Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of July 23, 2014, I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 105) directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces, other than Armed Forces required to protect United States diplomatic facilities and personnel, from Iraq and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Well, Madam Speaker, let me begin by saying I appreciate the gentleman from Massachusetts' spirit of cooperation. Mr. McGovern and I have worked on a number of issues from victims' rights to trying to stop the exploitation of child soldiers in Africa, and so I appreciate that spirit on his part. As I noted in my opening testimony, my opening statement here, the threat of ISIS is real, and I do think we should reflect on that as we debate this issue. Never has a terrorist organization itself controlled so much territory, especially such a large, resource-rich safe haven, as ISIS has in this caliphate, as they perceive it, now. Never has a terrorist organization possessed the heavy weaponry and cash and personnel as ISIS does today, and this includes thousands of Western passports and thousands of individuals who are passport holders from the West. One militant engaged in this battle recently returned to Europe and attacked a museum in Brussels, so more of that is coming as a result of ISIS. And let's not take this debate to mean that we should not be doing anything to offset that organization. I think the President has failed U.S. national security interests by not, for example, authorizing or accepting the request made by the government in Iraq and by our personnel in our Embassy for drone strikes on these terrorist ISIS camps. Remember, this is a situation where the drone can actually see the ISIS combatants with the black flag of al Qaeda waving as they move across the desert or as they are encamped. This was an opportunity to hit them when they were vulnerable, before they began that city march across the desert, as they began to take those cities with their armed columns. I do think, as the U.N. reported yesterday, that there are going to be consequences to these fatwas that come down from ISIS. The one yesterday specifically--according to the U.N., ISIS is requiring female mutilation in the new caliphate it is establishing, at least in the Mosul area and around that area. That is about 4 million females that would be subject to this, if they are as doctrinaire as they have been on other issues. So we will be wrestling with what to do about ISIS, what we can do. What this resolution says, and I think the overwhelming majority of us in Congress agrees with this, is that if the President of the United States ordered U.S. Armed Forces into sustained combat in Iraq, then he should be coming to Congress to seek an explicit statutory authorization and the backing of this body, and that is the text before us today. It says, again: The President shall not deploy or maintain United States Armed Forces in a sustained combat role in Iraq without specific statutory authorization for such use enacted after the date of adoption of this concurrent resolution. That is the position of the Members of Congress, as the representative body, frankly, and as any military officer will tell you, support of the people is critical to the success of a sustained combat operation. As the representative body, that responsibility falls to us. It is an obligation that I know all of my colleagues take seriously. And, again, it is why I expect overwhelming passage of this motion this morning. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I am going to reserve the right to close.

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

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

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Thomas Massie.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Adam Kinzinger, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones), a member of the Committee on Armed Services.

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

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed one vote on July 24. Had I been present, on rollcall No. 449, H.R. 3393, the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 449 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Education and the Workforce Committee for bringing up H.R. 4984, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. Within the past year, I have held two Paying for College Workshops in my district. These district events have attracted hundreds of parents and students. I have noticed that parents take more careful notes during these workshops, but all of them were eager--all who attended were eager to learn about how to finance college tuition, from the free application for Federal student aid, to understanding the multiple grant and loan programs. Many students and parents struggle to understand this very complicated process. I think that that is why this bill is important, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. With total student debt now over $1 trillion, it is critical to equip students and parents with proper interactive counseling, so that they have the knowledge to make responsible and informed decisions when borrowing. Understanding the terms and conditions for the Pell grants, understanding what an individual's financial obligations are after graduating, these are key to helping students and parents understand and manage financial health well beyond college. I, again, would like to thank Representative Brett Guthrie and Representative Suzanne Bonamici for their joint work on this bill. I would like to express my support, not only for their bipartisan endeavor, but for the other higher education bills before the floor this week. These bills work to strengthen our education policy. An education is one of the most important investments an individual can make. We must ensure that students and parents are able to make financially responsible choices. We must make sure they understand about Pell grants and other such programs available to them, along with the other higher education bills before this floor. Let's improve the current system. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in very strong support of this measure. I want to thank the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Mark Meadows, who is the author of this legislation, along with Mr. Schneider of Illinois and Ranking Member Eliot Engel of New York, for their bipartisan leadership on this critically important subject. Today, Israel is at war with Hamas. Thousands of rockets--over 2,000 so far--including advanced Iranian-supplied rockets, have been fired indiscriminantly, aimed at civilians--from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and all across Israel--for the past 2 weeks. At the outset, Hamas was estimated to have 10,000 missiles. Hamas, which has been attacking Israeli civilians, is also using a sophisticated tunneling network, and it is a sophisticated terrorist organization--but, my friends, it pales in comparison with Hezbollah. Hezbollah, the ``Party of God,'' has over 25,000 sophisticated missiles right now in southern Lebanon, nearly all of which were supplied by Iran. Hezbollah has carried out a number of terrorist attacks across the globe, from Bulgaria to Cyprus to India to Thailand, also here in the Western Hemisphere. Now, I saw firsthand in 2006 the work of Hezbollah. I was in Haifa as they were targeting civilian neighborhoods, and those Iranian-made and Syrian-made rockets were slamming into people's homes and were being targeted on the hospital, itself. Every one of these had 90,000 ball bearings. The only intent was to create mass casualties, and in that trauma hospital in Rambam, there were over 600 victims. That is the work of Hezbollah. Hezbollah has actively targeted the United States now for 30 years, and I ask my colleagues to reflect on their history. Prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001, frankly, Hezbollah was responsible for the largest number of American deaths by terrorist organizations up until that point when al Qaeda carried out that attack. By the way, these include the 1983 bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut and the bombing of the United States Marine Corps barracks there again in the same year. Hezbollah was behind the kidnappings of Beirut throughout the 1980s as well as international airline hijackings and efforts to target U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah provided the funding and provided the weapons to Iraqi militias--to do what?--to target American personnel and kill them in Iraq. Lethal, yes, but Hezbollah is also vulnerable. It is vulnerable to steps we can take. Severe international sanctions against its patron, Iran, have reportedly led to a decrease in the funding to Hezbollah, and as a result, this organization has been forced to turn increasingly to its transnational organized criminal enterprises in order to expand its operational capabilities. In 2011, we saw the tip of the iceberg when a massive drug and money laundering operation for Hezbollah's benefit in weapons, logistics, and training was uncovered. We must remember that any sanctions relief that we provide to Iran for a nuclear agreement will have an impact on Iran's ability to further support Hezbollah. In response to the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2014, this bill, written by Mark Meadows, builds on the existing sanctions regime by placing Hezbollah's sources of financing under additional scrutiny, particularly those resources outside of Lebanon. In addition to targeting the terrorist organization's diverse financial network, the legislation also requires the U.S. Government to report on Hezbollah's global logistics network and its transnational organized criminal enterprises, including all of its drug smuggling operations. The goal is to improve coordination and cooperation with allies and other responsible countries in confronting the increasing threat posed by Hezbollah, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support this critical measure. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4411) to prevent Hezbollah and associated entities from gaining access to international financial and other institutions, and for other purposes, 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 material on this measure into the Record.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I will place into the Record the letters exchanged with the other committees with jurisdictional interests in this bill; Financial Services would be one, and Judiciary. In closing, let me agree with Mr. Engel's observation that this is a critical time in the Middle East, and also, with our frustration that, during this time, Iran should continue to increase its support for its patron, Hezbollah, because for those of us with a longer memory, we remember how much they have increased their capability to do harm. As a result of that funding that has come from Iran, Hezbollah- initiated killings and bombings have occurred, to the frustration of our European allies, to those in Asia and those in Latin America, today, on virtually every continent. In 2012, Hezbollah carried out a bus bombing in Bulgaria--many of us remember that--and plotted an attack in Cyprus, leading to the European Union's designation of Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization. Furthermore, Hezbollah continues to fight on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria's brutal civil war. One of the things we have seen is missiles being brought over the border from Syria into southern Lebanon by Hezbollah. We have seen the deaths in Syria at the hands of Hezbollah fighters. It has resulted in the deaths of thousands and thousands of people. And most importantly, Hezbollah has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, and that is a third reason why we are focused on this terrorist organization. We must do everything in our power to target Hezbollah's lifeline, to target their financing, and I urge all Members to support this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC, July 8, 2014. Hon. Ed Royce, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Royce, I am writing concerning H.R. 4411, the ``Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2014,'' which your Committee ordered reported on June 26, 2014. As a result of your having consulted with the Committee on the provisions in our jurisdiction and in order to expedite the House's consideration of H.R. 4411, the Committee on the Judiciary will not assert is 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 on the Judiciary 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 your response to this letter confirming this understanding, and would request that you include a copy of this letter and your response in the Committee Report and in the Congressional Record during the floor consideration of this bill. Sincerely, Bob Goodlatte, Chairman.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Mark Meadows. Although he is a new member to the committee, he is a very active member on Foreign Affairs and is the author of this important legislation.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely going to reserve the right to close, should there be anymore speakers that Mr. Engel has on his side.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from further consideration of House Resolution 657, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

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

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed two votes on July 8. Had I been present, on rollcall No. 369, H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014 I would have voted ``aye.'' On rollcall No. 370, H.R. 4289, the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, you have heard today about the devastating effects of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's decision to suspend exit permits for internationally adopted children. I've met with the American families who, as a result of this action, cannot welcome their adopted son or daughter into their home. I've seen their heartbreak. One family, the Weavers, live in my district. In 2012, James and Olivia Weaver began the process of adopting little Wilfride, a gregarious five-year-old girl with a heartwarming smile. Her birth mother had abandoned her at a local orphanage. The Weavers were overjoyed when, after nine long months, a Congolese court declared them Wilfride's legal parents. They quickly made preparations for their new daughter to join them and their two other daughters in Chino Hills, California. But one month after the court's declaration, the Congolese Government suspended exit permits for children like Wilfride--meaning this little girl has had to continue living in an orphanage for the last 10 months. All this despite having a loving home in California that desperately wants to take her in. I have been to the Congo many times. I understand the exceptional deprivation of orphans there. The Congolese Government should be helping, and not hindering, their transition to a good home. I should add that, parents with completed adoptions in the DRC are legally responsible for their child's wellbeing--and are reportedly paying on average $500 a month in child support, in addition to healthcare expenses. I have serious concerns that the DRC Government may have perverse financial incentives to postpone resolving this issue. I sincerely hope that this is not contributing to the Congo's delay. The government must allow these children to make their way to the homes that are anxiously awaiting their arrival. I want to thank Rep. Peterson and Chairman Smith for their hard work on this difficult issue, and I urge Members to support this important resolution to encourage the Congolese government to do the right thing.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, today, we pay our respects to Sue Kint, a longtime friend of many in the community of Buena Park, California, who recently passed away after battling what began as lung cancer. Sue Kint's remarkable story has humble beginnings. Born to Korean parents in Japan, Sue later moved to South Korea as a young girl, where she attended Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea. She later moved to the United States to complete her bachelor's degree at California State University of Los Angeles, majoring in finance and law. Ms. Kint was the founder and CEO of Kint & Associates, a successful international consulting and trading company. Through her exceptional work and dedication, she was recognized as one of 2,000 notable American women. Among her other notable accomplishments, Sue served on the Chapman University board of governors and was recently awarded an honorary doctor of the university degree. She also served on the Orange County chapter of the National Unification Advisory Council as an appointee of former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and current President Park Geun-hye. She was a valuable asset on my Asia Pacific Community Advisory Council, and was known as an exemplary woman who cared deeply about excellence in education and what could be done in education and opportunities for the next generation. In her fight with cancer, she maintained a spirit of courage, dignity, and grace. Her strong will and desire to live a fulfilling life has encouraged others to do the same. She will be truly missed by her brother, Kevin, all of her friends, and all the lives she has touched. She will be remembered as her spirit lives on.

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to condemn in the strongest terms the ongoing violence against the minority Muslim population in Sri Lanka. Last week, Buddhist mobs rampaged their way through three towns, attacking Muslim homes and businesses, burning many to the ground. As one victim said: The house I own was burned down. My family has nowhere to go. Another victim describes every night following another attack as being a ``nightmare,'' with her family cowering in fear of the next attack. The Sri Lankan government has not done enough to deal with the threat of the so-called Buddhist Power Force, the group responsible for this violence. When the Sri Lankan police were called in to stop the violence, reportedly, many just stood on the sidelines doing nothing. Madam Speaker, the Sri Lankan government must take a stronger stance against this violence and protect its minority Muslim population. While promises have been made to rebuild houses and shops, it is unacceptable that this minority continues to live in fear. Remembering Sue Kint