Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, as an original co-sponsor of the Academic Competition Resolution (H. Res 77), I rise to express my strong support for the Congressional Academic Competition for STEM Education. I believe this new and innovative program promotes entrepreneurship while engaging students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). With the increasing demand for students to focus on STEM fields, it is important for students to get involved, compete, and further their scientific knowledge. This Congressional competition will prepare future generations to better understand the world and technological progress. Since technology evolves rapidly, this competition reflects the fast pace of developments in these cutting edge fields. The Congressional Academic Competition for STEM will first focus on developing mobile applications for phones, tablets and other computer devices. As time progresses, it has been constructed to evolve to meet future STEM needs whether it be technological applications or future inventions. I am excited to see what students across America will invent and I look forward to the creative breakthroughs and scientific advancements this competition will fuel. I encourage my colleagues to support this initiative, which seeks to inspire our future generations to lead through innovation.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I just want to take a moment and thank Mr. Engel for the forceful leadership that he gave us on this issue as we were meeting with the Governments of China and Japan and South Korea. Mr. Speaker, I would now yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and our chairman emeritus, who has been very engaged on North Korea policy.

Mr. ROYCE. If I might yield, Mr. Speaker, 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to urge my colleagues to support this resolution condemning North Korea's nuclear test. This threat, I would point out, is not just a threat to Northeast Asia; it's a global threat that demands our attention. North Korea has demonstrated a willingness--in the past they've demonstrated a clear ability to proliferate nuclear and missile technology. We think about their proliferation to countries, nuclear proliferation to Syria. We think about their nuclear technology and their missile technologies for proliferation to Iran. We cannot wait for the next nuclear test, Mr. Speaker, or the news that North Korea has successfully miniaturized a nuclear weapon. We already saw the statement that this was a smaller nuclear weapon in the past. We saw the official KCNA news outlet for the North Korean regime make the statement that their target for their ICBM program was the United States. Lastly, many of us remember the video that came out last week, that very odd video that shows a North Korean sleeping, dreaming about an ICBM attack. The ICBM is launched. It ends up following the curvature of the Earth and hitting New York City in this video with that very odd background music playing. But it just shows an attitude. I think that we cannot stand idle and tell ourselves that further sanctions have no prospect of success, especially when we saw how effective, for that brief period of time where the Treasury Department was so concerned about the counterfeiting of $100 bills that they actually forced deployment of those financial sanctions on those institutions which the North Koreans used in order to have access to hard currency. We saw, at that time, the result and the protest from North Korea, and the result inside North Korea when there was not the money to pay the military or carry out the types of programs that they do in terms of their missile and nuclear testing. So it's time to be honest with the American people that, frankly, our current North Korean policy is not working. It hasn't worked for a long time. Going forward, we need to move away from that failed North Korean policy to one with energy and creativity and focus. And I think we need to learn from what worked in the past until, unfortunately, those sanctions were lifted shortly after they were deployed because of the protests from North Korea. So let's tackle North Korea's illicit activities, its missile and drug proliferation, where, between that and its counterfeit currency program, that's how it gets close to 50 percent of its hard currency. This regime will do anything for money, obviously. As South Koreans will tell you, it's a gangster regime. But let's interfere with those shipments. Let's disrupt the bank accounts that are used. Let's ramp up the radio broadcasts into the country, where there is evidence the information wall is cracking. Thirty-seven percent of those people that flee the regime today say they're listening to broadcasts or they're accessing information that is telling them about what's happening in the outside world and what's really going on in their own country. And that's the kind of information we have to get into this regime. Let's help the refugees who are literally dying to escape the prison above the 38th parallel. Weakening the regime is the only way to make the Korean Peninsula secure. So we must come together and do whatever is necessary to deprive Kim Jong Un of his nuclear weapons. 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 move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 65) condemning the Government of North Korea for its flagrant and repeated violations of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, for its repeated provocations that threaten international peace and stability, and for its February 12, 2013, test of a nuclear device, as amended.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. What I want to share with the body is that, on February 12 of 2013, North Korea successfully carried out a nuclear test--a test in flagrant violation of numerous international sanctions and of numerous agreements that North Korea has made in the past. This test, which is the third time that North Korea has exploded a nuclear device, is a stark reminder that Kim Jong Un is determined to develop his nuclear arsenal while depriving North Koreans of their most basic human rights. When I say their ``most basic human rights,'' we had an opportunity to speak with the former propaganda minister of North Korea, who told us that 1.9 million North Koreans starved while this regime, in violating every agreement it had made with the international community, plowed forward with a plan to develop nuclear weapons. North Korea has literally spent billions on its nuclear and its three-stage ICBM program, and that is all money that could have provided enough food to feed this country for years. If you've ever been in North Korea, you've seen that the children there are malnourished. As a matter of fact, up to 50 percent of the children are so malnourished that it is estimated that it's going to affect their future development and their ability to really think conceptually because of the degree of deprivation there. In the meantime, it also continues to build up its military. This week's test comes only 2 months after the launch of a North Korean intercontinental missile, leaving no doubt in my mind that decades of fruitless negotiations, frankly, have been a failure. North Korea is a pariah state that has attacked its neighbors many times. Just last month, Ranking Member Eliot Engel of New York and I had the opportunity to visit the wreckage of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, and there we saw the evidence where 46 South Korean sailors lost their lives in 2011--victim to a North Korean torpedo that was fired at that ship. I cannot imagine the anguish that this despicable act has caused for so many of those parents of those young sailors in South Korea. The shared sacrifice that South Koreans and Americans have endured as a result of North Korean aggression is a sacred, inseparable bond between our two peoples. This resolution appropriately stands by South Korea and Japan, our allies in northeast Asia. As North Korea continues to disregard international norms, it's important for this House to speak out, but we must do more. In the coming weeks, I will introduce legislation that targets North Korea's ability to access hard currency. In my conversations with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea and President-elect Park Geun-hye, I have always stressed the importance of targeted sanctions so that we can bring about change inside North Korea. When dictators cannot pay their generals, they cannot test nuclear weapons and launch missiles. This was an important lesson of the financial sanctions we put on Banco Delta Asia and other banks in the past that have dealt with the North Korean regimes; and, as a result of that imposition at the time, it brought to a halt the ability of the North Korean regime to pay its generals. Mr. Speaker, America's policy on North Korea has been a bipartisan failure. We can no longer just hope that North Korea is going to give up its weapons in exchange for aid. It is time we come together to hold this regime responsible for all the pain and suffering that it has caused, and do so by imposing this access to hard currency restriction. I cannot envision a scenario where Kim Jong Un voluntarily gives up the one weapon that, frankly, keeps his dynasty in power. Reports indicate that North Korea's nuclear program is getting more powerful and its missiles are flying further. If North Korea is allowed to continue down this path, frankly, we all lose. The time to act is now. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield the gentlelady an additional minute.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the legacy of President Richard Nixon in this centennial year of his birth. President Nixon took the oath of office at a time of domestic upheaval and far-reaching social, economic, and political change. I doubt there was ever a day when he did not wake to an agenda of pressing challenges and difficult decisions. But his true legacy lies in foreign policy. Few Presidents have entered the White House with a deeper understanding of international affairs, and we are very fortunate that he did. For when he first walked into the Oval Office, he inherited a world in which the U.S. was faced with enormous difficulties and problems that seemed to have no solution, from our grinding engagement in Vietnam to an increasingly emboldened Soviet Union. He understood from the first that the old ways of doing things simply would not work in a new and dangerous world and repeatedly astonished his admirers and opponents alike with a surprisingly flexible and sophisticated, albeit tough-minded, approach. That was most famously demonstrated by his stunning reaching out to China. For decades this action has been the subject of much discussion and comment, and it is commonly cited as a model for similarly bold action today. But there is danger in easy comparisons. It is of key importance to stress that he did not suffer from an illusion that Mao's dictatorship was reforming itself or that our mutual hostility was primarily the fault of the United States. Or that a handshake could somehow transform conflicting goals into a broad partnership. Instead, it was based on a clear-eyed understanding of how the world actually works and that a rigid adherence to ideology can blind one to inconvenient facts and potential options. Only someone deeply confident in his beliefs could have done so. But he did not take unnecessary risks, he did not leap into the dark, hoping for the best. Instead, he took deliberate steps on a well-thought-out path to specific goals. Even then, his eyes were not focused on China, but on a much larger purpose, namely reordering the international system to give the U.S. new options that it otherwise would not have had, including an ability to exploit divisions among opponents that rendered each eager for improved relations with the U.S. What a contrast to today's world, where the U.S. often goes hat in hand to professed enemies in the illusion that they can be bribed to abandon their fundamental goals, that unilateral concessions will generate good will, or that they can somehow be convinced to become good international citizens through pleas or lectures. Nixon knew that peaceful outreach and negotiations were possible only when the other side had no doubts of your toughness. Sometimes a smile is helpful, but often a stick is more convincing. No one ever doubted that Richard Nixon understood the difference. His no-nonsense view of the world can be seen in the aftermath of the murder of Israeli Olympians in Munich by PLO terrorists on September 27th, 1972 when he warned that if we want safety, we must not seek ``accommodations with savagery, but rather act to eliminate it.'' That was written twenty-nine years before the devastating 9/11 terror attacks, but it remains a crucial guide to action today. As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I deal on a daily basis with the many problems the U.S. faces around the world. Some would be familiar to President Nixon; many are quite different. But the deep understanding, the commitment to basic principles, the pragmatic flexibility that characterized his approach are as essential today as they were then. I met him once when he spoke before the House Republican Conference in March, 1993, shortly after I first entered Congress. The subject was Russia in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet empire, but even after many years out of office, and only a year before his death, his understanding of the range of issues and problems facing that country and ours impressed everyone in the room. He was masterful to the end. Afterward, the President mentioned his old House seat to me, and he asked me to join him for a meeting with members of the Senate, organized by Senator Patrick Moynihan. There he spoke of the future challenges and opportunities with respect to China, Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America. As usual, he spoke without using notes. Perhaps his greatest legacy is what any student of his accomplishments can see for themselves: that the United States has no choice to be a leader in the world if we are to secure the safety and interests of the American people, that passivity and a surrender to events can bring only disaster, that refusing to recognize that the world is often a dangerous and unforgiving place is to live in illusion, that foolishly acting as though our resources were unlimited with no need to prioritize our goals is a certain road to defeat. So it gives me pride to recognize President Richard Nixon during the centennial of his birth. We owe him our respect for what he accomplished on behalf of the security of the United States in a turbulent world.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I think what gets lost in the 30-second sound bites on the fiscal cliff is the real cliff facing this country in the form of a massive wave of entitlement obligations. Government accounting doesn't tell the whole story. The actual liabilities of the Federal Government, the present value of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs already exceed $86 trillion. By 2040, our entitlement obligations will consume all of the average postwar projected tax revenue. We have to come to grips with that. That means every dollar collected by the IRS would go to pay Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, without reforms. We will have to go out and borrow to pay for other spending should that happen. It is unfortunate that the President wasn't willing to engage on this front, and it is unfortunate that the Senate leader continues to deny the crisis. On the day of new year's resolutions, let's hope Senator Reid and President Obama resolve to be honest about the crisis our Nation faces with the coming wave of entitlement obligations, making these programs solvent, and reining in these trillion dollar deficits, which every economist will tell you is unsustainable. This must be done in 2013. Without the legislation before us today, without this bill, millions of Americans would see their tax rates go up, and that would provide a systemic shock to our already weak economy. This plan that we're about to vote on locks in a reduced tax rate for middle class families who otherwise would have seen $3,000 in higher taxes on average. It permanently holds down the death tax, which impacts so many small businesses. It permanently protects the middle class from the alternative minimum tax, and it adjusts that for inflation. The plan does away with a new entitlement program created in ObamaCare, and it makes permanent a 15 percent capital gains and dividends rate for income up to $400,000 for singles, $450,000 for married couples, and a 20 percent rate for those above. That rate would have gone to 39.6 percent for dividends. That would have been very injurious for our capital markets. That would be very injurious for economic growth if we allowed that to happen. Tax relief has been achieved. Now is the time for the President to work with Congress to address government overspending, the underlying problem.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Thank you very much, Chairman, for yielding. I rise in support of this resolution, of which I am an original cosponsor. I think Members are very rightly concerned now, as the same technology that's used to put a satellite into space is also used to launch a ballistic missile. This experiment by North Korea is definitely an advance for them. It is definitely a threat to the region. It is definitely a threat to the United States because what we're talking about here are three-stage ICBMs. It is estimated that North Korea has spent $3 billion since 1998 on that missile program, which is the amount of money that would have bought enough corn to feed that country over the last 3 years. I have been to North Korea, and I've seen the malnutrition. Instead of feeding its people, it continues to plow billions of dollars into its military. That's the type of despicable regime we're dealing with--where $3 billion went into this project instead of feeding the population. This is why the House has passed legislation to prohibit the United States from giving food aid to North Korea. When we do so, money is fungible, and we have found in the past that that aid is both used to feed the military and it's sold on the exchange for hard currency. U.S. policy towards North Korea--hoping that North Korea will give up its weapons for aid--has been a failure. It has been a bipartisan failure, frankly, for decades, and it has gotten us now to this point. The hope that North Korea can be induced to abandon its ambitions for nuclear weapons and missiles distracts us, unfortunately. It distracts us from pursuing the very policies that might actually change the behavior of the regime and support its people. In going forward, we need to move away from an unimaginative policy here to one with energy and creativity and focus. Let's tackle North Korea's illicit activities--its missile and drug proliferation, its counterfeiting of U.S. currency. This regime will do anything for money. As many North Koreans who have left will tell you, this is a gangster regime. Let's interfere with those shipments and disrupt the bank accounts that are used. Let's ramp up radio broadcasts into the country where there is evidence that the information wall is cracking. We see that with the defectors who are telling us about how much they oppose the regime now. Let's help the refugees who are literally dying to escape the prison north of the 38th parallel. Severely weakening the regime is the only way to make the Korean peninsula secure. Until it was dropped in favor of a failed diplomacy program several years ago, the Treasury Department went after North Korea. If we can remember 2006, we went after North Korea's ill-gotten gains that were parked in a Macau bank. We put the brakes on North Korea's counterfeiting of U.S. currency. We cut the flow of currency to the regime. The head of state could not pay his generals. It created a crisis inside North Korea. That policy was mistakenly dropped. I'd like to see it reapplied. Let's go back to where we are proactively defending U.S. interests instead of just condemning another North Korean provocation every few months. Let's do something that has been proven to work in terms of putting the pressure on North Korea.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady. And I do think it's important, as we move forward here, to expand the State Department's rewards program. We have found a technique that works; and if we can deploy this in order to bring Joseph Kony to the bar of justice for the mass killings that he's committed with the Lord's Resistance Army, or if we can use it to bring to the bar of justice some of the international crime figures that would be turned in under this bill, then it could be very, very beneficial. The bill has already passed the House. It was included as a provision in the State Department authorization bill that the House Foreign Affairs Committee moved earlier this year. I think it's regrettable that the Senate chose not to act on the House's comprehensive State Department authorization bill; but with today's action, this bill can now go to the President's desk for signature where it promises to have an immediate impact. The House companion bill that I introduced, H.R. 4077, has enjoyed very strong bipartisan support, and I want to thank Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I want to thank Ranking Member Howard Berman and others for the support they've given to this measure. As has been explained, this rewards program, to date, has had some very, very successful cases here; but it's been targeted mostly on those involved in drug trafficking, occasionally on terrorists. Earlier this year, our subcommittee held a hearing where the State Department testified that one captured target, one narcoterrorist told DEA agents that he could no longer trust anyone in his organization after a reward was offered on his head. He said, I felt like a hunted man. And so he was turned in. Well, that was the plan--to make him feel like a hunted man, to make him feel like he could not trust anyone in his organization. This bill would expand this program to additionally target those transnational organized criminals, those wanted for the most serious human rights abuses. Today, unfortunately, those involved in that line of work are diversifying. They're looking to sell anything to anybody. It could be arms. It could be intellectual property. It's even people. The overlap between the networks employed by criminals and employed by terrorists is growing. So this legislation helps us keep pace. And, very importantly, the legislation also allows the rewards program to target those wanted for genocide, to target those wanted for war crimes, for crimes against humanity--again, the world's worst human rights abusers. The target of the new war crimes authority would be killers like Joseph Kony and the top commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army. This group has terrorized across Central Africa for over two decades with unspeakable crimes committed against children such as amputations committed against children, taking child soldiers, taking sex slaves. In accordance with U.S. policy, a small team of U.S. troops are currently in the field helping local forces hunt this killer. Our U.S. troops believe that a rewards program aimed at Kony could help generate intelligence and bolster their efforts. They are asking for this. They think this can make a difference on the ground. Let's answer their call and send this bill to the President for his signature. I thank my colleagues for their support.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I would like to begin by thanking Jeff Duncan and his staff, as well, for their good work on this legislation. But I would remind the Members, in terms of Iranian activity in this hemisphere, we think what first comes to mind is the attack in the 1990s in Argentina. But more recently, Hezbollah has penetrated our borders. One example I would give to you is Mahmoud Kourani, trained by Iranian intelligence. He paid a bribe in order to get to Mexico from Beirut. Once in Mexico, he paid a second bribe, this time to a cartel group, in order to have himself inserted into a special compartment in the back of a car. The reason Mahmoud Kourani is important is because it was his brother who was in charge of security in Israel during the Hezbollah war. I was there at the time. I saw those missiles that were ordered launched by Hezbollah into the town of Haifa. Haifa was under attack. There were some 600 casualties in that hospital that were a direct result of those Iranian and Syrian missiles that were being fired on the hospital-- frankly, one of the targets--but fired on that town, fired on the residential sections of that city. So the brother was caught coming into the United States. Actually, he was caught near Detroit. He's now serving time. There were some 50 other Hezbollah operatives who were also discovered here. When you go through the background of his training in terror in terms of weapons and in terms of the capabilities that Iranian intelligence gave him, you begin to realize why our intelligence officials are so concerned about Iran's attempts to penetrate here. Look at Iran's attempt last year to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador on U.S. soil using a Mexican drug cartel. That's the latest example of the threat. I've had many ambassadors tell me that they dined in that same restaurant. You saw the commentary that they were willing to accept their deaths as collateral damage to the bombing in order to kill the Saudi Ambassador. These are the designs of Hezbollah. This is the problem with Iran. Many believe that countries close to Iran and that they're courting in this hemisphere, they're doing it because they're trying to help them beat back these sanctions--the sanctions bill which Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and I are going to be meeting on this afternoon. This is an attempt of Iran to extend their authority and try to convince those would-be allies that they should help them avoid these sanctions. I'll just quote our DNI, Director of National Intelligence. He told us: The dangerous activities of Iran and Hezbollah so near our borders demand a whole-of-government strategy, beginning with an interagency review to understand and assess the transnational multifaceted nature of this problem and to mobilize friendly governments to respond. We're concerned that the administration is not doing that. That's why in this legislation we are pushing for this action. This bill requires that review; it requires that strategy. It will kick the bureaucracy into gear, and it enjoys strong bipartisan support. I urge its passage. This is an issue that the House Foreign Affairs Committee looks forward to continuing our oversight and work on in the 113th Congress. I really commend the chairwoman and Mr. Duncan for their work.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, on December 5, 2012, Typhoon Pablo (international name Bopha) swept across the southern Philippines, devastating Mindanao and parts of the Visayas. 450 Filipinos are dead and more than 750 injured or missing. Over 10,000 homes were destroyed and over 300,000 people have been displaced and are seeking shelter at evacuation centers. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the harmed individuals and families in the Philippines. Given the close relationship the United States has with the Philippines, it is essential that we assist the Filipino people as best as we can in their time of desperate need. I commend the ongoing rescue and relief efforts. The search for the missing becomes more critical as time progresses and focusing on rebuilding will be the next vital step in helping the Filipino people restore their communities. Again, I express my sincerest condolences to the Filipino people. As the holiday season approaches, we extend our support as the nation heals from this devastation.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, on December 5th His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand celebrated his 85th birthday. I would like to take this opportunity to express my well wishes and best regards to him and to the people of Thailand. Throughout his 66-year reign, King Bhumibol--currently the world's longest reigning monarch--has been a strong proponent for Thailand's development. Since the 1950s, he has initiated more than 4,000 development projects throughout Thailand, ranging from public health, agriculture productivity, environment, flood and drought, education and job creation. These activities have helped raise the standard of living of Thais, particularly those in rural and difficult-to-reach areas. King Bhumibol's hard work and contributions have earned him admiration worldwide. In 2006, the United Nations Development Programme awarded King Bhumibol its first-ever Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 5th, 1927, King Bhumibol has played an important role in promoting Thai-U.S. friendship, including his two state visits to the United States in 1960 and 1967. As we celebrate King Bhumibol's birthday, it is an opportunity to look forward to next year's celebration of the 180th Anniversary of the U.S.-Thailand treaty alliance. Thailand is our longest standing ally in Asia, and has been a reliable partner and friend in the region. The United States and Thailand's partnership is wide ranging; we are economic partners, we participate in military training exercises together, and our cultural and people-to-people exchanges are on the rise. The two countries have cooperated on counterterrorism. As our relationship continues to strengthen, we are delighted to join our friends in Thailand in celebrating the 85th birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5, 2012.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this STEM Jobs Act. Clearly, the focus on this provision is to try to bring people with skills here to the United States. Graduates of American universities in science and in technology and engineering and math, these STEM fields, are, frankly, behind many of the innovations, many of the new businesses that are part of our present and future economic growth. If we want to look at jobs, this is where those new patents, those new ideas will come from that help create jobs. So we have talented students from around the world that contribute to the graduate STEM programs of our universities. We are trying to focus on a way to make sure our immigration system here puts our interests first as a country. We have the most generous level of legal immigration in the world, but when you think about it, we select only 5 percent of our immigrants based on the skills and education that they bring to America. Clearly, what we're trying to do is to make certain that these foreign graduates of U.S. universities in the STEM fields, because they're in such great demand here, many of them of course end up on years-long green card waiting lists and, as a result, many of them give up and go to work for one of our global competitors. So our focus is: What can we do to accelerate this? This bill alters our current immigration system to encourage job creation by increasing the proportion of new entrants with high levels of education, with high levels of skills. We know that skilled immigrants contribute mightily to the rising U.S. standard of living. They bring capital, as I say, they bring new ideas, and they produce new companies here. So, with this bill we can help grow innovation and we can create the jobs in this country. We've got plenty of examples, frankly, in California of IT firms that are founded by immigrants from China and from India that were educated here in our institutions. This legislation also contains a family reunification provision, which allows graduates' spouses and children to live in the U.S. while waiting for their green card application to be processed. One of the things that seems pretty clear to me is that, because we roll over the green cards every year for the next 4 years to make sure that they all are used, that, in point of fact, we believe that more of them will be used than under the Diversity lottery where they're not rolled over. So I think it's quite the opposite. I think we, in fact, focus here on exactly the type of skilled immigration that's most likely to create jobs here in the United States. So I would urge my colleagues to support this bill in order to help our economy grow.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, please excuse my voice today, but I did want to rise in support of this legislation, and also to associate myself with the observations made by my colleague, Congressman Berman, and certainly with Congressman Burton. The legislation here that was originally enacted in 1974, Congressman Howard Berman is quite correct, this, during the Cold War, did play a very key role with respect to immigration. But today, that is long over. And with Russia joining the WTO in August, we have a problem here in the United States, and that is, Russia, in doing so, made tariff cuts for every country in the world except the United States. This bill would correct that. And of course, without this legislation, exporters here in the United States would lose. I've never viewed Jackson-Vanik as an impediment to Russian relations today. But neither do I see it as very helpful in pressing Russia on issues like Iran or their conduct toward Syria. Russian opposition level leaders, however, and Russian civil society, and the Russian press, what free press remains in Russia today, really support this legislation. I think what this legislation intends is sort of a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia, based on the rule of law, based on human rights. That's the hope. It includes the Sergei Magnitsky legislation that came out of the Foreign Affairs Committee, of which I'm an original cosponsor, and I do think we owe a debt of gratitude to Chairman Ros-Lehtinen for her determination to have that provision in the legislation. I think if we reflect on the words of the Russian opposition in their Parliament, one said recently, this provision is very pro-Russian. It helps defend us in Russia from criminals. It helps defend us from criminals who kill our citizens, who steal our money and then hide it abroad. And that's the point. That's what we're trying to do in that provision. And this bill, liberalizing trade while at the same time staying true to human rights, should have passed months ago. Sometimes we have a debate with the administration, in this particular case it was over the question of sort of quiet diplomacy with Russia, or whether we were going to speak out forcefully on these human rights provisions. I do not prefer silence on issues such as this. I think that the systemic corruption we're seeing today in Moscow, and the abuse of power we're seeing from the regime, really demand inclusion of these provisions. And I think, thankfully, a bipartisan group in Congress, including Howard Berman, including Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and others, stuck it out, came together on this and insured the inclusion in this bill of these provisions in memory of Sergei Magnitsky, in order to take a stand. And I think that is the right course. I encourage all my colleagues to pass this legislation.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the STEM Jobs Act. It is time to alter the current immigration system. It is time to substantially increase the proportion of new entrants with high levels of education and skills. Today, we are educating many of the best and brightest from around the world, and then, ironically, we're sending them back to work for our competitors. This makes no sense. Skilled immigrants can contribute to a rising U.S. standard of living. They bring capital, they bring ideas, and they produce new companies. With this bill, we can help grow innovation, and we can create jobs in the U.S. We've got plenty of examples of IT firms in California that are founded by immigrants from China and India that were educated in our institutions. Let's pass this bill and help our economy grow.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6431) to provide flexibility with respect to U.S. support for assistance provided by international financial institutions for Burma, 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 insert extraneous material into the Record on this measure.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This afternoon, Congress was finally able to present Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal. Congress' highest medal was awarded for her courageous and unwavering commitment to peace, to nonviolence, to human rights, and of course to democracy in Burma. I was an original cosponsor of Mr. Crowley's legislation that set the stage for today's ceremony. Of course, that legislation passed years ago, back in 2008, when Aung San Suu Kyi's house was her prison. Many thought, of course, that this day today would never come. That she was able to visit Capitol Hill today to accept this award, meeting with Members of Congress, is a testament of the changes taking place in her important country. The opposition has won seats in Parliament. Media restrictions have been eased. Hundreds of prisoners, including many this week, have been released. Congress can be proud of the role that it has played in getting Burma to this point. Sanctions were important, but sanctions can't keep up the momentum for democracy in Burma today. That was the message that Aung San Suu Kyi delivered in Washington. Instead, she emphasized the role that the U.S. can play in helping to build up the institutions that Burma badly needs. This country, once Southeast Asia's richest country, is now its poorest. Its corrupt and brutal generals have destroyed the economic landscape of Burma. The Burmese people are destitute. Democracy will not thrive in this economic despair. Isolated for decades, the institutions Burma needs to run an economy are either very weak or they do not exist. International financial institutions could help Burma establish the economic infrastructure needed to reconnect with the world. This assistance also can help the Burmese with their basic needs. Without this in place, the potential for political backsliding is real. However, several laws on our books direct the U.S. representative at each international financial institution to vote ``no'' when it comes to any proposal related to Burma. There is no waiver, which is very unusual when it comes to sanctions. I'd note that a U.S. ``no'' vote is not a veto. It doesn't stop these institutions from being involved with Burma. It just stops us from being part of the process. So we have to ask ourselves, when are the interests of the U.S. and the Burmese people best served? When the U.S. is playing a leading role, helping to shape these institutions' involvement with Burma, or are they best served when the U.S. representative is shut out of the room, left with only one option? This legislation gives more options: yes, no, or abstain. When U.S. support is possible, that gives us leverage. We have great weight at these institutions, even while they are mainly funded by others. Like other Members, I'm not happy with where Burma is today. I want all political prisoners released. There is too much ethnic violence. This bill doesn't touch the import ban or asset freezes, of course, and those are targeted at the regime. The Treasury Department should use its authority to target any individual that is undermining progress in Burma. This legislation is license to bolster reform, where appropriate and where possible, not a seal of approval. Given where Burma is today, it's appropriate that Congress respond in this way to ensure that the U.S. is in a position to continue to press for reforms. Moving forward, Congress will need to ensure that these financial institutions are pushing stringent transparency and monitoring its impact on human rights. Those goals, which we all share, are best advanced by adopting this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. We have no further speakers. I will close, if the gentlelady has no additional speakers.

Mr. ROYCE. Very good. In that case, I thank the gentlelady. Mr. Speaker, it is said that Burma is undergoing a triple transition, from a military government to a more open and democratic government. Also, it's moving from conflict to peace, and it's moving from a closed economy to a more open economy. All three of these transitions, of course, are equally daunting. Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to the United States tells us just how far this country has come, but she also reminds us how far Burma has left to go. So our responsibility is to keep pushing Burma in the right direction, pushing it in the right direction so that all political prisoners are freed and so that a fully democratic government respects the rights of all of its people, including its ethnic minorities. This legislation is an appropriate response to ensure that Burma continues moving in the right direction. I urge the passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and celebrate Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Week. As Hispanic Heritage Month began September 15 and runs until October 15, 2012, I would like to acknowledge the numerous accomplishments the Hispanic community has achieved and continues to contribute to our nation. This week, September 16 to September 22, 2012, it is important to honor Hispanic Serving Institutions because they play an integral part in strengthening the Hispanic community through fulfilling students' higher educational needs. In Orange County, California, I am proud to highlight California State University Fullerton (CSUF), my Alma Mater. In a county where 33.8% identify themselves as coming from Hispanic or Latino decent, not only is CSUF the only Hispanic Serving Institution in Orange County, it is the first in California and fourth in the United States in awarding baccalaureate degrees to Hispanic students. Additionally, it also ranks 19th nationally in Graduate Student enrollment. Educational institutions, like CSUF, embody the opportunity that translates to future success. As the Hispanic community continues to grow, HSIs shape and promote education by providing the necessary tools to achieve academic success in fields ranging from science to business. Ultimately, these institutions empower citizens who work to give back and improve our nation. Where the Hispanic community remains an influential and growing force, not only in California, but nationally, it is important to distinguish HSI's commitment to academics as vital to the United States' success and growth.