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88–019PDF 2014

THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SYRIA:

VIEWS FROM THE GROUND

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

MAY 21, 2014

Serial No. 113–149

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

PAUL COOK, California 

GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Ms. Andrea Koppel, vice president of global engagement and policy, Mercy 

Corps ..................................................................................................................... 6

Ms. Holly Solberg, director of emergency and humanitarian assistance, 

CARE ..................................................................................................................... 18

Ms. Pia Wanek, director, Office of Humanitarian Assistance, Global Communities ...................................................................................................................... 25

Zaher Sahloul, M.D., president, Syrian American Medical Society .................... 31

Ms. Bernice Romero, senior director of policy and advocacy, Save the Children ....................................................................................................................... 47

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Ms. Andrea Koppel: Prepared statement ............................................................... 8

Ms. Holly Solberg: Prepared statement ................................................................. 20

Ms. Pia Wanek: Prepared statement ..................................................................... 27

Zaher Sahloul, M.D.: Prepared statement ............................................................. 33

Ms. Bernice Romero: Prepared statement ............................................................. 49

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 70

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 71

The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress from the 

Commonwealth of Virginia: Prepared statement .............................................. 72

(1)

THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SYRIA:

VIEWS FROM THE GROUND 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2014

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o’clock p.m., in 

room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana RosLehtinen (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. The subcommittee will 

come to order. Unfortunately—well, fortunately, we will be interrupted by votes because I like to be interrupted by democracy. That 

is always a good thing. But after recognizing myself and ranking 

member, my good friend Ted Deutch from Florida, for 5 minutes 

each for our opening statements, I will then recognize other members seeking recognition for 1 minute each. We will then hear from 

our witnesses. 

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us. Without objection, the prepared statements of all of our witnesses will be made 

a part of the record and members may have 5 days in which to insert statements and questions for the record subject to the length 

limitation in the rules. The chair now recognizes herself for 5 minutes. 

It is a tragedy that, unfortunately, we are all too familiar with. 

By now we have seen the images and heard the unimaginable stories of despair, of horror, of suffering, and we know all too well the 

alarming numbers. More than 150,000 people have been killed as 

a result of Assad’s war to stay in power. Nearly 3 million people 

have fled from Syria into neighboring countries, such as Jordan, 

Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, creating instability within those countries 

as they struggle to cope with the strains that this massive influx 

of refugees has placed on their security and their stability; 6.5 million, that is the number of internally displaced persons, IDPs in 

Syria, and 10 million, that is roughly the number of people in dire 

need of humanitarian assistance, and sadly, the vast majority of 

those hit hardest by this crisis are the women and children of 

Syria. 

We are here today to get an important assessment from those 

who are on the ground who try to meet the needs of the millions 

of Syrians in desperate need of assistance. I would like to say 

thank you on behalf of our subcommittee to each and every one of 

you for the valuable work that you do. People who need your help 

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and have the courage to come here today, thank you, and I know 

that comes at great risk. 

So far, the administration’s approach to resolving the Syrian conflict leaves much to be desired by any metric. Unless the administration addresses the underlying root causes for this humanitarian 

disaster, we are likely to be here again next year and in the years 

to come asking the very same heart-wrenching questions. Getting 

chemical weapons out of Syria is a vital step forward, but more importantly, we must be working together to ensure that Assad 

leaves power so that his reign of terror ends. These past 3 years 

plus, the administration has been plagued by inaction, by indecisiveness, by the inability or perhaps unwillingness to put into motion a policy plan that will lead to an end to this unthinkable 

human tragedy, and the time for half measures and fence sitting 

has long ago passed. 

We have been reactionary far too often where we should have 

been proactive. Our response has been to provide humanitarian assistance, and we will continue to provide it as long as millions continue to suffer needlessly, but that is never going to solve the problem. It is like trying to plug the holes in a sinking ship; short-term 

solutions to a much larger long-term problem. Syria is becoming 

the training grounds for violent extremists, destabilizing the entire 

region, endangering the security of our ally, the democratic Jewish 

State of Israel, and posing a threat to our own national security interests in the region as well. 

To date the United States has allocated over $1.7 billion to meet 

the humanitarian needs stemming from the Syrian crisis, nearly a 

quarter of all international contributions to Syria, and in his budget request for Fiscal Year 2015, the President has requested an additional $1.1 billion. 

We have with us today representatives of the five nongovernmental organizations who have helped serve as important, vital implementing partners, both in Syria and in the neighboring countries. The work that these NGOs do is important, vitally important, 

but it is also extremely dangerous, and as the ones who have to 

face the obstacles on the ground, it is vital that we hear directly 

from them about how effective our U.S. assistance has been with 

the hope of reaching as many people as possible. 

Just last week, the Associated Press ran a disturbing article on 

how corruption is seeping into the aid process for Syrian refugees. 

It tells the story of Syrian women who are forced to bribe middlemen in order to access some of the aid because some of the areas 

are just too difficult to enter for some of the NGOs or they simply 

just don’t have the manpower to do it. So they rely on these middlemen to be honest brokers, and it seems that they are exploiting 

the loopholes in the system. And it is stories like these that show 

us how important today’s hearing is so that we can better understand exactly what is happening on the ground. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, these implementing 

partners, and what they have to go through in order to disperse the 

humanitarian aid that we provide and learn from them what more 

we can do so that we can better ensure that more people are getting the assistance that they so desperately need. 

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And with that I am pleased to yield to my ranking member, my 

friend, Mr. Deutch of Florida. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

I would like to take a moment to offer my sincere thanks to the 

witnesses for being here today. Your organizations are quite literally on the front lines, and while we continue to debate policy actions here in Washington, it is the aid workers that risk their lives 

every single day to provide some relief to those suffering under the 

most horrendous human conditions. We owe each and every one of 

them our deepest gratitude, and we thank you for being here today. 

Syria is an extraordinary challenge in terms of sheer numbers of 

those in need, the lack of resources, and access, and the devastating levels of violence. In less than 2 months, the death toll has 

risen by 10,000, meaning over 160,000 people have lost their lives 

in this conflict. The number has risen so dramatically and access 

to so many parts of the country is limited, the United Nations can 

no longer keep an official death count. Inside Syria 6.5 million people have been displaced; nearly 10 million are in need of aid. The 

U.N. recently estimated that close to 250,000 of these people were 

unreachable because their communities were caught directly in the 

middle of the fighting, and there are now 2.8 million refugees. I 

know we have heard these figures before, but they bear repeating 

because the world needs to be reminded over and over again of the 

enormity of this conflict. There are nearly 1,070,000 refugees in 

Lebanon, 740,000 in Turkey, 600,000 in Jordan, 225,000 in Iraq, 

and 137,000 in Egypt. 

The United States, as the largest donor of aid to the United Nations, has a responsibility to help ensure humanitarian access. 

U.N. Security Council Resolution 2139, which demanded that all 

parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, promptly allow rapid, 

safe, and unhindered humanitarian access for agencies and their 

implementing partners, including across conflict lines and across 

borders, is not being implemented. All of the parties to the conflict, 

including the Assad regime and the network of nonstate actors, 

must abide by this resolution and allow for humanitarian aid to 

reach the Syrian people unobstructed. 

The situation inside Syria is dire. Food deliveries are held due 

to eruptions of violence, reports of middlemen exchanging bribes for 

aid and simply not enough medical professionals to provide care. 

Children are going without needed vaccinations, sparking new 

cases of polio and measles, diseases that had all but been eradicated in Syria. An entire generation of Syrian children may not attend school because their school no longer exists in Syria or they 

need to work to support their now refugee families. 

In Lebanon, where Syria refugees make up one-quarter of the 

population, the school system can’t physically support the influx of 

over 400,000 children. Furthermore, Syrian children are stymied by 

language barriers as they are not often used to learning in English 

or in French. I know that several of the organizations here today 

are specifically focused on children’s needs, and I look forward to 

hearing more about your efforts to prevent a lost generation. 

In Jordan, the Zaatari refugee camp is now housing upwards of 

120,000 refugees on any given day. Inside the camp we have seen 

reports of sexual assault, trafficking, and child marriages, and 

4

young men exposed to radicalization or enticed by opposition 

groups to return to fight in the conflict. 

We have spent the better part of 3 years now debating United 

States’ response and policy prescriptions for Syria. For 3 years, we 

have been told these are really hard decisions that we have to 

make. There may not be good decisions. It is just really difficult for 

us to decide. The choices are hard, but we have to make them. We 

need to make hard choices, and we need to make them now. 

I am pleased that the London 11 Group last week recognized 

that changes in access and speed of our humanitarian aid need to 

be made and made fast. I hope that this includes the U.N. Security 

Council addressing the issue of cross-border aid. We must get the 

international community to pay attention to what is happening inside Syria. I am frustrated at the pace of humanitarian response, 

and quite frankly the lack of funding is appalling. The U.N. has requested $6.5 billion for humanitarian aid this year, yet only $1.2 

billion has been pledged by the international community. In total, 

since the conflict has begun, the U.S. has given $1.7 billion. The 

world simply cannot turn a blind eye to over 9 million people in 

need. This crisis will not end, will not end even if a political situation is somehow reached; 2.8 million will fundamentally alter the 

landscape of the region for decades. Entire communities in Syria 

will need to be rebuilt before refugees can even think of returning 

home. 

I hope that this hearing today will continue to shine a light on 

the enormity and the significance of what is happening in and 

around Syria. Again, I want to extend my sincere thanks and my 

profound gratitude to each of your organizations and the thousands 

of aid workers who put their lives at risk each and every day to 

provide relief to those suffering the most unimaginable horrors of 

war. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much for a very eloquent 

statement. Thank you, Mr. Deutch. 

I am pleased to yield to another one of our subcommittee chairmen, Mr. Chabot of Ohio. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you for 

calling this important hearing to examine one of the most significant foreign policy failures of the Obama administration. 

The violence in Syria over the last few years has spiraled out of 

control, yielding a serious humanitarian crisis. It was in August 

2012 that the President declared a red line, and today over 160,000 

people have been senselessly killed. There is no end in sight to this 

crisis. The effort to rid Syria of chemical weapons is bogged down, 

and the White House has seemed to abdicate leadership on the 

issue. However, we know there are many Americans who care 

deeply about this humanitarian crisis in Syria. In fact, the organizations represented here today are working tirelessly to help the 

Syrian people, but they are facing serious obstacles that this administration needs to do more to ensure the better flow of goods 

into Syria. The U.S. needs to work closer with our friends and allies in the region, Turkey and Jordan, for example, to facilitate the 

movement of that cargo. 

5

I also call on the administration to better outline what is permitted under Syrian sanctions in terms of donations and medical 

services. As the U.S. is the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance, we here in Congress also need to be judicious in determining who is receiving this aid in Syria and ensuring that it 

reaches those people who need it most and that it is not going into 

the hands of the Assad regime or into those that are on the opposite side of freedom. 

So thank you for your leadership on this, Madam Chair, and I 

yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Chabot. 

And now we are so pleased to welcome our wonderful panelists, 

and we are just thrilled to have you. 

First we welcome Ms. Andrea Koppel—thank you—who is vice 

president of global engagement and policy at Mercy Corps, where 

she leads global advocacy on issues, including the Syrian crisis and 

U.S. assistance reform. She has over 25 years of communications, 

journalism, and advocacy experience. And she previously served as 

director of international communications at the American Red 

Cross following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. 

We welcome you, Ms. Koppel. 

We also have with us Ms. Holly Solberg, who is director of emergency and humanitarian assistance at CARE. Ms. Solberg has 20 

years of experience in international relief and development and 

specifically in emergency management and humanitarian efforts. 

She has worked with CARE for nearly 19 years and has been based 

in Atlanta, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Thailand, Kenya, and Switzerland. 

We welcome you, thank you. 

Then we welcome Ms. Pia Wanek, who directs the Office of Humanitarian Assistance at Global Communities. She has more than 

12 years of experience in the humanitarian field, having worked for 

USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance at State Department’s Bureau of Population and at World Vision. 

We welcome you. Thank you. 

Fourth, we welcome Dr. Zaher Sahloul, who is president of the 

Syrian American Medical Society. Dr. Sahloul is a practicing critical care specialist in Chicago, and he just returned from his latest 

medical mission to the City of Aleppo. He has been on several medical missions to Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq and has 

also helped train medical relief workers in topics like medical practices in war zones. 

Thank you, sir. 

Last but not least, we welcome Ms. Bernice Romero, who is senior director for policy and advocacy at Save the Children. Before 

this, she was advocacy and campaigns director for OXFAM International and oversaw OXFAM’s international advocacy offices in 

Washington, Geneva, Brussels, and New York. 

This is an impressive panel. Thank you all for being here. 

As you know, your written statements have been made a part of 

the record, so please feel free to summarize in 5 minutes. Thank 

you. We will begin with you. 

6

STATEMENT OF MS. ANDREA KOPPEL, VICE PRESIDENT OF 

GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT AND POLICY, MERCY CORPS 

Ms. KOPPEL. Thank you, Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking 

Member Deutch, Mr. Chabot, and members of the subcommittee. 

Thank you so much for the invitation today and for the close attention you have paid to this incredibly complex and protracted crisis 

now in its fourth year. 

Mercy Corps is assisting the best we can in these extraordinarily 

difficult circumstances. For nearly 2 years, we have been delivering 

humanitarian assistance to civilians inside Syria through the most 

direct routes, reaching more than 1.7 million people who are suffering. We are among the largest providers of food and baking 

flour. We are leading these programs with the generous support of 

donors, including USAID’s Emergency Food Security Program, 

funded through the International Disaster Assistance Account. 

Every day, hundreds of my colleagues risk their lives delivering 

flour to Syrian bakeries to ensure that hundreds of thousands of 

Syrian civilians have bread to eat every day. In addition, we are 

also delivering a monthly supply of food staples, things like oil, 

beans, rice, pasta, enough to provide a family of seven with at least 

half their daily caloric requirements. And it is worth noting that 

by purchasing this food in the region, we are able to give American 

taxpayers more impact for their money, ensuring supplies are delivered quickly and at a lower cost, while also stimulating lower 

markets. 

For Mercy Corps and other dedicated aid agencies, Syria poses 

one of the most complex, hostile, and difficult response environments in which we have ever worked, but of course these humanitarian challenges, as you have already laid out, are not confined to 

Syria. Massive refugee flows into neighboring countries have 

turned a civil conflict into a regional crisis. The pressure on host 

countries is immense. By the end of the year, the number of refugees is estimated, and this is just registered, to move from 2.8 to 

at least 4 million. Caught in the middle are children, Syrian children, Lebanese children, and Jordanian children. 

With our partners UNICEF, Save the Children, World Vision, we 

are working to elevate the needs of children, especially adolescents 

to prevent, as you said, Ranking Member Deutch, what may become a lost generation. During focus group discussions that Mercy 

Corps had earlier this year with adolescents, we found a sense of 

humiliation was pervasive and often involved physical violence. 

Flash points with this violence revolved around disputes over 

wages, verbal assaults while they are playing in the neighborhood 

or just walking to school. One boy told us he would love to move 

to a country where humans are valued. ‘‘If I cannot go there,’’ he 

said, ‘‘I want to leave this world.’’ Another boy said, ‘‘It would be 

better to return to Syria and fight and die with dignity than to continue to live here in humiliation.’’

While the situation is certainly bleak, there are a number of concrete steps that Congress can take right now to help the people of 

Syria and neighboring countries. First, there was a desperate need 

for funding humanitarian assistance that also supports more strategic longer-term needs. Congress can ensure that Fiscal Year 2015 

humanitarian assistance and needs are met by fully restoring IDA, 

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MRA, Food for Peace to Fiscal Year 2014 enacted levels and by ensuring that IDA and MRA accounts are more adaptable in order, 

where appropriate, to graduate emergency funds into more strategic longer-term programs that integrate both relief and development aids. 

Second, Congress must urge the administration to push for, as 

you said, Congressman Deutch, the full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2139 and to work with the U.N. to maximize coordination and do a better job of including civil society actors in decisionmaking. 

Third, humanitarian aid must not be used as a proxy for the lack 

of a political solution. 

And, fourth, Congress should call on the administration to 

prioritize programs that build the resilience of refugees and host 

communities with a special focus on adolescents and integrated 

conflict mitigation. 

In conclusion, I would like to say that through our work in partnerships in the region, we have been humbled and touched by the 

grace and the dignity of the Syrian people as well as by the generosity of their regional hosts. I wish to sincerely thank the members of this subcommittee for its focus on this tremendously important issue and for extending me the privilege of testifying here 

today. I would be more than willing to accept your questions later. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Ms. Koppel. Thank you 

for your testimony. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Koppel follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And before we continue with our panelists, 

we are thrilled to announce that Mr. Royce, the chairman of the 

full committee, is so interested and immersed in this topic that he 

is joining us today, and I would like to call upon him to make 

statements if we may. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROYCE. I thank our chairman emeritus, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 

for that, and I also thank the ranking member. 

We are in the fourth year of this crisis, unfortunately, and I do 

want to thank Eliot Engel and this committee 3 years ago for trying to get us focused and trying to push the administration and all 

of us to take more concerted action, and I guess the frustration 

that we have is that the United States and the international community continue to struggle with an issue that shouldn’t have been 

such a struggle, which is the delivery of aid to Syrians most in 

need, and the problem started with delivery of aid through the regime rather than to the areas most in need. And we have solved 

some of that problem, but unfortunately, men, women, children 

have been besieged by the Assad regime now for about a year in 

many of these cities, and others remain isolated due to the heavy 

fighting between the regime and opposition groups, and a third faction now, a faction that wasn’t in this when we started, and that 

was the terrorist organizations, the jihadists who came in from outside of the country, and this was why it was important early on to 

have heeded the advice of Eliot Engel and others, for the administration to have heeded the advice and gotten weaponry to the Free 

Syrian Army. 

Now we are doing that, but we are not doing it to the extent necessary, and we have not been doing it to the extent necessary, and 

now we have something that Assad’s regime has the audacity to 

implement, this kneel or starve campaign. 

So the problem is not new. The U.N.’s delivery of aid solely 

through areas controlled by the Assad regime has been the primary 

obstacle early on to ensuring the delivery of aid where needed 

most. The U.N.’s obligations in this regard have recently been debated legally by legal experts, but it is clear that the U.N. could 

have much more flexibility if Russia would allow it. 

So it is time to think of new solutions. The House Foreign Affairs 

Committee last month passed unanimously House Resolution 520, 

which states that the United Nations needs to find new ways of delivering that aid, including through private partners, to the Syrian 

people, who are being besieged. And finally, I am encouraged that 

Secretary Kerry is now calling for the same, and the United States 

has provided now $1.7 billion in humanitarian aid in response to 

this crisis over the last 3, and I guess it is about 31⁄2 years through 

the U.N. Our concern for the Syrian people and our stewardship 

of these taxpayer dollars requires that we ensure the intended delivery of the assistance it funds. We need to be much more emphatic about that. 

Alarmingly, the Assad regime has not stopped at blocking aid, 

but its forces routinely target humanitarian workers and facilities, 

especially those providing medical care to suffering Syrians. They 

target them with snipers. They have killed doctors. They target 

them with shelling, and of course, as you are reading, with barrel 

17

bombs, and somebody needs to say something more about the additional chemical attacks, some 14 attacks, 13 or 14, that have been 

cataloged by the French Government. It is time that our governments speak out about, again, the use of chemical weapons on 

those civilians. Various credible sources have reported that these 

barrel bombs have, in fact, been filled with weaponized chlorine in 

recent weeks despite the regime’s alleged commitment to cease all 

chemical weapons attacks. It is my intent to write a letter to the 

President asking what he is going to do about this, and I would 

urge any member of this committee to join me in that letter. And 

I welcome our esteemed panelists today, who I suspect will be able 

to attest to many of these challenges, especially the regime’s attacks against medical personnel and facilities, and Dr. Sahloul, a 

close friend of the committee and president of the Syrian American 

Medical Society, SAMS, joins us today after recently returning 

from yet another trip to Syria, where he personally provided aid 

and witnessed unspeakable horrors. He along with others in the 

Syrian American community have contributed heroically to the 

American and international response to this humanitarian disaster. And I applaud their efforts and I encourage the administration and the U.N. to work more closely with Syrian American 

groups. That is where we should be moving the aid, through Syrian 

American groups. Frankly, if we moved all our aid through Syrian 

American groups, to me, that would be the ideal solution. I have 

communicated that to the administration. That ensures that our 

assistance reaches those Syrians who most need it. 

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Royce, Mr. Chairman, for joining us. It is always a delight to have you with us. 

Thank you. 

I would like to yield for a minute opening statement at this time, 

Brad, if you would like. 

Mr. SCHNEIDER. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I want to thank the witnesses for being here. We all know how 

large and significant the crisis is in Syria. I am looking forward to 

the testimony. I know that we need to make sure we are doing all 

we can to take care of the refugees, to take care of our allies in 

the region, and to make sure that we bring a political end and a 

peaceful end sooner rather than later to this crisis. 

So, again, I thank you for being here. 

And I will yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Schneider. 

Mr. Kinzinger, if you have an opening statement for 1 minute. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Well, thank you, and thank you to the panelists 

for being here and thank you for holding this hearing. I am just 

very interested in hearing obviously about the situation on the 

ground. I am a big believer that it is high time for the United 

States and the West to get involved and to ensure the overthrow 

of the Assad regime and to support the Free Syrian Army. So I am 

interested in hearing ways that we can do that but also through 

the humanitarian crisis ensure that everybody is taken care of. So 

thank you for holding this hearing, and I will yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Thank you to all the members. 

Now we will continue with our witnesses. 

18

Ms. Solberg, you are recognized. 

STATEMENT OF MS. HOLLY SOLBERG, DIRECTOR OF 

EMERGENCY AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, CARE 

Ms. SOLBERG. Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member 

Deutch, members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this 

important hearing and for inviting me on behalf of CARE to testify 

before you today. My statement today is a summary of the statement I have submitted for the record. 

The United Nations Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs 

and Emergency Relief, Valerie Amos, has described the crisis in 

and around Syria as the biggest humanitarian crisis the world 

today faces, with little signs of abating. I can assure you that her 

statement is not an exaggeration. CARE has decades of experience 

responding to humanitarian crises, and this is by far one of the 

worst we have seen. CARE works in 87 countries around the world, 

supporting poverty-fighting development and humanitarian assistance projects. Between 2012 and 2013, CARE responded to 53 

emergencies in 34 countries, reaching over 4 million people. 

In our response, we place support for the needs and rights of 

women and girls at the heart of our humanitarian programming. 

Of the close to 3 million Syrian refugees, 75 percent are women 

and children. I want to focus my remarks today on three areas: 

First, a description of what CARE has witnessed on the ground in 

and around Syria since the conflict began and its impacts on Syrian refugees, internally displaced people, and neighboring countries; second, CARE’s response to this crisis; and, third, the important role of the United States Government. 

As you know, the Syrian crisis has shattered millions of lives, the 

economy is in ruins. Every aspect of social and physical infrastructure has been seriously damaged with long-term erosion of livelihoods, assets, and access to education. More than 220,000 people 

remain trapped in besieged areas, and several million more Syrian 

civilians are prevented from reaching life-saving humanitarian assistance inside Syria. The high intensity of the conflict has led to 

new ways of large-scale displacement, both within Syria and in 

neighboring countries. Syria’s neighbors are generously hosting almost 3 million refugees who have been forced to flee their homes, 

a number that is expected to rise to over 4 million by the end of 

this year. 

This has placed an inordinate pressure on these hosting nations. 

For example, in Jordan, with a population of just over 6 million, 

is hosting nearly 600,000 refugees. The protracted nature of this 

conflict not only increases tensions between refugees and host communities, it also weakens the development opportunities of those 

displaced as well as the stability of the region. CARE’s goal is to 

ensure the dignity and resilience of those most affected by the Syrian regional crisis so that they are empowered to support the social 

and economic recovery of their communities. To date, CARE and 

our partners have provided life-saving services to more than 

400,000 people in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and to the people inside 

Syria. Some of our intervention areas include emergency cash assistance, provision of food and other basic necessities, and psychosocial support to name a few. We have set up urban centers where 

19

refugees and vulnerable host community members can have access 

to available services as well as be referred to specialized external 

services. This approach also helps to reduce tensions between refugees and host communities. Our support to families affected by the 

Syrian crisis is based on humanitarian needs alone, regardless of 

religion, political affiliation or ethnicity. While CARE is working to 

scale up our response in Syria, we have so far reached more than 

170,000 people, much of our focus is to assist refugees living in 

urban or noncamp settings because they make up the majority, approximately 80 percent, of those living in neighboring countries. In 

addition to our focus on urban refugees and people displaced within 

Syria, CARE has partnered with UNHCR and the Jordanian Government to establish the newly opened Azraq refugee camp. 

I want to conclude by offering CARE’s recommendations for how 

the U.S. Government can continue to play a leadership role in responding to this humanitarian crisis. While my testimony has focused on CARE’s work in Syria’s neighboring countries, we are 

working very hard to also support civilians inside Syria. That said, 

humanitarian access into Syria is significantly restricted and greatly limiting humanitarian organizations from reaching the millions 

in need. We ask Congress to work with the U.N. to find solutions 

to unfettered humanitarian access. 

Lastly, CARE greatly appreciates the U.S. leadership in addressing the Syrian humanitarian crisis, providing more than $1.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to date. We also ask that the Fiscal Year 2015 proposed budget cut is respectfully restored to its 

critically needed funding. 

Let me conclude with this: The Syrian conflict is the most catastrophic humanitarian crisis of our time. The U.S. Government and 

its partners have a pivotal role to play, not only in helping to bring 

an end to the conflict, but in saving millions of lives in the process. 

Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Solberg follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Ms. Wanek. 

STATEMENT OF MS. PIA WANEK, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF 

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, GLOBAL COMMUNITIES 

Ms. WANEK. Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member 

Deutch, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity 

to testify today on the important topic of the Syrian refugee crisis. 

I will present to you now an abridged version of our written testimony. 

I am the director of humanitarian assistance for Global Communities. Global Communities is working in Lebanon in partnership 

with UNHCR to assist Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities. Our organization has worked in Lebanon since 1997 through 

many conflicts and disastrous situations. This crisis, however, is of 

a scale, new scale altogether. In April 2014, the number of Syrian 

refugees in Lebanon exceeded 1 million, nearly 40 percent of the 

total Syrian refugee population in the region. Among this million 

are more than 300,000 unschooled children working or begging in 

the streets. Syrian refugees in Lebanon constitute 20 percent of the 

total population of the country. This is as though the entire population of Canada was uprooted and moved into the USA twice. 

There is no other country in the world today that hosts such a high 

proportion of refugees compared to its own citizens. My remarks 

today will address the situation in Lebanon specifically along two 

main points. 

My first point: Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens are competing against each other for the same resources. We must increasingly focus our support on longer-term solutions for host communities and Syrian refugees, as shared services have reached a 

breaking point. Before the Syrian war, Lebanese communities 

across the country were already poor, with 23 percent living below 

the poverty line. The influx of refugees has exacerbated the situation. With the bulk of assistance going to refugees, Lebanese communities are worse off than ever. The World Bank estimates an additional 170,000 Lebanese have been pushed into poverty by the 

crisis and that, by the end of 2014, 75 percent of Lebanon’s 4.1 million citizens will be in need of some form of financial shelter or food 

support. 

With the refugee crisis accelerating, we must consider the situation in Lebanon to be longer term. We must position the aid that 

is being supplied so that we are providing durable solutions for the 

needs of the refugees and their Lebanese hosts. This goes beyond 

shelter, food, and medicine into providing assistance to reduce the 

strain on Lebanon’s shared housing, energy, education, and water 

resources. 

This leads to my second point. Failure to support refugees and 

host communities will create a destabilizing effect in Lebanon and 

throughout the region. The more than 300,000 unschooled Syrian 

refugee children are vulnerable to recruitment by radical groups. 

Disenfranchised Lebanese youth are also vulnerable to such recruitment. Where there are gaps in refugee and host community 

assistance, extremist factions are stepping in and exploiting vulnerable populations. Our experience on the ground is that Lebanese 

community members are reporting an increase in disputes relating 

26

to Syrian refugees. Law enforcement officials believe an increase in 

the crime rate is linked with the growth of the Syrian population, 

and whether these claims are rumor or fact is difficult to determine, but the perception alone is damaging enough to relations between Syrian and Lebanese communities. Syrian refugees will be 

in Lebanon for many years to come. Aid needs to be focused on easing the divide between communities, identifying common interests, 

and creating shared benefits. Failure to do so will allow simmering 

tensions to escalate and destabilize a country already deeply vulnerable to conflict. There is a tremendous danger of the Syrian conflict erupting in Lebanon and then spiraling outwards into a regional conflict, engulfing U.S. allies, such as Israel and Jordan. 

In December 2013, UNHCR released projected funding needs for 

2014. The plan appealed for $4.2 billion to cover assistance to refugees and host communities across the region. It is the largest donor 

pledge in history. The total U.S. humanitarian commitment is more 

than $1.7 billion, the largest of any nation. Nevertheless, the appeal is only 25 percent funded. Unfilled, there is not enough assistance for refugees or host communities. We recommend that the 

U.S. Government continue to support the needs, immediate and 

longer term, of the people affected by this conflict. We strongly encourage the U.S. Government and other governments to live up to 

their pledges to ensure that the response to the crisis is fully funded. We recommend that the United States Congress in particular 

provide robust funding for the humanitarian assistance accounts of 

the Fiscal Year 2015 Federal budget as detailed in our written testimony. We commend the U.S. Government for its leadership and 

commitment to protecting the vulnerable communities around the 

Syrian conflict. We ask that you continue to provide this support 

as an example to the international community. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Ms. Wanek. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Wanek follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Dr. Sahloul. 

STATEMENT OF ZAHER SAHLOUL, M.D., PRESIDENT, SYRIAN 

AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY 

Dr. SAHLOUL. Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairman RosLehtinen and Ranking Member Mr. Deutch for sponsoring this and 

for inviting me. 

Thank you for my friend Mr. Schneider, we worked in Chicago 

for interfaith dialogue with the Catholic Theological Union, and we 

are here today on a different occasion. 

And thank you for Mr. Kinzinger, who worked closely with the 

Syrian American community in Illinois also. 

To me, it is very personal because I am the only Syrian American 

on this panel. I have family in Syria, and as you have mentioned, 

I have gone several times to Syria as a medical mission to make 

sure that our friends, our colleagues, the Syrian American physicians and nurses have what they need in terms of medical supplies 

and medications and equipment. And I can tell you that with the 

help of our Government, SAMS and other Syrian American organizations are able to get any medical equipment or medical supplies 

or medication to any place in Syria across the border, and we 

would like to urge our Government to support expansion of these 

cross-border operations because we think that this is the only thing 

that can save millions of people from illness or from food shortages. 

I can tell you also that by the end of this hearing, unfortunately, 

we will have 800 more Syrians who are displaced, among them 600 

women and children and among them 400 children who will not 

have education. By the end of this hearing, also, we will have another 200 people in Syria who are killed. By the end of this hearing, we will have 500 more people in Syria who have lifelong disability. We are talking about a scale of disaster that is 

unencountered in our life. This is the worst disaster that you will 

have in your life. The number of people impacted in Syria by the 

crisis by the disaster are more than the total number combined of 

the disaster in South Sudan and Central African Republic, in Bosnia, and Rwanda combined. We are talking about the worst humanitarian disaster in our time. 

I came recently from Syria. I am a critical care specialist. I go 

there and take care of patients in the ICU, and I brought some pictures, so I hope that you can bear with me in looking at these pictures. I want to first mention some of the stories that I have encountered. The first one is about a child, his name is Mohamad 

Alabrash. He was preparing to go to school. He is 6 years old. And 

then he heard the sound of helicopter. He looked at the sky, and 

then the helicopter threw a barrel bomb. Then he saw yellow 

smoke coming out, and then he started choking, him and his mother, who was pregnant, also. They started choking, and they have 

respiratory symptoms, and they were taken to the emergency room 

of a field hospital where they had to be intubated because they had 

fluid in their lungs, they had respiratory failure. They were transported to a border hospital that were supplied by ventilators and 

monitored by our organization. Unfortunately, the child, Mohamad 

Alabrash, has died; his mother, who was pregnant, was saved. This 

happened in April 21st, only a few weeks ago. 

32

Yesterday, there was another chemical weapons attack in the 

City of Kafr Zita north of Hama, and one person who is 14 years 

old with special needs died, another person who is 70 years old also 

has died. Most of the people who were exposed to chemical weapons 

attacks in the last few months were civilians. According to our report that we combined in the field, 1,000 people had symptoms related to exposure to chemical agents. Among them, 12 people who 

were killed because of exposure to chemical agents. This is not 

sarin gas. This is not nerve gas. This is what is called a choking 

agent. It is called chlorine gas according to our experts in the field. 

We urge President Obama to use all of his powers to stop the 

chemical weapon attacks on Syrians and also to stop the barrel 

bombing attacks on the City of Aleppo. Two things that are hurting 

Syrian civilians more at this point, chemical weapon attacks and 

barrel bombing attacks. In the City of Aleppo, I went there in October and the streets were bustling with people and civilians. Right 

now, 75 percent of the people in the City of Aleppo have deserted 

this place because of the barrel bombing campaign that started in 

December of last year. I have seen hospitals that were bombed. I 

have seen schools that were bombed. I have seen neighborhoods 

that were full of people that right now are ghost towns. And I have 

seen physicians and nurses, you know, struggling to save their patients, and they are asking for all kinds of assistance. One of the 

physicians in one of the hospitals told me, Please send us everything that you can, antibiotics, gloves, and also send us body bags 

because we run out of body bags. 

I believe that our Nation is able to do much more than what we 

have done in the past. I urge you to support humanitarian assistance to the Syrians, but I urge you also to do much more to end 

the crisis and force a political settlement. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Doctor. Thank you for 

your work. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Sahloul follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Ms. Romero. 

STATEMENT OF MS. BERNICE ROMERO, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF 

POLICY AND ADVOCACY, SAVE THE CHILDREN 

Ms. ROMERO. First of all, I just want to thank Chairwoman RosLehtinen and Ranking Member Deutch and the members of the 

subcommittee for the hearing. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Can you put the microphone a little bit closer. Thanks. 

Ms. ROMERO. Does that work? 

The Syrian conflict has taken a devastating toll on Syria’s children; 4.3 million need assistance and more than 10,000 young lives 

have been lost. Save the Children has worked in the Middle East 

for decades, providing assistance to over 1.6 million people, including 1.2 million children. 

My remarks draw on our experience addressing the needs of children affected by the Syrian crisis. I will focus on two issues. One, 

education, particularly in Lebanon, and, two, child protection, especially child labor in Jordan. I will also mention two crucial issues, 

humanitarian funding and improved humanitarian access. 

Continued education in crises is critical. It can give children a 

sense of stability, provide protection, and tell children they have a 

future, but many Syrian children face huge barriers to continuing 

their education. In fact, 3 million children have now dropped out 

of school in Syria, and 68 percent of refugee children are not in 

school. There are many challenges in host countries—overcrowding, 

high dropout rates, and lessons in languages the children don’t 

even understand. For many, just getting to school is too expensive 

or they don’t want to go because they are afraid of being bullied. 

Educational challenges are especially acute in Lebanon, which has 

received a staggering number of refugees, somewhere between 1 

and 1.5 million. Lebanon would have to more than double its current education infrastructure to meet the needs of Syrian children. 

Less than 20 percent are currently enrolled, and dropout rates 

reach up to 40 percent. Children are being sent instead out to work 

in fields for $2 a day or others as young as 3 can be seen begging 

in the streets. Skills training for youth is limited, leaving them 

with unstructured days, few job opportunities, and little hope. 

We need to start having hard conversations on how to tackle the 

problems that are stopping Syrian children from learning, not just 

in Lebanon but throughout the region. That needs to happen now. 

Already most have lost up to 3 years of school. A long-term plan 

that prioritizes, protects, and enables refugee education in host 

countries needs to be developed urgently. The international community needs to fund it and help host countries shoulder the burden. We urge the U.S. to work with others and support host country efforts to expand educational infrastructure, vocational training 

programs, and nonformal learning centers. Host governments can’t 

do it alone, and Syria’s future depends on the skills and knowledge 

these children gain today. 

Inside Syria children are being killed and injured and witnessing 

or experiencing atrocities. Three out of four children have now lost 

a loved one to the conflict and reports of early marriage, sexual 

abuse, and domestic violence are rising. 

48

According to UNICEF, 1 in 10 children across the region is now 

engaged in some form of child labor. The problem may be greatest 

in Jordan where children are often working in hazardous industries. Eighty percent of girls working in Jordan are in domestic 

labor or agriculture, both known for high levels of sexual exploitation. The main reason children are working is to support their 

families. Syrians can’t officially work in Jordan and a number of 

studies show a direct link between the lack of livelihoods, opportunities, and the high levels of child labor. Namely, it is easier for 

a child to find work, and the ramifications for a child caught working illegally are less severe. As a result, Syrian refugees rely heavily on child labor to supplement family income. Of the households 

that reported paid labor in the past month, 47 percent reported 

that some or all of this income was from children. The Government 

of Jordan has been generous, but the problem requires U.S. and 

other donor support to ensure policy reforms that protect children 

in informal labor and programs that provide job training and opportunities and provide financial support. 

Children inside Syria face additional protection challenges to 

deal with the direct violence of war. The U.S. should use its influence to ensure parties to the conflict agree not to target or allow 

military use of schools or health facilities and agree not to use explosive weapons in populated areas, the primary reported cause of 

children’s deaths. 

Despite the challenges, aid is making a difference. We urge Congress to protect U.S. humanitarian accounts against cuts. We also 

need improved access to people living inside Syria, U.N. Resolution 

2139, to allow humanitarian access was a political breakthrough, 

but nearly 3 months after its adoption, only a trickle of the aid is 

making it through. Every day that goes by without access is another fatal day for children. Congress should send a clear message 

about the importance of humanitarian access, pushing for the resolution’s full implementation and encouraging U.N. agencies to fund 

cross-border aid and increase their important coordination role. 

There is a risk that Syria will become just another conflict that 

we all view as hopeless and therefore ignore, but the children of 

Syria deserve better. We look to you for the support needed to reduce current suffering and improve the future outlook for Syria’s 

children. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Ms. Romero. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Romero follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, all of you, for being here to discuss the important work you do, the challenges that your organizations face, and what we need to do or change in order to ensure 

that our relief efforts are being maximized. 

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of 

you and your organizations, who, in many instances, have caregivers and are risking their lives on a daily basis in order to get 

supplies to those in dire need. It is a dangerous job, and I am sure 

it is a rewarding job, but it is often a thankless job, at least by 

those who aren’t directly impacted by your work on the ground in 

Syria. So thank you so much. 

What more do you need from the U.S. and other donor countries? 

What is the most pressing issue that isn’t being adequately addressed? 

Ms. Koppel, we will start with you. 

Ms. KOPPEL. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I would say, as 

many of my colleagues have already cited, to fund the—basically, 

for Fiscal Year 2015 funding, to restore the humanitarian assistance cuts that were made in the Fiscal Year 2015 request by the 

Obama administration, restore them to Fiscal Year 2014 levels, especially IDA, MRA, and Food for Peace. We would also urge you 

to use your influence with the administration to get the U.N. to 

fully implement 2139. But in doing so, with the U.N., if it were to 

move toward cross border, we need the U.N. to work on coordinating this cross border. We need to, as we heard some of the members mention, there are about 240,000 people who are estimated to 

be living in besieged communities. We have no idea how much, if 

any, aid is getting in. We need assessments to be made before we 

start delivering aid, and we need post distribution of reviews and 

monitoring to be made to ensure that the aid is reaching the most 

vulnerable. We need to be accountable for that. These are humanitarian principles that all of us must abide by. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Solberg? 

Ms. SOLBERG. Thank you. Thank you very much. I would just 

complement that by saying as well, I think, what we need is 

around the coordination with the United Nations, but really also 

support with developing a comprehensive strategy, so one that is 

actually addressing the humanitarian needs today but looking further into the future and supporting for livelihood opportunities as 

well, so it does fit in very closely with the need for the funding levels to be brought back to the levels that they were before. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Doctor? 

Dr. SAHLOUL. A few things. The first thing that the United Nations distribution of aid has been changed in the last year, and according to the reports, that 85 percent of food distribution and 75 

percent of medical aid is distributed only through the regime-controlled areas. That means what is left to the 9.5 million people who 

live outside of the regime-controlled area is less than 15 percent of 

food supplies and 25 percent of medical aid, and these are the population who are in much need. So somehow we need to change this 

formula so we can support the organizations, the NGOs that are 

assisting the people who are in much need, not probably through 

57

the United Nations but through different ways. We have to change 

this, reverse this formula. 

The other thing that I urge this committee and all House Members to support House Resolution 520 that calls the administration 

to expand humanitarian assistance and stop the attack on civilians. 

The attacks on civilians and hospitals and infrastructure is continuing unhampered, and it is causing more destruction of hospitals and clinics and bakeries and schools that we can build and 

that we can support. So unless we can stop the barrel bombing, unless we can stop the bombing of hospitals and schools, then whatever we do will not be able to sustain and support the population. 

The population in the City of Aleppo, which is the largest city in 

Syria, needs to breathe, needs to care about development. The civic 

society needs to work. And if you have 20 barrel bombs raining on 

you every day, no matter what we do, we cannot support them, so 

they are forced to be displaced. They are forced to be leaving to 

Turkey or to neighboring countries, and this is a huge problem. So 

somehow the administration has to stop that from happening. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Ms. Romero? 

Ms. ROMERO. Yeah, I mean, I would support everything everyone 

has said already, particularly around the need for sustained funding and the need to support the access resolution, the implementation of that, and the emphasis on cross-border aid, adding to that 

the need for more funding specifically for cross-border aid, more 

flexible funding models than what we have at present, but also the 

use of the U.S.’s good offices in terms of diplomatic pressure on 

other donors, particularly nontraditional donors. It is outrageous 

that we are fronting like almost 25 percent of all of this, and also 

more support to host countries in a more long-term sustainable 

way, particularly around child-specific issues. I mean, they do represent 50 percent of those that are being affected, and they are the 

future of Syria and of stability in the region, so a bigger investment 

in children. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Thank you to all of you. I think we have time for Mr. Deutch’s 

questions before we will be interrupted by a vote. Mr. Deutch is 

recognized. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

First, thanks to all of you for testimony that was as powerful as 

the work that you are doing on the ground. 

I learned a new term a couple weeks back. Perhaps you have 

heard of it. Psychic numbing. Are you familiar with the term? I 

wasn’t. And it was used in response to a question that I asked 

about how we make this awful tragedy, the worst humanitarian 

crisis that most of us have seen, how we make this relevant to so 

many people who don’t think about it. So that, as, Ms. Romero, you 

said, this doesn’t just become another conflict that we all view as 

hopeless. 

Ms. ROMERO. Yeah. 

Mr. DEUTCH. So how do we do it? This is a really important discussion about funding and putting pressure on others to step up. 

But how do we—all of you work with groups and are there on the 

ground every day. 

58

Dr. Sahloul, let me start with you. You discussed what happens 

when chlorine is used. I just hope that you can spend a minute telling us what a barrel bomb is. What is it? Who is it dropped on, 

and what does it do? 

Dr. SAHLOUL. I have seen it, and actually, one of the most common scenes and bizarre scenes that you face in the City of Aleppo 

that when you are walking, and I walk in the street in some of the 

neighborhoods, you see people pointing to the sky and then you see 

this small dot which is a helicopter, and then suddenly this small 

dot will throw another dot, and it takes about 20 to 30 seconds for 

that dot to come and explode, and this is a barrel bomb. Barrel 

bomb is a barrel that is stuffed with TNT. We are not talking about 

a small amount of TNT; 200 to 500 kilograms of TNT, that can 

cause the destruction of one whole block and a lot of killing. I have 

seen the consequences of that in the hospital when you bring patients who are injured and amputated and killed because of this, 

and lately, these barrel bombs have been stuffed not only with TNT 

and shrapnel and petrol but also with chlorine gas, according to the 

report. I have talked with physicians who are treating these patients who are exposed to chlorine gas. It is a very choking gas, and 

it can cause death, and it is a chemical agent. It is a prohibited 

agent. It is one of the agents that is prohibited by the conventional 

chemical weapons convention that Syria has signed on it, and it 

has been used frequently in the last few months, and we are not 

doing anything. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Dr. Sahloul, what happens when it is dropped on 

a school? 

Dr. SAHLOUL. I have seen children, pictures, of course, and I 

have talked with physicians who have treated these children, people start to choke. Then they will start to have coughing, and sometimes you will have irritation of the skin and the eyes. Then they 

stop breathing, and many of them are transported to the emergency room and the hospital that are not equipped to treat chemical weapon attacks and chemical weapon agents. We are talking 

about a country in crisis, where the healthcare system has been already destroyed, and then you have chemical agents dropped on 

them on a daily basis, and the world is not paying attention. I 

mean, I agree with you that why is it that the world is not paying 

attention to this? I mean, I know that the crisis has been going on 

for 3 years, but we have children who are dying every day, we have 

people who are affected every day, more than the people who are 

affected by Boko Haram. I mean, we are not seeing policymakers 

speaking about the issue in Syria. I think we have to have leadership in this country that cares about the Syrian fight, which I believe that they care, but also make sure that this is in the public 

sphere. When the President of the United States or the Secretary 

Kerry talk about what is happening in Syria to the American public, I think they will care. You will see more support to humanitarian assistance, you have churches and synagogues that will donate, as they have donated to Haiti, for example. They are not 

doing that for Syria because Syria is away from the public eye. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Okay. Let me just ask, and anyone jump in, but 

there are—you know, what we hear all the time, and this is my 

concern, Ms. Romero, when you talk about the way the crisis in 

59

Syria is viewed, what we hear all the time is, well, it is really hard 

for us to know what to do, because there are so many different people fighting one another and it is hard to tell who we can support, 

who are the worst parties, and so, therefore, we will try to help on 

a humanitarian level. 

What can any of you tell us to make this more urgent, to make 

all of us understand what you devote so much of your time to this 

crisis? Ms. Koppel. 

Ms. KOPPEL. Ranking Member Deutch, we struggle with this as 

well. Many of us in—when there is some kind of a natural disaster, 

like the cyclone in the Philippines or the earthquake in Haiti, are 

surprised by the extent of the generosity of the American public. 

This is a protracted crisis. We are in our fourth year, and people 

have become numb. I think it isn’t, as the good doctor mentioned, 

in the public sphere. 

You are going home for the Memorial Day recess. I would urge 

you to talk to your constituents about the fact that if this were the 

United States, that would be the equivalent, if you are looking at 

Lebanon with 25 percent of its population being refugees, of 79 million refugees in the United States. Who would be there to help us? 

Mr. DEUTCH. Let me——

Ms. KOPPEL. And if I could just add one other thing. The solution—as much as we as humanitarian actors are responding to the 

need of the civilians, but the solution is a political one. We need 

to replace the special U.N. Envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, as quickly as 

possible. He just resigned last week. There must be a political process and ultimately a political solution. 

Mr. DEUTCH. I appreciate it, and—but just before I yield back, 

Madam Chairman, I appreciate trying to show us what the scale 

would be in this country. I would just suggest that for all of us who 

are going back to our districts, the school year is coming to an end, 

and the fact is that if any of us imagined any school in our district, 

any school in this country with kids on the playground looking up 

at a helicopter waiting for that dot to grow, knowing that it is a 

barrel full of TNT and shrapnel and perhaps chlorine that could 

strike at any moment and kill and maim and do grave damage, 

that would be enough, that would be enough to rally everyone in 

this country. 

And I—again, I just have so much respect for what you all do 

and I really appreciate your being here. And I hope your being here 

and sharing the important work that you do and the horrible situation on the ground will help propel this debate forward so that we 

can plan——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Deutch. 

And we have zero time remaining for our votes, and so our subcommittee will hover, and we will vote and come back. 

Mr. SCHNEIDER. Madam Chairman, if I can just have 2 seconds 

for one open question, not for an answer. 

But as you said, Ms. Koppel, the only solution is a political solution; a military solution on either side would be a catastrophe. On 

the day that there is a political solution, if you could submit for the 

record, or just I invite for an ongoing conversation, what the scope, 

the scale and the duration of the ongoing work after that political 

solution to make sure that Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the future of 

60

the region is one that has a positive future and not as a spiral 

downward. Thank you very much. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. So we will vote and 

come back with—we have members to ask questions. Thank you. 

Please excuse us. 

[Recess.] 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. The subcommittee has reconvened. Thank 

you for your patience. 

And we are honored to recognize Mr. Kinzinger, who is one of 

our many American heros on this panel. Thank you for your service. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Oh, that is kind. Thank you very much. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. You deserve it. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Thank you. 

And to the panel, as I said in my short opening statement, thank 

you very much for being here. This is a situation in Syria that is 

only going to get worse. You know, you look at what is happening, 

for instance, in Ukraine and Russia, and you know that if the 

worst happens there at some point, there will still be an end game 

to what is happening. 

In Syria, you are only going to continue to see the problem grow 

and grow and spread and spread into places that we have always 

considered to be good allies, places that we have considered to be 

safe in the Middle East. Just look at Iraq. I believe it was an epic 

mistake to pull all the troops out of Iraq—that is for another hearing—but what you see in western Iraq right now is the increase in 

Al Qaeda and ISIS in part of, and partially because of, what is happening in Syria today. This is a very big deal. 

Doctor, when you started talking about and documenting the use 

of chemical weapons—and hello, by the way, and thanks for being 

here—it really breaks my heart to see that this is still happening. 

America has always held that there would be a red line against 

chemical weapons use. In fact, we had two no-fly zones over Iraq 

for 10 years because of the use of chemical weapons, and I have 

been well documented in saying it was an epic mistake not to enforce the red line that the President put down, but let me ask you, 

sir, could you briefly talk just a little bit more about what you have 

seen and how often are these chemical weapons being used, even 

though it may be chlorine gas and not gas that we necessarily—

well, why don’t you just talk about what you have seen and a little 

more on that level. 

Dr. SAHLOUL. Well, thank you very much for raising this point, 

because it is very important for the American public to know that 

the chemical weapon is still being used in Syria, and it is used 

against civilian population, and it is causing death and injuries 

among civilian population. 

Since the beginning of this year, 2014, there were 16 incidents 

of chemical weapon use. The first few ones were around Damascus 

and the City of Harasta, and it did not attract that much attention 

because few people had symptoms or died. In the—since April 11th, 

where you had the largest attack in Kafr Zaita, which is a village 

north of Hama, Hama is the city—a major city in Syria, which I 

am sure that people are aware of, you know, it had a lot of population death at the time of the father of this President, Hafez alVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:44 Jun 26, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\052114\88019 SHIRL
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Assad, and about 200 people had symptoms, respiratory symptoms, 

and one or two died because of that. And this is the City of Kafr 

Zaita. 

Since then, and the city—I mean, someone may ask, why is it 

this city? Because it is on a strategic supply road that connects 

Hama to Aleppo. Aleppo is a major city where there is a lot of 

fighting, and this village that is under the control of the opposition 

falls on that access road. And this village has been attacked five 

times so far. The last one was yesterday. 

There is also another village in the city of—in the governance of 

Idlib that also had a major attack. We believe that it is chlorine 

gas, because of the symptoms. We believe that this is against the 

prohibition of chemical weapon convention, and we believe this is 

against the red lines that we put, and we believe that this is something that the world community and the United States administration has to pay attention to. 

I made sure that when we received the medical report, to share 

it with the National Security Council, with the State Department 

and with Ambassador Power about 2 weeks ago. So every information that we get about chemical weapons use—and mostly it is 

medical and testimonial physicians and so forth—we share it with 

the administration. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Well, thank you very much. And I just want to 

be very clear, too. As bad as chemical weapons are, we are also seeing, as you discussed, a terrible weapon being employed called barrel bombs, something that I had never heard of until this conflict, 

and now I realize how absolutely indiscriminate it is in who it kills 

and what it clears. I believe that the cost of Assad of using chemical weapons and using barrel bombs needs to exceed any benefit 

he gains from that, and that would be through, in my belief, military strikes. 

Let me ask everybody on the panel, what impact would—I want 

to make one point, and then I will ask everybody on the panel. 

First off, I want to make it very clear that the Free Syrian Army 

has diverted resources against Assad to fight extremists, so there 

is a belief somehow in the American public that the opposition is 

all extreme. The Free Syrian Army has been very clear that they 

are fighting a two-front war at this point, both against the Assad 

regime and against the extremists in Syria. 

Let me ask the question to all the panel, and then I am sure my 

time will be up. If the United States and the West were able to implement a no-fly zone over Syria, how would that impact the ability 

to deliver aid, both to populations outside of Syria and to populations within Syria? 

And, Ms. Koppel, I guess we will start with you. 

Ms. KOPPEL. Thank you, Congressman. I hope you will understand that as a humanitarian—representative of a humanitarian 

organization, we leave it to those experts in the military to provide 

advice on that, but what I can say is that in light of this very fluid 

theater and in light of the increasing danger in this theater inside 

Syria, it is incredibly important that we not politicize humanitarian assistance, that we keep these channels separate. 

Organizations like ours operate on a community-based acceptance level. That means we don’t drive in the MRAPs. We are not 

62

in armored cars. We don’t have weapons. Our security, our insurance policy is the fact that the community knows that we are impartial and we are independent and we abide by the utmost humanitarian principles. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Under——

Ms. KOPPEL. And so if humanitarian aid is given to those who 

have a political agenda, that puts a bull’s eye on the backs of my 

colleagues who are risking their lives inside Syria, and, Congressman, it puts a bull’s eye on the backs of the Syrian civilians who 

are receiving this assistance. So——

Mr. KINZINGER. So do barrel bombs. Those put a bull’s eye on the 

back of Syrian civilians, too. 

Madam Chair, can I ask for——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Of course, you can. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Ms. Solberg, would you talk about—and, again, 

my question is just simply—you don’t have to get into the politics 

of should we do a no-fly zone, but if we did a no-fly zone, how 

would that that help in terms of administering of aid? 

Ms. SOLBERG. Thank you, Chairman. I would—sorry—congressman. I would say that I completely agree with what my colleague, 

Ms. Koppel, has said from that perspective. 

What we know is that we are reaching maybe 10 percent of the 

people who need assistance inside Syria. The numbers continue to 

grow in neighboring countries. If we can have increased access 

from a very specific humanitarian perspective to get in and reach 

those people in need, that is what we are trying to do. And I would 

say from, again, following humanitarian principles, impartiality, 

reaching those in need, that is our objective. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Right. Well understood. 

Ms. Wanek. 

Ms. WANEK. To echo my colleagues as well, as a humanitarian 

organization, we very much don’t—don’t comment on nor have——

Mr. KINZINGER. I understand all that; you guys can’t advocate, 

but would it happy in terms—is your access limited because people 

are being bombed and killed? 

Ms. WANEK. I think we had need to do everything we can to provide humanitarian assistance in an impartial manner to those that 

are affected that are the most vulnerable. 

Mr. KINZINGER. And, Doctor, what about you? 

Dr. SAHLOUL. I can tell you that in the last 6 months, we had 

four of our hospitals that were supported by tax money bombed by 

barrel bombs. One of them actually was bombed by a guided missile. So, definitely, if we have a way to reduce the impact of these 

weapons of mass destruction, I mean, I am talking about barrel 

bombs, 500 kilograms of TNT, then that will make it easier for us 

to perform our operation, and also it would make it easier for refugees and displaced people to come back to their neighborhoods and 

give also breathing room for the civic societies so they can operate 

in the areas that are not able to do that right now. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Understood. 

And, Ms. Romero, do you have any comments on that? 

Ms. ROMERO. Yeah. I mean, I have to be boring and say we have 

to be impartial, too. 

Mr. KINZINGER. I understand. 

63

Ms. ROMERO. However, I will add a couple of things. 

Mr. KINZINGER. It is not boring. It is okay. 

Ms. ROMERO. We have been calling for humanitarian ceasefires 

and pauses, because we share the view, yeah, we need to be able 

to get through, and insecurity means that we are not able to get 

through with aid. So we do need measures taken by both parties 

to the conflict, or more than both—than two at this point to allow 

access to civilian populations to deliver aid. 

But no-fly zones, humanitarian corridors, all of those, they have 

had mixed results in the past. We would urge that if they are 

looked at, that we consider past experiences, that we learn from 

those lessons and weigh whatever the benefits are against the cost 

to civilians. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Thank you. 

And, Madam Chair, there are 180,000 people that have died in 

this conflict and, sadly, more to come that I would believe if they 

could today would thank you for having this hearing. I yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. 

The chair recognizes herself for some other questions, if that is 

okay. Mr. Deutch will later as well. 

How much of your work is done primarily through middlemen or 

through direct assistance? And if you use intermediaries, what sort 

of vetting process do you have that—not that you can guarantee 

that the aid will get to the right people, but how do you manage 

that? Ms. Koppel. 

Ms. KOPPEL. Madam Chairwoman, thank you for the question. 

We have a ‘‘do no harm’’ approach under guiding humanitarian 

principles, as we have said, of independence and impartiality. 

Mercy Corps has been working inside Syria for the last almost 2 

years, and while we did have some expatriate staff working inside 

the country, as it became more dangerous, they have had to withdraw. And our staff are entirely Mercy Corps staff, but they are almost 100 percent Syrian, and so we work directly with them. 

Our reviews and the compliance and accountability that we put 

in place with all of our employees is of the highest standards. We 

ask, when we are working through these relief committees and 

through community-based organizations, that they provide us with 

a list of the most vulnerable people. We then vet that list with 

them. We have Mercy Corps staff that are there for at least 60 percent of the distributions that take place. We then follow up after 

the distribution with a random sampling of about 5 percent of the 

people who receive the aid to ensure that in fact they were the ones 

who got it. 

We have other standards in place such that if any check is going 

to be signed, the person who made the—who issued the—for example, if it was a purchase of some kind, that they are not the one, 

then, who follows up to ensure that the money was paid to the 

right vendor. There are three people who would be involved in that, 

all of whom were not engaged in the initial procurement. 

Following up after a distribution, we usually then have every 3 

to 4 months meetings with the civil society actors, the relief committees to see how things are going, to get feedback from them, and 

to ensure that we are able to adapt as we go. 

64

We also make sure from the outset that our partners know that 

we will not allow, if we have any sense and an inkling that there 

is divergence of aid or the possibility of divergence of aid, Mercy 

Corps will not work in that neighborhood. So—and the other piece 

is that we do not negotiate with any armed actors. So we are only 

working with civilians and people from the community. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Very clear. Thank you. 

Anyone else? Ms. Solberg and then Dr. Sahloul. 

Ms. SOLBERG. Sure. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I would 

just say in terms of our work in Syria, we are working through 

partners, through local partners who we identify through a process 

of referrals. We carry out very, very in-depth due diligence processes, and, again, following our humanitarian principles, and we do 

a lot of capacity building and working hand in hand with those 

partners. 

We also have developed third-party monitoring systems, which, 

in fact, we are sharing with other humanitarian organizations who 

are doing work in Syria as well, so we can learn from each other 

and really also trying to strengthen the coordination amongst the 

different organizations who are working in Syria. 

In terms of our refugee programming, we do direct implementation ourselves as well as working with partners to do—and a lot 

of that has to do with making sure we are identifying the differing 

needs of women, men, boys and girls. And we also enlist the—or 

give opportunities for Syrian refugees to also volunteer and be participants in our programming in our urban refugee centers. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Congratulations. 

Ms. Wanek. 

Ms. WANEK. Thank you. I just wanted to add in as well the dynamic of speaking about Lebanon as well when we speak of this 

crisis. Global Communities also strictly adheres to all the U.S. 

legal and regulatory requirements to ensure that no support is 

given to any organization or person that is in any way connected 

to terrorism. 

So some of the ways that we ensure this compliance would be 

through the vetting of all organizations and individuals with which 

we work through the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, through the System for Award Management, or 

SAM, and any U.N. sanction lists, as well as being vigilant and following all executive orders and other legal parameters that prohibit transactions with a provision to aid to those associated with 

terrorism. 

And I think it is important as well to note that we have been 

working in Lebanon, for example, since 1997, and so being very 

much present in the communities, having a community-based approach very much makes it possible for us to rely on the deep 

knowledge of the people that we work with to ensure that the assistance that we are providing there goes exactly where we want 

it to. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Very good. Thank you. 

Doctor? 

Dr. SAHLOUL. I just want to mention that the Syrian American 

Medical Society, or SAMS, besides sending medical missions, we 

have about 120 of our physicians who went into medical missions 

65

in the last year or so, but we also send medical supplies. In the 

United States, we have about 1,600 members who are members of 

the Syrian American healthcare professionals, but we have regional 

offices in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. For example, the Cuban 

American community sent about 4 tons of medical supplies with 

our help. So we sent it—we have an agreement with the Turkish 

Red Crescent, that they will receive these supplies, they will put 

it on the border, and then our network inside Syria will take the 

supplies and distribute it to hospitals in Aleppo. We take pictures, 

we take reports, we take—and our network also tracks the numbers of patients who are benefited. And we have extensive reporting, because we are responsible to our funders, to our donors and 

also to the grantees. Some of them are United States aid, of course, 

organizations. And we have several ways to make sure that every 

piece of equipment or supply that is sent is also reported and documented to our donors and to our funders. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Doctor. 

Ms. Romero. 

Ms. ROMERO. Yes. Similar to our colleague organizations, we 

have a mix of direct implementation. We also work with ministries 

of health and education and their local offices, and we work 

through partners. Where we have a history of working, we are 

working with organizations that we have worked with for a long 

time and ministries that we have worked with for a long time, but 

we do have vetting and other standards for vendors and for other 

partners that we work with, as well as evaluation and monitoring 

mechanisms. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you to all of you. 

Mr. Deutch. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thanks, Madam Chairman. 

I wanted to get back to the broader funding issue. I am appalled 

by the lack of response to the U.N. appeal. And a number of you 

have spoken generally about the need to speak up and push to ensure that others from around the globe are meeting their obligations. Can you speak in—can you be more direct? Where can we 

be the most helpful? Who should be doing more? Who isn’t? What 

is the rationale? How do we engage in this in a way that will actually ensure that others do what needs to be done in order to help 

address this dire situation? 

Any of you. Yes, Ms. Wanek. 

Ms. WANEK. I think an important tenet that we need to face this 

with is to sort of understand that prevention is cheaper than intervention, that very much we need to approach this as these are just 

the types of issues that we can approach now to provide the humanitarian assistance that is needed to be able to somewhat stabilize what could really be a critical situation out there between 

refugees and host communities. So, I mean, I would continue to ask 

for you to put pressure on your colleagues and on other governments to uphold their pledges. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Okay. 

Dr. Sahloul. 

Dr. SAHLOUL. A couple of comments. First of all, I just want to 

make sure that we make sure that our administration appreciates 

the effort that is done by the neighboring countries, especially the 

66

Government of Turkey, because they have spent $3 billion for refugees. The healthcare provided is for free education. It is for free. 

It is a model country in terms of hosting refugees. Of course, to 

some extent also the same thing with the Government of Jordan 

and Lebanon and Iraq. Lebanon probably is the most needy country among the four neighboring countries in terms of Syria, because 

the scale of the refugees and the fact that it has limited resources, 

followed by Jordan. 

I think we need leadership from our administration, because the 

funders or the countries that are able to fund the humanitarian assistance listen to what we have to say. So if we pressure the Gulf 

countries, for example, and tell them, why don’t you increase your 

support, and they have done it before when we asked them to do 

that, I think they will increase their support; maybe not through 

the United Nations, because they are hesitant to send supplies or 

assistance that will go through the regime ways, but maybe 

through other NGO’s. 

Mr. DEUTCH. So just play that out a little bit, the difference between funding through—funding through the NGO’s and governments and the U.N. What is—how best to engage the countries? 

Look, it is the request was for $6.5 billion for this year, right, and 

just over $1 billion has been pledged. Now, the balance of that—

you are not telling me the balance of that—they haven’t stepped to 

the—they haven’t stepped to the table with the balance of that, because they don’t like where the money is going? 

Dr. SAHLOUL. Well, that is part of the issue, in my view, that 

they feel that the assistance that is provided through the United 

Nation agencies are going only through the regime-controlled 

areas. I mean, I can tell you that you have people died of starvation 10 minutes away from the United Nations headquarters in Damascus, and when people hear these reports and see the pictures 

of patients dying of starvation 10 minutes away from the heart of 

Damascus and you have all of United Nations agencies in the heart 

of Damascus, they will be hesitant to support these operations. But 

they know, for example, that other NGO’s that are going through 

the borders from Jordan or Turkey are able to reach any population, of course, except for the population who are under complete 

siege; that is very difficult to get to them. There are 250,000 people 

who are under siege at this point. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Ms. Romero, you had, I think, spoken, not as directly as I hope you might now, about where we might exert that 

pressure to be useful. 

Ms. ROMERO. Yeah. I mean, I agree more pressure on the Gulf 

probably makes sense, but I was just looking at the list in front of 

me of who has funded and who hasn’t. And, you know, traditionally 

we have really kind of relied on Europe to kind of step up and be 

the next big humanitarian donor. With the crisis there, I think, unfortunately, we are in a place where we are being expected to give 

a bit more, but some countries have been less affected by the crisis 

there, you know, are quite low, Norway, Finland, or going to further south out of Europe, Australia hasn’t given that much. 

So I think, you know, we can look at some traditional allies that 

have given generously to other crises and to other parts of the 

world and really target our diplomatic pressure in that way. 

67

Mr. DEUTCH. And in the past, who has taken—who has taken the 

lead in galvanizing the support for addressing other crises? 

Ms. ROMERO. I would say the U.S., the U.K. and ECHO, the European Commission. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Anyone else? All right. 

I would appreciate it, if there are some specific suggestions that 

you would be more comfortable making in a different setting, I 

hope that you will feel free to reach out to us, because there is such 

an enormous amount that needs to be done, all of you, again, know 

better than anyone. 

And, Madam Chairman, it is disheartening for us to have these 

hearings as often as we have to, but the fact is that the situation 

on the ground is only going to worsen, so I commend you for calling 

this hearing and I appreciate the time. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Deutch. And what was that 

phrase that you used, the numbness, psychic——

Mr. DEUTCH. Psychic numbing. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Numbing. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Is what——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Yes. I think that what we see—because it is 

sort of like a Whac-A-Mole foreign policy crises. We are sending 80 

boots on the ground to Nigeria, as well we should—it is a terrible 

situation—but we move from crisis to crisis, and we have forgotten 

what stirred our conscience just as recently as this terrible situation, humanitarian crisis in Syria, and now we are focused elsewhere, and it seems that we do have some of that psychic numbing, 

but we can do better. We must do better. 

Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you to your organizations. Those caregivers, those 

workers, what they do day in and day out, it is inspiring. So thank 

you very much. And with that, this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:48 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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