Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 5421. This is the National Securities Exchange Regulatory Parity Act. If you go back to 1996, as part of the National Securities Market Improvement Act, Congress acted to exempt the listed securities on three specific stock exchanges from State-by-State registration. Why was that exemption important? You can ask anyone from Massachusetts who tried to invest in a little company called Apple during its December 1980 IPO. State regulators banned Apple stock for sale to the public for, in the view of State regulators, being too risky. Congress passed a good bill in 1996, but we got one thing wrong. We couldn't predict the future. Today, only two of the original three exchanges exist, and many more, many more exchanges have joined the fray. The SEC's interpretation of the law has, in fact, created a two- tiered legal structure by giving this blue-sky exemption exclusively to the original three named exchanges. The bill before us today simply gives all national securities exchanges equal treatment under the law. We give an immediate exemption to securities listed on a national securities exchange registered with the SEC and whose listing standards have already been approved by the Commission, and we ask the SEC to engage in a rulemaking to establish minimum core quantitative standards for any new exchanges that register with the Commission after the bill's enactment. With so many regulatory impediments to capital formation, it is important we encourage new exchanges to become listing venues and a source of capital for companies looking to go public, looking to expand, and looking to hire more workers. So I want to thank Ranking Member Maxine Waters. I also want to thank her staff for working with us to get this bill to the floor. I also want to thank my good friend from New York, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, for her constructive additions to the bill since committee markup. Finally, I would like to thank Chairman Hensarling and his able staff, Rebekah Goshorn and Kevin Edgar, for all of their hard work. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I urge an ``aye'' vote. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment to the preamble at the desk.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from further consideration of House Resolution 374, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following exchange of letters with the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary regarding S. 2845, the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Extension Act of 2016. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC, June 29, 2016. Hon. Ed Royce, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Royce: I am writing with respect to S. 2845, the ``Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Extension Act of 2016,'' which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary. As a result of your having consulted with us on provisions in S. 2845 that fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary, I agree to discharge our committee from further consideration of this bill so that it may proceed expeditiously to the House floor for consideration. The Judiciary Committee takes this action with our mutual understanding that by foregoing consideration of S. 2845 at this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over subject matter contained in this or similar legislation and that our committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as this bill or similar legislation moves forward so that we may address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. Our committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate conference involving this or similar legislation, and asks that you support any such request. I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming this understanding with respect to S. 2845, and would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be included in the Congressional Record during Floor consideration of S. 2845. Sincerely, Bob Goodlatte, Chairman.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Global Food Security Act. The Global Food Security Act, led by Representatives Smith and McCollum, establishes very clear priorities for and enhances the transparency of existing, yet unauthorized, food security and disaster assistance programs. What this does is it authorizes, for the first time in 30 years, International Disaster Assistance, the essential humanitarian account that provides everything from tents and sheeting to water and medicine for people afflicted by conflict and hit by natural disasters around the globe. It authorizes, for the first time, the Emergency Food Security Program, which is the flexible, efficient, and effective food aid program that helps refugees when and where they need it most so they won't be forced to seek refuge in Europe or beyond. Finally, with an eye toward the future, it advances policies which will improve food security, stimulate economic growth, and better enable people to grow their own way out of poverty so they will no longer have to depend upon U.S. foreign assistance. It does this without increasing spending, Mr. Speaker. The legislation before us is the product of more than 3 years of careful deliberation and inclusive negotiations. The Foreign Affairs Committee has held multiple hearings on food security. We marked and reported not one, but two earlier versions, H.R. 5656 and H.R. 1567. The House passed each of these bills with broad bipartisan support. I want to thank our ranking member, Mr. Eliot Engel of New York, for his assistance in all of this work. This bill, S. 1252, maintains all of the provisions the House previously approved, while filling a critical gap. By adding International Disaster Assistance and the Emergency Food Security Program, S. 1252 brings the bill full cycle and enables Congress to conduct effective oversight of the full range of international food security programs from disaster to resilience, to development, to trade. At the same time, it adds even more transparency requirements so that we can eliminate duplication and we can eliminate the waste. So I want to thank Mr. Smith also for his leadership on this important legislation, and I urge Members to help get it to the President's desk without further delay. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 8 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. ROYCE. That is correct. The rule of construction under section 9 of the Global Food Security Act--which was carefully negotiated with the chairman of the House and Senate Committees on Agriculture, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations--applies equally to all parts of the bill. This includes section 7, which authorizes the existing International Disaster Assistance-funded Emergency Food Security Program.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1252) to authorize a comprehensive strategic approach for United States foreign assistance to developing countries to reduce global poverty and hunger, achieve food and nutrition security, promote inclusive, sustainable, agriculturalled economic growth, improve nutritional outcomes, especially for women and children, build resilience among vulnerable populations, and for other purposes.

Mr. ROYCE. Correct. The committee has conferred with the Government Accountability Office and received its confirmation that ``notwithstanding authority'' cannot migrate to other provisions of law. For example, funds provided to carry out the Food for Peace Act are subject to the requirements of the Food for Peace Act and funds provided to carry out the International Disaster Assistance/Emergency Food Security Program are subject to the requirements of the Foreign Assistance Act. Neither the funds nor the authorities for these programs are interchangeable.

Mr. ROYCE. Yes. Through the Food for Peace program, the United States has reached more than a billion people around the globe in times of need, reducing poverty and improving food security in the process. American farmers are rightfully proud of this legacy. Unfortunately, ever-growing world crises have stressed our international food aid, leading us to look to new approaches that will help us stretch our food aid dollars further and, ultimately, save more lives. The Global Food Security Act authorizes one of these approaches--the International Disaster Assistance/Emergency Food Security Program--to provide electronic transfers, vouchers, and locally procured food to help desperate people meet their needs in the wake of disasters or war. This program is meant to complement, not replace, time-tested approaches to delivering food aid, including the Food for Peace program. Like the gentleman from Texas, I have had an opportunity to see how the Emergency Food Security Program works in places like Jordan, where humanitarian organizations are working to meet the needs of Syrian refugees. While the world may be changing rapidly, one thing will never change: the American farmer will always play a significant role in promoting food security at home and abroad. U.S. agricultural commodities will always be in demand and will always remain a part of the Food for Peace program. While the two of us may differ on the specific degree to which they should be, I have no doubt that this principle will be reflected in the next farm bill. In the meantime, I would like to thank the gentleman from Texas for his continued leadership on this issue, including his efforts to ensure that the vast expertise and experience of the U.S. agriculture community will be fully leveraged through the Global Food Security Act. I look forward to continuing our close collaboration on these important matters, and I appreciate his support for this important legislation.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the link between conflict and hunger is undeniable. Mr. Engel and I recently traveled to Sub-Saharan Africa to a drought- stricken region, Ethiopia, where more than 10.2 million people are on the verge of what I would designate as ``starvation,'' yet no one really used that word or used the word ``famine'' because of the concern that it might provoke a coup. But the reality is that this is the situation on the ground. And at the same time, massive humanitarian disasters in Syria and Yemen, in South Sudan, have sparked these massive refugee flows. They threaten regional security. All told, there are currently 800 million people suffering from chronic hunger, and over 60 million people displaced by conflict, who desperately need our help. It is in our national security and economic interest to help address these needs, to meet humanitarian needs while supporting the growth of healthier, more stable societies through cost-effective programs that promote agriculture-led economic growth, that open markets for U.S. investment and trade, that promote food and nutrition security, and, ultimately, that break the cycle of dependence on aid. The Global Food Security Act can help. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to 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.

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 on the bill.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Smart investments and development can help support growth of healthier, more stable societies, open markets that can generate consumers of U.S. goods. It can create opportunities for people there and for U.S. businesses to grow. But unwise investments can have the exact opposite effect. This bill will give us the tools we need to make our foreign aid programs more smart and wise, and I strongly support this bill. I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 3766, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, and I would like to thank Judge Ted Poe, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, for his years of dedication to this important issue. Effective U.S. foreign assistance can help advance the diplomatic, economic, and national security interests of the United States, and it can help support the growth of healthier, more stable societies. It can provide alternatives to extremism. It can combat global health threats, foster self-sufficiency, and open new markets to U.S. trade and investment. But it can also be wasted, as it has many times, and that is why making U.S. foreign assistance as efficient and effective as possible has been a central focus of the Foreign Affairs Committee. This is no easy task. There are more than 20 Federal departments and agencies delivering food aid. Too many of them do not share our interest in transparency, accountability, and results. Too often, the importance of an agency is measured by the amount of resources it controls and not by its positive impact. Unfortunately, the success of initiatives are too often measured by ``things delivered,'' like bed nets, instead of ``program outcomes,'' like malaria infections averted and lives saved. As long as our foreign aid agencies and organizations are allowed to operate beyond scrutiny, nothing will change. Congress needs the tools to break down these barriers to effective aid. We need to help U.S. foreign aid agencies and organizations improve coordination, identify duplication, eliminate waste, and learn from experience, and this bill will help. The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act will establish tough standards for monitoring and evaluation. It will ensure that many Federal departments and agencies that implement these programs, all of them, coordinate, rather than duplicate, their efforts and then apply the lessons learned. And it will require these agencies to publish foreign assistance data on a consolidated Web site so we can better track investments against results. This bill is the result of years of consultation and collaboration between Congress, experts, and advocates, and I want to again thank Judge Poe as well as Representative Connolly for their steadfast work and leadership in bringing this important measure before us today. I also thank our ranking member, Eliot Engel of New York. I would urge Members to support this bill and get it to the President's desk without further delay. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the events taking place on the Greek island of Crete, where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has called a historic meeting of Orthodox Christian Churches. This meeting, known as the Holy and Great Council, is the first of its kind in over a millennium. The fourteen Orthodox Christian Churches together have over 300 million followers around the world, including over a million Americans. These churches are self-governing but united by common dogma, faith, liturgy, and moral conviction, with the Ecumenical Patriarch serving as the ``first among equals.'' Three hundred and fifty leaders will attend this meeting, which is set to begin on Sunday and continue through June 26. They will discuss key issues facing Orthodox Christians, including the church's mission in today's world, the Orthodox diaspora, and relations with other Christian churches. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was elected in October 1991 as the 270th Archbishop of his 2000-year-old Church. He holds numerous doctorates, including from Georgetown and Yale, and was awarded a Gold Medal by Congress in 1997. The Patriarch has a record of reaching out and working for peace and reconciliation among all faiths and has fostered dialogue among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Patriarch organized a gathering of religious leaders including Muslim Imams to condemn the attacks as an anti-religious act. Mr. Speaker, the over one million Orthodox Christians in the United States represent diverse backgrounds and cultures. I join them in celebrating this historic meeting.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. This is the United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act. It is authored by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), the committee's ranking member. As always, I appreciate him working closely with Chairman Emeritus Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to ensure this legislation's swift passage. These two Members have been particularly committed to developments in our Southern Hemisphere. For over a decade, Caribbean nations have received subsidized Venezuelan oil in exchange for their support of the authoritarian government of Hugo Chavez and now Nicolas Maduro. However, subsidized Venezuelan oil has done nothing to help the Caribbean address their need for a diversified energy strategy and instead has kept much of the region beholden to the Venezuelan strongmen. With Venezuela's inflation rate expected to rise to 500 percent this year, fueled partially by the low price of oil, the nations of the Caribbean have seen a marked decrease in oil shipments. Meanwhile, years of authoritarian socialism are coming to a head in Venezuela, as the political and economic crisis there threatens almost certain implosion. This presents an important responsibility here, a responsibility for the United States to finally develop a comprehensive strategy on how best to engage nations of the Caribbean diplomatically, how to help the region improve energy security, how to reduce violence and drug trafficking, and advance cooperation with regional governments on democracy and human rights in international organizations, particularly in the Organization of American States, as we know it, the OAS. So this legislation, authored by Eliot Engel, will require the State Department and USAID to develop that comprehensive and clear strategy on how best to engage the Caribbean region, and it also requires the Government Accountability Office to evaluate the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative so that we can be sure we are truly advancing our interests in the region using the best and most efficient approach. During this time of competing priorities and limited resources, this bill seeks to ensure that our government is not neglecting this key region so close to our shores; and, frankly, it is in our hemisphere, so we should not neglect it while developing a strategy that ensures the effectiveness of our diplomatic engagement with each Caribbean nation. I once again thank the author, Ranking Member Engel, for his leadership and attention to the Western Hemisphere and thank Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for her commitment as well, specifically to the Caribbean Basin. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time and yield the remainder of my time to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and ask unanimous consent that she be allowed to manage that 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 on this bill.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4939) to increase engagement with the governments of the Caribbean region, the Caribbean diaspora community in the United States, and the private sector and civil society in both the United States and the Caribbean, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The scourge of illegal organ trafficking has been pretty well documented, and you heard, here, Congressman David Trott explain the fatwa that has now been put out by ISIS that not only excuses the effort to go after Yazidis and Christians and others that they call apostates, but all captives are open to losing a kidney or forced organ transplant. The intention here is to make a market in this in the Middle East. But it does not just occur there, within the boundaries of ISIS' caliphate. This is a crime that reportedly occurs in some 20 countries, in all regions of the world. So I thank Mr. Trott and Mr. Deutch for introducing this legislation. I also thank Mr. Engel, and I want to commend Sarah Blocher of the Committee on Foreign Affairs professional staff for years of excellent work on this issue and her assistance to the authors. The STOP Organ Trafficking Act addresses a critical challenge to human rights, to our national security, to our public health, and it deserves our unanimous support. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Trott and Mr. Deutch for introducing this important bill. The concept here is to combat the horrific crime of human trafficking for organ removal. And, as always, I appreciate the support of the ranking member, Mr. Eliot Engel, in moving this antitrafficking bill forward. As hard as it is for us to accept this, as shocking as this is, the circumstances are such that rising global demand and a lack of adequate laws in many countries has fueled the growth of a worldwide black market for transplant organs. The World Health Organization estimates that 10 percent of all transplanted organs worldwide are illegally obtained. That would mean that they were being coerced from vulnerable populations or forcibly harvested from prisoners. Often these prisoners are shot first in order to obtain organs, such as hearts, corneas, or lungs. They are taken from hostages. They are taken from oppressed minorities. An example would be kidneys or part of a liver. These abuses are more than just grave human rights violations. They also have worldwide implications for national security and public health. What do we mean when we say implications for national security? Well, criminal organizations and terrorist groups are increasingly engaging in this black market industry that is valued now at a billion dollars. To give you some of the most extreme examples: ISIS recently issued a fatwa sanctioning forced organ harvesting from captives and, as they call them, from apostates; and traffickers smuggling refugees into Europe have reportedly coerced organ donations, coerced a kidney as payment for travel. A number of studies have underscored how this shady commerce also creates biosecurity threats to the rest of the world. Recipients of infected tissue or organs may become human carriers of disease. Or another problem is drug-resistant pathogens that contribute to the spread of pandemics and antibiotic resistance. Now, the U.S. has led the fight against human trafficking, and I would add, with help from the Foreign Affairs Committee, with help from the legislation that we, our members on the committee, have authored. This bill continues and expands that effort, and it does so by closing the gap in U.S. law that currently fails to recognize the trafficking in persons for the removal of their organs as a form of human trafficking. Specifically, this bill also makes it the policy of the United States to combat such trafficking, to promote the adoption of effective voluntary organ donation systems in bilateral engagements and multinational health forums that we have with other countries. And it requires an annual report to Congress, an annual report on human trafficking for organ removal, which details activities by our State Department and by other countries to combat this crime. Finally, the bill allows for the revocation of passports from any individual that is involved in this kind of activity, that is convicted of an organ trafficking offense under the National Organ Transplant Act, as well as permitting the denial of visas to applicants with such convictions. So I urge all Members to support this important measure. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Trott), who is the author of this bill.