SYRIA FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT; HOLOCAUST INSURANCE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2011; EXPORT PROMOTION REFORM

ACT; COUNTERING IRAN IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE ACT

OF 2012; EXPORT PROMOTION REFORM ACT; AND EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT TAIWAN SHOULD BE

ACCORDED OBSERVER STATUS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL

AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO)

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

H.R. 2106, H.R. 890, H.R. 1410, H.R. 3783, H.R. 4041 

and S. Con. Res. 17

MARCH 7, 2012

Serial No. 112–156

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

MARKUP OF H.R. 2106, H.R. 890, H.R. 1410, H.R. 3783, H.R. 4041

AND S. CON. RES. 17

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SYRIA FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT; HOLOCAUST INSURANCE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2011; EXPORT PROMOTION REFORM

ACT; COUNTERING IRAN IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE ACT

OF 2012; EXPORT PROMOTION REFORM ACT; AND EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT TAIWAN SHOULD BE

ACCORDED OBSERVER STATUS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL

AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO)

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

H.R. 2106, H.R. 890, H.R. 1410, H.R. 3783, H.R. 4041 

and S. Con. Res. 17

MARCH 7, 2012

Serial No. 112–156

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 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

RON PAUL, Texas 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

BILL JOHNSON, Ohio 

DAVID RIVERA, Florida 

MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania 

TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York 

RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina 

ROBERT TURNER, New York 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

DENNIS CARDOZA, California 

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

ALLYSON SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania 

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut 

FREDERICA WILSON, Florida 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

YLEEM D.S. POBLETE, Staff Director 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Democratic Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

MARKUP OF 

H.R. 2106, To strengthen sanctions against the Government of Syria, to 

enhance multilateral commitment to address the Government of Syria’s 

threatening policies, to establish a program to support a transition to 

a democratically-elected government in Syria, and for other purposes ........... 14

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2106 offered by the 

Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Florida, and chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs ................... 116

Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2106 

offered by the Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen .............................................. 206

Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2106 

offered by the Honorable Howard L. Berman, a Representative in Congress from the State of California ................................................................... 226

H.R. 890, To allow for the enforcement of State disclosure laws and access 

to courts for covered Holocaust-era insurance policy claims ............................ 231

Amendment to H.R. 890 offered by the Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ........ 242

H.R. 1410, To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam ................................ 243

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1410 offered by the 

Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of New Jersey ................................................................................... 263

Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1410 

offered by the Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia ..................................................... 281

Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1410 

offered by the Honorable Dana Rohrabacher, a Representative in Congress from the State of California ................................................................... 282

H.R. 3783, To provide for a comprehensive strategy to counter Iran’s growing 

presence and hostile activity in the Western Hemisphere, and for other 

purposes ................................................................................................................ 283

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3783 offered by the 

Honorable Jeff Duncan, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of South Carolina .............................................................................................. 292

Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3783 

offered by the Honorable Jeff Duncan ............................................................ 304

H.R. 4041, To amend the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to further enhance 

the promotion of exports of United States goods and services, and for 

other purposes ...................................................................................................... 306

S. Con. Res. 17, A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress 

that Taiwan should be accorded observer status in the International Civil 

Aviation Organization (ICAO) ............................................................................. 312

APPENDIX 

Markup notice .......................................................................................................... 332

Markup minutes ...................................................................................................... 333

The Honorable Connie Mack, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of Florida: Prepared statements on H.R. 3783 and H.R. 2106 ......................... 335

The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress from 

American Samoa: Prepared statement on H.R. 1410 ........................................ 337

The Honorable Ann Marie Buerkle, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of New York: Prepared statements on H.R. 2106 and H.R. 890 ............ 340

(1)

SYRIA FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT; HOLOCAUST INSURANCE 

ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2011; EXPORT PROMOTION REFORM ACT; COUNTERING IRAN IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE ACT OF 2012; EXPORT PROMOTION REFORM ACT; 

AND EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT TAIWAN SHOULD BE ACCORDED OBSERVER STATUS IN THE 

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO) 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:09 a.m. in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 

(chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. The committee will come to order. Pursuant to notice, we meet today to mark up several bills, but before 

we proceed to business, I would like to take a few minutes in remembrance of one of our dear colleagues. As all of us know, Congressman Don Payne passed away yesterday back in his home 

State of New Jersey. I extend my deepest condolences to the Payne 

family and the New Jersey community and the New Jersey congressional delegation. 

Don, as all of us know, was a dedicated and effective advocate 

for global health and human rights during his 12 terms in Congress. He was chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee 

on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights. Don Payne worked 

tirelessly to fight the spread of deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, 

malaria, and tuberculosis. He was also an outspoken advocate 

against horrific human rights abuses in Africa and elsewhere. 

Throughout his 23 years in Congress, Don was an unfailingly 

kind and gracious colleague. My thoughts and prayers are with the 

Payne family during this difficult time. Congressman Payne will be 

greatly missed by our committee. I would like to extend the opportunity to all of our members or any member who would like to say 

some words about Mr. Payne, and I would like to recognize first 

the ranking member and my good friend from California, Mr. Berman, for any statements he would like to make. 

Mr. BERMAN. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman, for 

bringing up our loss at the beginning of the hearing and for a 

chance to pause for a moment and reflect on our friend and our colleague, and I think for many of us, I know for me, our teacher, Don 

Payne. 

Don distinguished himself as a leader on many important issues 

in his district, his State, this country, and throughout the world, 

2

and of course, those of us on the Foreign Affairs Committee knew 

Don. He really was one of the Nation’s, not the Congress’, the Nation’s foremost experts on Africa. I personally know that I am 

wiser, more knowledgeable, and more informed on Africa issues because of Don. He was our professor, our mentor, our in-house librarian, our encyclopedia. We have all lost a champion for the underserved, a voice for the downtrodden, a voice for peoples and 

causes that are too often neglected. 

It was one of those situations, we always had a good and friendly 

relationship, but during the 3 years that I was fortunate enough 

to chair this committee, we became particularly close. He provided 

invaluable help in both helping to write and then to pass and to 

follow through on the implementation of our global HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis reauthorization legislation which carried 

many reforms in an effort to improve, not just to deal with those 

horrible and deadly diseases, but to help to see meaningful reforms 

in the health care systems in so many countries around the world, 

and most particularly in Africa. 

His suggestion, along with our own staff’s, led us to have the 

first chairman-led codel by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 

the committee’s history to sub-Saharan Africa, a trip that had a 

tremendous impact on me and I think on all the members who 

went. Congressman Royce was the ranking member on that trip 

where we really got out and saw and met and learned more than 

you can learn from any number of hearings. He was very special. 

Just one other story about Don. Don and I sometimes, we spent 

a lot of time together, we talked a lot about different issues. He 

was a—he believed in the U.S.-Israel relationship, but sometimes 

we had differences about, you know, the best approach on all these 

issues. Notwithstanding any of that, those differences, when it 

came time at the Security Council for the countries on the Security 

Council to vote on the issue of real true sanctions on Iran because 

of its nuclear weapons program and all the other reasons, Don got 

into that fight because he knew the Presidents personally and well 

of all the African countries that were on the Security Council at 

that time, and he personally called the leaders of those countries 

to lobby them to support the U.N.-sponsored—U.S.-sponsored resolution at the Security Council. Having an asset like that on our 

committee was a tremendous value. I am going to miss him a lot. 

I think all of us will. Janice and my family mourn alongside his 

children, his grandchildren, his brothers and his extended family, 

and he was a bright light that has been extinguished, but the 

issues he lived for will be his legacy, and thank you for giving me 

a chance to speak about our loss. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Berman. I 

would like to recognize a member of the New Jersey delegation who 

is the chairman of the Africa subcommittee and has worked with 

Don for so many years on these issues, Congressman Smith. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and Howard 

Berman, Ranking Member. I want to associate myself with the remarks both of you have made, very eloquent and very fitting for 

the loss of a great member of this committee, a good friend of SubSaharan Africa in particular, and a man who was truly expert, and 

as you said, Howard, knew so many Presidents and Prime MinVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Aug 15, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\030712M\73277 HFA PsN: SHIRL
3

isters and parliamentarians in Africa personally, not just in passing, not just a handshake, but knew them and knew them very 

well. 

You know, I think many of you know Don Payne got involved in 

politics at the ripe old age of 19. Although he was a coach, a football and a track coach, he also was a teacher, a high school teacher, 

but then he became a member of the council, the City Council in 

Newark, New Jersey, went on to what we call the Board of Chosen 

Freeholders, which is the county commissioners, and then got elected to Congress in 1988. 

He was a very hard working person, worked tenaciously for 

peace and reconciliation, especially on Sudan. All of those years 

when the killing fields occurred in southern Sudan with in excess 

of 2 million people, 4 million homeless, he was always raising his 

voice on behalf of the victims of the absolute feckless response of 

the international community to end that, especially in its early 

years. Then that conflict moved to Darfur, and again he was raising his voice as a champion of the Darfurians who were being 

exterminated through genocide. 

I would just end by saying, unlike the full committee where we 

need time limits, I don’t use time limits when I have questions on 

behalf of the members, and I could tell you there were times when 

Don would go for a half hour and his wealth and breadth of knowledge when he would be talking to Johnnie Carson, the assistant 

secretary, asking questions was truly remarkable, and so, you 

know, we are going to deeply miss him. He is an expert who left 

his mark, and he was also, you know, on his other committee a 

great staunch believer in affordable education and access to education as being a very important part of America for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, or sex. But he also authored resolutions 

like Literacy Day, July 2nd, believing that if you want to bust the 

ceiling that holds back so many people, you have got to provide for 

more literacy and expand the ability to read and write to all Americans. So he really had a comprehensive and a profound impact on 

America, on his district, on our State, and we deeply, deeply miss 

him already. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Mr. Faleomavaega. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to 

thank you for calling this special occasion to recognize one of our 

colleagues who has just passed away yesterday to say a few words. 

It is very difficult for me to be under the shadow of this great man 

for whom I have the utmost respect, and over the years that he and 

I have worked together, I can say that one of the beauties of American democracy is its diversity, and I remember some 23 years ago 

when we both became members of this committee, we had a little 

diversity caucus here because I, as a very proud American representing some 18 million Asian Pacific Americans in our country, 

I felt that there wasn’t a voice to bring out the issues affecting our 

foreign policies toward the Asia Pacific region. I will be upfront 

with you, Madam Chair, 23 years ago when Don Payne and I first 

became members of this committee, to my excitement I wanted to 

see how great this was going to be. Hardly anyone wanted to be 

on the Asia Pacific and African subcommittees. And I then realized, 

4

I said, I shouldn’t be surprised because the mentality in Washington 20 years ago was all toward Europe and the Middle East, 

the entire focus. When we talked about Asia Pacific issues, we 

weren’t even on the radar screen, the importance of that region 

that affects our economic, political, and strategic interests, just as 

it is important that we should be talking about the continent of Africa, and over the years my colleague Don Payne has become the 

expert on dealing with African issues and how important that we 

should do this. 

Don Payne always reminded me of the statement that Martin 

Luther King Jr. once said years ago, In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Don 

Payne always said, Eni, you have got to speak out, you have got 

to let it be known the issues that really affects the interests of the 

American people and how important it is the activities and the 

policies and all the things that are being discussed and debated in 

this committee does have an impact, and what a beautiful thing it 

is, Madam Chair, some 310 million of our fellow Americans live in 

this great Nation, the most diverse country, in my humble opinion, 

where people from all different ethnicities and nationalities are 

represented here to give a sense of expression how important as 

fellow citizens and as fellow Americans and that the principles that 

we try to strive to live by, the Constitution and all that has come 

about for the past 230-some years since the making of this country 

and this great Nation of why it is so great. Yes, Don Payne was 

a great advocate looking out for the needs of the poor and the destitute, people who don’t have a voice in the affairs of their government, whether it be in foreign countries, even here in our own 

country. 

So I say, we have a saying in my culture, may this brother have 

a good voyage, and I know he has a good voyage going on to meet 

his Savior, and Madam Chair, again, thank you, and I want to 

wish Mr. Payne’s family all the best and the deepest sympathies 

and condolences on this sad occasion, yet I am happy for him. He 

has suffered enough. I am just happy to see that he is in the presence of our Father in heaven, and that is all that matters. I yield 

back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Faleomavaega. Mr. Royce, the chairman of our Terrorism, Nonproliferation, 

and Trade Subcommittee. 

Mr. ROYCE. Thank you, Madam Chair. I worked with Don Payne 

on the Africa Subcommittee for many years on many issues. I think 

one of the most unique things about traveling with Don Payne was 

no matter how remote the village, there was one individual, there 

was one American that the elders all knew or that the head of 

state in that remote country—inaccessible regions—there was one 

man they knew because Don Payne had already been there before. 

And likewise we had the opportunity frequently to go up to the 

United Nations to argue the American position, the U.S. position 

on issues. As Mr. Berman has indicated, the great asset in those 

engagements was always Don Payne because he had those personal 

relationships and he would argue for the U.S. position and for 

human rights and really bring a certain moral argument because 

he had been on the ground; whether it was Rwanda or Sudan. Don 

5

had been there. I remember a trip where Mr. Berman and I were 

in Africa, one of Mr. Berman’s trips, and sure enough, Don was 

over, in all places, was over in Somalia lecturing and giving talks 

wherever he could against al-Shabaab’s human rights abuses. As 

he was leaving the country, he had one last press conference to attack al-Shabaab, they were shooting at his plane, they were mortaring his press conference on his way out of town. But Don had 

the last say in terms of the lack of human rights, and I think that 

for those of us who have watched Don in action, I think it is his 

courage also that stands out, not just the physical courage that I 

spoke about in terms of him going into areas where there was perhaps great resistance to the United States. I remember him on 

many occasions in Congo or in Angola trying to forge a peace, but 

political courage as well. I remember the African Growth and Opportunity Act when we started out, labor was opposed to that, and 

it took political courage for Don to help lead that effort. He was 

tireless, he had great knowledge, he had a really big heart; he will 

be deeply missed by his constituents and by us, and especially by 

those working to improve African lives. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Mr. Connolly is 

recognized. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Madam Chairman. When I think of 

Don Payne and watch him in this committee, I think of three 

words—passion, witness, and honor. 

Nobody brought more passion to issues affecting the African continent than Don Payne, and that sense of commitment I think 

struck everybody who watched him, heard him, and it is something 

I think all of us can take away from his life and his experience 

here on this committee. He had a passion for what he did and what 

he believed in, and it showed. 

Witness. Don didn’t take the Africa Subcommittee issues as an 

academic exercise. He rolled up his sleeves and he got in harm’s 

way. He gave witness where there was human suffering in a continent that has all too much of it. He was there in Somalia, he was 

there in Darfur, he was there in Rwanda, he was willing to put 

himself in harm’s way, as Mr. Royce just said, to give witness on 

behalf of the United States of America in terms of our solidarity 

with the suffering people of Africa. 

And honor. Don Payne brought honor to this institution, to this 

committee. I have been professionally associated with this committee in one fashion or another over the span of 33 years, and we 

can single out members in that time period who distinguished 

themselves as experts in a particular area. Don is one of those 

handful of distinguished members who knew everything he could 

about Africa, about its leadership, about its challenges, and about 

its opportunities, and set about to bring honor to this institution 

by representing us in Africa and on African issues. 

He will be sorely missed as a colleague and as a friend, and my 

deep condolences go out to his family and to his staff, who shared 

his passion and today share with his witness and his honor. Thank 

you, Madam Chairman. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Some of the points Mr. Connolly made were 

just right on target, and sometimes we think of passion as being 

6

someone who raises their voice and pounds on the table, and Don 

was certainly a person of passion, but you never saw him pound 

on the table. He was so thoughtful, to me he was someone who 

really reflected a thoughtful perseverance in his personality toward 

the things that he believed in, and he had sincere beliefs. At times 

when we are up here meeting someone on the other side of the 

aisle who has strong beliefs sometimes is a little bit disconcerting 

because we don’t know them, and until we get to know them, we 

don’t realize what value they have, and sometimes we are a little 

afraid of someone. 

Don had very strong beliefs in human rights and a concern for 

his fellow human beings, and he came toward the political spectrum from the opposite side of the spectrum that I come from, and 

I did have some trepidations when I first got on this committee, 

but I will tell you, I learned to respect that man, and I will miss 

him terribly as we move on. He added a sense of honor and true 

caring to this committee that I think all of us felt. I know that 

sometimes people think that if you have got a philosophy as Don 

had that it is going to hinder your ability to see the truth, as some 

people claim about me sometimes, and let me just note that sometimes when you have a philosophy, it helps you see through things, 

through the lines that we are given by our handlers and lobbyists, 

et cetera. 

Don saw through so much and to the truth and to the suffering 

of people who he cared about in Africa, and he was able to enlist 

us in that concern, so I will miss him. I thought very highly of him, 

as we all did, and I just think that we have lost a real asset to this 

committee, and I hope he is watching up there right now, and 

maybe we can all pledge to in his memory make sure that we keep 

that same kind of spirit of perseverance and positive spirit. He 

worked with me on Ethiopia, and I promise you right now, Don, I 

am not giving up, we are going to win in Ethiopia eventually. 

Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Ms. Wilson of Florida is 

recognized. 

Ms. WILSON OF FLORIDA. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I 

am saddened by the passing of my friend and colleague, Congressman Donald Payne. Throughout his adult life, he served the people 

of New Jersey as an educator, a community leader, and in Congress. As a long-serving member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, he was a leader in supporting democracy in Africa and 

throughout the world, and I worked with him very closely on issues 

impacting Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean. His name is a 

household word in Haiti. In fact, at the time of his death, we were 

working on the process of starting a bipartisan Haiti caucus. 

He was also committed to domestic issues, and he was a leading 

advocate on the Education and Workforce Committee for reducing 

college costs for students, a trailblazer. Donald was the first Black 

president of the National Council of YMCAs and the first Black 

Congressman from New Jersey. As a colleague of his in the Congressional Black Caucus and on the House Committee on Foreign 

Affairs, I got to see firsthand his decency, empathy, and leadership. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to Donald’s family. Thank you, 

Madam Chair. 

7

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Ms. Wilson. 

Mr. Chabot of Ohio. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. You know, I 

was thinking that—well, first of all, I would like to say that many 

other of my colleagues have already spoken far more eloquently 

than I could relative to Don Payne. He was one of the people on 

this committee that we are clearly going to miss. I actually had a 

similar path getting here as Don. We both served on city council, 

and then at the county level, and then we both ran for Congress 

in 1988 the first time. He won, I didn’t. I got here 6 years later, 

and by that time, the chairwoman of this committee here today 

was the chairwoman of the Africa Subcommittee, and Don Payne 

was ranking member and so got to see him in action and really respected. 

If you saw them in action, it really showed the true bipartisanship the way Congress is actually supposed to work, on a whole 

range of issues, whether it was, you know, blood diamonds, whether it was the Congo, whether it was Darfur, a whole range of 

things, and Don is really a person, as I said, who is going to be 

missed. He cared deeply. 

I was actually going to say something exactly that Dana Rohrabacher had said about him not being a table thumper was what 

I was going to say, and then you said he wasn’t a person to pound 

on tables. He was a soft-spoken gentle man in many ways, and I 

say that as a compliment because, you know, sometimes we do 

scream and yell and get a little over the top. He didn’t. But he really did pack a punch. And he is going to be missed, and God bless 

him. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. And now Ms. 

Bass is recognized for her statement. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you, Madam Chair. I certainly want to join my 

colleagues in offering my condolences to Mr. Payne’s family and 

also to the staff. Losing Mr. Payne, to me, I mean, it is definitely 

and obviously from what my colleagues have had to say a loss to 

our Nation, but it is also a loss to the world and to the continent 

of Africa. 

I just wanted to say that—share a little story. Before I came 

here, after I won my election in Los Angeles, I represent a very diverse district, and there are a lot of Africans from a variety of 

countries there, and so wanting to get to know my district and get 

prepared to come to Washington, I organized a meeting, and about 

40 representatives from various African nations came, academics 

and business people, et cetera, and they began to tell me about Mr. 

Payne. 

Now they had never met him, but he was legendary, all the way 

in Los Angeles, folks who were recent immigrants telling me that 

when I get to Washington I had to meet, I had to work with Mr. 

Payne. I asked to be on the Foreign Affairs Committee and wanted 

to be on the Subcommittee on Africa, and immediately they gave 

me the task of bringing Mr. Payne to Los Angeles, and so I worked 

and I think I almost harassed his staff and him for him to come 

to Los Angeles, and never did I realize that he wasn’t well, and I 

just have to say that I really regret not having the opportunity to 

travel to Africa with him. 

8

When he would open up the subcommittee with his comments, in 

his very humble and gentle way, he would always reference, as 

many of my colleagues have said, well, before the hearing I spoke 

with President so-and-so. I mean, he seemed to know every President, and I remember being startled when one day in his very calm 

voice, he said when we were leaving, I think it was Somalia and 

my plane was fired on, and I remember looking back at him and 

saying, ‘‘What?’’ You know, he is just really going to be a loss to 

all of us. I had looked forward to being the sponge that sat next 

to him and sucking up all of his knowledge, and so he will be deeply missed by me personally, and I know he will be missed by everyone on the committee and in our Nation. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Ms. Bass. Mr. Cicilline is 

recognized. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you, Madam Chair, for giving us the opportunity to honor our colleague, Don Payne. I, too, want to extend 

my condolences to Don’s family, his wonderful staff, his constituents, and his congressional colleagues from New Jersey. He was a 

very kind man and a citizen of the world. He was always willing 

to share his wisdom and his insights, and that was particularly 

helpful to me as a new Member of Congress. I was honored to get 

to know Don and quickly came to respect and admire him, particularly his commitment to the continent of Africa and global health. 

Our committee, this Congress, and the world will miss his passion, his voice, and his advocacy, and I hope we will honor his legacy in Congress and in this committee by continuing the work that 

he was so dedicated to. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Mr. Carnahan. 

Mr. CARNAHAN. Thank you, Madam Chair, and it has really been 

inspiring and moving to listen to our colleagues here today honor 

Don Payne. I want to add my condolences to his family and his 

staff and to his constituents. I loved to listen to him share his passion for his work. It reminded me of when I was a very young man 

listening to my grandfather tell stories about serving on this committee and on the Africa Subcommittee. So for me during my service here to be able to serve on the Africa Subcommittee and to have 

that same kind of fascination and inspiration listening to our colleague Don Payne share his work I think has been very meaningful 

for me. He cared passionately about his work. He led in ways and 

on issues that a lot of people neglected, and he delivered. 

I hope that all of us will use Don’s inspiration and rededicate 

ourselves to carry on that work and to be lights to shine on these 

areas that he was so dedicated to. 

With that, Madam Chair, I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. Mr. Meeks. 

Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I am devastated, a 

part of me, knowing that my friend Donald Payne will not be not 

only sitting right down a few seats from me, but able to get his advice. I have listened and I thank you, Madam Chair, for this opportunity for all our colleagues to say about this American hero, Donald Payne, to talk about him. He really was American history, he 

was a history teacher, and I trust that American history is going 

to record his life as a great American patriot. 

9

See, sometimes in life, people go through it wondering what their 

purpose is. What is my purpose? Why am I here? What is my mission? We are blessed because there is a side of me saying that I 

am blessed to have been with a man who knew his purpose and 

what his mission was. It wasn’t easy for Donald to get here. He ran 

and he lost. He ran again and he lost. He ran again and he lost. 

But he knew what his mission and what his purpose was. He knew 

that he would also, once he won, become a role model, a role model 

for many a young boy who were growing up in Newark, New Jersey, who had no other role models, who would look up to Donald 

Payne, many of them he had taught in school. He knew his mission 

was to make their lives better and to lead by his actions. My colleagues were absolutely right. Soft spoken, but you never took the 

soft-spoken words as a mistake for what his determination is and 

was, and that determination you saw throughout his life. 

When you hear of our colleagues talking about how, whether his 

plane was being shot at, whether he would go into the bush in Africa where nobody else dared go, he knew what he was trying to accomplish. He knew that that was his mission. Or when he was 

walking the streets of Newark, his beloved Newark, he would always talk about the people of Newark, no matter where he was in 

the world, wanting to make their lives better. And I have got to 

say in closing, Gregory Meeks would not be sitting on this back row 

in this Foreign Affairs Committee if it wasn’t for Donald Payne. 

When Donald Payne came to Congress, it wasn’t popular to be 

on the Foreign Affairs Committee. In fact, for many Members of 

Congress at that time, it was the last committee that you wanted 

to be on. People, you know, said, oh, they had to come on this committee, you know, because it was the only one that was available. 

I learned of Donald in New York City, was following his career, 

knowing that I wanted to become a Member of Congress and get 

on the Foreign Affairs Committee, utilizing and talking to him on 

how to do it once I got here. And then asking his advice, utilizing 

his experience, picking his brain, learning his legislative manner 

on how to get things done, how to do and create relationships with 

individuals, wanting and following him on the NED board. 

What manner of man, Donald Payne. We are going to miss him, 

but I think all of us who have had the opportunity to be around 

him, whether we be Democrat or Republican, whether we be Black, 

White, brown, red or yellow, whether we be in the United States 

of America or some other part of the world, we are all lucky that 

we were touched by the spirit, by the man that we know as Donald 

Payne. Donald, we are going to miss you, but I have got to tell you, 

I can see you now talking to the Lord and him saying to you, job 

well done, my faithful son. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Meeks. Mr. 

Keating. 

Mr. KEATING. Thank you, Madam Chair. As someone that is new 

to Congress, there is one aspect I would like to comment on, and 

that is the idea, I think it came from the part of him that was an 

educator because he was a person that held himself out to me and 

to all new Members as a mentor. He was open and welcoming, here 

in committee and on the floor when I had occasion to seek him out. 

And that part of him I think rests in the teaching aspect as well. 

10

I am frankly jealous, Madam Chair, that so many of the members 

here had experiences with him, were able to travel with him, share 

issues with him that I did not have, but I will say this: I am convinced that even though he is gone from us now, I will continue 

to learn because of Donald Payne, I will continue to have Members 

and staff and other people talk to me and say, this is an issue that 

is important because Donald knew it was important, and that will 

continue on. 

In an era of lack of civility in public life that the American public 

is crying out to see, he was a shining example of how to conduct 

yourself as a public official and demonstrate that civility. My sympathy goes to his family and his staff. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. So pleased to yield to Mr. 

Fortenberry who worked well with Mr. Payne. Mr. Fortenberry is 

the vice chair of the Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights Subcommittee. 

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Thank you, Madam Chair, for taking a few 

minutes of time to allow us to honor and celebrate the life of our 

good friend and deceased colleague, Mr. Payne. You know, a couple 

months ago, maybe a little less, I looked over at Don on a committee hearing, and it just struck me that he didn’t look well. I 

didn’t realize he was sick. I don’t think many of us did, and that 

is probably a testament to his character that he continued his work 

right to the very end without fanfare because he was so dedicated 

to trying to solve injustices, particularly around the world, and 

given his deep, deep commitment to the work on Foreign Affairs, 

as Mr. Carnahan put very well, he tried to address the needs of 

neglected people. 

And in fact, I was thinking about a story that I could perhaps 

share with you all, we have done some work to try to prevent the 

use of child soldiers internationally, and there is a country in Africa that is a persistent violator and there is an ongoing problem 

with the abuse of children in that country. We were going to 

strengthen the United States laws in order to try to prevent this 

most pernicious form of child abuse, but Don Payne came to me 

quietly, and he said there is a bit of a dilemma here. He personally 

knew the President of one of the countries in which we were targeting, he had been working quietly to try to develop that relationship in order to try to diminish the possibility of further abuse of 

children in this regard. He was worried that if we were too aggressive, we might lose the relationship and potentially undermine the 

very end which we were seeking. 

I respected his viewpoint, and we were able to creatively craft a 

solution to that dilemma while continuing to press on in this important work of preventing the abuse of children as child soldiers. 

He invited me several times to go to Africa with him. He was very 

dedicated to that part of the world, and we also co-chaired the Malaria Caucus together. 

Mr. Meeks, you know the reason he did that, it wasn’t to get 

votes back in New Jersey, it wasn’t because there was some constituent necessarily who would help him because of that work. It 

was simply because, as you said, he was dedicated to this cause of 

trying to stop a serious injustice, trying to stop a preventable disVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Aug 15, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\030712M\73277 HFA PsN: SHIRL
11

ease, motivated by one reality, that this kills children, and we are 

in a position to help. So I think that was a mark of his life. 

I spent time with him in office. Even though we didn’t know each 

other deeply and well, I respected his work, and I today join with 

my colleagues in celebrating his life. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

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

Mr. Sires, a member of the New Jersey delegation with Don Payne. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing us a few minutes to talk about Don Payne, my friend. I shared the northeast 

part of New Jersey with Don, and we were constantly talking. You 

know, on Sunday I went to the hospital to see him, and it broke 

my heart that my friend was there, and his family was all there. 

You know, the Payne family is a very well-known family in New 

Jersey for their caring. I have served in the Assembly with his 

brother, with his cousin, and they always cared about people, and 

that is how Don was. But he had an inner determination. 

I remember when he first ran. He ran against a legend, Peter 

Rodino, three times in Newark, New Jersey, against the machine, 

and his determination led him to this House. He finally won, and 

he had big shoes to fill because Peter Rodino was a legend, and let 

me tell you, he more than filled those shoes with his caring, his 

human rights, the work that he did, and always on a very even 

keel. Sometimes I wanted to shake him and say, Don, come on, you 

know. But, boy, he was just so even. I guess it must be my Hispanic background, we just didn’t match together, but he was—I 

mean, he is one of those individuals that you meet and you become 

a better person for meeting and dealing with him, and New Jersey 

and this country has lost a great individual. I am going to miss 

him, this House is going to miss him, and I thank their family for 

all that they do. It is in the genes of the Payne family to be good 

human beings. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Sires. Ms. Schwartz is 

recognized. 

Ms. SCHWARTZ. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to add 

my words. You have heard many of the same things from us about 

Donald Payne, and I do feel honored to have served with him and 

to have known him, and I did have the opportunity to travel with 

him to Africa on the House Democracy Assistance Partnership, and 

it just showed everything we have just heard about this morning. 

He was personally just enormously gracious and warm and collegial. I mean, certainly for newcomers and for those who had shared 

his expertise. 

There was just no one like Donald Payne when you went to Africa. I think we all have our stories where he went off just before 

dinner one evening, and it was to visit with the President of the 

country who was feeling ill and had cancelled our meeting but 

somehow made time for Donald Payne, and that is what you always knew would happen or we would go into a meeting and we 

would have all our briefs and then Don would sort of lean over and 

say, well, I kind of knew him back when and things weren’t so cool 

then. He would know all the good, the bad, and the ugly, and even 

through all of that he maintained just an enormous sense of possibility and opportunity, particularly in the work with Africa, and his 

12

commitment and passion always came through, but he was—maybe 

fiery would never be a word we would call Donald Payne because 

he was always so calm and so clear and didn’t rile things up. 

It was kind of interesting, if he did so, he did it in sort of a determined and quiet way. So for his knowledge, for his service, for his 

generosity of spirit and for his commitment to his constituents and 

to public service, I think he sheds a really wonderfully positive 

light on the kind of work you can do in Congress when you are 

committed not only to your constituents but to the world community, and Donald did that. So he will be missed. 

My condolences and thoughts and prayers to his family, and for 

the opportunity to have served with Donald Payne, I think it has 

enriched me and my knowledge and my experience here, and he 

will certainly be deeply missed. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. And another person who worked for so many years with Mr. Payne, Mr. Engel, is 

recognized. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Madam Chair. Don Payne and I were 

classmates. We both came together to Congress together back in 

1988, November 1988 along with Eni Faleomavaega and Dana 

Rohrabacher. Our class is getting smaller and smaller, unfortunately. The first thing I remember about Donald Payne, in fact, one 

of our classmates called me yesterday, our former colleague, John 

Tanner of Tennessee, and he said, you know, we lost Don Payne, 

I feel so badly. We were recalling that first year in 1988 in December when all the freshmen went to freshmen orientation in Massachusetts in Boston at the Kennedy Center at Harvard. Afterwards 

we were trying to get tickets and we did get tickets to the Celtics 

game, and John Tanner arranged that, and he went up there with 

his Tennessee twang and told the people at the will call that we 

were picking up the tickets, and they couldn’t understand him, and 

Donald Payne and I had to be interpreters, and he was recalling 

that, and I was recalling that as well. 

He was a very good Member of Congress, particularly of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He took his committee, our committee very 

seriously, did lots and lots and lots of traveling, probably more 

than almost any other Member of Congress, mostly in Africa, but 

all around the world. I traveled with him a number of times to Africa and to other places in the world, and he felt very strongly 

about the work that we in Congress could do to help make people’s 

lives better all around the world. 

When I chaired the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of our 

committee, Don was a very valued member of that subcommittee, 

felt very strongly about South America, Central America, and the 

problems we were having there, and was very diligent, came to 

hearings and came to meetings and really expressed his opinion 

and really added just so much. 

So, Madam Chair, I want to add my voice to everybody in this 

room, all the nice things they have said. They are all true. We all 

miss him. Our class, the class of 1988, getting smaller and smaller, 

but I have to tell you, he was a large and important part of that 

class, and as our colleagues have said, he may be gone, but he will 

never be forgotten, and we are all better for having known him. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

13

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Amen. At this point the committee will 

observe a moment of silence in honor of the life and public service 

of Congressman Don Payne. 

[Moment of silence.] 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Godspeed, amigo. Thank you so much. 

Thank you to all of our members. 

And now we will proceed to today’s business. Without objection, 

all members may have 5 days to insert written remarks into the 

record on any of today’s measures or amendments. Pursuant to the 

procedure, we e-mailed your offices about yesterday, we will consider the Syria bill first, followed by an en bloc consideration of the 

remaining measures. I now call up the bill H.R. 2106, the Syria 

Freedom Support Act. 

[H.R. 2106 follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection, the amendment in 

the nature of a substitute that was sent to your offices on Monday 

and that all members have in front of them will be considered base 

text for purposes of markup, is considered read, and is open for 

amendment at any point. Also, as your offices were notified last 

night, in order to save everyone from having to hear double statements from me, I will call up the bipartisan manager’s amendment 

before we proceed to the opening statements. 

[The amendments of Ms. Ros-Lehtinen follow:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. So without objection, amendment 110 

offered by the Chair, which members have before them, is made 

the pending business of the committee and is considered read. 

Before turning to the ranking member and any other members 

seeking recognition on the Syria measure, I recognize myself to 

speak. Today the committee is marking up legislation to address 

the threat posed by the Syrian regime to our Nation, to our interests, and to our allies. It is fitting that we should be marking up 

this legislation at this time, as this week marks the 1 year anniversary of the beginning of the current protests against the Syrian regime, and for those who thought of and referred to Assad as some 

kind of reformer and that any engagement will ultimately bear 

fruit, the facts have proved them wrong, proven them wrong. 

The regime that some rushed to engage has been doing the following: They have been on the State Department State Sponsor of 

Terrorism List since 1979, well-earned, maintained a strategic 

partnership with the Iranian regime as well as with Hamas and 

Hezbollah, aided and abetted the entry of foreign fighters into Iraq 

who killed our young men and women serving in uniform there, repeatedly retained extensive chemical weapons and ballistic missile 

capabilities, and pursued a secret nuclear program reportedly with 

North Korea’s assistance, and now the regime is waging war 

against the Syrian people who are being killed on a daily basis as 

they exercise their fundamental freedoms. 

Assad’s regime is digging in for a long-term war, and news reports indicate that the regime is bragging about mass cleansing. 

The bloody assault on the city of Homs and other areas in the 

country clearly show the regime will not release a stranglehold on 

the Syrian people. Congress must, once again, lead the effort to 

clarify U.S. policy and provide all with the necessary tools and 

guidance to address the situation in Syria, the threats posed by the 

Assad regime to the United States, our interests, and our allies. 

To that end, we are marking up H.R. 2106, the bipartisan Syrian 

Freedom Support Act. This bill strengthens sanctions against the 

Syrian regime, enhances multilateral commitment to address the 

Syrian regime’s threatening policy, and establishes a program to 

support a transition to a democratically-elected government in 

Syria. 

H.R. 2106 states that it is the objective of U.S. policy to deny the 

Syrian regime the ability to carry out, and ultimately, we hope, to 

abandon its support for foreign terrorist organization, its development of dangerous weapons programs, its intervention in the affairs of the Lebanese Government, and the oppression of its own 

people in Syria. 

H.R. 2106 also strengthens existing U.S. laws, targeting the Syrian regime’s weapons programs and imposes extensive sanctions on 

Iran’s energy sector. The bill also authorizes financial and political 

assistance to entities that support a peaceful, democratic transition 

in Syria and requires the Secretary of State to submit a strategy 

to support a transition to a democratic government in Syria. 

Finally, H.R. 2106 also seeks to address the Syrian regime’s 

gross human rights abuses by imposing sanctions against senior regime officials responsible for such abuses. I would conclude by noting that Congress last enacted Syria sanctions in 2003 when we 

221

adopted the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, coauthored by me and my friend and colleague from 

New York, Mr. Engel. 

In the almost 9 years since, the threat posed by the Syrian regime against the U.S., our allies, and the Syrian people has grown 

steadily, but U.S. efforts to address this threat has not risen proportionately. So, I am pleased that Mr. Engel and I have been able 

to team up again to sponsor legislation that has, that we have 

worked with our ranking member, my good friend from California, 

Mr. Berman, to include additional financial sanctions, a visa ban 

on persons who provide the Syrian regime with military equipment, a mechanism for the disposal of Syrian chemical, biological, 

and nuclear materials once a post-Assad transition government is 

in place. 

I appreciate the ranking member’s cosponsorship, his strong support for the bill, and with that, I am pleased to recognize my friend 

from California, Mr. Berman, for his remarks. 

Mr. BERMAN. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman, and 

I want to thank you for introducing the legislation with our colleague Elliott Engel, who has been so involved in these issues for 

such a long time, and for working with me closely on the amendment in the nature of a substitute, and on this manager’s amendment to accommodate some of my concerns. I am now a cosponsor 

of this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support it as well. 

Madam Chairman, the Arab Spring has brought about both hope 

and bloodshed. We have all seen the video clips from Syria. They 

are heart rending, especially the barbaric bombardment of Homs. 

Bashar al-Assad’s ceaseless pounding of that defenseless city, as 

well as similar actions throughout the country, have proven conclusively that he is nothing but a chip off the old block of his late father. 

I have spoken previously about the fact that our interests and 

our values are in perfect sync in seeking the collapse of the Assad 

regime. Assad’s downfall would almost certainly lead to more humane governance in Syria. It would also likely mean the demise of 

the Iranian presence in Syria and would be a blow to Hezbollah’s 

cynical sway in Lebanon. This bill will certainly help us accomplish 

the first by tightening the financial noose around Assad’s neck, already tied very tight by the Obama administration. 

As for the second part of the equation, building a peace-loving 

democracy in Syria, I now believe that this bill with the changes 

to which the chairman has so graciously consented, does not impede that prospect, either. We want to make sure that our actions 

in this body, to the extent possible, provide incentives for democratic forces, not discourage them. In that regard, I truly want to 

thank the chairman for agreeing to modify the bill so that the 

President has the flexibility to make sure that the sins of Assad 

will not be automatically visited and attributed to a successor regime. 

No issue concerns me more deeply than that of the disposition 

of Syria’s weapons of mass destruction. We should all be worried 

that in the aftermath of civil war and weakened central control, 

Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, biological agents, and precursors could leave the country and fall into the hands of terrorist 

222

groups. In order to meet this threat, we have added to the bill a 

provision that would authorize the President to use the existing authorities of Nunn-Lugar cooperative threat reduction program and 

the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund at State to work with 

officials and scientists in the post-Assad Syria. It would also allow 

them to transfer whatever funds and draw down whatever U.S. resources are necessary in support of this objective. We have added 

a provision that would deny visas to executives, shareholders, and 

other senior officials of companies, many of them from Russia and 

China that continue to arm the Assad regime, knowing full well 

that their weapons will be used to sustain the regime’s murderous 

assault on its own people, and we have added a third provision, 

similar to the one in CISADA that would impose severe sanctions 

on foreign banks that engage in or facilitate transactions with 

Syria, Syria’s security services or its armed forces or to facilitate 

withdrawal of foreign currency reserves for the Syrian Government. 

Finally, Madam Chair, finally, as you know I will be offering an 

amendment that will call for Bashar al-Assad and senior regime officials to be referred to an international tribunal to be tried for 

crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations. 

Madam Chairman, we, and particularly our staffs, have put in 

a lot of hours to produce a bill with wonderful, worthy objectives 

of ending the tyranny of the Assad regime, replacing it with a humane successor. In pursuing these efforts, I know we have all been 

ever mindful of the memory of the tens of thousands of innocents 

killed by the Assad family and of the remarkably courageous men 

and women who continue to protest daily throughout Syria and 

who do so in the face of some of the worst brutality imaginable. I 

yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Absolutely, Mr. Berman. 

Thank you for that statement. I am pleased to yield to Mr. Rohrabacher time to address the issues before us. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. 

The Syria bill is a carefully-measured approach to a horrendous, 

but at the same time, dangerous situation. In the not-so-distant 

past, we have rushed into conflicts and to commitments that have 

proven disastrous. Yes, we should support those brave people 

struggling for freedom, as this bill does, but let us keep in mind 

that we cannot do their fighting for them, and there are lines to 

which we should not cross. 

Making the situation more complicated we don’t seem to have 

any of the management skills that are necessary to help transitions 

when such efforts as we are now seeing in Syria succeed. So we 

can’t manage the transition from an oppressive regime, when it is 

overthrown, to a more democratic system. We just—as time has 

proven, we haven’t been able to do it. We failed in Iraq after spending a $1 trillion and losing thousands of lives with even more crippled by their wounds. 

And after all of that, we now have a government in Baghdad that 

is aligning itself with an anti American Mullah regime in Iran. And 

of course, we have also left in Iraq a mountain of military equipment that now may be used against our friends. 

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The situation in Libya, of course, is unclear but in Egypt, of 

course, it is also reason for serious concern. In Afghanistan we 

have established a corrupt and incompetent government, and have 

pushed to the sidelines our Afghan allies in the northern alliance 

who actually drove the Taliban from power back in 2001. Our 

strategy there cost $0.5 trillion and thousands of more dead and 

wounded Americans without producing a victory or a government 

that can be sustained without our continued military presence. So 

let’s pray that America has learned something from these recent 

disastrous interventions. 

And this bill that we have today is measured and is thoughtful. 

But let’s keep these things, these past situations in mind, and the 

first lesson, of course, as we move forward and decide how we are 

going to approach that part of the world is perhaps we should start 

by making sure we have learned the lesson and we recognize that 

Pakistan is no longer our friend, and that we should cut Pakistan’s 

military off from any U.S. aid. 

The fact is that we can have an influence in that part of the 

world, whether it is Syria or the Persian Gulf or in south Asia by 

working with other countries that have our same interests and 

share, would share the same defeats and the same threats that we 

face, namely India and Russia, and the central Asian Republics 

face that same threat. So we need to make sure that we have 

learned the lessons in that part of the world and not rush in 

whether it is Syria or anywhere else. 

So I rise in favor of this piece of legislation, but I do so with a 

warning that while this bill is crafted well and puts us on the side 

of those who are fighting for freedom, we should not, again, be 

lured into a situation where we are doing the fighting for people 

who should be fighting for their own liberty and trying to take over 

their job of transitioning their country from a dictatorship into a 

more democratic society. Thank you very much. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher. So 

pleased to yield to one of the sponsors of the legislation, Mr. Engel 

of New York. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Madam Chair. I rise to strike the last 

word, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 2106 the Syria Freedom 

Support Act. We reached a critical juncture in Syria, and this bill 

is critically important, but before discussing the bill, I would first, 

Madam Chair, like to extent my deepest words of appreciation to 

you and the ranking member for your hard work to reach a compromise on the bill. And Madam Chair, let me say you have been 

my partner on several pieces of legislation through the years related to Syria. We did the Syria Accountability Act together in 

2003 and 2004, and I want to thank you personally and your staff 

for your leadership and for our efforts together. Thank you. 

To our ranking member, I thank you and your staff for your excellent work, without with which could not have reached today’s 

successful agreement. As the lead Democratic cosponsor of this bill, 

I am keenly aware that both of you showed the best in the legislative process, sometimes hard fought, but always with the desire to 

reach a mutually acceptable goal. 

Colleagues, innocent civilians are again dying by the thousands 

in Syria and it is time that Congress act. Just over 8 years ago, 

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as I mentioned before, we passed the Syria Accountability, in Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act which the chair and I authored 

to respond to Syrian excesses. That law was a good law and had 

many accomplishments. But it had mixed results. Yes, Syrian 

Armed Forces are out of Lebanon, but no, Syria still supports terrorism, maintains weapons of mass destruction and work to undermine our efforts in Iraq, and work to undermine our efforts all over 

the globe. 

Today, however, events in Syria have gotten much worse and a 

stronger response is needed. So the Syria Freedom Support Act, 

Madam Chair, could not have come at a better time. We need to 

increase the pressure on the Assad regime and this bill does just 

that. But I think we need to do even more. What happens in Syria 

is not only critical to the country citizens, but events there affect 

everyone around them. If the Assad regime falls, Iran loses its only 

ally in the region, and Hezbollah loses the main conduit for its 

weapons and cash. 

I am aware of concerns of a sectarian civil war in Syria. But 

frankly, I don’t see how it could get much worse there. And it is 

hard to imagine what comes after Assad being worse either. Thus, 

I was glad to read in today’s cable blog that the Obama administration is moving to provide direct assistance to the internal opposition in Syria for the first time, marking a shift in U.S. policy toward a more aggressive plan to help oust President Bashar alAssad. I read Senator McCain has also, I think, made some very 

thoughtful comments on this. I don’t think we can sit by and let 

this just continue. I think the world needs a response; if there was 

a response in Libya, there should be a response in Syria. So this 

is the right direction, I applaud the administration, and urge us to 

move ahead with all speed. 

So Madam Chair, again, our passage of the Syria Freedom Support Act is timely and urgent, and as always, you are always right 

on top of these important matters. And as your lead Democratic cosponsor of the bill, I urge all of our colleagues on both sides of the 

aisle to vote in favor and I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Now I yield to 

Mr. Smith to speak about the human rights aspects of this bill. 

Mr. SMITH. First of all, let me thank you, Madam Chair, Howard 

Berman and Eliot Engel for putting together a very responsible, 

well-calibrated, well-crafted piece of legislation. I especially want to 

point out a section—and associate myself with your remarks because you explain in great detail what the bill includes. I think section 505 really is part of what we should be doing with so many 

bills, and that is focusing on sanctioning the very people who commit the crimes, who torture, who commit crimes against humanity. 

Rather than just punishing the entire country, it focuses on those 

who actually do the mischief and commit the crimes. So I want to 

especially thank you for section 505, and ask, unanimous consent 

to revise and extend my remarks, for the bill. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection. 

Thank you. Seeing no other baseball signals, seeking recognition 

on the Syria bill, the pending question is on the bipartisan Manager’s amendment. All those in favor, say aye. 

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All opposed, no. In the opinion of the Chair the ayes have it. And 

the Manager’s amendment is agreed to. 

I now recognize the ranking member to offer his amendment to 

the base text and thank him for incorporating edits required by 

myself. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you. Madam Chair, I have an amendment. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. The clerk will report the amendment. 

Ms. CARROLL. Amendment to amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R.——

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection, the amendment is 

considered read and the gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes to 

explain his amendment. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you very much. This won’t take 5 minutes, 

Madam Chair. This is a very straightforward amendment. It makes 

clear that it is the policy of the United States to seek the referral 

of Bashar al-Assad and other senior members of his regime to an 

international tribunal. There is no doubt that Bashar al-Assad is 

a war criminal. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights 

has accused the Syrian leadership for crimes against humanity. 

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria 

found that the Assad regime has committed widespread, systematic 

and gross human rights violations. Independent reports from Homs 

and other Syrian cities paint a horrific picture of violence on a 

nearly unimaginable scale, much of it perpetrated against civilians. 

Assad and his cronies should stand trial for their crimes. Perhaps the Russians and the Chinese may block attempts to hold 

Assad accountable, but there should be no ambiguity in the position of our Government on this issue. 

To those that argue that trying Assad for war crimes will lessen 

his motivation to leave office peaceably, I have to ask whether a 

man who shells his own cities, deploys snipers against peaceful 

demonstrators, refuses Red Cross access to trapped and injured civilians, will ever hand over power on his own volition. No, I don’t 

imagine that the threat of being sent to an international tribunal 

keeps the Assad family awake at night. Rather, I suspect it is the 

untold number of voices throughout Syria clamoring for freedom 

and the end of Assad’s dictatorial regime. I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Well, said. Thank you. The Chair will 

recognize herself. I am pleased that we were able to work out the 

agreement on the text of the ranking member’s amendment. We all 

agree that al-Assad has committed horrific atrocities against the 

people of Syria. We all agree that he must be held accountable for 

those atrocities. While the ranking member and I may differ as to 

precisely where Assad should be held accountable, we do agree on 

the goal of accountability, and I am glad that we were able to finalize an agreement text that focuses on those areas of agreement. 

Hearing no further request for recognition, the pending question 

is on the Berman amendment. All those in favor, say aye. 

All opposed, no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it and 

the Berman agreement is agreed to. 

Hearing no further amendments to this measure, the question 

occurs on agreeing to the base agreement in the nature of a substitute as amended. All those in favor say aye. 

All opposed, no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and 

the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended is agreed 

to. 

Without objection, the underlying bill, H.R. 2106, as amended, is 

agreed to and is favorably reported and will be reported as a single 

amendment in the nature of a substitute. Staff are directed to 

make technical and conforming changes. 

Now according to the expedited procedure shared with all members yesterday we will consider and approve all of the remaining 

measures en bloc. Afterwards, I will recognize myself, the ranking 

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member and any other members seeking recognition for any remarks they would like to make. All of these items are in the packets in front of the members and were provided to your offices earlier this week. 

And so without objection, the following measures are considered 

as read and will be considered en bloc: H.R. 890, the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act; Ros-Lehtinen amendment 107 to H.R. 

890; H.R. 1410, the Vietnam Human Rights Act; the Smith amendment 68 to H.R. 1410; Connolly amendment 127 to H.R. 1410; the 

Rohrabacher amendment 52 to H.R. 1410; H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act; the Duncan amendment 40 to H.R. 3783 as adopted by the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade; the Duncan amendment 42 to 

H.R. 3783; H.R. 4041, the Export Promotion Reform Act; and Senate Concurrent Resolution 17, expressing the sense of Congress 

that Taiwan should be afforded observer status in the international 

civil aviation organization. 

[The en bloc amendments follow:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. The Chair moves that the measures 

just listed be adopted by the committee. All those in favor say aye. 

All opposed, no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it and 

the bills and amendments considered en bloc are approved. Without objection, each of these underlying bills, as amended, is ordered 

favorably reported as a single amendment in the nature of a substitute, and staff is directed to make technical and conforming 

changes. 

Having concluded the operative portion of today’s business, I will 

now recognize members who wish to make statements on the 

adopted en bloc measures, beginning with the Chair and the ranking member. If not, you have all been excused, but my words are 

just so eloquent, you don’t want to miss a single word. But we are 

going to tape it and give you the ability to listen to it at leisure. 

Mr. BERMAN. Will the gentlelady yield? 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Yes, I would be glad to yield. 

Mr. BERMAN. I hope after my words, none of you will regret having supported the bill just approved by en bloc. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. We are going to—what is it, snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. I would like to thank, first of all, 

the ranking member and all of our members and all of the staff 

that really worked so hard on this extensive bipartisan effort that 

went into the committee’s consideration of five measures that were 

just adopted. Behind those few minutes of markup were many 

hours and many days of hard work and deliberations. 

Taking up each of the bills in turn: H.R. 890 the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act is a long overdue effort to see that justice is done. It has been a pleasure to have worked with Mr. 

Deutch, my Florida colleague on this bill. And we are honored that 

several of our Holocaust survivors are able to be with us today. 

David Schacter of Miami, Jay Ipson of Richmond, Virginia, from 

Washington, DC, Louise Lawrence Israels, Dr. Sidney Lawrence, 

and Ruth Cohen. We are honored to have you here with us. Thank 

you so much. 

In the years leading up to World War II, hundreds of thousands 

of future victims of the Nazis’ crimes purchased policies from European insurance companies. After the war, survivors contacted the 

insurance companies to submit claims, and to their shock, the survivors discovered that many companies refused to honor their policies. They insisted that survivors of concentration camps provide 

policy statements, and documents, and death certificates to verify 

their claims that the Nazis had stripped them of. 

In 1998, the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, ICHEIC, was established to address these serious 

issues, but ICHEIC was deeply flawed, suffered serious problems 

with accountability and oversight. Eighty-four percent of the 90,000 

claims made were rejected, 84 percent of the 90,000 claims were rejected. Nevertheless, survivors were told that ICHEIC, which 

stopped accepting new claims in 2004, was the only forum in which 

they could make those claims. 

Survivors are blocked from pursuing these claims in Federal 

court. This bill is the last hope for Holocaust survivors to obtain 

justice. This bill would enable survivors to pursue civil action 

against insurance companies in Federal court without any prejudgVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:42 Aug 15, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00322 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\030712M\73277 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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ment of a verdict. Opponents of this legislation argue that the insurance companies have made contributions to reparation agreements and should be exempt from additional payments. They have 

the audacity to claim that this legislation will raise false expectations for Holocaust survivors regarding the results of litigation. 

Let me set the record straight. Contributions to reparations 

agreements are not a substitute for addressing the breach of contract that is the failure to pay legitimate claims of policy holders. 

And the assertion that this bill will raise false expectations for Holocaust survivors is outrageous. These are adults who simply want 

their rights restored. These companies should be bending over 

backwards to ensure that Holocaust survivors receive the funds 

they are owed, but this legislation is not asking anyone to bend 

over backward. It would simply enable Holocaust survivors to exercise the same right as all Americans seeking justice in our court 

system. 

So thank you Mr. Deutch, it has been a privilege to work with 

you on this bill, and we will recognize you in just a few minutes. 

And Mr. Berman, thank you so much as well for your contribution 

on this bill. 

Moving on, I would like to thank Mr. Duncan for introducing 

H.R. 3783, which seeks to promote U.S. security interest in the 

Western Hemisphere while protecting U.S. citizens here at home. 

Over the past years, we have witnessed the Iranian regime expand 

diplomatic and economic ties with rogue regimes in our hemisphere. Last January, Iran’s Ahmadinejad completed a four-country 

tour of tyrants, to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. The 

aggressive actions undertaken by the IRGC, the Quds force and 

Iran’s proxies, like Hezbollah, have the potential to give Iran the 

platform that it needs in the region to carry out attacks against our 

homeland. 

Just yesterday, SOUTHCOM commander General Fraser testified regarding the Iranian threat in the hemisphere that ‘‘connections with Hezbollah and Hamas, who have been in the region for 

a number of years primarily still focused on supporting, conducting 

illegal activity to provide funding support and logistic support back 

to parent organizations within the Middle East.’’

The failed plot to assassinate a Saudi Ambassador on U.S. soil 

and the U.S.-led investigation into the Lebanese Canadian bank illustrate the potential links between Iran and Hezbollah with drug 

trafficking organizations in the hemisphere. This legislation requires the Secretary of State to use existing funds to create a tailored strategy to fight the aggressive actions of Iran and its proxies 

in the Western Hemisphere, thereby establishing a strong U.S. policy stance and protecting U.S. security interests. 

I want to thank also Mr. Smith for the next bill that we are 

going to be discussing, his Vietnam Human Rights Act, H.R. 1410. 

Just yesterday, I met with the delegation of Vietnamese Americans 

led by our former colleague, Congressman Joseph Cao, who described the steady deterioration of human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. Anyone who doubts the violations by the Hanoi 

regime just needs to ask Vietnamese democracy advocates, or 

Internet bloggers or ethnic minorities in the central highlands or 

318

Protestant, Catholic or unified Buddhist church leaders who dared 

to operate outside of state-imposed limits. 

As I said many times, the State Department’s 2006 removal of 

Vietnam from the list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom was a major mistake that still needs to be corrected. 

The list I received yesterday of approximately 600 political prisoners languishing in Vietnam’s Gulag is a stark testament to the 

continued repression in that country. 

Capping non-humanitarian assistance to the Vietnamese regime 

until these ‘‘Hanoi six hundred’’ are unconditionally released, and 

religious and political freedoms improved, is the least that we can 

do. So thank you, Mr. Smith, for that legislation. 

I am also pleased to support the legislation of my friend from 

California, Mr. Berman’s bill, H.R. 4041, the Export Promotion Reform Act, which he introduced with another member of our committee, Mr. Manzullo. The assessments and the strategy required 

by this bill could help to strengthen our commercial diplomacy 

overseas. So thank you for that bill. 

And finally, because Taiwan deserves observer status in the 

International Civil Aviation Organization, I strongly support the 

inclusion of Senate Concurrent Resolution 17 in today’s markup. 

This committee and the House have supported similar resolutions 

in prior years. And I am glad for the continued bipartisan, bicameral support for Taiwan’s status which will serve air safety 

around the world. 

Again, thanks to all of the members for their hard work that 

went into adoption of these measures, and I would like to recognize 

Mr. Berman for his remarks, thank you. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. The 

process of voting first and then debating does shorten the time. I 

would like to yield a minute first to my colleague from Pennsylvania, Ms. Schwartz. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Ms. Schwartz is recognized. 

Ms. SCHWARTZ. Thank you. This is really more a point of information for the chairwoman. Madam Chair, just to say my family 

did receive some insurance, we were successful in getting claims 

from my mother’s grandparents, my great grandparents, who did 

have insurance, they were Austrians. I wanted to recognize that we 

did receive those funds—at least my father did and my sister. 

Those were complicated forms, I agree, but in fact, those claims 

were made and received, and my mother didn’t live to see that happen, it was certainly to my family important to be able to receive 

that. Thank you. 

Mr. BERMAN. Reclaiming my time. I would like to thank you, 

Madam Chairman, for including H.R. 4041, the Expert Promotion 

Reform Act on today’s agenda. Mr. Manzullo and I introduced this 

bipartisan noncontroversial legislation to help increase U.S. exports 

and create jobs for American workers. According to the GAO, 17 

Federal agencies currently have export promotion programs. These 

programs would be much more effective with improved coordination, elimination of duplicative activities and more effective targeting. That’s what our bill does. The improvements made by this 

bill would benefit many of the Nation’s 266,000 exporting firms, 

319

more than 90 percent are small and medium-sized businesses, and 

in the process, that would help create new jobs. 

The Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act, I want to thank you 

for bringing up H.R. 890, as I noted in our recent hearing on this 

issue, time is of the essence for Holocaust survivors. This bill is important as to way to shine a light on the desperate situation for 

many survivors in our community and I support it. 

Madam Chairman, I also strongly support Senate Con. Res. 17, 

which expresses a sense of Congress that Taiwan should be accorded observer status in the International Civil Aviation Organization. Taiwan’s participation in the IKO as an observer would not 

only benefit Taiwan, but it would benefit the rest of the world as 

well as it helps ensure that IKO can fulfill its mission and address 

threats to aviation security. 

With Taiwan’s air traffic controllers providing service to over 1 

million flights a year, it is long past time for Taiwan to participate 

in the IKO. 

Madam Chairman, H.R. 3783, the Counter Iran in the Western 

Hemisphere Act by Mr. Duncan, requires the administration to prepare a strategy to address Iran’s increasing presence in the Americas. This committee has heard significant testimony on this issue. 

And while the administration is fully engaged on this matter, a reminder of our heightened interest here is appropriate. 

H.R. 1410 as amended calls attention to the human rights situation in Vietnam. Despite the country’s transition to greater economic freedom, religious and political freedoms for Vietnamese citizens remain limited. The bilateral relationship between the U.S. 

and Vietnam has deepened since diplomatic ties were established 

over 15 years ago, but the lack of sufficient progress in protecting 

basic rights and civil liberties in Vietnam remains a real impediment to closer cooperation the future. Madam Chair, just one question before I yield back, is it your vision that on the floor, these 

bills become separate items? 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Sure. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you, I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, yes, they will. Mr. Smith 

is recognized to address his bill, H.R. 1410, to promote freedom and 

democracy in Vietnam. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and I thank 

you, Mr. Berman, for strongly supporting this legislation and Mr. 

Berman for cosponsoring it. This is a bipartisan bill. Originally introduced by myself, Mr. Wolf, Zoe Lofgren, Loretta Sanchez and 

Mr. Royce. And our belief is that maybe the third time is the 

charm; this bill has passed twice in the House and has floundered 

and failed in the Senate through inaction. My hope is, given the 

fact the situation has markedly deteriorated, that will hopefully 

improve its chances so that we can send a clear unequivocal message to Hanoi that we are serious about human rights abuses. 

You mentioned 600 prisoners; it is amazing that leading up to 

the bilateral trade agreement, and the ascension into WTO in 2006, 

there were all kinds of expectations that Vietnam would, indeed, 

matriculate from its heavy repression on religious freedom, its 

forced renunciation of the Christian faith that is imposed upon the 

Montagnard, and whether it be the unified Buddhist Church or the 

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other forms of religious expression, all of which now are being 

heavily repressed, people who are out of prison are back in prison. 

As a matter of fact, there is a group called Bloc 8406, it was founded on April 8th, 2006. It closely mirrors Vaclav Havel’s Charter 77. 

Bloc 8406 has signers page after page of great human rights 

leaders, religious leaders, who put pen to paper and signed their 

name. That has become the hit list for the secret police in Vietnam. 

They have, one by one, rounded up these individuals, harassed 

them, given them long prison sentences simply for espousing fundamental human rights. 

Vietnam is a signatory, and has acceded to the International 

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is a matter of international law, they have signed on the dotted line themselves, and 

these rights are being violated with impunity. 

The Vietnam Human Rights Act lists a number of actually doable, deliverables: Substantial progress in releasing political prisoners, in respecting the rights of freedom of expression; releasing 

independent journalists and labor activities who are targeted. We 

had a $20-billion trade relationship in 2011 with Vietnam. Don’t 

expect a labor union to exist in Vietnam because they are crushed, 

not unlike the way they are crushed in the People’s Republic of 

China. 

In the area of human trafficking, they have gotten worse, particularly in the area of labor trafficking. The first case that was 

brought against Vietnam and individuals in the Government of 

Vietnam, pursuant to my law, the Trafficking Victims Protection of 

2000, was a sweatshop in American Samoa where hundreds of people were abused, Vietnamese individuals, and they have never, 

never provided the compensation prescribed by the judge to those 

individuals that they had so cruelly abused. 

We had a hearing, Madam Chair, on January 24th, one in a long 

series of human rights hearings, and we heard a large number of 

NGOs. And we heard from one woman who was trafficked to Jordan and talked about how the government was complicit in that 

trafficking scheme. And we know that that is happening all 

throughout Asia, and really around the world. So it is a very serious trafficker, and as you pointed out, Madam Chair, today, Vietnam ought to be reinstated as a Country of Particular Concern pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act, because they 

have so violated religious freedom. 

On one of my trips to Vietnam, Madam Chair, and then I will 

conclude, I went from Hanoi to Hue to Ho Chi Minh City, there 

were about 50 different dissidents and religious prisoners, many of 

whom were under house arrest. Father Ly was out of prison, having been very severely persecuted, under house arrest, he is now 

back, as are so many others in prison and being abused, simply because of their beliefs in God or their beliefs in human rights and 

democracy, or both. 

This legislation says that we will freeze at 2011 levels non-humanitarian assistance to the Government of Vietnam. It is a modest penalty, extraordinarily modest penalty, because we will still be 

providing foreign aid, but we say have got to set limits. We have 

to have some kind, just not just the power of exposing these abuses 

but there needs to be a penalty phase. It has to pass down to the 

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committee, and my hope is the House will join us in this. We stand 

in solidarity with the human rights activists. I have met so many 

of them, I know you have, I met them in Vietnam, and I have met 

them in the United States and elsewhere. 

They need friends and advocates. Vietnam is going backwards. 

On the day they got the WTO that they were so desperately seeking with the United States, that day was the pivot point of moving 

in the opposite direction. They gave every sign. Many of those 

thought if we just trade, somehow they would just matriculate from 

a dictatorship to a democracy. We are very well-meaning people, 

unfortunately, that belief has been betrayed by the Government of 

Vietnam and we need to have our eyes completely wide open. 

Things have gotten demonstrably worse in Vietnam. I thank the 

chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Mr. Faleomavaega is recognized. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Madam Chair. There is no one 

in this committee that I have the utmost respect in my colleague 

and good friend, Congressman Smith, not only as the chief author 

of this bill, but we have a little disagreement here in principle. As 

a Vietnam veteran I have a very different perspective concerning 

the provisions of H.R. 1410. In 1967, I was deployed to Vietnam; 

in 1968, I was there in Tet offensive and not knowing everyday if 

I was going to come back in a body bag or a maimed and wounded 

soldier for the rest of his life. 

On the matter of human rights, the United States cannot assume 

the moral high ground when it comes to Vietnam. From 1961 to 

1971, 10 years, the United States sprayed more than 11 million 

gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam, subjecting millions of innocent 

Vietnamese civilians to dioxin, a toxin known as one of the deadliest chemicals made by man. Despite the suffering that has occurred ever since, there seems to be no real interest on the part 

of the United States to clean up the mess that we created, subjecting the Vietnamese people, both North and South Vietnamese 

people to this deadly toxin that we still have not been able to correct. 

We drop millions of pounds of bombs on the people, the citizens 

of Laos and Cambodia, that we still have not been able to clean up 

that mess. So instead we spend our time offering up language like 

this, which fails to make anything right. While I can appreciate 

that more than 1 million Vietnamese Americans have strong feelings about the Vietnam War. The fact is, is that it is time for to 

us rebuild our relationship with Vietnam just like we did with Germany and Japan after World War II. 

Regrettably, I regret to say, the provisions of H.R. 1410 has 

made an adverse impact on our efforts. 1410 purports to promote 

the development of freedom and democracy in Vietnam but fails its 

purpose. As noted in the Congressional Research Service, the bill 

could kill the recent warming of bilateral political and security ties 

and could weaken economic reform in the ongoing domestic political battles inside Vietnam. 

Put another way, Madam Chair, this bill is not in the best interest of the United States or the Vietnamese American community. 

H.R. 1410 is shortsighted in its approach, as contrary to the efforts 

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of the Clinton and the Bush and the Obama administrations which 

have sought to strengthen our partnership with this important 

country in Southeast Asia. 

Long after the Vietnam War, the United States is now about the 

business of coordinating a multi country diplomatic pushback 

against Chinese encroachment, in the oil rich and strategically important South China Sea. The conversations with the Department 

of State, they share my concerns that the measures of this bill 

could adversely affect our security relationship with Vietnam as 

well as our ability to work with Vietnam on trafficking in persons. 

Moreover, the sections of the bill significantly altered the standard by which the Government of Vietnam’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons are measured, and restricts non-humanitarian 

assistance to Fiscal Year 2011 levels pending a certification on an 

annual report by the President of the United States. 

The TIP created a set of minimal standards to assess the government’s efforts, these standards are based on the agreed-upon, international protocols. This bill goes beyond the protocols and holds the 

Government of Vietnam to a higher standard. By holding the Government of Vietnam to a higher standard that is not applicable to 

any other foreign government, nor to the United States Government’s own efforts, this bill would have an adverse impact on our 

ability to connect diplomacy with the Government of Vietnam on 

improving our anti TIP efforts. 

So while Vietnam may have work to do in improving its human 

rights records, we all know that. We also have work to do. First 

and foremost, we need to work on being fair. We need to work on 

treating Vietnam the same as we should be treating other foreign 

governments. Simply put, it is wrong to hold Vietnam to a higher 

standard than the rest of the world. 

Also, let us be clear about the sincere and meaningful progress 

Vietnam has made, let us not cherry-pick bits of truth and put forward old data. This bill is based on old data, the same data that 

has been put forward over and over again by those who have never 

visited Vietnam. After serving in Vietnam in 1967, Madam Chair, 

I returned some 40 years later, becoming chairman on the subcommittee on Asia Pacific. 

All I can say is the Vietnam I fought against is not the Vietnam 

I know today. So I encourage my colleagues to rethink Vietnam 

and pursue a path of cooperation that does not undermine the 

progress we are making. 

I also ask that the Embassy of Vietnam statement, Madam 

Chair, the following excerpts from the State Department, the International Religious——

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA [continuing]. To be made part of the record. 

Madam Chair, thank you. 

I fully realize my good friend from Virginia and from New Jersey 

and the gentleman from California, we all understand Vietnam, 

yes, has problems, has human rights, so are many other countries. 

All I am asking is let’s be fair. If we are going to put this standard 

on Vietnam, let’s do it on Saudi Arabia, and look at all these other 

countries that are non democratic. That is all I am seeking here, 

Madam Chair, and again, thank you and I yield back. 

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[NOTE: The information referred to is not reprinted here but is 

available in committee records.] 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. 

Mr. SMITH. Madam Chair, is there time to respond? 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. I would be glad to give you the time, 

let me just go with the people who are pending. 

Mr. Duncan is recognized to explain the bill that he has put 

forth, and that we have already reported favorably, H.R. 4783, a 

Comprehensive Strategy to Counter Iran’s Presence and the Western Hemisphere. 

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Madam Chairman, Ranking Member 

Berman, Madam Chair, Chairman Royce, the chair of the subcommittee, heard the bill, my fellow colleagues, specifically Mr. 

Higgins and his staff, he was the first cosponsor of the bill. I certainly appreciate your assistance in helping with this issue, and 

the staffs, a shout out to them. 

I appreciate the bipartisan cooperation we have received in the 

72 Members who have cosponsored this bill. As you all know from 

the hearings this committee has held, Iran has steadily been increasing its presence in the Western Hemisphere by pursing economic, diplomatic and security agreements doubling the number of 

Embassies in the region and engaging countries with diplomatic 

visits and strategic communications. 

Since 2003, Iran has defied the U.S. in international events that 

it end their country’s illicit nuclear enrichment program. Iran’s defiance, their deplorable anti Israeli rhetoric, and their continued 

sponsorship of terrorism creates a recipe for instability worldwide. 

Iran’s actions in our neighborhood represent a real threat to our 

safety and security. Our neighbors must recognize that supporting 

Hezbollah, transferring nuclear technology to Iran or assisting the 

Iranian Government in evading sanctions is a danger not only to 

the United States, but to the world as a whole. 

I want to thank the Mexican Ambassador for visiting with me 

and many other members on the committee to help set the narrative that we are allies and friends in this region. It is our neighborhood, and we have got to work together to thwart the threat 

that is posed by Iran. 

Last year’s foiled Iranian assassination plot again the Saudi Ambassador of the U.S., and the recent testimony of the Director of 

International Intelligence Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 

present convincing evidence for concern. Recall that in 2002, the 

FBI testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 

that investigations today continue to indicate that many Hezbollah 

subjects based in the United States have the capacity to attempt 

terrorist attacks here, should this be a desired objective of the 

group. 

Congress has approved trillions of dollars for military operation 

in the global war on terror. Yet Iran has been establishing a presence here in our neighborhood from which it can exercise influence. 

With tensions building between Iran and the United States, we 

have a responsibility to take steps now to guard against the threats 

that Iran could pose to American U.S. soil, to Americans on U.S. 

soil. 

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We do have a precedent of Iranian terrorist attacks in this hemisphere. In March 17th will mark the 20th Anniversary of the 1992 

bombings of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which 

killed 29 civilians and left 242 wounded. The largest terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

We cannot let this type of tragedy at the hands of Iran or its 

proxies occur in our hemisphere. I believe the U.S. Needs to do a 

better job in engaging with our friends in the region developing 

broader cooperation on threats posed to the entire hemisphere, protecting American interest in the region and securing our borders to 

ensure Iranian operatives cannot enter our country. This bill provides a necessary first step to countering Iran’s hostile presence in 

our hemisphere. Again, I appreciate the support and I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Mr. Connolly is 

recognized. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I want to 

thank you and the ranking member for your leadership in today’s 

markup and I want to thank you again for your willingness to consider several amendments to the freedom and democracy in Vietnam legislation. I really appreciate it. 

I also want to say to my friend from New Jersey, I was delighted 

to hear that this was a bipartisan bill. Like my friend from New 

Jersey, I have been to Vietnam, both north and south. Like my 

friend from New Jersey, I have a large Vietnamese American constituency. Like my friend from New Jersey, I have spoken out on 

human rights on Vietnam. Like my friend from New Jersey, and 

I am a member and active member of the Human Rights in Vietnam caucus. 

When I was the chairman of Fairfax County, one of the largest 

counties in the United States, I had legislation passed that required that flying of the Republic of South Vietnam’s flag along 

with the current Vietnamese flag to honor the men and women 

who immigrated from Vietnam to Northern Virginia. 

And so my friend I know must understand my disappointment 

that I was not added as an original cosponsor to his legislation. We 

made several attempts to do that, and perhaps there was a 

miscommunication. And if my friend would not object, I would ask 

Madam Chairman unanimous consent that I be added to the legislation. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. I thank the chair. 

Mr. SMITH. Happy to have you. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. I want to applaud Mr. Smith for his leadership 

and passion on this subject. It is important that we speak up. The 

words of our colleague from American Samoa are certainly words 

we must take cognizance of. He makes some fair points, but not to 

speak out about blatant abuses still going on in Vietnam, and as 

Mr. Smith indicated, in some cases, actually worsening against religious freedom, against the free expression of ideas, against a free 

press, I think would be a dereliction of duty on our part as a committee and as a Congress. And so, I applaud his leadership and I 

join in it. 

And finally, Madam Chairman, as the cochairman of the Taiwan 

caucus, I am also delighted that we are passing this bill to include 

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Taiwan and the family of nations in international machinery. I 

think it is very important for Taiwan, which is a terribly important 

economy for the United States and world trade. This recognition is 

long overdue. And again, I thank the chairman of the committee 

for her leadership in that regard. And with that I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Mr. Rohrabacher is recognized. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Just a few thoughts about our friend from 

American Samoa, and I certainly respect the fact that he risked his 

life for us in Vietnam back in 1967. And I was not in the military 

in 1967, but I was in Vietnam in 1967 with Montagnards in the 

central highlands, and those people today are suffering great repression, and there is no reason whatsoever that whatever happened back in 1967 should make us any less committed to the freedom, religious freedom of those Montagnards who now have, I 

guess, reached out to Evangelical Christianity in a very important 

way in their lives, and have been brutally suppressed because of 

it. 

Vietnam offers us a classic example of why the argument that 

the more we engage with a dictatorship, and the more prosperous 

we make a dictatorship become, the more likely it is that they will 

become democratic and more liberal. That is the ‘‘hug-a-Nazi, make 

a liberal theory’’ that I have tried to refute so many times here. 

What has happened in Vietnam we have reached out to the Vietnamese Government in many ways. We now have Vietnamese able 

to penetrate our market. You will find goods made in Vietnam 

throughout our marketplace in the United States, yet the repression of the people remains the same. It is up to us to maintain our 

standards of freedom and democracy in dealing with these Third 

World dictatorships. There are people who have no hope if it is not 

for the hard work of those of us in Congress, especially people like 

Congressman Smith who has dedicated his life to human rights, 

and I now very happily, and I support his efforts on the human 

trafficking as well as his Vietnam measure within this bill. I will 

now yield to him the balance of my time. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Smith is recognized. 

Mr. SMITH. I thank my good friend for yielding. I just think the 

record needs to be very clear. My good friend, Eni Faleomavaega, 

mentioned the problem of dioxin which was in Agent Orange. I 

would note for the record the first amendment, the very first 

amendment that I cosponsored wasn’t my amendment but I was 

the Republican on it, it was Tom Daschle’s in the Veteran Affairs 

Committee 1981, it would have provided service connection, disability compensation for Agent Orange-afflicted Vietnam veterans. 

We lost. People didn’t think it was real then. We all know how real 

it is now and it is a very serious problem. 

Our legislation specifically exempts assistance for environmental 

remediation of dioxin contaminated sites and related health activities. Last year, or this year, fiscal year, we are spending $15 million in Vietnam to help people who have been sickened by dioxin 

and to remediate sites. This is a very, I think, focused piece of legislation that speaks to our economic types of relationships, where 

we are giving U.S. foreign aid. We are not dictating to them, we 

are saying these are universal principles that need to be followed. 

326

And frankly, Vietnam has acceded to all these human rights 

norms and many treaties. Live up to them, don’t persecute and torture your own people and then expect to us provide U.S. foreign aid 

over which we have the power of the purse and just let that run 

and flow untouched. So it is to get their attention, that we mean 

business, and that there is a penalty. 

So when you say, as mentioned by my good friend about why single out Vietnam? We single out many countries on this committee 

when it comes to human rights issues and humanitarian issues. I 

think it is better when we do it country-specific. Yes, let’s have thematic bills like religious freedom and trafficking that focuses on 

every country of the world with specific delineation for individuals 

with regards to their records. But this one says we are serious, 

they are getting worse, much worse, in this Congress, in a bipartisan way. 

And again, I thank the distinguished gentlelady who is a champion of human rights for bringing this bill to the committee, Howard Berman and others for supporting it so strongly, and, of course, 

Mr. Connolly, who is now on as a sponsor, I thank him for that, 

and of course, I want to thank Dana Rohrabacher. 

We have to be serious. I asked the members to read the bill very 

carefully, it wasn’t written overnight on the back of an envelope. 

This is very well thought out, we have had the hearings on it, so 

with great respect to my friend, Mr. Faleomavaega, I do hope we 

get strong support for it when it gets to the floor. Otherwise the 

people who languish in the prisons, just like they do in Cuba and 

China and so many other places in the Middle East and in African 

countries where dictatorship, reign, we then abandon them. We do 

have a voice. We need to use it. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. The gentleman 

from New York, Mr. Engel, is recognized. 

Mr. ENGEL. Well, thank you, Madam Chairman. I rise in strong 

support of the en bloc amendment and I would like to briefly discuss a few of the bills. I would like to share my thoughts on the 

Iran and the Western Hemisphere bill. As a member of this committee, I pay very close attention to the actions of Iran anywhere 

in the world they are the principle threat to peace and stability at 

this time, the leading supporter of terrorism around the world and 

they demand our vigilant attention. 

Thus as the ranking member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, I work with our subcommittee chairman, Mr. Mack to 

ensure that we are aware of potentially nefarious activities of Iran 

in our region. This committee has held numerous briefings with the 

administration and the Intelligence Community on Iran. And without discussing the content of these briefings, I am glad that the executive branch is as focused as we are on the challenge. The bill 

we take up today strives to address the challenge of Iran in the 

Western Hemisphere. When I was chair of the Subcommittee on 

the Western Hemisphere, we held the hearings and briefings and 

discussions on Iran and what they are attempting to do in the 

Western Hemisphere. 

So I would like to thank all those involved, the chair, ranking 

member of the full committee, and of the TNT Subcommittee which 

first marked up the bill, and Mr. Duncan, the author of the bill. 

327

With their flexibility and willingness to reach a compromise, this 

is a better piece of legislation, and it has significantly improved 

and will have my support and my vote. 

I would like to also briefly address the Holocaust insurance legislation. I will never forget meeting my constituent, Mr. Solofish, 

who had an actual copy of his father’s life insurance policy which 

was never paid by his European insurance company. I believe he 

and the other people were simply treated unfairly in the ICHEIC 

process. And I am pleased to support this bill which gives them an 

opportunity to pursue what is rightfully theirs. 

I welcome the guests we have in the front row, and assure you 

that there are many, many of us of us in this committee that will 

keep on this and you will never be forgotten until justice is done, 

so I want you to know that, and it is bipartisan. 

I would like to offer my support for Taiwan joining the International Civil Aviation Organization. Taiwan deserves to be in the 

international fora and organizations, and we cannot afford to play 

games when it comes to aviation safety as well. Many countries 

with large aviation sectors need to be in such organizations and 

this resolution has my strong support. 

Finally, I want to talk about the Vietnam human rights bill. I 

am sorry Mr. Smith has left, but as I said to him personally many 

times there is no one in this Congress or any other Congress who 

champions human rights more than Mr. Smith who feels it in his 

heart and his gut and goes with what is right. I know Vietnam is 

an important country, and I know in our disputes with China and 

the disputes that Vietnam has with China, how the United States 

has been working with Vietnam, and Vietnam is a potentially 

strong ally in our fight against Chinese hegemony in the region. 

But I do think Mr. Smith is quite right when he says that there 

has to be a basic standard. If we are going to normalize our relations we have with Vietnam, then we expect certain things from 

them as well. And human rights is very, very basic. 

So I think it is very important that we send a strong message 

by talking about Vietnam human rights and by supporting this bill. 

So Madam Chair, again, I support the en bloc amendment and 

it has my strong support and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. Mr. Ackerman is 

recognized. 

Mr. ACKERMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me first commend 

you for your passion and for your pursuit of the legislation that you 

have introduced, the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act. I 

think none can dispute the fact that you have been a champion of 

justice for so many in so many different places in the world. And 

nobody, nobody can help but feel the pain and the injustice done 

to those people who have claims that have not been settled due to 

the Holocaust. 

I feel that concern as much as any. Those of us who have family 

members, who lost not just property, but family members themselves during that darkest hour of humankind, has to have sympathy for what these people are going through. But let me also 

bring up some concerns that I have with us trying to remedy this 

injustice, because I think it would be unfair to let that go unsaid. 

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There was a time when we had the ability to settle on most of 

the claims. We did that as part of an understanding in an agreement between the United States and others, an agreement that 

was made considering the interests of the majority of people whose 

claims could be settled. 

Mr. Smith just mentioned, as he does often, and as you do and 

so many others on the committee, Madam Chair, the importance of 

countries keeping to their international agreements because their 

integrity is on line and at stake before the international community. How difficult would it be for us not to be able to say at this 

particular moment in time, to our friends in Egypt, that it is important even despite the turmoil that is going on there that they 

must keep to their international commitments that they made in 

their peace agreement with the State of Israel? 

And they could say they have justice issues before them and 

don’t want to keep to that claim anymore, but they have made 

that. How difficult would it be for us in our ongoing desire and 

wish to see a settlement in dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians and see justice done there? Part of that problem there is 

a continuum of claims that are brought up in a yes-but fashion by 

the Palestinians that could go on for millenniums. It is always ‘‘yes 

but,’’ pocket what you can get as an offer and keep to pursuing. 

One of the demands that we have is an end to all claims when 

the Palestinians settle up with the Israeli’s. So once that agreement is made on an international basis and all the parties sign on, 

that there comes a time that the Palestinians agree that claims are 

not going to come up in the future. And justice will be done to some 

people in that case, I would assume, but sometimes processes have 

to end. This is a matter of conflicting justices and I would never 

oppose the pursuit of justice on behalf of the people who seek restitution because of claims that they have, but I would certainly be 

remiss if I didn’t mention that we do this not cost free, that we pay 

the price of turning our country into violators of our own word, we 

do that at the risk of attempting to change what I understand is 

a very important principle of the Constitution of the United States, 

and that is, we cannot tell a separate branch of government, the 

executive branch what to do. 

And that certainly President Clinton, President Bush, and no 

American President would cede that this Congress can strip away 

their rights guaranteed by the Constitution as a separate branch 

of government. So we are faced with conflicting senses of justice. 

How do you settle an international dispute and agree not to pursue 

in the future further claims? It is so difficult. These people have 

been done a tremendous injustice. They have a right to pursue it. 

As the people who lost relatives in 9/11, when we settled up with 

the airlines, were told that they can pursue their cases, but outside 

of that, they would not have the support of the U.S. Government 

if they didn’t settle at the time of settling up when everything was 

put on the table. These people have been gypped, they have been 

robbed, they have been made double victims, victims of the Holocaust and victims of the loss of their property, and despite those 

concerns, Madam Chair, I want to salute you in the personal sense 

of pursuing justice that we all want to see done to all of the victims 

of the Holocaust, and I thank you very much. 

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Ackerman. 

Mr. Deutch is recognized. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I have 

had to wait a while to speak, but I have not had to wait nearly 

as long as the Holocaust survivors have had to wait for justice. 

Madam Chair, let me first extend my deepest thanks to you for 

bringing the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act, now the Tom 

Lantos Justice for Holocaust Survivors Act before this committee. 

It has been a privilege to co-sponsor this legislation with you on behalf of the thousands of Holocaust survivors that we represent. 

For the survivors in Florida’s 19th District and throughout the 

country, time is of the essence. It is no secret that the Holocaust 

survivor population is among our most vulnerable. When this committee held a hearing on the rights of survivors several months 

ago, I spoke of the Oma Shoah remembrances I have been attending for years and spoke of the crowds that used to fill the events 

every year. There are now more and more empty seats. These survivors deserve to live out their lives with dignity, they deserve 

proper health care, access to home care, and simple things that we 

take for granted, like transportation to doctors’ appointments, to 

the grocery store, and they deserve to not have to choose between 

buying those groceries or paying for prescriptions. 

Madam Chairman, this bill is about justice, plain and simple. It 

is about giving survivors the opportunity to pursue justice for the 

wrongs of the past. When we last had a hearing on this issue, we 

heard from survivors, each told a remarkable story. We heard from 

David Schaecter, who joined us then and is here with us today. 

David sat before this committee and told us his family’s story, and 

there are so many others just like his. 

At that November hearing, I asked David and the other survivors 

what the most important message they had to impart to young people that they speak with. It is, they summed up, the choice between right and wrong. The generation of children, this generation 

of children is the last generation that will hear the stories of Holocaust survivors directly from those who lived through it. It is our 

job here to carry out their message of right and wrong and, Madam 

Chairman, that is what we did here today by passing this bill. 

Some 75 percent of the Holocaust survivors in America live in poverty, 75 percent. Today we gave these men and women at least the 

start toward a chance to live out their lives with the dignity they 

deserve. This issue is not about giving peace to insurers or protecting foreign governments, it is not about going to court or pursuing opportunities for future reparations, it is about providing 

peace and security to those remaining Holocaust survivors of our 

communities who have suffered the most horrific injustices. 

And finally, Madam Chairman, I can think of a no more fitting 

tribute than to name this bill after a Member of this body, chair 

of this committee, who understood the plight of survivors better 

than anyone because he lived it himself, Tom Lantos. It is a true 

honor to cosponsor this bill in his name, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the United States Congress. I would like also to 

thank Mrs. Annette Lantos for her continued courageous work on 

behalf of those suffering around the world. 

330

Madam Chairman, I applaud my colleagues for supporting this 

legislation on behalf of Congressman Lantos. It is important legislation for David and the other survivors that we are privileged to 

have join us here today. It is important legislation for my constituents Jack Rubin, Alex Moskovic and so many others, and this moment, Madam Chairman, this moment is vitally important for all 

of the survivors who, quite simply, deserve more than anything 

else the pursuit of justice. Thank you, and I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Well done. Thank you very much, Mr. 

Deutch. Mr. Higgins is recognized. 

Mr. HIGGINS. Thank you, Madam Chair, for your highly respectful and inclusive leadership of this committee. Congratulations to 

the survivors. I wanted to address H.R. 3783, sponsored by Mr. 

Duncan, and while the national attention is focused on the brutality of the Assad regime in Syria and the delirious defiance of 

Ahmadinejad in Iran, this bill also addresses the malignancy of the 

proxies, specifically Hezbollah. Hezbollah is the party of God, it is 

a Shi’a Muslim group that is committed to violent Jihad, including 

the destruction of the State of Israel. 

I think what is most of concern here is that they not only have 

a presence in the Western Hemisphere, they have a presence in 

North America and in the 16-nation region of Latin America. 

Hezbollah has a presence in 15 American cities, including four 

major cities in Canada. We have been told repeatedly that we 

shouldn’t be all that concerned about their presence because it is 

limited to fund-raising activity. That is not comforting. 

So this bill, I think, is not preemptive, but it is precautionary, 

and I think it is a wise step in the direction of monitoring the activity of Hezbollah and other groups that act as a proxy for Venezuela, for Iran, and for Syria. With that, I will yield back. Thank 

you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, and let the record 

reflect that Mr. Ackerman is a yes vote, it was a voice vote, but 

Mr. Ackerman is a yes vote on the Holocaust survivors bill, H.R. 

890, that was considered en bloc. Neither hearing nor seeing further requests for recognition, the committee stands adjourned, and 

thank you one and all. 

[Whereupon, at 12:15 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

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PREPARED STATEMENTS OF THE HONORABLE ANN MARIE BUERKLE, A

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK


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Æ


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