Ed Royce

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. BOEHLERT), the prime sponsor of this legislation. (Mr. BOEHLERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year the Africa subcommittee that I chair held a hearing on the Congo Basin Foreign Partnership, and this is an innovative international approach to the conservation of forests and wildlife in Central Africa. This plan was first unveiled by our Secretary of State Powell last fall, and the initiative is designed to combat illegal logging through better forest management and local economic empowerment. Of course, these forests play a critical role in sustaining the environment. They absorb carbon dioxide, they cleanse the water, they hold the soil. Their plants and animals are invaluable for so many reasons, including their genetic and biochemical information, which could spark advances in medical, agricultural, and industrial technology. Ten years ago, those forests in Africa were virtually untouched. Today, logging operations are shrinking these forests. One estimate has logging taking out Congo basin forest area at a rate of twice the size of Rhode Island each and every year. If current deforestation and wildlife depletion rates are not reversed world wide, the world will pay an incalculable environmental and social price and incalculable cultural price as well. This is the beginning of real commitment to conservation in Africa. That is what we are seeing with the Peace Parks Foundation, which deserves our support and deserves our encouragement. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), with the support of several members of the Subcommittee on Africa, including the vice chairman, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton) and myself, introduced House Concurrent Resolution 80 supporting the efforts of the Peace Parks Foundation in the Republic of South Africa. The Peace Parks Foundation, a nonprofit organization, helps with the establishment and development of transfrontier conservation areas among two or more of the southern African development community countries. The idea for the Peace Parks Foundation came about when it was realized that ecotourism has benefited South Africa but has not benefited its neighboring countries, including Mozambique. The purpose of the Peace Parks Foundation is to better allow wildlife to move freely across national borders, which wildlife is wont to do, which will promote biodiversity, economic development, and peaceful cooperation between all countries involved. By giving local populations an economic incentive to protect the environment, wildlife poaching and other unsustainable practices should decrease. The Peace Parks Foundation enjoys the full support of all SADC countries and all of their heads of state and is currently developing 232,000 square miles of conservation area between them. This resolution expresses U.S. support for these efforts and encourages nongovernmental organizations and foundations in the United States to do the same. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution under consideration.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 80) expressing the sense of Congress relating to efforts of the Peace Parks Foundation in the Republic of South Africa to facilitate the establishment and development of transfrontier conservation efforts in southern Africa.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The Sudan peace process is, frankly, entering a very critical period. Some have described the next few months as the end game. There are elements in the government of Sudan who appear to desire peace. General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, the Kenyan mediator, has optimistically announced that he expects to have a peace deal by mid-August. One thing is sure, though. If peace is to have a chance in Sudan, the U.S. and others will have to aggressively monitor any peace agreement, including paying close attention to human rights conditions. Should a peace agreement be struck, the Special Rapporteur would have an important role to play in ensuring that the new government respects the rights of all Sudanese. There is no reason in the world for the Special Rapporteur to be sidelined now. This resolution says Sudan is a human rights case that demands an international human rights spotlight. It is critical that all parties in Sudan, especially the government, understand that there will be consequences for those who shun peace and perpetuate human rights abuses in Sudan. The Sudan Peace Act, signed into law last year, provides for such consequences. Today, the House of Representatives is going on record with another stern warning that slavery and other gross human rights abuses in Sudan are intolerable and that the U.S. is watching. That is the message of this resolution which I urge my colleagues to support.

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

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 194) regarding the importance of international efforts to abolish slavery and other human rights abuses in the Sudan, as amended.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, firstly I would like to recognize the commendable spirit of the amendment because there are many countries throughout the world, many, where we have key interests that could use Millennium Challenge Account aid. But my concern is that this amendment by opening the door to so many middle-income countries, as the chairman said earlier, countries like Russia, countries like Turkey could actually qualify under that amendment, that would stretch the funds at the expense of the most impoverished, mainly in Africa. I serve as chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa. While the Millennium Challenge Account is rightly focused on developing countries in Latin America and in Asia too, we need to be aware that Africa is a continent in profound crisis. And while we have seen some positive developments, there is no getting around the fact that war and poverty and environmental degradation and so many other ills are devastating many African countries. Africa is the most impoverished continent in the world. It is the most economically marginalized continent in the world. With some 15 percent of the world's population, Africa does 1 percent of the world's trade. Many African countries stand on the precipice of political, economic, health, and humanitarian disaster. In traveling through the continent last week, President Bush championed the Millennium Challenge Account as one means of our engagement with Africa. My concern is that this amendment would lessen the Millennium Challenge Account's impact on this continent where we do have so many key interests. It is for that reason that I oppose this particular amendment, but I certainly support the underlying Hyde-Lantos amendment to expand the Peace Corps and to establish the Millennium Challenge Account. I have had the chance to meet with Peace Corps volunteers serving in Africa, extraordinary men and women, many of whom work in challenging circumstances. President Bush has offered a bold vision to significantly expand the Peace Corps. This Hyde-Lantos underlying amendment gives the President what he needs to make this vision a reality. Under the leadership of Director Gaddi Vasquez, the Peace Corps is well poised to address the rapidly evolving challenges of the developing world. Also, the Hyde-Lantos amendment contains a provision that I offered in committee expressing the sense that the Peace Corps should return to Sierra Leone as soon as security conditions permit. Sierra Leone, which was so bleak a few years ago, is now making real strides in recovering from a horrific war. The mayhem spread by the Revolutionary United Front with the Liberian warlord Charles Taylor as the sponsor for that organization thankfully has come to an end. Mr. Chairman, because of this brutal conflict, the Peace Corps was forced to terminate its program in Sierra Leone in 1994, after a long tradition of service focused on education, health, and agriculture. If the West African region is to have a chance at peaceful development, Charles Taylor must be brought to justice by the Special Court in Sierra Leone, and programs like the Peace Corps must return. With the Millennium Challenge Account, we're taking a new and innovative approach to development aid. Countries making strides to root-out corruption and institute sound, market-based policies will be treated as partners. Our experience with the African Growth and Opportunity Act has shown us that these standards are an effective approach to engaging with the nations of Africa. The MCA rightly sets standards, so that all benefit: countries that receive MCA funds benefit, but so too does the United States--by making what should be productive investments in the developing world, where our nation has an increasing number of key interests.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. This measure will make it easier for employers to offer health care to their employees. It is also going to help Americans save for their medical expenses, to gain greater access to quality health care. I particularly support the provision in this bill that would prevent a portion of the unused balances and flexible spending arrangements from being forfeited at the end of the year. Right now there is a use-it-or- lose-it provision that applies to workers. I have been working for several years to allow individuals to accumulate unused balances from their flexible spending arrangements to save for health care expenses. In this Congress I introduced H.R. 176 to allow individuals to accumulate $2,000 annually from these FSAs, as we call them. Right now we have over 30 million workers in the United States that have these FSAs available to them. Employees and employers can set aside pretax money which can be used to pay for out-of-pocket health care expenses and copayments and deductibles. Under the current system, unfortunately, employees forfeit money not used at the end of the year. Currently, this encourages wasteful health care spending because employees, knowing that they will forfeit unused account balances, engage in end-of-the-year spending sprees on services they may not need like extra eyeglasses, shades or unnecessary exams. So eliminating the use-it-or-lose-it provision solves this problem because then the employee will be able to roll over the balance from year to year. That is the attempt in this bill on that provision. Preventing some forfeiture also increases the savings rate by increasing the disposable income of those employees in the program, and it also empowers them to make their own health care decisions. I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Orange High School for being this year's fundraiser for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's ``Pennies Campaign.'' This year, the school's students and staff raised over $32,519 for leukemia research. It is the fifth year in a row Orange High School has come out on top in the nationwide collection, raising more than $150,000 since 1999. Celebrity recording artist Mandy Moore visited the school to reward them for raising the most money. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education, and services. The Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, and other related diseases, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has provided more than $280 million for research specifically targeting blood-related cancers. It is activities like this that strengthen our society and build character and citizenship. And it carries on this country's long line of volunteerism, which is built upon the principle of being a `Good Samaritan' and stopping along side the road to lend a helping hand. I am proud of you all. Keep up the good work.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Farmers Insurance Group's 75th Anniversary and Diamond Jubilee, which it celebrated on March 28, 2003. This year commemorates the company's three-quarters of a century of serving tens-of-millions of policyholders and customers across the country. Founded in 1928 in Los Angeles by Thomas E. Leavey and John C. Tyler, true entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Farmers has grown into one of the largest and most successful insurance companies in America. Nationally, Farmers Insurance employs nearly 20,000 individuals and has an insurance agent and district manager force of more than 15,000 strong. In California, Farmers is the largest state-based insurer and employs over 6,000 individuals and has in excess of 4,000 exclusive agents and district managers. These employees, agents and district managers are a valuable financial and insurance resource for their communities. They are also leaders in volunteer service. Over the years, Farmers Insurance Group's employees, agents and district managers have volunteered their time, personal finances and raised millions of dollars for local, state and national philanthropies and charities. Today, Farmers Insurance remains committed to community service and providing excellence in financial advice and security. Throughout the last 75 years Farmers Insurance Group has emerged as the third largest property and casualty insurer in the country. It is my hope that the company will continue to make great strides forward and will remain a leader in the personal and commercial lines and life insurance industries. As a Representative from California, where Farmers Insurance Group's home office is located, I am proud to congratulate all employees, agents and district managers on a successful 75 years of service to their communities.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that this conference report for this crime bill came back to the floor so quickly. Let me say as a cosponsor of this legislation that this bill includes some very important provisions that will help States and will help the Bush administration to continue their efforts to expand and improve the AMBER Alert system. As we know, last fall the President provided a total of $10 million to develop AMBER training and to develop education programs to upgrade the emergency alert system. As we have witnessed, AMBER Alert has worked to bring children home safely. I wanted to share one example of where this alert has worked well. That is the case with Nicole Timmons of Riverside, California, in my State. The alert was not only delivered throughout California, but luckily, the neighboring State of Nevada also ran the alert. As a consequence, an alert driver noticed that Nicole matched the description. He thus, within the first few hours, contacted authorities. She was returned safely to her parents. The point here is that they say three out of every four children who are murdered by their abductors are killed in the first 3 hours. That is why speed is of the essence. That is why a nationwide system is needed to ensure that neighboring States and communities will be able to coordinate when an abductor is traveling with a child to other parts of the country. We need an organized national effort so abducted children transported across State lines can be returned to their parents, to their families, as 53 have been safely in California and other States that have now adopted the AMBER Alert system. Mr. Speaker, I thank all of those who have worked to make certain that this legislation becomes law.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by commending the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton), the vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, for working long and hard on this legislation. For several years now, the House has been focused on the problem of conflict diamonds around the world. Three years ago, the Subcommittee on Africa that I chair held a hearing on these conflict diamonds; and we have had several hearings on Sierra Leone where, again, these diamonds have fueled a conflict, frankly, a conflict that has brutalized many children in that country, a conflict that has led to the forced amputations of the arms and legs of little girls and little boys in Sierra Leone. Concerted international action, including a U.N. curb on the diamond trade in Sierra Leone and neighboring Liberia, has helped give Sierra Leone a chance for peace. The legislation that we are considering today builds on that success. We should note that the problem of natural resources fueling conflicts in Africa is not limited to diamonds. Over the last several years, an estimated 2.5 million people have died in the eastern Congo due to a conflict being fueled by an illegal natural resource rush. The U.N. has documented what it calls ``elite networks,'' government officials from Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and the Congo acting in collaboration with international criminals and war lords. What are they doing? They are gorging on diamonds, but also other minerals and on farm produce and land and tax revenue, and these characters thrive in an environment of conflict. They thrive on death, and we need to combat all of this exploitation. Today, though, we are focused on a significant part of the problem, and that is diamonds; and this legislation is an important tool to fight this chaos that is going on in eastern Congo and elsewhere. Ending the trade in conflict diamonds is all the more important given reports of terrorists using rough diamonds to hide their funds and to transfer their funds. Again, I would like to commend the gentleman from New York and the other Members; and to name a few, I would like to commend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf); our former Member, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall); the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel); and others who have worked on this legislation, which has been several years in the making. It promises to curb the trade in conflict diamonds while not harming the legitimate diamond trade that so many Africans depend on for their livelihood. This is an important step forward and deserves strong support.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which is called the Business Checking Freedom Act; and I think giving banks the ability to pay interest on business checking accounts is a good concept. It has been endorsed by the President of the United States as part of his small business agenda, but it has also been endorsed by Federal regulators. Federal regulators have long supported the effort to allow banks to offer interest on demand accounts, and this particular measure enjoys a broad base of support in the industry, including the National Federation of Independent Businesses, America's Community Bankers, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, the Association of Financial Professionals, and the Financial Services Roundtable. The inability of depository institutions to pay interest on business accounts, I think, hurts all sectors of the economy; and I think it decreases the overall competitiveness of the American markets. This legislation gives small businesses the jump-start that they need to create new jobs and improve the economy while removing burdensome regulations from small banks and, basically, while allowing the market to work. In my view, this legislation is solely about business checking. In my view, it is not about the legal status of ILCs. I think contrary to the concerns raised by the Federal Reserve, the FDIC Chairman Don Powell, recently testified before our committee, testified that there are no safety and soundness concerns with this amendment and that the FDIC has no objection to an authorization for ILCs, or industrial loan banks, to pay interest on NOW accounts held by businesses. Mr. Speaker, I just thought I would quote Chairman Powell. He said, ``The FDIC would not object to paying interest by these financial institutions on NOW accounts held by businesses. We do not really perceive those any different from any other business accounts, and we do not see it as a safety and soundness issue.'' Further, with respect to any concern regarding the relationship between industrial loan banks and the few commercial companies that own them in four States, Chairman Powell stated in a speech to the American Bankers Association on October 8, 2002, that ``Congress has given us good tools to manage the relationship between parents and insured subsidiaries. ``Indeed, the FDIC manages these relationships every day in the industrial loan company model with little or no risk to the deposit insurance funds, and no subsidy transferred to the nonbank parent.'' Again, in my view, this bill is about business checking for depository institutions, not the legal status of ILCs. I want to commend the authors of this legislation, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this legislation, which, of course, includes the AMBER Alert bill. Last September, President George Bush took immediate action to help expand and improve the AMBER Alert system; and he provided a total of $10 million from existing funds in order to expand and develop the AMBER training and education programs and in order to upgrade the emergency alert system. I support President Bush's efforts, and I urge Congress to pass this important bill so that we can continue our efforts to ensure that an AMBER Alert system will be there for all of our Nation's children. As we witnessed, AMBER plans have worked to bring home children safely; and I wanted to share one particular story about a 10-year-old girl from Riverside, California, named Nicole Timmons. We have the system in California, but, luckily, neighboring Nevada also picked up this alert; and on the Nevada radio stations they reported that Nicole had just been kidnapped by an individual and gave a certain amount of information. Luckily, a very alert citizen in Nevada was listening to this broadcast as he was driving next to the vehicle that Nicole was being transported in, being abducted in. He noticed that the driver was behaving rather suspiciously, and he noticed this 10-year-old girl. As a consequence, he immediately notified law enforcement. They moved in, and they rescued Nicole. What is important here is in 75 percent of the cases where a young child is killed by an abductor, that murder occurs within the first 3 hours. That is why it is necessary that these alerts go up immediately to give other citizens a chance to help apprehend, to help report suspicious behavior, to help look for that abductor. Of course, we have to ask ourselves, what if Nevada had not picked up the California alert? That is why we want to expand it across the Nation.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, last year my colleagues and I on the conference committee for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act sent to the President a bill that included tough new criminal penalties for corporate malefactors. I think at that time we took a number of steps that were important. We drastically increased the sentencing guidelines for securities fraud, for document shredding, for mail and wire fraud. I think Congress provided a strong deterrent for many white-collar criminals that would misrepresent the true financial health of their companies. By passing this legislation, I think we send a serious message to Wall Street and to Main Street that these corporate criminals would be dealt with as harshly as other criminals. I think today Congress has the opportunity to finish the task of preventing corporate malfeasance by agreeing to pass this bill, H.R. 975. This bill may not have everything we want in terms of how it is phrased, but included in this bill I think is a sensible provision that sharply limits to $125,000 the homestead exemption that many CEOs and corporate officers have used to shield their assets from creditors after they plunder their shareholders' wealth. This is in cases where someone has committed securities law violations or other bad acts, and I think by empowering the government to go after the ill gotten gains that corporate officers who break the law and then tie up those assets in offshore mansions at the expense of parishioners who have been swindled, I think this is an important addition to the law. Also, this bill prohibits people convicted of felonies like securities fraud from claiming an unlimited exemption when filing for bankruptcy, and I think that protects taxpayers from having to bear the cost of corporate collapses like Enron and WorldCom; and I think it also guards against fraud and abuse by requiring that high-income debtors who have the ability to repay a significant portion of their debts do so, preventing them from sticking responsible borrowers with their tab in the long run. It accomplishes all of this while preserving the ability of people who truly need to discharge their debts to do so. For far too long, Americans who have worked hard and paid their bills have been held accountable for their debts but also by debts incurred by those who irresponsibly file for bankruptcy; and I think this long-overdue legislation will reform the critically flawed bankruptcy process and prevent affluent filers from gaming the system and passing on their bad debts to hard-working families, while preserving the ability of people who truly need to discharge their debt through bankruptcy to do so. Bankruptcy should be preserved as a last resort for those who truly need the protections that the bankruptcy system has to offer, not a tool for those who could pay their debts, but choose to discharge them instead. By agreeing to this legislation, Congress will make the existing bankruptcy system a needs-based one and correct a flaw in the current system that encourages people to file for bankruptcy and walk away from debts regardless of whether they are able to repay any portion of what they owe, and it does this while protecting those who truly need protection. So I commend my colleagues for their hard work on this legislation, and I strongly urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this report and help honest taxpayers by closing the loopholes in the current bankruptcy system.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 26.

Mr. ROYCE. 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 move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 26) condemning the punishment of execution by stoning as a gross violation of human rights, and for other purposes.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution condemning the punishment of execution by stoning as a gross violation of human rights. I am a proud cosponsor of this resolution, and I commend the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum) for her work on this issue. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, I am pleased that the House is taking this action. Mr. Speaker, there can be no doubt that stoning is a gross violation of human rights. When someone is put to death by stoning, they are guaranteed a slow, painful, cruel death. Stones are carefully chosen so they are large enough to cause maximum pain, but not so large as to kill the condemned immediately. Stoning brings out the worst in human nature. It may surprise many that this barbaric practice has entered the 21st century, but it has. Sharia law governs family law in a wide range of countries. It is only applied to criminal offenses in a handful of states. In Nigeria, 12 of the country's 36 states put Sharia criminal law into effect in recent years, displacing Nigeria's secular laws. The case of Amina Lawal, a young woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has brought international attention to Sharia-mandated stoning. Her case is pending. We all hope she is spared this brutal treatment. This resolution rightfully condemns the practice of stoning and calls upon the President and Secretary of State to work with their counterparts toward the repeal of stoning laws and adherence to international standards of human rights. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. I rise in support of this resolution urging the United States to work towards passage of a resolution on North Korean human rights abuses at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. I am a cosponsor of this resolution, and I commend the Committee on International Relations vice-chairman, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), for his attention to this issue. I also want to commend the ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for his attention. Both of these gentlemen have spent much time, have spent much of their careers, trying to focus this body on human rights and to address human rights concerns around this world. Last year, this House passed legislation, House Concurrent Resolution 213, recognizing the horrific plight of North Korean refugees who risk their lives to escape into China. That legislation at the time included language encouraging the Secretary of State to work to pass a resolution regarding human rights in North Korea at the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. That session began yesterday. Mr. Speaker, North Korea is one of the worst systemic abusers of human rights in the world today. North Koreans are held hostage to their so-called Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il. North Koreans are put to death for a very wide variety of crimes against the revolution, as he calls it, including listening to foreign broadcasts or possessing printed material that is considered reactionary by that regime. The prison camps in that regime hold an estimated 200,000 prisoners. Last year, the Subcommittee on Asia held a hearing to look at the nightmarish conditions in these North Korean prison camps. We heard testimony from North Koreans who had escaped the camps, and these were North Koreans in disfavor with that Stalinist regime, those who had been convicted of ``anticriminal acts.'' They were basically political prisoners. As we heard their testimony, they reported to us that the inmates in those camps were being slowly worked to death. These were work camps. We heard from North Koreans who witnessed prisoners being gassed as part of a chemical weapons experiment. We also heard testimony from Dr. Norbert Vollersten, a German physician and one of the few Westerners to spend extended time in North Korea. Dr. Vollersten has launched a worldwide campaign to tell anyone who will listen what he witnessed in North Korea. Dr. Vollersten has asked why the world does not hear more and does not know more about what he describes as Nazi-type atrocities that are occurring to North Korean people. As we know, the North Korean regime uses food as a weapon against its own people, apportioning and withholding resources based on citizens' perceived loyalty to the regime. In many parts of that country, in many counties, whole counties, whole provinces, are perceived not to be loyal enough to receive food aid. It is largely an untold story that from 1994 to 1998 at least 2 million North Koreans perished from starvation and related diseases while nearly 50 percent of North Korean children are malnourished to the point that their physical and mental health is compromised. Responsibility for this unparalleled cruelty lies squarely with the regime of Kim Jong Il. The upcoming session provides an opportunity, the session in the United Nations, for the administration and others throughout the world to focus on these horrific realities in North Korea which have unfortunately been overlooked. And I am convinced that a concerted international focus on the North Korean regime's human rights abuses would advance stability in Northeast Asia. I am hard pressed to see how turning away from this ugly reality is in the interest of anyone but the North Korean regime. Mr. Speaker, we face a critical challenge on the Korean peninsula. I urge the passage of this timely resolution.

Mr. ROYCE

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 314) to amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to exempt mortgage servicers from certain requirements of the Act with respect to federally related mortgage loans secured by a first lien, and for other purposes.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 314.