Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin), a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 1191) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that emergency services volunteers are not taken into account as employees under the shared responsibility requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold), a member of the Committee on Financial Services, a cosponsor of the bill, and someone who has been relentless in warning about the threat of Iran and Hezbollah.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that debate under clause 1(c) of rule XV on a motion to suspend the rules relating to H.R. 1191 be extended to 1 hour.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, today, April 30th, marks the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to honor more than 58,000 American service men and women who lost their lives in the war, to honor the Vietnam veterans, and to honor the Vietnamese armed forces who fought alongside us to defend freedom, liberty, and democracy. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. However, just as we remember those brave men and women, we should also recognize the millions of Vietnamese refugees that arrived in the United States following the fall of South Vietnam. Uprooted in a refugee crisis of enormous proportions, these Vietnamese have become an integral part of our society. I take great pride in representing a part of Orange County's thriving Vietnamese-American community, and I have witnessed the community's growth over the years. Having represented ``Little Saigon,'' I saw much of this growth up close. I have seen the community grow not only economically but politically as well. Janet Nguyen--who as a five year old left Vietnam by boat--has risen to California State Senate in 2014. Her story of success exemplifies this generation of Vietnamese Americans. I am sorry to say, however, that in the 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War, much work remains to be done. Political, religious and economic freedoms have been systematically squashed. This is a government that continues to deny citizens of Vietnam the right to change their government. When I visited Vietnam, I saw firsthand the Communist Party's harassment of those Vietnamese citizens who decided to peacefully set forth dissenting political and religious views. When I met with the venerable Thich Quang Do and Le Quang Liem, I was immediately denounced by that Communist government. The Vietnamese-American community has not lost sight of the struggle in their original homeland for freedom, for religious freedom, for freedom of speech, even for the right of young people to sit down in an Internet cafe and have a dialogue without censorship. They are a part of this effort to make certain that those ideals stay alive so that in the same way that eastern Europe came to evolve into a democratic, market-oriented, tolerant society, that there will be that opportunity in the future for Vietnam.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California, and I also rise today on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Mr. Speaker, that period of time represented a generation of Armenians, a generation lost to assassination, to depravation, to assault, to starvation, 1.5 million souls, a half a million others left homeless, decades of Armenian culture and history and religion erased from the landscape of Anatolia; and, on this significant anniversary, 100 years, we cannot remain silent. Pope Francis said it clearly when he called on the world leaders to ``oppose such crimes with a firm sense of duty, without ceding to ambiguity or compromise.'' Our National Archives is filled with thousands of pages documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people. Our own Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, recalled in his memoirs that that Ottoman Empire ``never had the slightest idea of reestablishing the Armenians in a new country,'' knowing that ``the great majority of those would . . . either die of thirst and starvation, or be murdered by the wild . . . desert tribes.'' Growing up in Anaheim, I knew an elderly Armenian who had survived the genocide only because of a compassionate Turkish family that hid him from sight, and he was the only one in his village--the only Armenian in his village--that survived. The U.S. has long been a global leader in promoting human rights around the world. The issue of the Armenian genocide is taught in our textbooks. The French, Swiss, Swedish, German Governments, the Russian Government, they recognized the Armenian genocide, as does the EU. As a global leader in human rights, it is important for the U.S. to stand on principle and recognize the annihilation of the Armenians as genocide. While the Armenian genocide was the first of the 20th century, the blind eye cast to the slaughter of Armenians at the time was a point used by Hitler when he said to his officer corps: ``Who . . . speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'' My friends, history is a continuum. Yesterday impacts today, which impacts tomorrow. It is much harder to get tomorrow right if we get yesterday wrong. The world's strength to oppose killing today is made greater by accountability for actions present but also past. It is weakened by denial of accountability of past acts. Not recognizing the Armenian genocide, as such, weakens us. I wanted to say a bit about the Near East Relief, which was the name of the American charity specifically organized in response to the Armenian genocide. I quoted our Ambassador at the time, Henry Morgenthau, and he very much urged support for this effort. Through public rallies and church collections and with the assistance of charitable organizations and foundations, that committee raised millions in his campaign to save the starving Armenians as the campaign went across the country with that theme. Between 1915 and 1930, when it ended operations, Near East Relief administered an amazing $117 million in assistance. It delivered food, clothing, and materials for shelter by the shipload from America. It set up refugee camps in clinics and hospitals, orphanages, and centers for vocational training. Near East Relief is credited for having cared for 130,000 Armenian orphans scattered across a region that stretched from Tbilisi to Yerevan to Istanbul, Beirut, Damascus, and Jerusalem. Where they could find those orphans, they cared for those orphans. Near East Relief was an act which quite literally kept a people, a nation, alive. Unfortunately, since 1950, hundreds of Armenian religious, historic, and cultural sites have been confiscated. They have been destroyed. They have been vandalized. Turkish leaders must act now to prevent losing any more. The United States must keep pressing Turkish leaders until they commit to protecting these sites and to return all confiscated church properties to their rightful owners. In addition, we must work to protect those Armenians who are living under the threat of violence today. Armenians in Syria are increasingly targeted for violence by Islamist terrorists due to their religious beliefs, and, in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenians have suffered under the greatest escalation of violence along the line of conflict in 20 years. As we remember the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century, let us also commit to working for the safety and freedom of their descendents. Such efforts would be a fitting and needed tribute to the innocent victims of the Armenian genocide.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join millions of people in Thailand--the United States' oldest ally in Asia--to celebrate Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 60th birthday, which will occur on April 2nd. Princess Sirindhorn is the third child of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and the only foreign monarch to be born on the U.S. mainland. Born in 1955, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has followed closely in her parents' footsteps, traveling across Thailand to hear Thai's problems and respond with royal development projects. By 1980, she was launching her own development projects, initially focused on disadvantaged and malnourished children. Aside from providing immediate assistance, she promoted integrated farming for overall resilience and more sustainable sources of nutrition. Public health has remained a lifelong concern: the Princess is the President of the Thai Red Cross Society and chairperson of the Prince Mahidol Foundation, which bestows globally recognized awards for achievements in public health and medicine. Princess Sirindhorn soon expanded her projects to encompass education, increasing access for children in need so they would have better opportunities in life. Her approach and philosophy are deeply rooted in human rights and self-sufficiency. ``Those at the margins of society have rights to a good standard of living. Access to education is a fundamental human right. Education provides opportunities to learn and live sufficiently. Knowledge can be valued resources to help others or the community,'' she has said. Her more than 100 projects are aimed at improving livelihoods, raising the status of women, helping the disabled, protecting the environment and wildlife. Many have been supported by agencies such as FAO, WHO, and Johns Hopkins University. The scholarships she grants to students are helping to nurture and create new generations of talented Thais dedicated to public service. Tech savvy and up to date on information technology, the Princess promotes Thailand's traditional culture and arts among the younger generation. Through her hard work and dedication, the Princess has earned endearment and respect from the Thai people, who fondly called her ``Princess Angel''. I join them in celebrating the auspicious occasion of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 60th birthday and wishing her good health.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In our committee, we heard the testimony of Deborah Peters, a young girl from northern Nigeria. She survived, but she was tied to her father's body and her brothers, who were massacred by Boko Haram. She came to tell us about what it was like, of her girlfriends or her schoolmates, of course, who have never been returned and of her chilling account of the practices committed as that village was decimated--``decimated'' is not the right word--as that village was eliminated. I mean, we are talking about communities here--villages--in which there are a handful of survivors when Boko Haram comes through, of young people like Deborah who are left with a world shattered, with their families massacred and, in her case, in front of her very eyes. Now, as this country of Nigeria prepares for elections, this insurgency that is burning in the north is creating a huge problem. U.S. support for the African Union force, which is making some gains in stomping out Boko Haram's violent march, has got to be stepped up. The region's stability depends on it. In the meantime, I just want to say that the presidential election in Nigeria is going to be critical not just for Nigeria, but for the region. Nigeria has the largest population and the largest economy. The outcome could have a far-reaching impact. This resolution puts the House's views on record, and I thank Ms. Kelly for that. It spells out the need for a nonviolent, free, and fair election. Not only do I thank her for drafting this resolution, but I thank her and Eliot Engel and Chris Smith and all of our committee members who have been focused on Nigeria and Boko Haram. It is a necessity that we devote more time and energy to this mission of trying to figure out how we can bring support to the Nigerian military in their effort to suppress Boko Haram. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd), chairman of the Information Technology Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 53) condemning the cowardly attack on innocent men, women, and children in the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga, as amended.

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 materials in the Record.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as always, I very much appreciate the assistance of Mr. Engel in moving this resolution today to the House floor, and I commend Ms. Kelly, a new member of the committee, for her focus on this important issue. The Africa Subcommittee chairman, Chris Smith, and the ranking member of that committee, Karen Bass, have also done in-depth work on Nigeria, and on Boko Haram in particular. I appreciate their travels to Nigeria. Mr. Speaker, Nigeria holds a critical presidential election this weekend. It is expected to be the continent's most consequential political event in years. Africa's most populous nation has over 70 million registered voters who will report to more than 100,000 polling stations. I had the opportunity, with Don Payne, to lead a delegation years ago with election observer responsibility there for one of these national elections in Nigeria, along with General Colin Powell at the time. Let me tell you, the political environment is always tense, but it is especially tense now. The leading candidates are neck and neck, as was the case then. I just have to say that we have seen Nigeria transition from military rule to democracy in the election that General Powell and I witnessed, and that was a very peaceful--very peaceful--time. But recent elections in Nigeria have seen political violence, and we are right to be concerned. This resolution urges all political candidates to respect their pledges of nonviolence and insist that the government hold a free, fair, and credible election, and that they do so on time. This election date has already been postponed once. Meanwhile, Nigeria continues to face grave insecurity in the north at the hands of Boko Haram, which loosely translates to ``Western education is sin.'' This Islamist terrorist organization indiscriminately kills in mass and pillages villages in their quest to establish a sharia state. Satellite images document that after Boko Haram comes through, villages are literally wiped off the map. The group is responsible for 5,000 deaths last year, in 2014, and displacing over 1 million people last year, making this organization, by the way, one of the world's most deadly. But this weekend, forces fighting Boko Haram reported discovering another hundred bodies in a shallow mass grave. We don't really know how many they have killed out there in total, but we know that the killing continues. Mr. Speaker, after watching Boko Haram's violence, I wasn't surprised to see that that group pledges allegiance to ISIS. ISIS publicly accepted the overture claiming this new relationship expands their self-declared caliphate to west Africa. At the same time, we have seen Boko Haram's propaganda increase in quality, mimicking the production of ISIS videos sweeping what we call the virtual caliphate on the Internet. So the good news, Mr. Speaker, is that Nigeria's neighbors, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, have all been making progress in the fight against Boko Haram under a newly established African Union regional force. They have rescued more than 30 northern Nigerian towns to date from Boko Haram and from that harsh rule. This is a good beginning, but this African Union regional force lacks equipment and it lacks training. This resolution expresses the House's support for robust security assistance to these troops in their fight against Boko Haram. Nevertheless, we cannot rely solely on other countries in the region. Nigeria's security forces should have the lead role to play. If dismantling Boko Haram is the goal, we need a well-trained, well- equipped Nigerian military. We must make sure there are no impediments, legislative or otherwise, to providing this much-needed assistance. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would just go to the words that Mr. David Scott reminded us that echo down through history: Too late. Too late. We have given the authority to the administration many months ago to transfer defensive weapons to Ukraine that can be used to check further aggression. That has not happened. This bipartisan resolution will direct the administration to take that step so that Ukrainians can defend themselves. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote for this bipartisan resolution urging the administration to provide this crucial assistance to Ukraine before it is, in fact, too late for the Ukrainians to defend themselves. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen).

Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as my good friend Eliot Engel from New York explained, last April, we took a delegation to Ukraine, not just to the western part of the country, but, most importantly, we went to the east. We went to Dnipropetrovs'k. We went as far east as we could go, up against the border there of Donets'k and Luhans'k. We had an opportunity to have a dialogue with the Ukrainian people. We reached out to civil society. We set up meetings with women's groups and lawyers' groups. And across the spectrum in eastern Ukraine, speaking to Russian-speaking Ukrainians, we got, I believe, a good idea of what was on their minds--I think there were about eight members of our delegation--and they were sharing with us these words: What Putin is doing, what the Russians are doing right now is going out on the Internet and recruiting every skinhead and malcontent in the Russian-speaking region that they can find. And then they train these young men, and then they send them over the border to create mayhem. And what we are trying to do here--this was the explanation from the Ukrainians--we are trying to catch them. They speak with a different accent than we do, so we can catch them, and we try to hold them until this war is over. But increasingly, we find that what is happening is that the Russians are sending their own troops over. They are sending their own armor. They are sending over military equipment that we cannot defend against. And what they said to us is: We are not asking you for your assistance in this fight. All we are asking is that we might have the defensive weapons to check this assault so that we can defend ourselves in this city. We need antitank weapons. You and I know, by the way, Mr. Speaker, that when those tanks come, those are not going to be Ukrainian separatists driving those tanks. Those are going to be Russian tankers in those tanks. So this is what they are asking us for, and they have asked for month after month after month in order to set up a strategy that would cause the Russians to believe there were some kind of credible deterrence. But instead, we now see that Russia may try to secure a land bridge to Crimea. In other words, this conflict might escalate because of additional Russian aggression. Or they might seize strategic ports along the Black Sea, additional ports. You have 6,000 people so far that have lost their lives--that I know of in the conflict, from the reports I have read. You have 1 million Ukrainians that have been made refugees, that have pulled west out of the area. And obviously, to date, the actions taken by the U.S. and our EU allies, including economic sanctions and aid and diplomatic isolation--all of the talk, none of that has checked Russian aggression--or, I should say, Putin's aggression here. And over the past year, he has clearly become bolder, even menacing NATO countries, as he seeks to divide the alliance. Now, the Obama administration and our European allies have put hope in diplomatic and cease-fire arrangements, but, frankly, that is not working. So we come back to the request. And this month, we met with the first deputy speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, as Eliot Engel shared here today on the floor, who said that his country urgently needs antitank weapons, such as the Javelin, and radar to pinpoint enemy artillery fire that is coming into their towns and communications equipment to overcome Russian jamming. That is the request. Ukrainian forces cannot match the advanced equipment that Russia is pouring into eastern Ukraine. And there is no shortage of the will here on the part of the Ukrainians. We saw many volunteers in their local militia there in Dnipropetrovs'k taking up their position, but what they have is a shortage of defensive weapons. At this committee's hearing last month, Secretary Kerry said that the Obama administration has still not made a decision on whether to send defensive lethal military aid to Ukraine 6 months--this is 6 months-- after President Poroshenko told us, as we sat here in this joint session of Congress to hear his remarks, that one cannot win the war with blankets. So we are at a turning point, and I think I agree with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) on this. It is one of historic importance. If we allow aggression against Ukraine to stand without us at least offering the Ukrainians the ability to defend themselves, we will signal to the world that our willingness to defend the post-World War II international order is crumbling. The semblance of rules the world has abided by will be severely weakened. The result could usher in an era of instability and conflict in many regions, with consequences no one can predict. Or we can allow the Ukrainians to defend themselves, and that is what we do with this legislation. The Ukrainian people are asking for our help to stop Russia's efforts to sever their country. They are not asking us to do any of the fighting for them. They are only asking us for the defensive weapons that they need to defend themselves. And by passing this bipartisan resolution overwhelmingly, the House will send a strong message to the administration that it must act quickly and decisively if the U.S. is to help the Ukrainian people save their country. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome Mr. Chung Ui-Hwa, Speaker of the Korean National Assembly, to Washington. Speaker Chung-- a neurosurgeon by training--is a distinguished member of the National Assembly, having served five consecutive terms since 1996. Last year, in his capacity as President of the Korea-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Council, he led a delegation and paid a visit to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where I hosted a legislative exchange. I'm honored to welcome him back to Washington and in his new capacity as Speaker. For over 60 years, the U.S.-South Korea relationship has been a linchpin of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2013, I welcomed President Park Geun-hye, the Republic of Korea's first female president, to Southern California where she addressed the Korean- American community to discuss the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korean alliance. As a former Chairman of the U.S.-Republic of Korea Inter-Parliamentary Exchange, I have been proud to help enhance the alliance, including by upgrading Korea's Foreign Military Sales status to NATO+4, passing the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and securing an extension of the U.S.-Korea Civilian Nuclear Energy Agreement. As North Korea continues to threaten the United States and our close allies with its nuclear, missile, and now cyber capabilities, I introduced legislation, together with Ranking Member Eliot Engel, to step up the targeting of those financial institutions in Asia and beyond that are supporting this brutal and dangerous regime. By shutting down North Korea's illicit activities, we deprive the Kim regime of the money it needs to pay the generals and to conduct nuclear weapons research. I appreciate that humanitarian groups around the world are strongly supporting this bipartisan legislation. The United States and the Republic of Korea are strengthening their combined defense posture on the Korean Peninsula. Together, we are working toward a shared goal of a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons and peacefully reunited on the basis of democratic and market principles and as articulated in President Park's Dresden address last year. Mr. Speaker, I am again pleased to welcome my friend, Speaker Chung Ui-Hwa, to Washington and to the Congress. We are at critical juncture in the U.S.-Korea alliance, but our relationship has never been better. I look forward to working with Speaker Chung on the issues of mutual concern. I further urge my colleagues to do the same and to offer their own expressions of best wishes and support.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, the author of this bill, but also, frankly, the architect of a long-running strategy in this institution, in this Congress, to abolish this form of human slavery. When I think of William Wilberforce, the one Member I know who exemplifies that spirit today is the gentleman from New Jersey, Chris Smith, who has worked on this mightily since the late nineties, and we are pleased that his bill is up before us today.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield the gentleman an additional 2 minutes.