of the death and the destruction. It is the Russian and Syrian fighter planes, helicopters, that drop these bombs on these hospitals and schools. It is Hezbollah, and it is the IRGC fighters from Iran and the commanders who besiege cities, who burn the crops and prevent food and water and medical supplies from reaching cities. It is Assad's secret police and intelligence groups, the intelligence apparatus of maybe 14 different agencies, who kidnap and then torture and then get new names from those they have killed and then go out to repeat that process and murder civilians from every ethnic group and every political party. Whether Sunni or Shia or Christian or Alawite, none are safe. We have gone through, in the committee, some of the--well, there were tens of thousands of photographs, but I think we have identified 11,000 souls, people in these photographs that were individually killed, tortured and killed in the prisons, Assad's prisons. And there is this bizarre--I have never understood it--this bizarre focus on recording every death. That is why we know the numbers, recording the death and putting a number on that body and cataloging this. For some reason, totalitarian regimes have done this from the Soviet era to the Nazis to Pol Pot; and for whatever reason, this practice continues. The Foreign Affairs Committee heard the agonizing testimony from Syrians caught in this horror, including the brave Syrian defector known to the world now as Caesar and for whom this bill is named, who testified to us of the shocking scale of torture being carried out within the prisons of Syria. It was his job for the regime to document this with his camera. Throughout all of the suffering, the administration has failed to use the tools at its disposal. Time after time, when given the opportunity to take steps to stop this suffering, the administration has decided not to decide; and that, itself, unfortunately, has set a course where here we sit and we watch, and the violence only worsens. Mr. Speaker, America has been sitting back and watching these atrocities for far too long. Vital U.S. national security interests are at stake, and from increased humanitarian aid to serious, increased assistance to the moderate opposition, to safe zones, to the application of U.S. economic power, there are options available. These options are available to us. This particular legislation is designed to increase the cost to Assad and to his outside backers by targeting the sectors of the economy that allow Assad to murder with impunity. Under the bill, foreign companies and banks will have to choose between doing business with that regime that is carrying out these kinds of practices or with the United States. For there to be peace in Syria, the parties must come together. And as long as Assad and his backers can slaughter the people of Syria with no consequences, there is no hope for peace. Mr. Speaker, this bill is long overdue. I urge all Members to support this legislation as we seek to ease the suffering of the Syrian people. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC, September 15, 2016. Hon. Jeb Hensarling, Chairman, Committee on Financial Services, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Hensarling: Thank you for consulting with the Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 5732, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2016, so that the bill may proceed expeditiously to the House floor. I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives on this resolution or similar legislation in the future. I would support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate conference on this legislation. I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 5732 into the Congressional Record during floor consideration of the resolution. I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward to continuing to work together as this measure moves through the legislative process. Sincerely, Edward R. Royce, Chairman.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5732) to halt the wholesale slaughter of the Syrian people, encourage a negotiated political settlement, and hold Syrian human rights abusers accountable for their crimes, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee responsible not only for Africa, but also for global human rights issues.

Mr. ROYCE

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank Representative Smith for introducing this important measure and for being a longtime champion on African issues. I again want to thank Mr. Eliot Engel for his forceful communication when we were in Congo on that issue. Frankly, we have had the opportunity to talk to Joseph Kabila in the past. He wouldn't meet with us on this trip, although we were able to meet with the other representatives of the government, as Mr. Engel has laid out. But if I could talk to Joseph Kabila, what I would share with him is that we should not forget that Nelson Mandela made that decision himself to step down after a single term--after a single term--despite his immense popularity as President. And far from ending his career, his decision represented a transition toward continentwide public service. He became the mediator in African conflicts. He became a prominent voice on health and other issues. Mr. Speaker, you have seen this as well. I think that President Mandela's choice to step down just as much as his personal struggle, the personal struggle that Nelson Mandela went through, the combination of those two factors is what allowed him to continue to exert strong moral and diplomatic influence not only in his home country, but across Africa and across the world. If Joseph Kabila would reflect on that by way of example--because, tragically, too many leaders around this globe have failed to heed the wisdom of Nelson Mandela and other staged statesmen of different places and different times, but in this country we go back to George Washington--the result of heeding that, the result of violating the law in one's country, the result of clinging on to power when the constitution says no and canceling elections when the constitution calls for those elections, is to result in negative consequences not just for the government and the people, but, frankly, negative consequences for their own standing as human beings as well. So there is that possibility for President Kabila to move forward, to do the right thing. That is what we call upon him to do. That is our request. It is not too late for President Kabila and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to change course. This resolution supports those seeking an orderly transfer of power in this important country on the African continent. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, and author of this resolution.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 780) urging respect for the constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the democratic transition of power in 2016, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the attached letters between myself and the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence regarding House Concurrent Resolution 891, expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon, and for other purposes. House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Washington, DC, September 27, 2016. Hon. Ed Royce, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Royce: On September 26, 2016, H. Res. 891, ``Expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon, and for other purposes,'' was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition, to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In order to expedite the House's consideration of the resolution, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will forego consideration of the measure. This courtesy is, however, conditioned on our mutual understanding and agreement that it will in no way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the Permanent Select Committee with respect to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matter contained in the resolution or any similar measure. I would appreciate your response to this letter confirming this understanding and would request that you include a copy of this letter in any committee report for the resolution and in the Congressional Record during its floor consideration. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Sincerely, Devin Nunes, Chairman.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous materials they might want to include on this bill.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would make the point that, as we talk about whether Iran took possession of this money in cash or by check, that transaction is immaterial. I understand the argument here, but let me explain why I do not think that holds true with respect to the process here. There are other options that could have been followed, that have been followed by the international community when payment is made. For example, the administration could have held the funds in an escrow account overseas, verified that the end recipients of the funds were, in Iran, not sanctioned entities, like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. By providing cash, the administration is doing the work for the Iranians that they need done in terms of preparatory work for money laundering. That is the problem. That is the problem with the way this was done. Cash transactions, in and of themselves, raise serious terrorism financing risks, according to the Financial Action Task Force; and that is the official body, international body, that sets the global standards for preventing money laundering and is most focused on stopping terror finance. What they say, again, is that the physical cross-border transportation of currency is the main method used to move illicit funds, to launder money, and to finance terrorism. That is why we want to cut off cash. These risks are particularly acute here because the State Department has identified Iran as the leading state sponsor of terrorism and as the country that is actively supporting terrorist organizations with cash, such as Hezbollah, Hamas as well, and then also assisting Syrian President Assad in his murderous assault on civilians. So that is the first point I would make. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Young), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin), whose helpful amendment to this bill was adopted during the Committee on Foreign Affairs' markup.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I raise this issue because, on three occasions now, we have had the transfer of pallets of cash to the Government of Iran, and this legislation would make certain that that does not happen again. The reason we do not want to pay cash to the Government of Iran has to do with all of the efforts that the international community has put into trying to track the conduct of that regime, which is a primary money laundering concern for the international financial community, and for the fact that particular government in Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been the primary source of cash support for Hamas in the past and also today for Hezbollah. We could add to that the work of the IRGC in trying to get parts for their ballistic missile program as their agents are out and about Europe trying to buy this equipment. It is not in the interest of the United States to have the regime have cold, hard cash. So this legislation would put an end to that. As the Members of the House will recall, the President announced in January that the United States would pay Iran $1.7 billion to settle a dispute involving a 1979 arms deal. This payment came out of the blue. From the start, by the way, Iranian military commanders were saying that a hostage exchange, which I think most of us originally assumed, was going to be nine prisoners who were in the process of being convicted in the United States, of Iranian nationality, were going to be exchanged for the four hostages, the four Americans, that Iran was holding. Yet, from the beginning, as this was announced, you saw the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps speaking to this issue saying there was going to be a transfer of cash. Basically, there was going to be a ransom payment here in exchange for letting the Americans go. Well, it turns out that, after months of pressing from the Foreign Affairs Committee and the media, the Obama administration finally admitted that it had ignored the concerns from the Justice Department. Now, what was the Justice Department's concerns? It had to do with the way in which the payment was being made. It had to do with the transfer of cash. As the Justice Department said, there is a longstanding U.S. policy against this process. Why? Because when you do so, you can expect to get more of the same kind of action from a state like Iran. Indeed, once the $1.7 billion in these three tranches of cash were paid, the result, after the release of Americans held hostage in Iran and after they announced in Iran that this was linked to these pallets of cash, then they took three more American hostages. They detained three more Americans and held them, plus a Canadian, plus a Frenchman, and a Brit. So, not surprisingly, I guess, Iran is continuing in this behavior. I think now the administration claims also that cash was the only way they could do this particular transaction, but that is simply not true. It could have permitted a transaction to go through the international financial system. How do we know this? Because they were making other payments through the international financial system to Iran as sanctions were being lifted through the proper procedure there. Just this week, the Treasury Department confirmed that other recent transactions with Iran were conducted through traditional banking channels. I think the reason this was done in pallets of cash, in my opinion, was because that is what the Iranians were demanding. The reason I think that is because that is what they are saying in terms of their television coverage of this. So the administration did choose to deliver $1.7 billion in untraceable assets to Iran's radical regime. And that is problematic when the international body charged with developing policies to combat money laundering and combat terrorism financing tells us that, in their words, physical transportation of currency is one of the main methods used to move criminal assets, to launder money, and--to me, most importantly--to ``finance terrorism.'' I believe that, again, that is why the Iranian regime wanted the cash. It is not a coincidence to me that the desire for cash comes just as this committee's legislation to crack down on banks that finance Hezbollah is having an impact. What kind of an impact? We have made it very, very hard for those in Hezbollah and Hamas to now get their hands on the support that previously had come through Iran. Iran and its proxies need cash, and we should not be transferring it to them. So this legislation, which passed out of the Foreign Affairs Committee last week, has two core elements: One, it prohibits future cash payments for any reason to Iran. And, two, it demands transparency and advanced notification of any future settlements related to the U.S.-Iran Hague Tribunal so that the Congress is not surprised again. It poses a fundamental question: Are we comfortable providing Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism that is fueling a bloodbath in Syria, with billions of dollars in cash that they can turn around and funnel to the Assad regime, to Hezbollah, and to Hamas? I think, for all Members, the answer to that question is clear. I would urge an ``aye'' vote on this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, regretfully, I will be opposing the substitute. As Members of the House know, it is unusual for the two of us to be at odds. In working together, we have a long track record of success: 14 bills this session, 18 in the last session. Just yesterday, the House sent to the President's desk bipartisan legislation, which was authored by me and Ranking Member Engel, to crack down on the illegal trafficking of wildlife; but here we have a disagreement. Sending pallets of cash is bad policy. This bill fixes the problem. I oppose the substitute and urge the passage of the underlying measure. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet on Monday, September 26, 2016, when it shall convene at noon for morning-hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Clerk be authorized to make technical corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 5931.