Chris Smith

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, I held a hearing on the power of holding countries accountable in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, including its tier rankings, for government successes or failures in the fight against human trafficking. Experts have observed that there are more slaves in the world today than at any previous point of human history. With the Trafficking in Persons Report and tier rankings, the United States is also ensuring more accountability and progress than ever before in the fight to rid the world of slavery. Many of those who attended the hearing have been in this fight for more than a decade from the year 2000 when a law I authored--the Trafficking Victims' Protection Act (TPVA)--created a comprehensive policy that not only established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the Department of State, but also the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. The success of the TIP Report and rankings is beyond anything we could have hoped for at the time. From presidential suites to the halls of parliaments to law enforcement assets and police stations in remote corners of the world, this report focuses anti-trafficking work in 187 countries on the pivotal goals of prevention, prosecution, and protection. Much of the praise for the success of the TIP Report is due to the incredibly effective Ambassadors-at-Large who have led the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) and their highly dedicated staff. Ambassador Mark Lagon is one of them and he testified at our hearing this week. Each year, the trafficking office evaluates whether the government of a country is fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, or, if not, whether the government is making significant efforts to do so. The record is laid bare for the world to see and summarized in a tier ranking narrative. Tier 1 countries fully meet the minimum standards. Tier 2 countries do not meet the minimum standards but are making significant effort to do so. Tier 3 countries do not meet the standards and are not making significant effort to do so. Along with the embarrassment of being listed on Tier 3, such countries are open to sanction by the U.S. government. Over the last 14 years, more than 120 countries have enacted anti- trafficking laws and many countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their tier rankings. Some countries openly credit the TIP report as a key factor in their increased and effective anti- trafficking response. We created the Tier 2 Watch List In the 2003 TVPA reauthorization. This list was intended to encourage good-faith anti-trafficking progress in a country that may have taken positive anti-trafficking steps late in the evaluation year. Unfortunately, some countries made a habit of last minute efforts and failed to follow through year after year--effectively gaming the system. To protect the integrity of the tier system and ensure it worked properly to inspire real progress in the fight against human trafficking, Congress in 2008 created an ``automatic downgrade'' for any country that had been on the Tier 2 Watch List for two years but had not taken significant enough anti-trafficking measures to move up a tier. The President can waive this automatic downgrade for two additional years if he certifies ``credible evidence'' that the country has a written and sufficiently resourced plan, which if implemented, would constitute significant effort to meet the minimum standards. Last year was the first test of the new system--and it worked. China, Russia, and Uzbekistan ran out of waivers and moved to Tier 3, which accurately reflected their records. In the hearing, we evaluated whether these countries have made any significant progress over the last year. I am particularly concerned that China's trafficking crisis continues unabated. The recent U.N. Commission of Inquiry Report on North Korea provides horrifying evidence of the trafficking of North Korean women to China-for sex, brides, or labor. An estimated 90 percent of North Korean women seeking asylum in China are trafficked for these reasons. Thousands of women a year leave desperate situations in North Korea only to end up in a brothel or forced marriage--a tragic and astonishing fact. China's response has not been to provide protection for victims or to prosecute traffickers, it is to hunt down and repatriate North Koreans, sending them back--to hard labor, long imprisonments, and possible execution. North Korean women are not the only victims. By 2020, more than 40 million Chinese men will be unable to find wives in China because of China's short-sighted and abusive one-child policy, which, coupled with modern abortion technology, has triggered the mass abortion of tens of millions of baby girls. A human rights abuse in and of itself, sex- selective abortions have also created a huge trafficking magnet, pulling victims into forced marriages and brothels from countries in proximity to China and beyond. China's extremely modest and overly hyped suggestion that it might relax the draconian one-child policy for some couples is unlikely to mitigate the disaster and may be further counteracted by the spread of abortion sex selection technology to more of rural China. Whether the birth limitation is one-child or two-child in special cases, birth limitation policies constitute abuse, cruelty, and exploitation without precedent or parallel for baby girls and society. The Government of China is failing not only to address its own trafficking problems but is creating an incentive for human trafficking problems in the whole region. Although she could not join us in person at the hearing, renowned author Mara Hvistandahl, author of Unnatural Selection, Choosing Boys over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, submitted testimony for the record specifically on the effect of the sex ratio imbalance as a cause of human trafficking and the proliferation of ``marriage agencies'' in China, which traffic women from poorer countries into China and sell them into marriage. During the hearing, we also looked at a second set of countries that, this year, must be automatically downgraded unless they have made significant efforts to fight human trafficking. These countries include Thailand, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Chad, Barbados, and Maldives. Burma may receive a Presidential waiver in order to avoid downgrade to Tier 3 but the facts on the ground don't justify that course of action. Cutting across Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia is the tragic plight of the Rohingya minority. Rohingya are leaving Burma by the thousands to escape religious persecution. However, according to a report put out by Reuters, Thai authorities are selling Rohingya to human traffickers, where they are held in ``tropical gulags'' until relatives pay ransom. Those who cannot pay the ransom are sold into sex slavery or hard labor and many die from abuse or disease. Thai authorities have done little to stop this practice, their efforts at prevention and prosecution are said to be ``losing steam.'' Rohingya are often trafficked to Malaysia where they are exploited for labor. The sad fact is that many Rohingya, a persecuted Sunni Muslim minority in Burma, hope to find refuge in Malaysia, a majority Muslim country. Burma is the source of Rohingya trafficking in the region. Policies of discrimination, child limitation, forced birth control, and violence push the Rohingya minority to leave Burma and leave them vulnerable refugees. The Burmese government is culpable in Rohingya trafficking and the regional problems their policies create. The Burmese Government also has done little to stop trafficking of Rohingya within Burma. Reports indicate that authorities profit from the sale of Rohingya to traffickers, Rohingya women are held at military bases as sex slaves, and Rohingya men are used for forced labor. Though these practices have gone on for many years, they are underreported in the State Department's TIP Report. Displaced by war with the Burmese military, women and children from the Kachin tribe in Burma are also subject to trafficking. Roi Ja, an 18-year-old woman living in IDP camp in northern Burma, was lured to China with a promise of a restaurant job. Once in China she was bused to a rural village and locked in a room. According to her testimony, she cried for three days and begged those around to let her go. She was told to just ``give up'' and was sold as a bride for $5,312. We hear constantly about Burma's success democratic reforms, but peel away the layers of good news, and many of the same human rights problems and human atrocities remain. I understand that the administration has started a ``Human Trafficking Dialogue'' with Burma. Diplomatic engagement is important, but not enough to warrant an upgrade in Burma's status. For that we have to see concrete results, not Rohingya trafficked for sex and labor. The importance of accurate Tier rankings and TIP Report country profiles cannot be overstated. Again and again, we have seen countries turn 180 degrees and begin the hard work of reaching the minimum standards after the TIP Report accurately exposed--with a Tier 3 ranking and truthful country report--each country's failure to take significant action against human trafficking. By the same token, a premature boost to Tier 2 may not only undermine progress, but fail to inspire it among countries actually doing the hard work. I won't deny that there are at times diplomatic costs to accurate tier rankings--but it is the price of freedom for the men, women, and children caught in human trafficking. They remind us that each of their lives is priceless and must be protected.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers Act. This bipartisan legislation is urgently needed to address yet another poorly-conceived provision of Obamacare that will harm American workers and further slow economic growth. Under Obamacare, ``full-time'' work is defined as a 30-hour work week--a quarter less than the traditional 40 hour work week. Because the law imposes certain penalties on businesses based upon their number of full-time employees, many businesses are forced to move a number of their employees from full-time to part-time work. This is a dangerous and fundamental change that will result in less hours and lower paychecks, affecting millions of Americans who plan their budget around the traditional 40-hour work week. We cannot continue down a path that disincentivizes full-time employment, yet this is exactly where we are headed. While part-time work is a great option for many, it should not be the norm for those who have the desire and ability to work full-time. There is a serious problem when the government creates a complicated regulatory maze that increases inefficiency and incentivizes businesses to reduce their full-time workforce. As a Chicago Tribune editorial stated, ``[p]art- time work does become a problem when Washington tilts the balance of incentives against full-time work. Not only will Obamacare raise costs for the government, it stands to make one of the most competitive features of the U.S. economy--a flexible labor market--less efficient. One more reason to rewrite, or halt, Obamacare.'' Obamacare was sold to the American people with affordability as its centerpiece. We were promised time and time again that ``if you like your plan, you can keep it,'' and ``if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.'' Instead, reports of sticker-shock and mass cancellations of plans have been the norm. Many are finding that their preferred doctor is now out-of-network and thus out of their coverage. A recent survey conducted by the Associated Press found that many of our nation's world-class cancer hospitals are off-limits to those with certain insurance carriers. Now, in addition, workers are seeing their hours cut and their paychecks lowered. A recent study by the Hoover Institution found that 2.6 million workers are vulnerable to work hour reductions under 30- hour work week definition--with women and low-income Americans especially vulnerable. Last August, a township in my district cut the hours of 25 employees due to the new definition. My colleagues and I continue to hear from our constituents from both sides--those who cannot afford to keep full-time workers, and those who have had their hours reduced. Last July, the leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), and UNITE HERE sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warning that Obamacare could ``destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.'' The letter states that ``[t]he unintended consequences of the ACA are severe. Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios.'' Further, ``[n]umerous employers have begun to cut workers' hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly.'' They stressed the same point we have stressed here today: ``[t]he impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits.'' This commonsense legislation we are voting on today will simply restore the definition of full-time employment to its traditional 40 hour work week. I have long believed that the federal government must play an appropriate role in providing a health care safety net for those in need of support. That goal can be achieved without the burdensome rules, regulations, and definitions imposed by Obamacare such as the one addressed today.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this week I convened a subcommittee hearing entitled The First One Thousand Days: Development Aid Programs to Bolster Health and Nutrition. There is perhaps no wiser investment that we could make in the human person than to concentrate on ensuring that sufficient nutrition and health assistance is given during the first one thousand days of life: A thousand days that begins with conception, continues throughout pregnancy, includes the milestone of birth and then finishes at roughly the second birthday of the child. Consider this: According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 6.6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday in 2012; an average of roughly 18,000 daily deaths among children under five years old. Among the factors contributing to such a grim tally are malnutrition, obstructed newborn breathing, pneumonia, and diarrhea. All these, and other causes, are ones which we are capable of addressing, if we apply resources and political will to the problem. The hearing I held complements various hearings our Global Health Subcommittee has held over the past several years. It was inspired in part by what I experienced at the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York in September 2010. There I had the privilege of participating in an extraordinary roundtable meeting of First Ladies of African nations that concluded with the signing of a declaration to end maternal and child malnutrition, with particular emphasis on ``the first 1000 days in the life of a child from the moment of conception.'' The roundtable focused on that great killer of children, malnutrition. The roundtable concluded that undernutrition alone remains ``one of the world's most serious, but least-addressed problems--killing an estimated 3.5 million children annually.'' In other words, food insecurity is a plague which ravages our future, ending the lives of little boys and little girls throughout the developing world well before their time. The roundtable also pointed out that 60 percent of the world's chronically hungry are women. According to the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, or GAIN, cosponsor of the roundtable, malnutrition's most devastating impact is actually in the womb, often causing death or significant mental and physical disability to the precious life of an unborn child. Children who do not receive adequate nutrition in utero are more likely to experience lifelong cognitive and physical deficiencies, such as stunting. UNICEF estimates that one in four children worldwide is stunted due to lack of adequate nutrition. Children who are chronically undernourished within the first two years of their lives also often have impaired immune systems that are incapable of protecting them against life-threatening ailments, such as pneumonia and malaria. Adults who were stunted as children face increased risk of developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Mothers who were malnourished as girls are 40% more likely to die during childbirth, experience debilitating complications like obstetric fistula, and deliver children who perish before reaching age five. We must take a holistic, mother-and-child approach to the problem. By helping women throughout pregnancy receive adequate nutrition and supplemental micronutrients--such as iodine, Vitamin A, and folic acid--and ensuring that they are well-fed while nursing, both children and mothers thrive. In addition to addressing undernutrition, there are a number of other interventions that can make an impact. About 44% of all under- five deaths occur within the first month of life, during the neonatal period. Among newborns the greatest threats to survival are prematurity and failure to breathe at birth, known as birth asphyxia. Following the neonatal period through the first five years of life, child survival is imperiled primarily by pneumonia and diarrhea. The solutions are often readily at hand. Most neonatal deaths can be prevented at little to no expense with neonatal resuscitation, prompt administration of antibiotics, and nutrition supplementation. Inexpensive interventions like oral rehydration salts (ORS), which cost $0.05-0.10 per dose, are also effective in curbing diarrheal deaths. Nor must we ever pit the survival of the child against that of the mother, as both are complementary objectives. Curbing child mortality in the womb and at birth also goes hand-in-hand with reducing maternal mortality. Best practices to radically reduce maternal mortality can and must be life-affirming--protecting from harm both patients, the mother and the child in the womb. Of course, we have known for more than 60 years what actually saves women's lives: skilled birth attendants, treatment to stop hemorrhages, access to safe blood, emergency obstetric care, antibiotics, repair of fistulas, adequate nutrition, and pre-and post- natal care. Political will is absolutely essential to address this problem and to make sure it is adequately resourced. It is one thing that I hope this hearing will bring to light, that such interventions in the first 1000 days of life is not only morally imperative but also cost effective. One group of Nobel Laureate economic experts ranked efforts to address undernutrition as the single most cost-effective investment in foreign aid. The economists concluded that each dollar spent on reducing undernutrition could yield a $30 benefit. One other thing I hope this hearing will highlight is the importance of Faith Based Organizations in fighting this battle, and to underscore the need for our aid programs to work with such organizations. We will hear from representatives from two such organizations, Food for the Hungry and World Vision, to discuss their insights. Faith Based Organizations play an absolutely critical role in places such as Africa, which one can say is a Faith Based Continent. Matthew 25--``when I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was thirsty, you gave me drink, when I was naked, you clothed me''--inspires these and other great organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, just as it inspires the work of this subcommittee. For example, in 2004, along with my colleague on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, I sponsored an obstetric fistula resolution, seeking to address one debilitating factor that wreaks havoc on the lives of mothers and their children. The following year I was able to amend the Foreign Relations Authorization Act to fund twelve centers in the developing world to treat and prevent obstetric fistula, as well as to provide funding for skilled-birth attendants. Importantly, I was also able to remove restrictive language from the original bill that would have prohibited faith-based hospitals in the developing world from receiving funding. Again, I must stress, that it is these faith based organizations that are doing yeoman's work on the ground to address child and mother mortality, and they must be supported. In this Congress I introduced H.R. 3525, the International Hydrocephalus Treatment and Training Act. Hydrocephalus, or ``water on the brain,'' is a disease which affects three to five out of every 1000 newborns in developing countries, who are either born with it or acquire it due to neonatal infections in the first few months of life. For such children, it is often a death sentence. Doctors--assuming there is even a doctor around--often do not know how to treat it. Moreover, if they do treat and use the traditional surgical procedure which requires the life-long use of a shunt, such shunts often become infected, leading to death a few years later. Our bill would train doctors in Africa in a new and proven technique which does not require a shunt and is effective in at least two thirds of the cases of infants with hydrocephalus. It is ideally suited to conditions in the developing world. The amount required to make a difference in the lives of these children and their parents is relatively little--an estimated $15 million over 5 years. I invite my colleagues who are present here to join in co-sponsoring this legislation, as one way to address the problem of child mortality. Initiatives such as these are ones which should gather support across the political aisle--they are life-affirming, and can save the life of both mother and child. We have common ground here. By addressing health during the first 1000 days of life, beginning at conception, we help ensure that over the next 25,000 days--or whatever the number is that our Creator has allotted--our brothers and sisters the world over can best reach their potential, leading fulfilled lives of health, vigor, and dignity.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank my friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Ukraine Support Act. I want to thank my friends and colleagues, Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, for introducing this comprehensive legislation to support Ukraine in its urgent effort to meet its current crisis, including by building up its democratic institutions. Mr. Speaker, Russia's landgrab in Crimea violates the core principles of several bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties between Ukraine and Russia, the Budapest Memorandum, and the United Nations Charter, as well as the Helsinki Final Act. This legislation includes strong sanctions against Russians directly responsible for the aggression. H.R. 4278 also authorizes targeted sanctions against Ukrainians involved in undermining the democratic processes and provides assistance to the Ukrainian Government for identifying and recovering stolen assets. It is, after all, these criminal officials, including and especially Yanukovych and his cronies, who have so harmed the Ukrainian people and placed the country in the vulnerable position which Russia has exploited. Another key provision of the bill provides support for Ukraine's democracy and civil society; and I want to here recognize the importance of supporting, as well, the faith-based groups and organizations that played such a prominent role, particularly on the humanitarian side, in supporting the movement for democracy and the rule of law. The Ukrainian democracy movement is, in large part, a religious movement. Orthodox and Catholic clergy, for example, were prominent in the protests, and the drama of priests carrying icons confronting soldiers became as much a symbol of the democratization movement as anything else. And, again, when people were wounded and when people were being dragged away, it was the clergy that tried to step in to mitigate the violence against them. Let me also point out a Catholic News Service article that just hit the wire that points out that members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church are fleeing Crimea to escape threats of arrest and property seizures. Father Milchakovskyi, a parish rector in Crimea, said: The situation remains very serious, and we don't know what will happen--the new government here is portraying us all as nationalists and extremists. The article also says: Officials from Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, had called him in for questioning about his community and to ask whether or not he ``recognized the new order.'' He pointed out that one priest in particular was actually beaten by Russian forces. And, again, Members will recall, and I remember during the 1980s when I first came here, how so many within the church, including the orthodox church, were beaten and sent to the gulag because of their religious faith. This could be the harbinger of a new wave of repression against people of faith. The Ukrainian Catholic Church, by way of reminder, was one of those churches that was outlawed during Soviet times, and now we see the same kind of repetition of that kind of repression. This legislation is a clear step in the right direction. No piece of legislation will do it all. We have to appeal to the Russians to stop this, but, again, to cease their persecution of people in the Crimea.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend and colleague from Missouri for her outstanding leadership on behalf of the life issues, for her courage, and for her consistent approach to these vital issues that really are also passing. She has been a leader for so long. Thank you for organizing this, this evening. Mr. Speaker, I, like my colleagues, am grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court took up this critical case for religious liberty; and I--we, Mr. Speaker, are hopeful that the court will provide much-needed relief from this discriminatory ObamaCare policy. Under the Obama administration's coercive mandate, family-owned businesses like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood have found themselves in the impossible situation of being forced to violate their moral or religious beliefs or face crippling fines. This not only puts businesses in serious and unnecessary risk, but also employees who may lose their jobs, as well as their health care. It is the height of hypocrisy, Mr. Speaker, for the Obama administration to coerce family businesses that provide generous health care for their employees into a situation that may force them to close and to shutter their businesses. The ObamaCare financial penalties are draconian, egregious, and without precedent in U.S. law. Under ObamaCare, family businesses that do provide health care for employees, like the Hobby Lobby, but object to covering certain drugs and devices--in their case, that provide for abortions--will be fined up to $36,500 per year, per employee. That is outrageous. For the Green family of Hobby Lobby, this could mean an amount to nearly half a billion dollars in fines every year. There is no way they can absorb that kind of body blow without closing their doors. I would note, parenthetically, that a company that does not provide any health care insurance--the gentlelady from Missouri spoke about this in her opening comments--will be fined some $2,000 per year, clearly, an unfair burden, but far less than the $36,500 per year, per employee, if they refuse, again, to include certain drugs or devices that violate their moral or religious tenets. When you calculate that out for the Green family of Hobby Lobby, dumping their existing health care coverage for employees could result in fines up to $26 million per year; again, a huge penalty, but that is still $448 million less than if they actually provided health insurance and remained true to their core convictions, which they will do. Mr. Speaker, this burdensome penalty is completely unfair, unreasonable. It is unworkable, and it is unconscionable. The Obama administration is saying: we will punish you, we will hurt you, we will even put you out of business for providing health care to your employees, unless you provide health care according to the government's conscience. Also, employees currently on their business health plan could lose their coverage that they desperately need for their families, as well as for themselves. Secretary Sebelius and President Obama have no business whatsoever imposing their morality on people of faith, but that is exactly what their oppressive mandate does. The Supreme Court, Mr. Speaker, has a duty to protect the religious and conscience rights of the Greens and the Hahns and everyone else suffering government-imposed harm. The U.S. high court must act to protect the First Amendment rights of these families. Protecting these rights also protects their employees. Let's make no mistake about it, Mr. Speaker. This mandate and its deleterious effects and consequences are very much Obama's willful intention. The imposition of this attack on religious freedom is no accident. It comes straight from the pages of ObamaCare. In December of 2009, in the runup to the passage of that legislation, Senator Mikulski offered an amendment which provided the authorizing language for this oppressive mandate. In 2009, the same year, when President Obama spoke at Notre Dame University, which parenthetically is also suing over the mandate, he spoke about drafting a sensible conscience clause--his words--and yet, today, protection of conscience is another highly visible broken promise of ObamaCare. Mr. Speaker, to tell people that their conscience is irrelevant and that they must follow the Federal Government's conscience, rather than their own, is completely antithetical to the American principle of religious freedom and the First Amendment. Unless reversed, Obama's attack on conscience rights will result in government-imposed discrimination against those who seek according to their faith and their moral code. Under the weight of the mandate's ruinous fines and penalties, many businesses could be forced to shut down, eliminating jobs. I would never have believed that this kind of religious violation could occur in the United States of America, but it has. The Supreme Court must end this abuse. I yield back to my good friend.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, I convened a hearing that inquired into the Northern Ireland peace process, particularly that aspect of it which is called ``dealing with the past.'' Sadly, much of what we heard about amounts to failures to deal with the past, as in the rejection of the recent proposal made by Dr. Richard Haass. Dr. Haass served as Chair of the Panel of Parties in the Northern Ireland Executive--that is, he was asked to assist in brokering an agreement to move the peace process forward. In that capacity Dr. Haass spent months consulting and formulating a proposal. In the end, the proposal was not accepted by all of the parties, though it clarified where progress can be made and where sticking points remain. One of the most important questions that Dr. Haass and the parties dealt with is what will be done with the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) and the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland (PONI)--two key bodies established by the Good Friday agreement to investigate unsolved murders. We discussed Dr. Haass' proposal to replace the HET and PONI with a Historical Investigations Unit and Baroness O'Loan's suggestion to replace them with a rather different Investigative Commission during the hearing. For now I want to underline this: both agree that the status quo way of dealing with Troubles crimes should be replaced. Likewise the parties in the Northern Ireland executive reportedly agreed with this aspect of Dr. Haass' proposal. So the agreement is broad on this point. It's time to move to a better system. As Dr. Haass' proposal stated: ``The multiplicity of institutions and vehicles for justice in respect of conflict-related incidents, however, creates confusion and places enormous burdens on the police. The HET, PONI, and inquests also suffer from the perception that they have proceeded too slowly.'' The facts alone tell this story: of the more than 3,000 Troubles- related deaths that occurred between 1968 and 1998, the HET has yet to review some 600 cases, involving 800 deaths. Dr. Haass' proposed Historical Investigations Unit has much to say for it--by establishing a single unit with full investigative power it would eliminate the overlaps, contradictions, and waste of resources in the mandates of the HET and PONI. Likewise the suggestion of Baroness O'Loan--who served very successfully as Police Ombudsman from 2000 to 2007--for an Investigative Commission that would be a ``totally independent investigative fully empowered and fully resourced body with a remit to examine any Troubles related cases involving death up to 2006 . . .'' Lady O'Loan's proposal emphasizes the need for an unimpeachably independent agency in order to win the trust of both communities. In any case Dr. Haass' proposal remains extremely important on all points--those involved most closely in the peace process have expressed their confidence that it accurately reflects the current divisions and positions of the parties, and will likely serve as an important basis for future discussions. We also heard about the Finucane case and the British Military Reaction Force. These aspects of `dealing with the past' were not covered by Dr Haass' proposal to the Northern Ireland political parties--because they deal with matters that are the responsibility of the British Government. First, the British Government's failure to conduct the promised inquiry into collusion in the 1989 murder of Patrick Finucane. The British Government has a solemn obligation to initiate the full, independent, public, judicial inquiry that was agreed as part of the overall peace settlement in Northern Ireland during the Weston Park negotiations in 2001. This obligation, which was undertaken by both governments as part of the Belfast Agreement--one of the outstanding diplomatic achievements of recent decades--was an extremely serious undertaking. In order for the peace process to move forward, the British Government must honor it. While Prime Minister Cameron admitted to ``shocking'' levels of collusion between the state and loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of Patrick Finucane, and apologized to the Finucane family for it, this does not substitute for a full exposition of the facts behind the British State's involvement in the murder. Rather the steady increase in the amount of evidence being revealed publicly that the British State colluded with the killers has made honoring that commitment more important than ever. The British Government committed to implement the recommendation of a judge of international standing on six inquiry cases; in 2004, Judge Peter Cory recommended a public inquiry in the case of Patrick Finucane. To date, it remains the only case investigated where the recommendation has not been honored, a situation that is deeply unsatisfactory for many reasons but not least because it is evidently the one where the British Government is most culpable. Conversely, it is also the case in which--until the Prime Minister's announcement in December 2012--there has been the greatest level of sustained official denial by various state agencies. The many previous denials and time that has passed have drained public confidence in the peace process and diminished respect for the rule of law in Northern Ireland. It must be said that there are those who oppose the peace process and their opposition is dangerous. The failure to address the case of Patrick Finucane in the manner promised by the British Government provides a readily available propaganda tool for those who would abuse it to further their own ends. In our view, this represents yet another reason why the Finucane case is one of the most important unresolved issues in the peace process. Second, there is the matter of killings committed by the British Army's Military Reaction Force. From approximately 1971-1973 the British Army ran an undercover unit of approximately 40 soldiers, who operated out-of-uniform and in unmarked cars, mostly around Belfast. On November 21, 2013, the BBC program Panorama aired a documentary in which former members of MRF broke silence on aspects of the unit's operations, confirming what many had suspected for a long time. The BBC reported that, ``we've investigated the unit and discovered evidence that this branch of the British states sometimes . . . shot unarmed civilians.'' The BBC spoke to seven former members of the MRF, and though the men were careful not to incriminate themselves or each other in specific killings, they made plain that, as The Independent fairly characterized the report, ``The unit . . . would carry out drive-by shootings against unarmed people on the street without any independent evidence they were part of the IRA.'' As one of the former members admitted to the BBC, ``We were not there to act like an army unit--we were there to act like a terror group.'' Now the onus is on the British Government to investigate and punish these crimes. The British Ministry of Defense has said that it has referred the matter to the police for investigation. Unfortunately, the BBC reported that ``these soldiers were undercover, and what they did has been airbrushed from the official record.''

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, last week, I chaired a subcommittee hearing on U.S. policy toward Sudan and South Sudan. The hearing was very important, and not only because the United States Government has been involved in Sudan and its various crises for the past three decades. Many of us first became interested in Sudan in the 1980s because of the persistent reports of modern-day slavery, in which northern Arabs enslaved African southerners. My office helped to bring one of these unfortunate people to America for medical treatment after he was freed, and his story affected me deeply. Ker Deng had been kidnapped into slavery while still a child, and while he was an adolescent, the man who held him in bondage rubbed peppers in his eyes, blinded him and later abandoned him. Ker is studying here in the United States thanks to his benefactor, Ellen Ratner, and is awaiting a second operation to help him recover at least some of his eyesight. How many other Sudanese will never have that opportunity or even achieve their freedom? For example, Ker's mother has never been freed from bondage. We began supporting southern Sudanese efforts to end the oppression from the North in the mid-1990s. In 2005, we helped both North and South achieve the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, CPA, to end the long civil war and provide the steps for a mutually beneficial peace and productive coexistence. Unfortunately, the rebellion in the Darfur region distracted from efforts to fulfill that agreement. Khartoum's alliance with the Janjaweed Arabs resulted in mass killings and displacement in Darfur. An estimated 1.9 million people were displaced, more than 240,000 people were forced into neighboring Chad, and an estimated 450,000 people were killed. At the time, Congress insisted that this was genocide. Eventually, the Bush administration concurred, but the United Nations declined to go so far in their terminology, calling what happened in Darfur ``crimes against humanity.'' A peace agreement between the main rebel force in Darfur and the Government of Sudan was signed in May 2006, but it did not last. In fact, no sustained agreement has been reached between the government and Darfur rebel groups--partly because these groups have continued to split and form offshoots, but also because the Khartoum government has not appeared willing to resolve the Darfur situation constructively. In June 2005, the International Criminal Court initiated an investigation that resulted in arrest warrants for Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and three other government officials and militia leaders. None of these warrants has been served, none of the four have been taken into custody and the Government of Sudan has refused to cooperate with the ICC. Meanwhile, the CPA remained unimplemented. In January 2011, South Sudan, which had been a semiautonomous region of the country since the signing of the CPA, voted in a referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or become independent. Having been marginalized and mistreated for decades, it was not surprising that southern Sudanese voted overwhelmingly--at the level of 98.8 percent--to become an independent nation. On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became the world's newest nation. However, these unimplemented elements of the CPA would bedevil the new country from its birth. A referendum in the disputed Abyei region and consultations on the status of Sudan's Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states were never completed. In May 2011, Sudanese armed forces assumed control of towns in Abyei, quickly forcing at least 40,000 residents to flee. Within weeks, fighting spread to Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, as Khartoum sought to crush the Sudan People's Liberation Army--North, which had fought with southerners in the North-South civil war. Northern attacks on residents in those three areas continue unabated. Last year, Sudan and South Sudan engaged in a conflict over oil supplies from the South, involving allegations that Khartoum was undercounting the level of oil flow to cheat South Sudan, as well as the southern seizure of the oil town of Heglig. Again, this dispute was largely the result of unresolved issues from the CPA. South Sudan continues to be engaged in a conflict that began last December, despite a cessation of hostilities agreement. Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced. Exact figures are constantly shifting because this conflict continues. I will soon introduce a resolution offering a sequenced approach to reaching a lasting resolution to this newest crisis. This conflict also is the result of too little attention paid to the warning signs because of preoccupation with one of the many crises in the two Sudans. Over the last three decades, I and other committee and subcommittee chairs have held numerous hearings on Sudan--from the North-South civil war to the Darfur conflict to the fighting in Abyei, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile to the current conflict in South Sudan. All this attention is more than justified, but our approach to addressing them has been intermittent. Too often, each crisis is seen as a problem unto itself, unrelated to other issues in these two countries. In fact, successive administrations and Congresses, advocacy groups and humanitarian organizations have focused so much on individual crises and issues that no one has created a panoramic view which shows how all these individual crises interrelate with each other. This ``stovepiping'' of government policy and public attention has meant that long-term solutions have been neglected while short-term eruptions have had to be dealt with. In reality, the two Sudans are inexorably linked and no crisis in either can be resolved successfully without taking into account the entire Sudan-South Sudan panorama. We must end this cycle of myopic policy formulation based on the crisis of the moment and adopt a long-term, holistic vision of what the best interest of the people of Sudan and South Sudan demands--indeed, what would be in the best interest of the entire region. As we learned in our subcommittee hearing on the Sahel crisis last May, Islamic extremists have their sights set on making inroads wherever there is conflict, across the belt of Central Africa stretching from Senegal to Sudan and beyond. Continuing unrest in the two Sudans only serves to provide training grounds or bases of operation for terrorists. Hardened ethnic conflict can spread to long- term enmity that no peace agreement alone can resolve. Hopefully, this will not be the case in South Sudan, but that conflict is headed in that ominous direction. Two years ago, I held a meeting in my office with representatives from Sudan's Nubian, Darfuri, Beja and Nuba communities, who all believe that Khartoum is engaged in a long-term effort to exterminate non-Arab Sudanese. Have we missed such a pernicious campaign while hopping from one crisis to another as each appeared? The purpose of last week's hearing was to examine current U.S. policy toward Sudan and South Sudan to see how we can unify our policy in order to more effectively end long-running tragedies that appear get worse despite all the busy attention to which we pay them. This involves more than what the Department of State and other executive agencies do, or even what support Congress can provide. Advocacy and humanitarian organizations also must join government in seeing the forest and not just the trees, so to speak. We must develop, support and implement policies toward Sudan and South Sudan that make sense in the long term and not just produce temporarily satisfying peace accords that have no sustainability. Peace and prosperity for both countries are linked, and we must act accordingly. The hearing, we hope, will serve to highlight what must be done.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank Ms. Ros- Lehtinen and Mr. Deutch for sponsoring this expertly-crafted and timely legislation. It is also a substantive bill. It expands our relationship with our closest ally by supporting the Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow-3 missile defense systems, transferring defense items to Israel, pre- positioning more military equipment in Israel that both allies would have available in a crisis, and by expanding cooperation in cyber security, energy, water, homeland security, agriculture, and alternative fuel technologies. All of these are important, and as a package they do a lot to strengthen our partnership with Israel. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to point out Section 107, the amendment that I proposed at markup and which was accepted by the committee. It states the sense of Congress that the State Department should also increase its coordination with Israel on combating anti-Semitism. While the State Department is doing excellent work in the fight against the unique evil of anti-Semitism, the government of Israel is going to have an indispensable perspective, experience--including tragic experience--and expertise on the Middle-Eastern security dimensions and implications of anti-Semitic incitement. Our government should be consulting, cooperating, and coordinating with them on this, benefiting from Israeli expertise. As we see on a sickeningly regular basis, many governments in the Middle East (and elsewhere) propagate anti-Semitic incitement as an official or quasi-official state ideology--the hate that still kills. They do this in order to distract people from their own authoritarian rule and human rights abuses. This constant incitement is a major factor in the security situation in the Middle East. Last February I chaired a hearing at which we heard important testimony from Dr. Zuhdi Jasser on this subject. He made the point that it is not only Jews who suffer from this incitement, but that Muslims suffer too, as Middle- Eastern despots deploy anti-Semitism as one of their principal tools in the subjugation and impoverishment of entire Muslim peoples. I'd like to put on the record my legislative intent that the State Department's engagement with Israel should include but also go beyond the Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. In 2004 I offered the amendment that created that office, and so I've followed and supported its excellent work. But this work is too important to be left to one small office--it should and must include the Department of State at the country team level and above. Mr. Speaker, this amendment will add a new security dimension to our efforts to combat the pernicious evil of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is an ugly reality that won't go away by ignoring or wishing it away. Let's cooperate with Israel in this struggle as well.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HR 3370), and would like to thank Mr. Grimm and Mr. LoBiondo, all our colleagues from New Jersey, and the Republican leadership for working together to bring this much-needed legislation to the Floor. After Superstorm Sandy devastated the Northeast, our communities rallied, coming together to help friends and neighbors recover and rebuild. While progress has been made, some shore towns and the families who live along our coast are still struggling. Thousands of homeowners are working to rebuild their properties, and their lives-- and the difficulties they continue to face cannot be overstated. The coming rate hikes will have a chilling and dramatic impact on these communities, and mitigating the consequences for homeowners along the shore is a necessary step in the recovery effort. At the start of this year, over 80,000 flood insurance policies were in force in Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer Counties in my Congressional District. The exploding cost of flood insurance--a program that many have paid into for years--threatens to roll back much of the progress made, and once again leave homeowners looking for answers. The bill on the floor today makes targeted and necessary reforms and will prevent massive premium increases from hitting homeowners who simply cannot afford them--and cannot find a buyer to take them on, leaving them stranded and without a solution. Many cannot afford the recommended mitigation measures that may or may not reduce their premiums, creating a further environment of uncertainty. Accordingly, the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act slows the rate of increase that was included in the 2012 Biggert-Waters reform bill, allowing homeowners to remain in their homes and plan accordingly to continue flood insurance policies. While not perfect, this bill will provide relief and stability to these homeowners and their communities while bringing reform to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). It also provides a mechanism for enhanced community participation in the flood mapping process and increases transparency by making information publicly available to impacted parties. Further, HR 3370 will provide individualized assistance by establishing a flood insurance advocate to help homeowners and towns obtain information and fair treatment during the mapping process. After hearing from hundreds of families, particularly in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, who are simply looking for information on how they will be impacted by changes to the flood mapping process, I am pleased that this important provision was retained in the final bill. Mr. Speaker, there are NFIP-related issues that still must be resolved--such as ensuring proper and accurate flood mapping--but this bill is an important step in the right direction and will help mitigate the rate shock that many of my constituents are facing. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, I chaired a subcommittee hearing on the persecution of Christians worldwide, a topic which has been neglected by our media and world leaders-- including those in the United States. The focus on anti-Christian persecution was not meant to minimize the suffering of other religious minorities who are imprisoned or killed for their beliefs: as the poet John Donne wrote, ``Any man's death doth diminish me.'' We stand for human dignity and respect for life from the womb to the tomb, and the subcommittee has and will continue to highlight the suffering of religious minorities around the globe, be they Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan, Ba'hai in Iran, Buddhists in occupied Tibet, Yazidis in Iraq or the Muslim Rohingya people in Burma. Christians, however, remain the most persecuted religious group the world over, and thus deserve the special attention that the hearing gave them. As one of the hearing witnesses, the distinguished journalist John Allen has written: ``Christians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet, and too often their martyrs suffer in silence.'' Researchers from the Pew Center have documented incidents of harassment of religious groups worldwide--a term defined as including ``physical assaults; arrests and detentions; desecration of holy sites; and discrimination against religious groups in employment, education and housing''--and has concluded that Christians are the single most harassed group today. In the year 2012, Pew reports, Christians were harassed in 110 countries around the world. This is particularly true in the Middle East where, as one of those heard from, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, has said, ``flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages. . . even as we meet.'' Archbishop Chullikatt was the papal nuncio to Iraq, where we have seen repeated violent assaults on Christians, such as the October 31, 2010 assault upon Our Lady of Deliverance Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad in which 58 people were killed and another 70 wounded. Attacks such as this have led the Christian population of Iraq--whose roots date back to the time of the Apostles--to dwindle from 1.4 million in 1987 prior to the first Gulf War, to as little as 150,000 today, according to some estimates. Much of this exodus has occurred during a time in which our country invested heavily in blood and treasure in seeking to help Iraqis build a democracy. As we witness the black flag of al-Qaeda again fly over cities such as Fallujah, which we had won at the cost of so much American blood, we wonder how it is that for Christians in Iraq, life appears to be worse now than it was under the vicious dictator Saddam Hussein. If we turn to Egypt, we see a Christian population which dates back to the Apostle St. Mark also being oppressed. At a hearing we had last December 10--Human Rights Day--we heard how churches have been subjected to mob attacks and burned. For example, in April of 2012, St. Mark's Cathedral, seat of the Coptic Pope, was attacked by 30-40 Muslim youths. While dozens of Copts were sheltering inside, security forces joined the mob. Rather than dispersing the crowd, they participated in the all-night attack or stood idly by as rocks, gasoline bombs, and gas canisters were lobbed into the iconic cathedral. Likewise, last year the subcommittee held a hearing on persecution of religious minorities in Syria. Syria had been a place of relative tolerance for religious minorities in the Middle East, including groups like the Mandeans, who trace their roots to the time of John the Baptist and whom they still revere. It is this connection with the past which has helped bring radical Islamists to Syria, where not only do they seek to overthrow a violent dictator--Bashar al-Assad, but also seek to eradicate Christianity from the land. Last September, members of al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda linked group, attacked the town of Malula. Why this is significant is because Malula is a living link with the time of Christ, a Christian village in Syria where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken. It is for this reason that Malula was targeted--in the words of one of those attacking this small village whose way of life had remained largely unchanged over the centuries, the Mujahadeen are seeking to ``conquer the capital of the Crusaders.'' Such is the perspective of one whose vision has been distorted by hatred. But it is not just in the Middle East where we see the persecution of Christians. I would like to recall one story of one man I met, first in Jos, Nigeria, and then in Washington when we held a hearing on the terror group, Boko Haram last October. It was in the face of this one man that I was able to witness the face of the persecuted Church, which indeed is also the face of Christ. Habila Adamu is a businessman from Yobe State in northern Nigeria. On the night of November 28, 2012, masked gunmen armed with AK-47 entered his home. They told his wife to leave, as they were here to ``do the work of Allah.'' The questioning began. ``Are you a policeman?'' ``No.'' ``Are you a Nigerian soldier?'' ``No.'' ``Are you a Christian?'' ``Yes.'' They then asked him why he has not accepted Islam, when he has heard the message of Muhammad. He replied that ``I am a Christian. We are also preaching the gospel of the true God to you and to other people who do not yet know God.'' They then asked, ``Habila, Are you ready to die as a Christian?'' ``I am ready to die as a Christian.'' They asked him again, ``Are you ready to die as a Christian?'' He replied, ``I am ready. . .'' And before he had closed his mouth, a bullet ripped through him. You can see the exit point of the wound in the photo before you. . . How many of us, who profess Christ, would have been able to stare martyrdom in the face and refuse to renounce Christ? Habila Adamu, by the grace of God, survived. The term ``hero'' is one thrown around loosely these days, but he is a hero of his faith. And there are many more like him. We heard stories from around the world, where Christians are under attack simply for the beliefs they profess. We heard witnesses discuss persecution in places such as Burma, Vietnam, Eritrea, even in this hemisphere. According to some estimates, China is on track to become the largest Christian nation in the world, though numbers are hard to pin down, because most of these Christians remain underground and cannot worship freely. As US Commission on International Freedom Commissioner Elliott Abrams points out, independent Protestants and Catholics continue to face persecution for refusing to affiliate with government-approved religious groups. Protestant ``house church'' groups that refuse to join the state-approved Protestant religious organization are deemed illegal and experience harassment, fines, detentions, and imprisonment. Approximately 900 Protestants were detained in the past year for conducting public worship activities. Seven Protestant leaders also were imprisoned for terms exceeding one year. The Chinese Government issued a directive to ``eradicate'' unregistered Protestant churches over the next ten years, including through force. Police have embraced the plan, raiding meetings, seeking to break up large churches that previously operated openly, and detaining religious leaders. The Chinese Government continues to appoint Bishops without Vatican approval and place them in leadership positions, setting back Vatican- Beijing relations. Dozens of Catholic clergy, including three Bishops, remain in detention, in home confinement, under surveillance, or disappeared. Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin, the Auxiliary Bishop of Shanghai, has been missing since he publicly announced his resignation from the state-approved Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association in June 2012. Bishop James Su Zhimin, arrested in 1996 while participating in a religious procession and convicted of QUOTE ``unregistered religious activity''--in other words for remaining loyal to the Catholic Church, and not the State-authorized Church. Bishop Su has not been heard of since his arrest, and the Chinese government has repeatedly rebuffed inquiries as to his condition. In Vietnam, to name one of these countries, churches are forced to register, and worship outside of State-authorized churches is forbidden. Christian ethnic minorities, such as the Hmong and Montagnard, are allowed to exist in uneasy tension with the governing authorities, knowing that the heavy hand of the state could stop their worship at any time. Vietnam's Catholics, both clergy and laity, fill Vietnam's jails as prisoners of conscience, for calling the government to account to a higher law than that of arbitrary dictates. The attack on a Catholic funeral procession in the village of Con Dau in 2010 resulted in more than 100 villagers injured, 62 arrested, five tortured, and at least three deaths; this should remind one of the brutality that Christians in Vietnam face. And I mention Vietnam because now, in secrecy, negotiations are being held over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Vietnam seeks entry, and if we focus on the utility and profits of increased trade without holding Vietnam to account for its human rights record, we miss an opportunity to better the lives of those who are beaten, imprisoned and even killed for their faith.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 447) supporting the democratic and European aspirations of the people of Ukraine, and their right to choose their own future free of intimidation and fear, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and introduce extraneous materials on this measure.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to thank my good friend and distinguished colleague, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, for introducing this bipartisan resolution supporting the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people. It is a timely appeal to the Government of Ukraine to stand down and to avoid all further violence, to exercise the utmost restraint and avoid confrontation. It calls on the government to bring to justice those responsible for violence against peaceful protesters and to release and drop any criminal charges against those detained for peacefully exercising their democratic rights. At this point, the government's crackdown has led to the deaths of at least four protesters--perhaps more--and throughout Ukraine to numerous beatings, arrests, detentions, abductions--including some from hospitals-- the harassment of activists, journalists, medics, lawyers, and pro- democracy NGOs. On the Kyiv Maidan alone, or Independence Square, more than 1,800 individuals, mostly protesters but also some riot police, have been injured. Thirty-six persons are confirmed missing, 49 people remain in detention, and 26 are under house arrest. At least 30 medics working to aid the injured on the Maidan have been attacked. Also, 136 journalists have been attacked on the Maidan, including investigative journalist Tetyana Chornovol, brutally beaten on Christmas Day, and who investigators, rather incredibly, claimed was a victim of road rage. One of the most outrageous examples has been the case of activist Dmitry Bulatov, who was abducted for 8 days before being left in a forest outside of Kyiv, during which time he was tortured by his captors who tried to force him to say he was an American spy. The heroism, Madam Speaker, of the Ukrainian people persistently demonstrating, struggling, and risking themselves for justice and dignity is deeply inspiring. The witness of so many clergy on the Maidan is a powerful reminder of the spiritual values that are at stake. Just last Thursday, I had the high honor and privilege of meeting in my office with Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. These brave and holy religious leaders are deeply concerned for the faithful--and for the whole Ukrainian nation--and alarmed about the potential for even worse violence, perhaps even civil conflict. Patriarch Filaret said recently: I appeal to both the power and opposition to stop violence and to come to the negotiating table. All of you are responsible before God for your earthly doings. At the Vatican, Pope Francis called for an end to the violence, and said: I am close to Ukraine in prayer and, in particular, to those who have lost their lives in recent days and to their families. I hope that a constructive dialogue between the institutions and civil society can take place, that any resort to violence is avoided, and that the spirit of peace and a search for common ground is in the hearts of all. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York expressed strong support for antigovernment protesters in Ukraine. Writing on his blog, he summarized the conflict as ``government thugs relishing the chance to bludgeon and harass the hundreds of thousands of patriotic Ukrainians,'' and described the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as ``a church that has been starved, jackbooted, imprisoned, tortured, persecuted, and martyred by Hitler, Stalin, and company.'' That said, Madam Speaker, I do want to note that there is a paradox here. I know there are many outstanding people working in and for the Ukrainian Government who love their country and have its best interest at heart. Last year, for example, I met many times with Ukrainian ministers, high-level officials, and the ambassador, including meetings in Kyiv. This was because, in 2013, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kozhara chaired the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and made the fight against human trafficking a top priority for the organization. In June, it held a high-level conference in Kyiv to investigate and promulgate best practices and ways that the 57 OSCE countries can better coordinate antitrafficking efforts, including through training transportation and hospitality industry employees in victim identification. The Kyiv call to action was serious and successful. I know because I was there. And what came out of that was a new OSCE plan of action to combat human trafficking. Madam Speaker, I want to point out that this resolution does not take any position on whether Ukraine should sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. That is a decision for the Ukrainians to make themselves. At the committee markup, we decided to make that point clear, and the message should be clear. This is not about politics; this is about human rights. Congress is supporting the Ukrainian people in their defense of universal human values and not inserting itself into the question of what Ukraine does vis-a-vis the European Union. Madam Speaker, the Ukrainian people have endured horrific suffering over the course of the last century, and this is what gives their peaceful resistance on the Maidan such power. Two world wars were fought on their soil. In the 1930s, as we all know, Stalin inflicted a genocidal famine on them, which resulted in the death of millions of men, women, and children, to say nothing of 70 years as a captive nation in the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, many of us in this Chamber, and on the Helsinki Commission especially, spoke out on behalf of Ukrainian human rights activists imprisoned in the gulag, called for the legalization of the then-banned and repressed Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and held several hearings on the Chernobyl disaster. With Ukraine's long-awaited independence in 1991, newfound freedoms also became a reality--or, we thought. But since 2010, with the election of Viktor Yanukovych, human rights, rule of law, and democracy have been under relentless attack--symbolized by the continued unjust imprisonment of former Prime Minster and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, whose daughter, Yevhenia, testified at a Helsinki Commission hearing I held in May of 2012 and on whose behalf I, along with my colleagues, introduced a resolution in the previous Congress. It is the Ukrainian people's dissatisfaction with Yanukovych, his rollback of democracy, that drives the protest movement. The long- suffering Ukrainian people deserve a government that treats them with dignity and treats them with respect. I am confident they will prevail in their heroic struggle. I strongly support this resolution and, again, thank my friend from New York for authoring it. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gerlach), the cochair of the Ukrainian Caucus.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I just want to take 30 seconds to respond and thank the gentlelady from Ohio for her very eloquent defense of the Ukrainian people and for, again, reminding Americans and the world of the pivotal role that the patriarch and the highest, as well as people who are just among the faithful, are playing. The religious community is standing in solidarity with those who are aspiring for freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights. And they have literally put themselves between the police and the barricades in a way that puts their very lives at risk, holding up crosses, holding up other, as the gentlelady said, icons of faith to say that we serve a God of peace and reconciliation.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I yield myself an additional 30 seconds, and I yield to the gentlewoman.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I yield myself an additional 30 seconds. I am glad you brought up the interfaith aspect of this as well. I actually chaired another hearing on anti-Semitism just several months ago, and the chief rabbi from the Ukraine came and testified and gave very powerful testimony as to how the faith community is working side by side to mitigate and, hopefully, end the cruelty of anti-Semitism while simultaneously working with Christians and others on behalf of human rights. Again, this demonstration of the faith community should go noted by everybody in this Chamber and, I hope, by everyone in the world. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I, again, thank my good friend and colleague from New York, Eliot Engel, for his sponsorship of this important resolution. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the people of Kyiv and so many cities and towns throughout Ukraine are right now struggling, praying, and risking--some of them really risking their lives on the Maidan for justice and human dignity. The government's violent crackdown has led to the deaths of at least four protestors, and countless beatings, arrests, detentions, kidnappings or harassment of activists, journalists, medics and lawyers. I want to join many of my colleagues in calling on the Ukrainian government to stop, now, these attacks on human life and the basic human rights of free expression, assembly and association--and immediately to release those detained for peaceful actions and account for missing persons. Mr. Speaker, I believe that we should urge Ukrainians to find a peaceful, political settlement of the crisis through meaningful negotiations between the government and the opposition in order to get Ukraine back on the road to democracy. As to association with Europe, it is not our government's place to say what the Ukrainian government or people should do either way on this point, above all since we don't know what arrangements are on offer. But we do stand up for the right of the Ukrainian people to determine this according to their own constitution and laws, free from coercive pressures by any foreign government. While the current Ukrainian government has committed grave injustices in the course of this crisis, I am encouraged by signs that it is taking steps to resolve the crisis, including the revocation of the onerous January 16 anti-protest laws and the resignation of the government. The people of Ukraine have endured tremendous suffering over the course of the last century including two world wars and 70 years of Soviet brutality, most starkly illustrated by Stalin's genocidal famine which resulted in the deaths of millions. With independence came new- found freedoms, but these have been challenged by corruption of grotesque proportions. The long-suffering Ukrainian people deserve better--they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Given the heroic strength and character and democratic maturity the Ukrainian people are showing in this crisis, I am confident that they will not be denied a more democratic future.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Taryn Wilcox of Robbinsville, New Jersey for her tireless advocacy on behalf of those suffering from diabetes. As you will read in her statement submitted for the Record, fourteen- year-old Taryn was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of five. Serving as the American Diabetes Association's Teen Ambassador and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Advocate, Taryn has chosen to make a meaningful difference by raising awareness of diabetes and joining the fight to find a cure. I had the opportunity to meet with Taryn in my office and hear first- hand her testimony--and could not have been more impressed with her passion and focus. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 26 million Americans--roughly 8.3% of the population--suffer from diabetes. Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke, hypertension, blindness and eye problems, kidney disease, nervous system damage, and amputations, among other ailments. I've worked with diabetes advocates in the past on such things as legislation I authored to extend Medicare coverage for therapeutic shoes for elderly diabetics. This commonsense solution has helped countless numbers of senior diabetics over the last twenty years. Many young Americans--an estimated 215,000 under the age of twenty, like Taryn--are suffering from diabetes. The relative rarity at this age bracket only leads to common misconceptions about those affected by juvenile diabetes. As Taryn states, she cannot simply take a break from diabetes--it is constant. She must monitor her disease twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, both checking her blood glucose and giving herself insulin injections up to twelve times a day. Taryn writes about teachers and swim coaches who became frustrated with her need to monitor and manage her blood sugar and publicly questioned her ability to compete. But Taryn has refused to quit, using these all-too common incidents as motivation to succeed and accomplish her goals. She has achieved straight A's and has become one of the best swimmers in the State. Through her accomplishments, Taryn has shown that while diabetes is a daily struggle, increased awareness can assist those suffering from diabetes--providing them with positive support and enabling them to achieve their goals. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Taryn Wilcox of Robbinsville, New Jersey for her personal testimony and leadership in the fight against diabetes, and encourage all of you to read her testimony. Her efforts and her passion are an inspiration to us all. Congressman Smith, I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you about how diabetes affects me and the importance of finding a cure. I am 14 years old and was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at the age of 5. I was hospitalized, during my diagnosis, two months prior to entering kindergarten. I have had diabetes for as long as I can remember . . . for most of my life. To be honest, it has been challenging managing my diabetes, a disease requiring 24/7 monitoring! I count carbohydrates in everything I eat, check my blood glucose up to 12 times a day as well as give myself up to 12 insulin injections a day. My parents check my blood glucose 2-3 times every night while I sleep! I've had over 68,000 needle sticks since my diagnosis. If I stacked all the needles I've used, it would reach the top of the Washington Monument 26 times!!!! Although I try to stay positive, I'm fearful of the many complications and challenges which can result from diabetes such as blindness, amputations, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure and the arduous task of maintaining my blood sugar in a normal range. Sometimes my blood sugar will drop too low or go too high and I feel HORRIBLE. My legs shake . . . I can't think well . . . my heart beats rapidly and sometimes my vision is blurred. There are times I have to sit out during fun activities or miss class time and sit in the nurse's office. It can be a very lonely feeling. Once, soon after my diagnosis, I had a seizure while visiting my grandmother in Arizona. It was an extremely scary experience. It's frustrating not being able to have any time away or vacation from diabetes, it always comes with me. Managing my diabetes isn't the only challenge I've had to face since my diagnosis. In 6th grade I asked my teacher to go to the nurse's office to give myself an insulin injection to lower my high blood glucose. She clearly wasn't happy about me missing class time and said loudly in front of my class. . . . ``You make diabetes convenient don't you!'' Trust me there's nothing convenient about having diabetes. Years ago while in 2nd grade, I had to change schools because my teacher started treating me differently from my peers. No matter HOW much information was given to her about the disease, she became frustrated with me whenever I needed to manage my diabetes in her classroom. She couldn't understand why I had to check my blood sugar several times during school hours, leave class to go to the nurse's office when my blood sugar was too high or low and told me how unfair it was to drink juice in front of my peers. Looking back, I don't understand why she didn't think how unfair it was for a 7 year old kid to live with diabetes. A similar challenge arose in when one of my competitive swim team coaches thought it was RIDICULOUS I had to stop swimming laps during swim practice to manage my blood sugar. One day she crouched down and looked me in the eye in front of my team mates and said, ``If you can't manage to swim continuously during the 1 1/2 hours of practice, you will NEVER make a state swim team!'' The good news is . . . I became a straight ``A'' student at my new school and I placed 5th and 14th in State with my new swim team! It's a frustrating feeling knowing I have to work TWICE as hard as everybody else to achieve my goals because of trying to balance my diabetes with everyday life. It makes it even harder when some people around me don't have the patience to try to understand my disease. I can't take a ``break'' from diabetes--it's constant. Although, I face many challenges every day, living with diabetes, I stay positive by spreading awareness and above all, supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the American Diabetes Association and other organizations in their mission to finding a cure and promoting advocacy. There are over 26 million people in the U.S. who have diabetes so it is important for Congress to fund diabetes research at the highest level as possible. Hopefully, by working together Congressman Smith, we can make a difference in the lives of people living with diabetes to live a happy and healthier life and one day soon, be cured. Taryn Wilcox.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, a hearing that I held yesterday focused on the preparations for the upcoming Super Bowl to prevent human trafficking and strategies employed by airlines, busses, trains, and hotels designed to mitigate human trafficking. In less than a week, New Jersey will be hosting the Super Bowl, and along with welcoming enthusiastic fans, the state also is preparing for a likely influx of both domestic and international traffickers. Sadly, but almost certainly, they will bring with them sexually exploited trafficking victims--many of them from abroad--in an attempt to cash in on the Super Bowl crowds. We know from the past that any large sporting event--especially the Super Bowl--acts as a sex trafficking magnet. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that more than 10,000 exploited women and girls were trafficked to Miami for the Super Bowl in 2010. This must not happen again. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has put in place a robust anti-human trafficking plan. For example, his Department of Homeland Security and Preparedness has stepped-up efforts to combat trafficking at the Super Bowl, distributing flyers to emergency medical services, fire department, law enforcement, and other emergency care professions so that these front line professionals will know when to be concerned that someone is a trafficking victim and how to respond appropriately. The transportation and hospitality training concept has proven straightforward, effective--and it is catching on. On her way to yet another assembly and community awareness conference at St. Elizabeth's College in Morristown, NJ Assistant Attorney General Tracy Thompson, who is spearheading the Christie administration's anti- human trafficking effort, told me that they have trained 10,000 people, including a train-the-trainer initiative. She noted that the Super Bowl creates an increased ``breeding ground'' for sex trafficking. She said, ``Today's victims can be any race, age or gender. Victims are exploited for prostitution, pornography and forced labor. Traffickers control victims through force and fraud utilizing physical and psychological abuse, threats and isolation. Know it. See it. Report it.'' According to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Super Bowl can be described as ``the single largest human trafficking incident in the United States.'' Capt. Doug Cain, Louisiana State Police spokesman, said after the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans, ``Any time you have a large influx of tourists in town and they're spending a lot of money, there's a criminal element that moves in to take advantage of that.'' Greece, which hosted the Olympics in 2004, saw a 95% increase in trafficking victims in the months leading up to and including the Olympics. Next month, Russia--a country ranked at the lowest Tier by the annual U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report--will host the winter Olympic Games. Since Russia does not have in place any formal national procedures to guide law enforcement in the identification of sex trafficking victims and does not fund trafficking victim care, I am very concerned that the 2014 Winter Olympics may turn out to be a trafficking nightmare. Later this year, Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup and then the 2016 Summer Olympics. Although Brazil has improved their anti- trafficking laws and is taking steps to mitigate trafficking risks, the fact remains that Brazil will have to do much more if they want to protect their children from sex tourism. Numbers from Brazil's Federal Police indicate that between 250,000 and 400,000 children are forcibly prostituted. Worldwide, the best estimates are that 600,000 to 800,000 trafficking victims are moved across international borders every year. Millions more victims are moved within national borders. But anti-trafficking efforts have only recently turned to equipping transportation employees to identify victims in transit. The training is easy, inexpensive, and is already saving lives. In July of 2010, I chaired a conference in Washington, DC, to bring together the relevant U.S. agencies, such as the Customs and Border Patrol, various U.S. airlines, and non-governmental organizations to focus on interdicting traffickers by training commercial transportation employees to recognize the indicators for trafficking. Speakers, including Deborah Sigmund, founder of a non-government organization called Innocents at Risk, explained how flight attendants were the ``first line of defense'' in the fight against human trafficking. Flight attendants are in the unique position to observe a potential trafficking in progress and then call a trafficking hotline or inform the pilot to radio ahead so that the proper authorities can intervene. Former flight attendant Nancy Rivard, President of Airline Ambassadors International and one of today's witnesses, told us how she and other flight attendants compared notes one day and were shocked and dismayed at how often they had noticed what they suspected was a trafficked woman or child on their flight, but had no training or protocol to do something about it. Nancy has been doing a great deal about it ever since, training airline employees around the United States and world. Last year I joined Ms. Rivard at a training seminar in Kiev, Ukraine. One of the earliest successes of the program was a call Ms. Rivard placed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding a child she had observed on her flight from the Dominican Republic to Boston. That tip led to the break-up of a trafficking ring that had transported more than 80 children to the United States. Just this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a similar training initiative, the Blue Lightning program, to domestic U.S. airlines--so far, Delta, JetBlue, Allegiant, and North American Airlines are on board. With minimal modifications, the training is also easily adaptable to bus drivers, station operators, train conductors, trucking associations, and other transportation industry professionals. The New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force, which was originally started with seed money from a law I authored--the Trafficking Victim's Protection Act of 2000--is working overtime to mitigate sex trafficking and has released anti-trafficking brochures to bus and train employees in New Jersey, as well as reached out to another major industry on the front lines of spotting traffickers and victims: the hotels. We had with us yesterday the NGO End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, or ECPAT-USA, which has been conducting hotel training on behalf of the task force in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. Hyatt, Hilton, Wyndham, Carlson, and Accor hotels have been establishing a new industry standard to ensure that their properties are not used for human trafficking. In addition to reaching out to transportation employees and hotels, the New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force has increased print and electronic public service announcements and training programs for law enforcement officials, health care workers, lawyers, and others on the front lines of potential interactions with trafficking victims. In December, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE, which comprises 57 countries from Europe and North America, endorsed my plan to make anti-trafficking training for airline employees, other public and commercial carriers, as well as hotel employees, a primary goal in the international strategy to combat human trafficking. In an earlier session, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted my resolution to implement such training in each member country. Any country that competes to host a major sporting event must be fully aware of the human trafficking vulnerabilities associated with such events and the best practices for protecting and rescuing the victims. In fact, the International Olympic Committee and the Feedeeration Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, should take into consideration a country's anti-trafficking commitment and ability when awarding games. Standard anti-trafficking measures should be included along with the required security measures and stadium specifications. Finally, the only standard that fits the crime of human trafficking-- zero tolerance--must be rigorously and faithfully enforced by arrests of those engaged in this nefarious trade--modern-day slavery. And there can be no higher priority than the liberation and protection of the victims. Combating human trafficking must be continuously prioritized at all levels of government, the faith community, civil society and corporations, including the National Football League. All of us must do our part to protect the women and girls.