Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, tragically, religious persecution around the world continues. I thought I would give one example that we heard in our committee last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee, from ``Bozi,'' who is a young 20-year-old Yazidi woman from Iraq. She told us the story. She very bravely recounted her brutal captivity and the abuse she faced at the hands of ISIS. As we are talking about religious freedom, she explained that, in her village, the 700 men and boys were killed, including several of her brothers. One small brother survived because he had a bullet in his head and they thought he was dead. But, other than that, her family is all gone. She was bought by an American who had been recruited to ISIS about 4 years prior, she said. He bought 10 of the girls, sold 9, and kept her as a concubine. She recounted how he explained to her that, because she was a Yazidi, she was an infidel, in his mind, and she was a Pagan, in his mind; and, therefore, he had the right to enslave and rape and sell Yazidi women and children, and he does this. After about a year, she escaped. But she reported that there were about 3,000 girls and women in ISIS captivity, Yazidis, who faced the same fate that she faced while she was in that captivity. These crimes are just the latest outrage against people of faith which continues in so many parts of the world, whether it be against Yazidis or Christian minorities in the Middle East or the Baha'i in Iran or religious communities attempting to worship without official supervision by repressive regimes, for example, in Burma or in North Korea. Anti-Semitism also is on the rise, including in Europe. This legislation, which was passed unanimously by the Senate last week, will continue the good work of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Congress created this Commission as an independent Federal entity back in 1998. The reason it was created was because, while the fundamental freedom of religion was under siege around the world, it did not receive enough attention in U.S. foreign policy circles. This Commission is a body of experts who speak out on behalf of persecuted believers of any faith and push for accountability, accountability beyond what the State Department or the White House may view as diplomatically feasible. The Commission's independent voice remains critical today, as the State Department too often pushes religious freedom to the side. For example, the State Department's Ambassador at Large for religious freedom sat vacant for 2 years during the start of this administration and again for another 10 months before the appointment of the current Ambassador, Rabbi David Saperstein. And this year, after a 3-year lapse, the Department finally made the legally required designation of ``Countries of Particular Concern'' for religious freedom, 3 years of the State Department shirking its legal responsibility. But, as the Commission has found, another eight countries should also be placed on that list and were not placed on the list. Those countries include Vietnam, whose recent so-called amnesty of more than 18,000 prisoners included convicted murderers, convicted drug dealers, human traffickers. But what it did not include was prisoners of religious conscience, such as the Venerable Thich Quang Do of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. I have visited him under house arrest. They did not include Father Nguyen Van Ly, the Catholic priest who has been repeatedly beaten. These were not the people released. No. It was the human traffickers and the murderers. So this Commission is critical in calling out these abuses. This bill extends the authorization of the Commission for 4 more years and includes new strategic planning and transparency improvements in the act. This should ensure that the Commission's important work remains strongly bipartisan and represents the diverse American consensus on the importance of our first freedom: religious liberty. I want to thank Senators Corker and Cardin and their colleagues who worked to craft this bill, which received unanimous support in the other body. I also want to recognize the important work of the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the author of the House side reauthorization bill, who has been a legislative leader on religious freedom issues throughout his career. And, as always, I appreciate the cooperation of the ranking member, Mr. Eliot Engel of New York, and the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) in bringing this legislation to the floor today. So this bill, which has the unanimous support of the Senate and all nine current Commissioners, deserves our support also. With its passage, it goes to the President's desk. With his signature, it will ensure that freedom of religion under continuous threat from extremists and authoritarian governments remains front and center. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). He worked on the original authorization of the Religious Freedom Act, and he is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2078) to reauthorize the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and for other purposes.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of the National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on October 10. As we approach the commemoration of Taiwan's 104th National Day, it is appropriate that we take stock of the incredible progress Taiwan has made in recent decades. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and I am reminded that American servicemen stood side by side with servicemen from the Republic of China. From General Stilwell to the Flying Tigers, our two countries have a shared experience from that epic struggle, and today we share a commitment to democracy, rule of law, and human rights. Taiwan has consolidated its transition to a full-fledged representative democracy. Its success serves as an example of what can be built based on these principles, and that is why it is so important to strengthen the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. Mr. Speaker, one of the most important ways the U.S. can show support for Taiwan is to protect Taiwan's international space. As such, I support Taiwan's aspiration to be included in a second round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Taiwan is a responsible nation which abides by international laws and norms of conduct, and seeks to foster peace and contribute to aid efforts in a challenging region of the world. It is the U.S.'s tenth largest trading partner and Los Angeles County's fourth largest, and an obvious candidate for inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Given all the two-way trade and business between the U.S. and Taiwan, I actively supported Taiwan's entry into the Visa Waiver Program and passed legislation to make Taiwan an observer to the International Civil Aviation Organization. I am now supporting legislation for Taiwan to join INTERPOL as an observer to increase the safety and efficiency of our people and commerce. As Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have made the U.S.- Taiwan relationship a top priority. Last March, I led a seven member bipartisan congressional delegation to Taipei to reaffirm the U.S.- Taiwan relationship. It was my third visit in as many years. I am also proud to represent one of the largest Taiwanese American communities in the country. The community serves as a bridge of cultural, familial, and business ties to Taiwan and is at the heart of U.S.-Taiwan relations. On this important day, we reaffirm the strength of U.S.-Taiwan relations, and America's steadfast commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act which has underpinned the relationship for thirty-six years. We are committed to provide for Taiwan's self-defense, and I am dedicated to ensuring that we abide by our promise to provide the defense items to Taiwan that it needs. Today, I am honored to rise in support of our great friend, Taiwan. We join the people of Taiwan in the celebration of their National Day, recognize the shared strengths of the relationship, and salute the strong friendship between the U.S. and Taiwan.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Holding), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), a member of the Committee on Financial Services.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Harper), a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. ROYCE. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold).

Mr. ROYCE. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup).

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd), a member of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. ROYCE. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, consider the case of Anne Dammarell, a USAID worker who was posted in the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983. At 1 p.m. on April 18, a suicide bomber in a delivery van drove 2,000 pounds of explosives into the front door of our U.S. Embassy and the blast demolished the front of the building and caused the upper floors to collapse on top of each other. When that went off, she was eating lunch in the Embassy cafeteria until suddenly she awoke outside, covered in cement, with 19 bones broken. Sixty-three people were killed in that blast. Now we have a moral obligation to ensure that these judgments for these victims, which represent Iran's legal debt to the victims of its official policy of terrorism, are paid. There have been 90 such attacks on Americans, and this legislation helps us fulfill that moral obligation we have to our constituents and to all Americans. What I will share with you is that it is not going to work to release the $100 billion first, because that $100 billion goes into the hands of the IRGC. They are the ones who have taken over the companies in Iran as of 1979, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces and the Quds forces are the ones that carried out these attacks. So the only leverage we are going to have in this negotiation is if we pass legislation that says, first, you have got $20 billion in reserves. Start the process of paying the victims of that attack. If we don't get them paid now, if we don't get the survivors and the family members of those who were killed paid now, it will never happen later. But more importantly, at least we would do this. If we are going to give $100 billion out of escrow into the hands of the IRGC, what do you think they are going to do with it? They have already announced $20 billion in sales to Russia for fighter planes. They have already announced the money, $100 million, that they are going to give to Hezbollah. Why not at least get our own civilians paid the judgments that they earned up front? That is exactly what we did with the Lockerbie agreement. We were going to lift the sanctions or allow the return of the escrowed money to Libya. Right? $2.5 billion had to go to the victims and the family members killed in the Pan Am 103 bombing because of the judgment in U.S. courts. This needs to be done under that procedure. That is why this legislation is necessary. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of this bill. This is the Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act. I appreciate the work of the bill's author, Mr. Meehan of Pennsylvania. He has worked very hard on this. There are about 100 cosponsors in this House. On the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have made Iran the central focus of our work. As a matter of fact, we have had over 30 hearings and briefings so far on Iran and on the dangerous nuclear agreement that was struck with this state sponsor of terrorism. Madam Speaker, since coming to power in the late 1970s--well, 1979-- the Iranian regime has funded terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas and directed their operations. Now, the way they do that is they have a special force. It is called the Quds Force. It is headed up by General Soleimani. He is in charge of assassinations outside the country, assassinations of U.S. targets, by the way, besides other targets. Recently you will have heard of General Soleimani because--by the way, European sanctions are going to be lifted on him under this agreement, but you will have read or heard that he traveled--he traveled--to Moscow to meet with Putin. As a result of those meetings, you will notice the discussions about weapons coming from Russia into Syria into the hands of the Quds Forces. So we look at what he has done and what U.S. courts have done as a result. There have been 80 separate attacks on U.S. installations and U.S. individuals. We remember the 1983 bombing of the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut, the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Those two attacks killed 260 American servicemen and left their widows and left children to be raised by one parent. There are judgments that have been rendered that direct payment from Iran to these families, to the victims' families. Unfortunately, under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, even though this reward has been given, even though U.S. victims of state-sponsored terrorism got their day in court, and even though they have brought the suits in U.S. courts and had the right to collect these damages, Iran has not as of yet paid. U.S. courts have held Iran liable for the attacks carried out by its terrorist proxies when those attacks were orchestrated and paid for by the Iranian regime. The judgments that remain outstanding are $43.5 billion in unpaid damages for those 80 cases over the last decade and a half. In one case, $9 billion was awarded to the victims of the bombing of the marine barracks in 1983. Again, the Government of Iran was found responsible through lawful proceedings in a U.S. court. That judgment remains unpaid. Madam Speaker, the Obama administration during its negotiations with Iran did not seek for Iran to compensate the families of those whose lives were taken by Iranian terrorism despite these U.S. court judgments. That is very much in contrast with our past procedure. In the case of Libya, for example, a decade ago, when we reached that agreement with Libya, the U.S. secured the right or the demand that the Qadhafi regime compensate the victims of the attacks, such as the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. That was $2.5 billion. That was done. That is our procedure. Iran will soon obtain $100 billion, approximately, in unfrozen assets as well as immeasurable economic and financial benefits by escaping the sanctions regime and reintegrating into the global economy. Iran will get sanctions lifted and American victims will still be out in the cold. That is not right. This legislation would address that injustice. It is straightforward. It would say that, of the $100 billion and some in sanctions relief, those judgments will be paid out of that. That $43 billion will be paid to the survivors of those families of those 80 attacks orchestrated, paid for, by Iran. I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC, September 30, 2015. Hon. Edward R. Royce, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing with respect to H.R. 3457, the ``Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act,'' which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. H.R. 3457 involves issues that fall within Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. As a result of your having consulted with the Committee and in order to expedite the House's consideration of H.R. 3457, the Committee on Ways and Means will not assert its jurisdictional claim over this bill by seeking a sequential referral. However, this is conditional on our mutual understanding and agreement that doing so will in no way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the Committee with respect to the appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matters contained in the bill or similar legislation. I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming this understanding with respect to H.R. 3457, and would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be included in the Congressional Record during Floor consideration of H.R. 3457. Sincerely, Paul D. Ryan, Chairman.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 449, I call up the bill (H.R. 3457) to prohibit the lifting of sanctions on Iran until the Government of Iran pays the judgments against it for acts of terrorism, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to submit extraneous materials on this measure.

Mr. ROYCE. The administration is arguing, Mr. Speaker, that although the Iranian regime has access to over $20 billion and that this judgment is $43 billion, there isn't enough money there to make payment. In addition to the 20-some billion, Iran is in the process right now of negotiation and paying and supporting in transfers to other regimes. For example, a report out this week says Iran is purchasing $21 billion of airplanes and satellites from Russia. That is $21 billion. Iran somehow has the money to do that, but it doesn't have the money for this claim. A report out about a month ago says that Iran's annual support for Hezbollah is over $100 million per year. Somehow they have got the spending cash for that. It is providing the Syrian regime, one estimate of one of the think tanks here in town is that they have provided them a little over $10 billion a year. So Iran somehow has the discretionary money for these other purposes, but not for the purpose of the judgments won in U.S. court for over 1,000 victims or family members of the victims of their attacks. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and author of this bill.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Costello).

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.