| <html> | |
| <title> - MARKUP of H. Res. 75, H.R. 739, H. Res. 156, H.R. 596, and H.R. 295</title> | |
| <body><pre> | |
| [House Hearing, 116 Congress] | |
| [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] | |
| MARKUP of H. Res. 75, H.R. 739, | |
| H. Res. 156, H.R. 596, and H.R. 295 | |
| ======================================================================= | |
| MARKUP | |
| BEFORE THE | |
| COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS | |
| HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | |
| ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS | |
| FIRST SESSION | |
| __________ | |
| MARCH 7, 2019 | |
| __________ | |
| Serial No. 116-11 | |
| __________ | |
| Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs | |
| [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] | |
| Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http:// | |
| docs.house.gov, | |
| or http://www.govinfo.gov | |
| __________ | |
| U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE | |
| 35-369PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 | |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, | |
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| COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS | |
| ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman | |
| BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, | |
| Ranking | |
| GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York Member | |
| ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey | |
| GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio | |
| THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina | |
| KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania | |
| WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TED S. YOHO, Florida | |
| DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois | |
| AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York | |
| JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin | |
| DINA TITUS, Nevada ANN WAGNER, Missouri | |
| ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York BRIAN MAST, Florida | |
| TED LIEU, California FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida | |
| SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania | |
| DEAN PHILLPS, Minnesota JOHN CURTIS, Utah | |
| ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota KEN BUCK, Colorado | |
| COLIN ALLRED, Texas RON WRIGHT, Texas | |
| ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania | |
| ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee | |
| CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana | |
| TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey STEVE WATKINS, Kansas | |
| DAVID TRONE, Maryland MIKE GUEST, Mississippi | |
| JIM COSTA, California | |
| JUAN VARGAS, California | |
| VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas | |
| Jason Steinbaum, Democrat Staff Director | |
| Brendan Shieds, Republican Staff Director | |
| C O N T E N T S | |
| ---------- | |
| Page | |
| APPENDIX | |
| Hearing Notice................................................... 106 | |
| Hearing Minutes.................................................. 107 | |
| Hearing Attendance............................................... 108 | |
| Prepared statement submitted from Representative Castro.......... 109 | |
| MARKUP SUMMARY | |
| Markup Summary................................................... 111 | |
| ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD | |
| H. Res. 75, Strongly Condemning the January 2019 Terrorist attack | |
| on the 14 Riverside Complex in Nairobi, Kenya.................. 2 | |
| H.R. 739, the Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2019 With the McCaul | |
| Amendment...................................................... 6 | |
| Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 739 Offered by | |
| Mr. Mccaul of Texas............................................ 35 | |
| H. Res. 156 Calling for Accountability and Justice for the | |
| Assassination of Boris Nemtsov with the two Malinowski | |
| Amendments..................................................... 64 | |
| Amendment to H. Res. 156 Offered by Mr. Malinowski of New Jersey | |
| (1 of 2 Listed)................................................ 72 | |
| Amendment to H. Res. 156 Offered by Mr. Malinowski of New Jersey | |
| (2 of 2 Listed)................................................ 73 | |
| H.R. 596, Crimea Annexation Nonrecognition Act with the Connolly | |
| Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute........................ 74 | |
| Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 596 Offered by | |
| Mr. Connolly of Virginia....................................... 76 | |
| H.R. 295, End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2019 with the | |
| Engel Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute.................. 78 | |
| Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 295 Offered by | |
| Mr. Engel of New York.......................................... 87 | |
| MARKUP OF VARIOUS MEASURES | |
| Thursday, March 7, 2019 | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Committee on Foreign Affairs | |
| Washington, DC | |
| The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in | |
| Room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eliot Engel | |
| (chairman of the committee) presiding. | |
| Chairman Engel. So pursuant to notice, we meet today to | |
| markup five bipartisan measures. Without objection, all members | |
| may have 5 days to submit statements or extraneous materials on | |
| today's business. | |
| As members were notified yesterday, we intend to consider | |
| today's measures en bloc. The measures are H. Res. 75, strongly | |
| condemning the January 2019 terrorist attack on the 14 | |
| Riverside Complex in Nairobi, Kenya; H.R. 739, the Cyber | |
| Diplomacy Act of 2019 with the McCaul Amendment; H. Res. 156 | |
| calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of | |
| Boris Nemtsov with the two Malinowski Amendments; H.R. 596, | |
| Crimea Annexation Nonrecognition Act with the Connolly | |
| Amendment in the nature of a substitute; and H.R. 295, End | |
| Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2019 with the Engel | |
| Amendment in the nature of a substitute. | |
| [The bills and resolutions offered en bloc follow:] | |
| [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] | |
| Chairman Engel. At this time I recognize myself to speak on | |
| today's business. | |
| We have five good measures before us today and I am pleased | |
| to support them all. The first measure I want to discuss is H. | |
| Res. 156, a resolution I authored with Ranking Member McCaul | |
| that calls for justice for the assassination of Boris Nemtsov. | |
| Nemtsov was a brave advocate for democracy and free | |
| elections in Russia. Sadly, that put him right in Vladimir | |
| Putin's cross hairs. | |
| Now he joins a long list of brave journalists, human rights | |
| activists, and political opponents murdered by Putin's henchmen | |
| in their quest to silence all criticism of the Kremlin and | |
| stamp out any perceived threat to Putin's authoritarian regime. | |
| This resolution condemns the Kremlin's systematic targeting | |
| of its political opponents and it calls on the administration | |
| to implement Magnitsky Act sanctions on those responsible for | |
| Nemtsov's murder and cover up. | |
| It also requires the administration to deliver to Congress | |
| a thorough report on Nemtsov's assassination. That is a | |
| critical part of this legislation because, sadly, the | |
| administration has not done nearly enough to give us much | |
| reason to stand up to Russia and call out Putin's thuggery. | |
| So it is up to Congress to assert American leadership on | |
| this issue and Putin's strong arm tactics extend beyond the | |
| authoritarian rule in his own country. We have seen this all | |
| too clearly in Russia's malign actions with its neighbors, | |
| which brings me to our next measure. | |
| But before I do that, I want to just personally tell you I | |
| have on my desk in my office a picture of me shaking hands with | |
| Boris Nemtsov. It is shocking. When we moved offices I saw that | |
| picture. I had forgotten about it. | |
| He came and visited me and told me he was the opponent of | |
| Putin and that he was for free, independent elections and for a | |
| free Russia. | |
| I was very, very impressed with him and thought, wow, this | |
| man is really special. Unfortunately, Putin thought so too and | |
| had him killed right in Moscow. But I remember him telling me | |
| about how he felt how important his work was, and I told him | |
| that I thought he was really working, not for just the people | |
| in Russia, but for people all over the world. | |
| So I want to just mention that because it was quite an | |
| honor for me to meet Boris Nemtsov and, of course, just a few | |
| months later he was murdered. | |
| And so it is just startling. | |
| The Crimea Annexation Nonrecognition Act puts that | |
| conviction into law by stating that the United States will not | |
| recognize Russia's claims of sovereignty in Ukraine. | |
| Putin's disrespect for independent, sovereign democracies | |
| is something we in the United States know all too well. By | |
| advancing this legislation we send a clear message to our | |
| Ukrainian partners and their neighbors. We stand with you. I | |
| support this bill and I urge my colleagues to do the same. | |
| And just as an aside, I have been a strong supporter of | |
| Ukraine being admitted to NATO and I think we should pursue | |
| that down the road. | |
| It is critical that we support our partners and allies | |
| whenever they are under threat and that brings me to our next | |
| measure, H. Res. 75. I want to thank Mr. McCaul, Ms. Bass, and | |
| Mr. Smith for joining me in this resolution that strongly | |
| condemns the January 2019 attack by the terrorist group Al- | |
| Shabaab in Nairobi, Kenya. | |
| This horrific attack killed dozens of people, including | |
| American citizen Jason Spindler. Just last week, we saw another | |
| Al-Shabaab attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, claim the lives of | |
| nearly 30 people. | |
| So this resolution rightly affirms that the United States | |
| supports our regional partners in their ongoing efforts to | |
| counter terrorism and violent extremism in the Horn of Africa. | |
| I hope all members will join me in supporting this measure. | |
| Next, I would like to discuss the End Banking for Human | |
| Traffickers Act introduced by Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Keating. | |
| It is horrible that in 2019, we still live in a world where | |
| human beings are held in slavery. It is a moral outrage. | |
| So we need to be consistently evaluating our government's | |
| efforts on this issue and looking for areas where we can | |
| improve. This bill does just that by having the financial | |
| industry play a bigger role in tracking down human traffickers. | |
| By connecting the industry with experts on human | |
| trafficking, banks and other financial institutions will be | |
| better equipped to spot suspect financial transactions that may | |
| be related to this heinous criminal enterprise. | |
| This bill continues our fight against the scourge of human | |
| trafficking, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting | |
| it. | |
| And finally, we turn to Ranking Member McCall's bill, the | |
| Cyber Diplomacy Act. Last Congress, I worked with Chairman | |
| Royce on this bill and we got it through this committee, the | |
| House, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with broad | |
| bipartisan support. | |
| This Congress, Ranking Member McCaul has taken up that | |
| mantle and I am pleased to join him as we work to get this bill | |
| over the finish line and on the president's desk. | |
| Cyberspace is an increasingly critical part of foreign | |
| policy and we desperately need to update our government | |
| agencies to reflect that reality. | |
| America has significant interest in cybersecurity, the | |
| digital economy, issues of internet freedom, and we need to be | |
| engaging with the international community to articulate and | |
| protect those interests. | |
| If we do not focus on all of these areas, we run the real | |
| risk of seeing authoritarian regimes like Russia and China | |
| playing a bigger role in determining the way the international | |
| community handles these issues. | |
| So this bill would create a high-level Ambassador position | |
| at the State Department dedicated to this endeavor and require | |
| a comprehensive cyberspace strategy. | |
| I am frustrated by the lack of progress on this issue at | |
| the State Department, and I hope they will work with us to | |
| ensure that this bill becomes law. | |
| I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this | |
| measure. | |
| Thank you to all of our members for your hard work on these | |
| good bills before us today. As I said before, I am pleased to | |
| support them all. | |
| And now, I recognize the ranking member, Mike McCaul of | |
| Texas, for his opening remarks. | |
| Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Today, our committee will markup three important bills and | |
| two resolutions, the Cyber Diplomacy Act, which I introduced | |
| with you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for working with me | |
| on that. It takes several steps to support an open and secure | |
| cyberspace. As chairman of Homeland Security, I elevated the | |
| mission at the Department of Homeland Security and I intend to | |
| do the same with you, sir, at the Department of State. | |
| It establishes an ambassador at large to lead the State's | |
| cyber diplomacy efforts, outlines an international cyber policy | |
| to advance democratic principles and reject Russian and Chinese | |
| attempts to control and censor the internet. | |
| It requires the State Department to provide assessments | |
| related to internet freedom, freedoms in other countries, and, | |
| as you know, Mr. Chairman, malicious cyber activity by State | |
| and non-State actors threatens our national security and harms | |
| our economic interests. | |
| We understand the State Department has plans for a new | |
| cyber bureau, which varies a little bit from what our bill | |
| calls for. I pledge to work with the State Department and you, | |
| Mr. Chairman, and the Senate to find the best path forward to | |
| advance our shared goals of bolstering and elevating State's | |
| critical cyber mission. | |
| I also want to thank Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Keating for | |
| their bipartisan bill, the End Banking for Human Traffickers | |
| Act, which will help address the scourge of human trafficking. | |
| This bill will help choke off traffickers' access to | |
| financial systems. It is time we put an end to this modern-day | |
| form of slavery once and for all. | |
| We are also marking up the Crimea Annexation Nonrecognition | |
| Act. This bill clearly states that America will not recognize | |
| Russian sovereignty over Crimea. | |
| Doing so would condone Russia's belligerent behavior toward | |
| its neighbors. Vladimir Putin needs to understand that we will | |
| not tolerate this kind of aggression in Crimea or anywhere else | |
| in the world. | |
| And that is also why today's resolution condemning the | |
| assassination of Boris Nemtsov is also important. We cannot be | |
| silent when political opponents are targeted for supporting | |
| democratic reforms. | |
| I was proud to introduce this resolution with Chairman | |
| Engel because Putin needs to know that both Democrats and | |
| Republicans will call out and condemn his authoritarian ways. | |
| And finally, we must continue to stand united in our fight | |
| against Islamist terrorism. The terror attack in Nairobi, | |
| Kenya, on January the 15th that killed 21 people including | |
| Jason Spindler, a fellow Texan, was a painful reminder that our | |
| fight against terrorism is a global struggle. | |
| Our resolution condemns this attack and reaffirms our | |
| commitment to eradicating this evil. | |
| I look forward to passing these bills out of committee with | |
| bipartisan support. | |
| And, finally, Mr. Chairman, on the floor and in the halls | |
| of Congress there has been much discussion recently about anti- | |
| Semitism. I want to thank you for your leadership on this issue | |
| and I look forward to continuing to work with you on measures | |
| that support our close ally, Israel, and denounce anti-Semitism | |
| wherever it may be. | |
| And with that, I yield back the balance of my time. | |
| Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. McCaul. | |
| Are there any other members seeking recognition? | |
| Mr. Connolly. Mr. Chairman? | |
| Chairman Engel. Yes, Mr. Connolly. | |
| Mr. Connolly. I thank the chair and the ranking member. I | |
| want to thank them both for putting together this bipartisan | |
| package of five bills for our consideration today. | |
| These measures condemn terrorist attacks, strengthen U.S. | |
| diplomacy, condemn Russia's violations of human rights and | |
| territorial sovereignty, and bolster U.S. efforts to reduce | |
| global human trafficking, the scourge of our time. | |
| In particular, Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you and | |
| the ranking member for including in this markup H.R. 596, the | |
| Crimea Annexation Nonrecognition Act, which I introduced with | |
| my good friend and Republican colleague, Representative Steve | |
| Chabot. | |
| This bill states that it is the policy of the United States | |
| not to recognize the Russian Federation's claim of sovereignty | |
| over Crimea, its airspace, or its territorial waters. | |
| Furthermore, this bill prohibits the U.S. Government from | |
| taking any action that implies recognition of Russian | |
| sovereignty over Crimea. | |
| It has been the longstanding policy of the United States to | |
| not recognize territorial changes effected by force as dictated | |
| by the long-ago Stimson Doctrine established in 1932 by then- | |
| Secretary of State Henry Stimson. | |
| The matter of rejecting the forcible and illegal attack on | |
| sovereign territory is so important we should be satisfied with | |
| nothing less than absolute clarity about our position, which is | |
| one that supports Ukraine sovereignty over its own territory in | |
| Crimea. | |
| Failure to stand up, as Mr. McCaul just said, to Putin's | |
| illegal annexation of Crimea sets a dangerous and irrevocable | |
| precedent. Crimea was Russia's original violation in Ukraine | |
| and we have limited credibility objecting to Russia's | |
| subsequent invasion of the Luhansk and Donetsk if we do not | |
| take a stand in Crimea. | |
| Russian occupation of Crimea has inflicted great harm | |
| within the Ukraine, throughout former Soviet occupied | |
| territories, and beyond. | |
| What has happened in Ukraine--Russia's forcible and illegal | |
| annexation of Crimea, its invasion of Eastern Ukraine, and | |
| continued occupation in Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, has | |
| precipitated an international crisis and the resulting conflict | |
| has claimed more than 10,000 lives. | |
| Russia has subjected Crimeans who refuse Russian | |
| citizenship to discrimination in accessing education, health | |
| care, and employment, and Russian authorities have attacked | |
| travel rights and the free press. | |
| Acquiesence on the part of the United States threatens the | |
| security of all sovereign nations. Russia's forcible and | |
| illegal annexation of Crimea has sent shock waves throughout | |
| the former Soviet occupied territories, many of whom are now | |
| NATO allies, including the Baltic States. | |
| After the Welles Declaration in June 1940, the U.S. refused | |
| to recognize the Soviet Union's de facto or de jure sovereignty | |
| over the Baltics during the Soviet Union's 50 years of illegal | |
| occupation. | |
| The Baltic Republics eventually received their independence | |
| and they are now reliable NATO allies, in part because of our | |
| steadfastness. | |
| We first introduced this bill in the wake of Russia's | |
| forcible and illegal annexation in 2014. This committee | |
| previously passed this legislation in the 113th Congress. | |
| I inserted similar language into the Fiscal Year 2016 | |
| National Defense Authorization Act in order to prohibit the use | |
| of defense funds in a manner that recognizes Russian | |
| sovereignty over Crimea. That is to say that we did not. | |
| That language has remained in the NDAA, I am grateful to | |
| say, every year since. I have also successfully authored an | |
| amendment to Stand For Ukraine Act, which would create only one | |
| condition under which the president can relax Crimea-related | |
| sanctions--the restoration of Ukraine sovereignty. | |
| The United States must lead the way in refusing to | |
| recognize or legitimize Russia's illegal and forcible | |
| annexation in Crimea. That is why both Mr. Chabot and I are | |
| glad to offer this bill, which expresses the will of Congress | |
| as a loud and declarative voice for sovereignty and freedom and | |
| I urge my colleagues to support it. | |
| And, again, I thank the chair and ranking member for | |
| including it in today's markup. I yield back. | |
| Chairman Engel. Thank you very much, Mr. Connolly. | |
| Mr. Smith. | |
| Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Chairman, I strongly support your resolution, H. Res. 156, | |
| calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of | |
| Boris Nemtsov, a Russian patriot killed in 2015, a great | |
| defender of democracy in his home country of Russia. | |
| Last July, I had the privilege of leading the United States | |
| delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin and I | |
| actually chaired the public event that you reference in your | |
| resolution, the July 8th public event, and we featured Hanna | |
| Nemtsova, Boris Nemtsov's daughter, who was absolutely | |
| compelling and brave and full of courage. | |
| Boris's friend and colleague, Vladimir Kara-Murza, who | |
| serves as chairman of the board of trustees for the Boris | |
| Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, and Vadim Prokhorov, who is a | |
| lawyer for the Nemtsov family. | |
| I believe that this resolution is a timely followup to that | |
| OSCE effort because we have been calling on the administration | |
| to do more and I think the fact that you articulate the concern | |
| and the need, frankly, to do some better reporting and to hold | |
| those responsible besides the five low-level individuals who | |
| have been tried--who ordered the hit. | |
| It was an assassination, and it seems to me that it is | |
| time, frankly, to really impose Magnitsky sanctions on those | |
| who are directly responsible for this. But we need that | |
| information. We need our government to redouble down. So thank | |
| you for that resolution. | |
| Second, I do want to thank you for marking up H.R. 295, the | |
| End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2019. This is | |
| authored, of course, by my good friend and colleague, Mr. | |
| Fitzpatrick. | |
| This bill will help ensure that human traffickers find | |
| trafficking even more unprofitable because they will be curbed | |
| in their financial work that they do. They often use banks. | |
| This helps to increase that net to catch these people. | |
| We have been making strides, Mr. Chairman, in this | |
| direction. For example, last Congress the Frederick Douglass | |
| Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization | |
| Act, which I authored along with my friend and colleague, Karen | |
| Bass, the prime Democratic co-sponsor, was signed into law on | |
| January 8th, and among its many provisions, it added the | |
| secretary of the Treasury to the President's Inter-Agency Task | |
| Force to monitor and combat trafficking in persons. | |
| H.R. 295 calls on the task force to evaluate the anti-money | |
| laundering efforts of the U.S. Government and U.S. financial | |
| institutions to see if we are doing enough, and I do not think | |
| we are, to recognize and act against financial movements to | |
| signal red flags that human trafficking is occurring. | |
| The task force will consult with trafficking survivors and | |
| the financial industry representatives who have been pioneering | |
| anti-trafficking efforts in their best practices. | |
| So, again, I want to thank you for all of these bills. I | |
| think they are all excellent pieces of legislation and I | |
| especially want to thank Mr. Fitzpatrick for his leadership on | |
| combatting the scourge of human trafficking. | |
| Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Smith. | |
| Is there anyone else who seeks recognition? | |
| Mr. Chabot. Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman? | |
| Chairman Engel. Mr. Chabot. | |
| Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Move to strike the | |
| last word. | |
| Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for holding this markup | |
| today, and I want to thank you for this slate of five excellent | |
| bipartisan bills. | |
| First, Ukraine--I am honored to be the lead Republican co- | |
| sponsor of H.R. 596, Mr. Connolly's Crimean Annexation | |
| Nonrecognition Act, and I want to thank him for his hard work | |
| on this important legislation. | |
| We have been working together on this since the bully Putin | |
| first acted on Crimea. I know a number of members of this | |
| committee have done so and I think it is critical that we | |
| continue to do so. So I want to thank Mr. Connolly for his hard | |
| work on this. | |
| Passage of this bill would cement firmly in place the | |
| policy that the United States will not recognize Putin's bogus | |
| claims over Crimea and will prohibit any part of our government | |
| from taking any action that would imply our recognition of | |
| Russian sovereignty over the peninsula. | |
| It is vitally important that we support a democratic and | |
| unified Ukraine by not giving in to Putin's thuggish behavior | |
| and that behavior continues. | |
| For example, in November, Russian vessels blockaded the | |
| Kerch Strait, the entrance to the Sea of Azov, and illegally | |
| seized Ukrainian naval vessels. | |
| By these and other actions, Putin is seeking to strangle | |
| Ukraine's trade and in all likelihood annex more of it. We | |
| cannot let that happen. The world cannot stand by as it did | |
| previously when Putin annexed Crimea. | |
| Unfortunately, Putin's gangster ways are not confined to | |
| his foreign policy. That is why we are considering H. Res. 156, | |
| which I am also a co-sponsor of. This resolution calls for | |
| justice for Boris Nemtsov, who, as was mentioned, was murdered | |
| in cold blood near the Kremlin on February 25th of 2015. | |
| For those who do not know, Mr. Nemtsov was a leading | |
| opposition figure, outspoken Putin critic, and the former first | |
| deputy prime minister of Russia and was in all likelihood--we | |
| do not know for absolutely sure--but in all likelihood was | |
| executed at the direction of Putin. | |
| The Russian government must do a thorough investigation to | |
| uncover the truth behind Mr. Nemtsov--that we should not let | |
| this rest. | |
| I also want to turn briefly to a couple of other bills we | |
| have. The terrorist attack on Kenya earlier this year is yet | |
| another example of the scourge of radical terrorism and we must | |
| continue to fight against that every time it rears its ugly | |
| head. | |
| That is why I am a co-sponsor of H. Res. 75. And finally, I | |
| want to thank Ranking Member McCaul for his leadership on the | |
| critical issue of Cybersecurity. | |
| As a co-sponsor of the Cyber Diplomacy Act, I think it is | |
| necessary that we work with our like-minded allies to ensure | |
| that the internet remains a place of robust debate and access | |
| to uncensored information. | |
| This legislation provides the State Department tools and | |
| direction to help accomplish this important priority, and I | |
| want to echo the words that our ranking member mentioned | |
| before--Mr. McCaul. | |
| I completely agree with him that there is absolutely no | |
| place for anti-Semitism in this country, on this globe, or in | |
| this committee. I have been on this committee for a long time-- | |
| 23 years--and we have always been bipartisan on that issue. I | |
| would hope that would continue. | |
| Israel is a strong ally of the United States. The Jewish | |
| people have been for a long time and will continue to be, | |
| whether it is as a nation or whether as a people, and there is | |
| absolutely no room for anti-Semitism. | |
| And I think that we should work on that in a bipartisan | |
| manner, and it always has been that way. I hope it will be in | |
| the future. There is absolutely no place for anti-Semitism. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Chairman Engel. Thank you very much, Mr. Chabot. | |
| Mr. Malinowski. | |
| Mr. Malinowski. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chairman | |
| Engel, Ranking Member McCaul. | |
| I wanted to say a few words in particular about the | |
| resolution regarding Boris Nemtsov and to explain the two small | |
| amendments that I will be offering today. | |
| First of all, thank you for introducing this resolution to | |
| help us remember this very good man and to put the Putin regime | |
| on notice that we are not going to forget what happened and who | |
| is responsible. | |
| If you read the resolution, you will see that one of the | |
| central villains in this terrible story is Ramzan Kadyrov, the | |
| strong man who rules and has ruled Chechnya with an iron hand | |
| for many, many years. | |
| Even the flawed Russian investigation of the murder of Mr. | |
| Nemtsov determined that the murder was carried out by members | |
| of an elite battalion loyal to Kadyrov. | |
| Kadyrov publicly praised the gunmen. Previously, he had | |
| publicly called for the death of Nemtsov. One of the chief | |
| suspects is still living at large in Chechnya under Kadyrov's | |
| protection. | |
| Kadyrov has also, over the years, been credibly accused of | |
| murdering human rights activists, journalists. He has ordered | |
| his police forces to round up and torture gay men and women in | |
| Chechnya. He has ordered the assassination of his critics | |
| living in other countries, in Europe, and in the Middle East. | |
| In 2017, the U.S. Government put Mr. Kadyrov on the Global | |
| Magnitsky sanctions list, which means that his business | |
| activities overseas involving any sort of transactions through | |
| international banks should be blocked. | |
| In reality, though, Mr. Kadyrov has repeatedly shown | |
| himself outside of Russia, particularly in Persian Gulf | |
| countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia. | |
| His hobby is horse racing. He spends millions of dollars | |
| purchasing race horses, winning races around the world, again, | |
| particularly in the Middle East. | |
| He is blocked in Europe. What my first amendment does is | |
| simply to urge the administration to prioritize sanctions- | |
| enforcement with respect to Ramzan Kadyrov, to investigate his | |
| business activities and that of entities he may control outside | |
| of the Russian federation and to determine whether any of them | |
| might implicate the sanctions that we have imposed. | |
| The second amendment ensures that the resolution includes | |
| an additional key suspect in Mr. Nemtsov's murder, Adam | |
| Delimkhanov, who is a notorious associate and relative of | |
| Ramzan Kadyrov. | |
| Delimkhanov is a member of the Russian State Duma where he | |
| has abused his immunity to shield himself from accountability | |
| for a range of human rights abuses. | |
| He has been identified by multiple independent sources as | |
| one of the organizers of Mr. Nemtsov's murder. So this | |
| amendment would add his name to the list of suspects in two | |
| clauses of the resolution's preamble. | |
| I ask my colleagues to support both of these amendments. | |
| Thank you very much. | |
| Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Malinowski. | |
| Mr. Fitzpatrick. | |
| Mr. Fitzpatrick. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Chairman, Ranking Member, I really do appreciate your | |
| considering of H.R. 295. As an FBI agent, one of the most | |
| horrific crimes that we were called upon to investigate was | |
| human trafficking, and human trafficking continues to devastate | |
| millions of lives around the world. | |
| And this criminal conduct may seem a distant problem but it | |
| is far from it. It exists right in all of our back yards, in | |
| every single congressional district in this country, in all of | |
| our communities, and at times it is right in front of us and we | |
| do not even know it exists. | |
| My legislation, H.R. 295, the End Banking of Human | |
| Traffickers Act, is one step we can take to end the suffering | |
| caused by human trafficking. | |
| Traffickers are not hiding their illegal profits under a | |
| mattress or burying them in their back yard. They use our very | |
| sophisticated global financial system to launder their illicit | |
| funds through banks, credit card companies, and money transfer | |
| companies, which are all used by traffickers to facilitate | |
| their business and to perpetuate their exploitation of victims. | |
| The scale of profits from this illicit trade is really | |
| staggering. The International Labor Organization estimates that | |
| over $150 billion in illegal profits are made from forced labor | |
| each year, and $99 billion are earned through the exploitation | |
| of victims of sexual exploitation, making human trafficking the | |
| third most lucrative criminal enterprise on this planet. | |
| The perpetrators of this exploitation play on the | |
| defenseless in our society, including young children. Cutting | |
| off their access to the banking system is a critical aspect | |
| both from the investigative standpoint, and the legislative | |
| standpoint and I am proud to push this bipartisan bill with my | |
| friend and colleague, Congressman Keating, to continue working | |
| to end this horror once and for all. | |
| And I thank my colleagues both on and off this committee | |
| for their support, many of whom have joined this effort. I also | |
| want to thank Congressman Chris Smith from New Jersey, who has | |
| made it one of his top priorities to advance this mission. | |
| This legislation directs Federal banking regulators to work | |
| with law enforcement and financial institutions to combat the | |
| use of the financial system for human trafficking. | |
| The bill further increases collaboration between law | |
| enforcement and experts in financial crimes by adding financial | |
| intelligence and regulatory officers to the President's Inter- | |
| Agency Task Force to monitor and combat trafficking in persons | |
| and requires the task force to develop recommendations for | |
| Congress and regulators that would strengthen anti-money | |
| laundering programs to better target human trafficking. | |
| Moreover, this bill allows advocates of human trafficking | |
| victims to serve as stakeholders and to provide feedback to the | |
| U.S. Treasury and, additionally, clarifies that banks not | |
| restrict trafficker victims' access to bank accounts. | |
| I urge ever Member of Congress, especially those on this | |
| committee, to support this legislation, which passed both the | |
| committee and the House last Congress with broad bipartisan | |
| support. | |
| We must do everything possible to put an end to human | |
| trafficking and this legislation is a very important step along | |
| that path. | |
| Mr. Chairman, I yield back. | |
| Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Fitzpatrick. | |
| Is there anyone else who seeks recognition? | |
| OK. Hearing no further requests for recognition, then | |
| without objection the committee will proceed to consider the | |
| noticed items en bloc. A reporting quorum is present. | |
| Without objection, the question occurs on the measures en | |
| bloc as amended. | |
| All those in favor, say aye. | |
| All those opposed, no. | |
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | |
| The measures considered en bloc are agreed to and without | |
| objection each measure in the en bloc is ordered favorably | |
| reported as amended and each amendment to each bill shall be | |
| reported as a single amendment in the nature of a substitute. | |
| Without objection, staff is authorized to make any | |
| technical and conforming changes and the chair is authorized to | |
| seek House consideration under suspension of the rules. | |
| This concludes---- | |
| Mr. McCaul. Mr. Chairman? | |
| Chairman Engel. Yes, Mr. McCaul. | |
| Mr. McCaul. Pursuant to House rules, I request that members | |
| have the opportunity to submit views for any committee report | |
| that may be produced on any of today's measures. | |
| Chairman Engel. Obviously, there is no objection to that | |
| and I thank Ranking Member McCaul and all of the committee | |
| members for their contribution and assistance with today's | |
| markup. | |
| The committee stands adjourned. | |
| [Whereupon, at 10:37 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] | |
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