Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (S. 1901) to authorize the President to extend the term of the nuclear energy agreement with the Republic of Korea until March 19, 2016, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the tremendous achievements that Korean Americans have made since the first Koreans arrived here in California, in the United States, on this day, on January 13, back in 1903. In recognizing this special anniversary, we honor the rich cultural history, the wonderful contributions that those Korean Americans have made to the arts, to science, to commerce. Korean Americans are leaders in business and government and in the community here. They serve bravely in our Nation's armed services and have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our Nation. As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I also see the positive impact of Korean Americans on the U.S. Republic of Korea relationship. Last year, I was honored to welcome President Park when she visited the U.S. and made a special stop in southern California to meet with Korean American leaders. Next month, I will lead a bipartisan delegation to Seoul to meet with President Park to reinforce America's friendship with South Korea. Having chaired the U.S.-Korea Interparliamentary Exchange, I know well the role that those members of the National Assembly and of our House of Representatives played in establishing the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. So, in the months ahead, Congress will continue its work on issues that deepen the relationship, the special relationship, with U.S. and South Korea.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday on January 11, people throughout our country here, people throughout the world will be observing Human Trafficking Awareness Day. The start of this new year I think is a fitting time to focus on the shameful fact that human slavery is not a relic of ancient history, that in fact it is with us today. It is a brutal reality. A reality faced by more than 20 million victims around the world, many of them trafficked for labor, but increasingly for underaged girls. For young women, this is a case where they are exploited in this trafficking as well. Even in my work as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have learned that human trafficking is no longer just a problem ``over there.'' It is a problem in our communities here. It is a problem in developing economies, but also it is a problem in the United States and in Europe. It is a scourge even in the communities that we serve here and that we represent. In my own community in the last two years, the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force assisted 250 victims. Ninety-three percent were women, most of them underage, 80 of them from foreign countries. At our November field hearing in Fullerton, the Orange County district attorney testified that, shockingly--we are speaking now about trafficking, sexual trafficking--``shockingly the average age of a child being trafficked in this country is 12'' years of age. ``A little girl who has not even reached her teens.'' We also heard from one brave survivor, Angela Guanzon, who was trafficked from the Philippines into forced labor in Long Beach, California. I have heard many other stories from the members of the Human Trafficking Congressional Advisory Committee that I established last year in my Los Angeles district office. The forum for communicating on trafficking between law enforcement, advocates, service organizations, and survivors has contributed profoundly to my own knowledge, my own understanding of this issue. I encourage my colleagues to get to know those on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. Get to know them in their districts and know of their work. You are going to be informed, challenged, and inspired by what you learn. This January designated as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month is a perfect time to shine a spotlight on the dark issue of trafficking, but awareness is only a first step. More needs to be done. To that end, I would urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring H.R. 3344, the Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination Act, to combat one critical form of recurring abuse: namely, that is unscrupulous recruiters. By targeting the recruiters we can do a lot--these recruiters who bait foreigners to travel to the United States with promises of good jobs, but trap them in sexual exploitation or forced labor once they arrive. For example, in my home county, the Salvation Army's Network of Emergency Trafficking Services reports that a full one-third of their clients--33 percent of their clients--were recruited in a foreign country by a labor recruiter. They got here and found it was a very different job than the one they enlisted for. This represents not only an assault on the dignity of the victim but also a subversion of United States labor laws and our nonimmigrant visa system. In response, this legislation requires that prospective foreign workers be given accurate information about the terms of employment and be given anti-trafficking protections by U.S. laws. It prohibits recruitment fees or hidden charges used as coercive leverage against workers. In other words, once you get here to the United States, you can't find out afterwards, because they didn't disclose to you, that there are fees that you owe. Those fees are no longer allowed. Up front the employer pays those fees. It requires foreign labor recruiters to register and remain in good standing with the Department of Labor, and it provides new incentives and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that recruiters and employers follow these disclosure and registration requirements. Members may contact the Foreign Affairs Committee to join this important anti-traffic initiative. I encourage you all to sign on to my legislation. As people of goodwill around the world observe Human Trafficking Awareness Day this weekend, let us move beyond mere awareness, let us abolish this injustice, and protect and restore the dignity of those who have survived such exploitation.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume just to share with the Members here that on January 12, 2010, there was a massive earthquake that struck near the Haitian capital of Port-au- Prince, leaving some 220,000 people dead and 1.5 million people displaced. Since 2010, the United States has made a big commitment in humanitarian relief and a big commitment to reconstruction and development assistance in Haiti. A good bit of this was allocated to the U.S. Agency for International Development to support an ambitious recovery plan that included housing and industrial development. Last summer, the House Foreign Affairs Committee received a GAO report detailing a startling lack of progress on U.S.-funded reconstruction efforts in Haiti. The committee followed up by sending a bipartisan delegation of staff to investigate and then held an oversight hearing on Haiti reconstruction, where Members asked tough questions about USAID efforts. One recommendation we heard over and over was that Congress needs improved and more frequent reporting to ensure that we are being kept up to date on reconstruction activities and so that Congress can provide tough oversight at a time when much of the funding for Haiti has yet to be spent. Wasted taxpayer funding is simply unacceptable here. While we can help, Haitians must do better. As Haiti Special Coordinator Thomas Adams noted in his testimony before the committee: The key to sustainable improvement in Haiti lies not in the generosity of donors but, rather, in the creation of economic opportunity. I agree wholeheartedly with the special coordinator. But, unfortunately, Haiti currently lacks a clear and enforceable system of property rights, including effective property registry and titling, and struggles with high levels of corruption. These are serious problems which deter the kind of private sector investment that is the real future of Haiti's economy. Without significant improvements to Haiti's business climate, no amount of donor assistance is going to help. We need to work with the Haitian Government to improve transparency, rule of law, and democracy so that we can, in turn, improve the lives and economic well-being of the country's citizens. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentlewoman from California, Representative Barbara Lee, the author of this bill, who worked with Ranking Member Engel, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, and Chairman Salmon to craft this strong, bipartisan oversight legislation that will improve relief efforts. And I urge my colleagues to support the bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, just in closing, let me point out again the fact that we have a very strong bipartisan coalition of Members that have worked a long time on this issue of trying to forge a focus on repair in Haiti. We thank them for their efforts on the reconstruction. It is important for the people of Haiti to know that our efforts are best being used to help get them on solid ground and to help them get the foundation they need to move forward. It is also important for those in the United States to feel that their money is being spent wisely and efficiently. I think that is the intent behind this legislation, H.R. 3509. It extends and strengthens, I think, the critical oversight that we do in the committee over Haitian funding, and it promotes the holding of free, fair, and timely elections in Haiti. I want to thank the gentlelady from California, Congresswoman Lee, for her perseverance in getting this bill to the floor today. I want to encourage my colleagues to support it. I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Engel of New York, also for his efforts to bring this bill up today. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve 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 extraneous materials on this measure.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3509) to direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on the status of post-earthquake recovery and development efforts in Haiti, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from further consideration of House Resolution 434, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. I yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), chairman emeritus of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, every year more than 1,000 American families are confronted with the nightmare of their child being abducted to a foreign country by one parent in violation of legal custody and access rights, beyond the reach of U.S. courts, beyond the court of law enforcement. This illegal break in the tie between the child and the left-behind American mother or father is a tragedy, and many of us personally have constituents facing these wrenching separations in the family. More than 30 years ago, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was created to provide a simplified mechanism for returning children to their countries of habitual residence so that parental rights are determined by applicable laws rather than by the act of abduction of that child. Today, the United States has agreements with more than 75 Hague partner countries, and that has helped to return many American children safely home. But unfortunately, agreeing to the Hague Convention and complying with it are not the same thing, and countries sometimes do not abide by their obligations under the Hague Convention. In those countries, there is a heightened risk that a child could be kept there with impunity. American parents need to know about this situation; and they need to know especially, before planning or permitting travel to such destinations, that this, in fact, could happen. This bill will strengthen the incentives and the tools that the Department of State has to address these unresolved abduction cases. It will also require the United States to identify and take action concerning countries that demonstrate a pattern of noncompliance with the obligations to return American children; and its enhanced annual reporting will provide American parents and judges with a clearer picture of actual Hague compliance and the risks of nonreturn associated with travel to certain countries. I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his tireless work on behalf of left-behind American parents over the last several years. His efforts have kept hope alive for hundreds of other American parents who only want to be reunited with their children. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3212) to ensure compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by countries with which the United States enjoys reciprocal obligations, to establish procedures for the prompt return of children abducted to other countries, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In closing, let me again stress the importance of the relationship with our ally Israel. Let me thank Mr. Collins for his leadership in authoring this important measure and thank Mr. Schneider. I am a cosponsor of this bill as well, and let me say we have many common threats, especially Iran's nuclear program. This measure, H.R. 1992, is a testament to the American people's enduring commitment to the security of Israel. I hope to see it passed today. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, Judge Poe, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the author of this bill, and we want to thank him for being such an active member of our committee.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me begin by thanking both the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) for their leadership and for their foresight in authoring this very important measure. In shepherding this legislation through the committee, I was again reminded of the shared commitment of Members of both parties to come together to promote Israel's security. It is an example of bipartisanship at its best. The United States' commitment to Israel rests on the assurance that the U.S., through a combination of Foreign Military Financing, the joint cooperative development of weapons systems and other measures, will ensure that Israel upholds its qualitative military edge. The standard definition of that is ensuring Israel's ability to counter and defeat credible military threats from any individual state or coalition of states or nonstate actors, and with the growing threat to Israel throughout the region--from the prospect of a nuclear Iran to an ascendant Hezbollah and widespread regional instability--Israel's retention of its QME is critical to its existence. I had a chance to see this firsthand in 2006 during the second Lebanon war, which I, frankly, think should be called the ``Hezbollah war.'' Hezbollah was raining down rockets manufactured originally in Iran and Syria on a daily basis on Haifa. When I was in Haifa, I watched those rockets come in, and they were being aimed at civilian neighborhoods. They were also being aimed at the hospital there. On one trip, I went down to the hospital to see the results. Haifa is a very cosmopolitan city as one-third of Haifa is Israeli Jews, another third is Arab Israelis, another third is Druze and other minorities. The people in that city faced a constant bombardment for 30 days. While we were there, we had an opportunity to talk to some of the families, to some of the survivors--600 civilian victims from that attack in that trauma hospital. They told us how those missiles manufactured in Iran--this was before the invention of the Iron Dome, so there was no defense to this--would come into the civilian neighborhoods--90,000 ball bearings--and they would just go through the walls, through cars, through a shop. This is what led, basically, to a siege-like setting in which families were underground; but as they would try to come up at some point, they would be spotted from the other side, from the border, and once again, Hezbollah would try to hit that family, to hit that township. This is what Haifa was going through. It is a reminder of the threat that Israel needs the best technology to combat these and other terrorist attacks. It is a relief that now Israel does have the Iron Dome, that there is warning, that there is the ability of some type of response other than the type of counterbattery work that we saw as they were trying to silence those rockets, which were never silenced, which came in for 30 days. In 2008, Congress required the President to assess on an ongoing basis the extent to which Israel possesses a qualitative military edge over the threats that are arrayed against it. Those threats are all too real. Currently, the assessment is done every 4 years. Currently, it focuses only on the conventional military threats to Israel. This bill would require that Congress receive that assessment on a timely basis, at least every 2 years. It would also require the administration to specify a separate onetime report integrating cyber and asymmetric threats to Israel into this overall security assistance framework. This is very important given the new types of terror--suicide bombings and the rest of it and cyber warfare--that are being developed on either side of the border from Hamas to Hezbollah. These provisions will provide Congress critical information that it requires in a timely manner to assess Israel's security requirements as Israel tries to deal with everything from the threat in Iran to all of the other terrorist organizations that are proxies for Iran. It also sends the right message at the right time to our mutual friends and foes alike that the United States and Israel stand together. So I strongly support the immediate passage. I thank, again, Mr. Schneider and Mr. Collins for their good work. I reserve the balance of my time.