[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
VARIOUS MEASURES
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
H.R. 1654, H.R. 3654, H.R. 4154,
H. Res. 346 and H. Res. 536
__________
DECEMBER 9, 2015
__________
Serial No. 114-125
__________
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California
DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California
DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California
PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
RON DeSANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin
DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York
DANIEL DONOVAN, New York
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
MARKUP OF
H.R. 1654, To authorize the direct provision of defense articles,
defense services, and related training to the Kurdistan
Regional Government, and for other purposes.................... 2
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1654 offered by
the Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress
from the State of California, and chairman, Committee on
Foreign Affairs.............................................. 12
H.R. 3654, To require a report on United States strategy to
combat terrorist use of social media, and for other purposes... 22
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3654 offered by
the Honorable Ted Poe, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Texas............................................... 26
Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to
H.R. 3654 offered by the Honorable Darrell E. Issa, a
Representative in Congress from the State of California.. 30
H.R. 4154, To direct the President to submit to Congress a time
frame for the transfer of certain naval vessels to Taiwan
pursuant to section 102(b) of the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of
2013, and for other purposes................................... 32
H. Res. 346, Condemning the use of toxic chemicals as weapons in
the Syrian Arab Republic....................................... 34
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Res. 346 offered
by the Honorable Ted S. Yoho, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Florida.................................... 39
H. Res. 536, Supporting freedom of the press in Latin America and
the Caribbean and condemning violations of press freedom and
violence against journalists, bloggers, and individuals
exercising their right to freedom of speech.................... 44
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Res. 536 offered
by the Honorable Albio Sires, a Representative in Congress
from the State of New Jersey................................. 49
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 72
Markup minutes................................................... 73
Markup summary................................................... 75
VARIOUS MEASURES
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a.m., in
room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward Royce
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Chairman Royce. This committee will come to order.
Pursuant to notice, we meet today to mark up five
bipartisan measures. Without objection, all members may have 5
days to submit statements for the record and extraneous
material on any of today's business.
As all were notified yesterday, we intend to consider these
measures en bloc, and so without objection the following items
previously provided to members will be considered en bloc;
they're considered as read: H.R. 1654 to authorize the direct
provision of defense articles and services to the Kurdistan
Regional Government; Royce Amendment 87 in the nature of a
substitute; H.R. 3654, the Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media
Act; Poe Amendment 81 in the nature of a substitute and Issa
Amendment 56; H.R. 4154, the Taiwan Naval Support Act; House
Resolution 346, condemning the use of toxic chemicals as
weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic; Yoho Amendment 72 in the
nature of a substitute; House Resolution 536, supporting
freedom of the press in Latin America; and Sires Amendment 13
in the nature of a substitute.
[The information referred to follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Royce. And after recognizing myself and the
ranking member, I'll be pleased to recognize any members
seeking recognition to speak on these measures.
So, we go first to H.R. 1654. This goes to the issue of the
effort by Kurdish forces. We heard testimony in the House, from
Secretary of Defense Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff General Joseph Dunford. Both stated that they would be
prepared to recommend providing direct military assistance to
the Kurds and Sunni tribes.
I would point out to the members that the Peshmerga is
organized under the Iraqi constitution. Their role is to
safeguard Iraqi Kurdistan. And, in particular, the Kurds are
the sole U.S. allied force operating on the ground against ISIS
in Syria and Iraq, and this has allowed them to conduct ongoing
coordinated offensive operations in North Eastern Syria and in
Sinjar, Iraq. This offensive, if they're successful ultimately,
could sever control of the road connecting the major ISIS-held
cities of Raqqa and Mosul in Syria and Iraq. So, it is very
much in our interest to make certain, especially given the
significant territory and the some 8 million people under that
territory that's controlled by ISIS, that ISIS do not have the
safehaven that they used to plan the attacks in Paris and that,
frankly, inspired the attacks on the United States. And to keep
America safe, I believe we've got to work with our partners on
the ground to eliminate these sanctuaries and deny ISIS both
the space and resources to drive additional attacks.
For the last year and a half we've had one effective
fighter in this fight. It is the 160,000 strong Peshmerga
force, 30 percent of these battalions by the way are women
fighting on the battlefields in their own battalions on the
front lines against ISIS on a 650 mile front. They have proven
themselves as the most dedicated and effective force against
ISIS in Iraq; not without considerable casualties, by the way,
with 8,500 killed and wounded on those front lines. And we're
told by our friends in the Pentagon a lot of those losses are
caused by the fact that they're outmatched in firepower in
terms of the weaponry on the front lines. They are poorly
armed, poorly equipped, especially when compared to either the
Iraqi Army or the Iranian-backed Shia militias, or most
crucially here, ISIS itself.
Light arms from Saddam's rule, some of their materiel dates
back to the Second World War, a lot of it's Soviet-era
equipment that will break down. This isn't enough against an
enemy that is determined to rip Iraq and Syria apart,
butchering Iraqis, and Syrians, and now Americans.
So, the Iraqi military remains unable to field a joint
Sunni-Shiite force. We hope they're able to do so in the
future, but at this moment they're relying instead on Iranian-
backed militias to fight ISIS. On the other hand, the Kurds in
Northern Iraq are our best allies in the theater, the most
effective local fighters against ISIS. And rather than fleeing
from ISIS, they stand to fight with antiquated weapons as they
continue to share with us.
Last month it was the Kurdish forces on the ground and the
Americans in the air that retook Sinjar. The Kurdish forces
have accompanied U.S. special forces on night raids, a role
that will likely increase given Defense Secretary Carter's
announcement last week. They would like to get those night-
vision goggles, by the way.
So, this legislation would allow the United States to
directly arm Kurdish forces so they can get the artillery, the
anti-tank weapons, the long-1range mortars, and the training
and combat medicine that they need.
This authorization, which is time-limited, would allow U.S.
security assistance to go directly to the Kurdish Regional
Government rather than routing it through the sectarian maze
that is Baghdad, where they've yet to get the kind of heavy
equipment that they need in this fight.
The goal, obviously, is not Kurdish independence and we
make that clear in the language of this legislation, but it is
to get the needed materiels to the most active battlefront with
ISIS. This is urgent legislation to counter the grave and
direct threats ISIS poses to the United States, and ultimately
is going to require the combined efforts of all Iraqis,
including the Sunni tribesmen who have not gotten the support
they desperately need from the United States. We met with them
last week, some of their leadership, tribal leadership, and
certainly it's going to require Baghdad to be inclusive here to
finally defeat and destroy ISIS.
Second, we have H.R. 3654, the Combat Terrorist Use of
Social Media Act of 2015. And I appreciate Judge Poe
introducing this bill. It's going to force and put the heat on
the administration to put forward a strategy to combat
terrorist use of social media, a strategy that the President
talked about in 2011, but we haven't had that strategy put
forward yet. So, this is Congress weighing in and saying let's
have that strategy developed, because exactly 1 week ago in San
Bernardino, California we had 14 people killed, 21 people
injured by radical Islamists. And we know that these
extremists, the husband and the wife, used social media, one of
them making a pledge on Facebook to support ISIS.
Extremist groups have turned to Twitter, to Facebook, and
YouTube to recruit, and it's the strength of momentum of ISIS
on the ground that allows them to do this, but they're
recruiting, they're radicalizing, and they're encouraging
attacks on our free society. Social media companies have taken
some steps to remove terrorist content, but it is clear that
much more needs to be done.
The administration must lay out how we will contend with
these terrorists hijacking the social network, ironically
created by the free and pluralistic society that they so
despise for their own twisted purposes.
And I want to thank Representative Issa for working with
Representative Poe and the committee on changes to strengthen
this bill, and to allow us to learn more about the ways the
U.S. Government and the private sector are using social media
to push back on extremist messaging.
Then we have House Resolution 346 condemning the use of
chemical weapons in Syria. And earlier this year, Secretary
Kerry testified that the administration had succeeded in
getting all the chemical weapons out of Syria. That,
unfortunately, as we've had hearings here about the barrel
bombs and the chemical weapons that are still being dropped,
the first responders are telling us from the front lines in
Syria that Assad has been pummeling his own people with an
unending series of bombs filled with weaponized chlorine, and
this has been confirmed. These attacks fuel the flight of
refugees both inside and outside of Syria, and create an
environment in which ISIS can thrive. So, members on this
committee have long pressed for consideration of a no-fly or
safe zone to stop the barrel bombs, the chemical weapon bombs,
something this resolution addresses.
I want to thank Representative Yoho for his leadership on
this critical issue, and urge all members to support this
resolution.
Then we go to the Taiwan Naval Support Act. This is 4154.
It's been almost 1 year since the President signed into law the
Naval Vessel Transfer Act. That's legislation that I had
authored, and we pushed through which authorized the President
to transfer decommissioned Naval vessels to Taiwan. Since then,
the administration has failed to notify Congress of its intent
to transfer these vessels, which has caused the U.S. Navy to
delay its refurbishment and transfer one of the ships out of
Hawaii. This is an unnecessary setback, and complicates
planning for Taiwan's Navy, as Representative Sherman has
pointed out to us. And I want to thank Representative Sherman
for introducing this measure today which will press the
administration to submit a timeline to Congress for when these
transfers will occur. Insuring they are timely is important to
bolstering Taiwan's defense and to insuring peace in the Taiwan
Straits.
And turning to the Press Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
Act, I think this is a cornerstone of any democracy. It's our
obligation to promote and protect this fundamental human right.
We have all been troubled by the erosion of press freedoms in
our own hemisphere at the hands of authoritarian, populist
leaders and transnational criminal organizations to boot, so
this resolution is an important expression of our support for
the fundamental right to free expression, and of our belief
that regional leaders and the OAS need to do more to condemn
what in some parts is the systemic violation of press freedom.
So, I commend Mr. Sires for introducing this resolution,
and all who champion freedom of expression as a fundamental
part of a vibrant, dramatic tradition. As he says, ``This
resolution will champion their cause.'' So, with that said,
I'll turn to Mr. Engel, our ranking member.
Mr. Engel. Mr. Chairman, thank you for calling this Markup,
our final Full Committee Markup of 2015. Let me say again how
proud I am of the work of the Foreign Affairs Committee and of
our members on both sides of the aisle. This year we've racked
up an impressive record of achievement, and I want to thank
you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership and your commitment to
leaving politics at the water's edge. And I want to also take
this opportunity to remind our colleagues on both sides of the
aisle that today at 5:00, from 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock in this
very room the Foreign Affairs Committee is having its holiday
party, and we hope that every member will attend. There'll be
plenty of food, and it'll be another nice chance to get
together.
So, we have a raft of good measures before us today, and
I'll say a few words about each. I'll start, Mr. Chairman, with
your legislation to provide defense training and equipment
directly to the Kurdish Regional Government. Kurdish forces in
Northern Iraq have been some of our closest partners in the
fight against ISIS. They're tough fighters getting real
results, rolling back the gains ISIS has made. We need to make
sure the Kurds have everything they need to defend themselves
and keep the pressure on ISIS. They have really been loyal and
true allies and friends.
Current law requires all military assistance for the Kurds
to flow through Baghdad. Now, this has caused some delays in
the shipment of arms to Kurdish forces, and complicated efforts
to supply the Kurds with the heavy weapons they need, including
anti-tank missiles, armored vehicles, and long-range artillery.
This legislation removes those roadblocks. It would
authorize the President to provide military equipment directly
to the Iraqi Kurds for a period of 3 years. It urges the
President to continue consulting with the Iraqi Government, and
it requires that the weapons provided to the Kurds be used to
meet our shared goal of defeating ISIS. This just makes sense.
The Kurds are making progress, and we need to keep the wind at
their backs. But while the Kurds are great partners and
formidable fighters, they cannot take on ISIS all by
themselves, particularly outside of the traditional Kurdish
areas of Iraq.
At the end of the day, defeating ISIS will take the
combined efforts of all Iraqis, and I want to be absolutely
clear on this point; while the legislation is focused on
supporting the Kurds, it does not in any way dial back
America's commitment to other Iraqi partners. It does not
endorse a divided Iraq, rather it gets military equipment where
it will do the most good more quickly, period. In fact, it's
imperative that we do keep working closely with Iraq's
Government.
Many of us have serious questions about the performance of
the Iraqi Army, and deep concerns about the role of Iran-backed
militias, but it's clear that the Iraqi security forces have a
central role to play. I know on another day we can talk about
the Kurds because I think the Kurds are people that deserve
international support, and that's another issue to talk about
later on, whether or not the Kurds should be trapped in an Iraq
that seems spiraling, continuing to spiral out of control. But
right now, it's very important that Iraqi security forces do
have a central role to play.
We should also support Christians, Yazidis, and other
ethnic and religious minorities. Many of these groups have
borne the brunt of ISIS terror and now want to help liberate
their towns and villages.
Finally, we should find new ways to collaborate with the
Sunni population of Iraq. The Sunnis will play a vital role
defeating ISIS, just as they were key to the defeat of al-Qaeda
during the Iraq War, but they need training and equipment, so
we need to work with the Iraqi Government to get them the
support they need, and to make clear that they have a stake in
the future of a unified Iraq. I know we are all aggravated over
the fact that they seem to cut and run and let ISIS take over
swaths of territory. Well, instead of just wringing our hands,
we really need to do something about it. And this, I believe,
will.
Next, I'll turn to Mr. Poe and Mr. Sherman's bill to Combat
the Use of Social Media by Terrorist Groups. I'm very proud to
cosponsor this legislation. Perhaps the most searing images
we've seen of ISIS are of Jihadi John, as he was known,
standing over the bodies of his victims, images and videos that
ISIS blasted around the world on social media. Thankfully, we
don't have to worry about him any more, but whether on Twitter
or YouTube, terrorist groups continue to take full advantage of
social media to spread their message of violence and hatred.
With the click of a button, groups like ISIS can use these
platforms to broadcast video of their heinous acts, solicit
foreign fighters, and radicalize vulnerable people around the
world.
We need a strategy to push back against terrorists use of
social media to foster greater collaboration between government
and provide sector companies, and to help identify and stop
terrorist activities online. This bill calls for that strategy
and will help us take on ISIS and other groups on the virtual
battlefield. I urge all of my colleagues to support it.
Moving on, I'm happy to support this Taiwan Naval Support
Act sponsored by Mr. Sherman, the ranking member of our
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. I'm a strong supporter of
Taiwan, and I think Taiwan needs to maintain a strong defense.
Nearly a year ago, the Naval Vessel Transfer Act was signed.
This bill authorized the sale of four guided missile frigates
to Taiwan. Taiwan is ready to buy at least two of them, and
restoration is underway, but Congress has yet to be notified of
a transfer.
Now, in my view we should be seeing even more regular
transfers of equipment that would help shore up Taiwanese
security. I know sales to Taiwan are always a touchy issue
because our dealings with China are sensitive. We don't want to
derail our work with China on issues of mutual concern, but our
desire not to upset Beijing shouldn't come at the expense of
Taiwan security.
This bill would require the President to commit to a
timeline for these sales, and communicate that timeline to
Congress. It wouldn't force a deadline, but it would let us
know that these sales are on track. We owe at least this much
to our friends and partners in Taiwan. I support this
legislation and urge my colleagues to do the same.
I also want to voice my support for Mr. Yoho's resolution
condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and I thank
him for his work on this measure. Two years ago, the world was
shocked when the Assad Regime killed 1,400 of its own people,
including hundreds of children in a chemical weapons attack in
the outskirts of Damascus.
In response to pressure from the international community,
including the threat of force from the U.S., the Assad Regime
agreed to give up all of its chemical weapons and join the
Chemical Weapons Convention. But even before I wrote the Syria
Accountability Act a decade ago, I never trusted Assad to keep
his word. And true to form, he hasn't lived up to the letter or
spirit of what he promised to do.
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen partnered with me on the Syria
Accountability Act when few knew about Assad, but we knew about
Assad. And we knew that Assad was a negative force in the
region, to say the least.
Many experts believe that Assad failed to declare all of
his banned chemical weapons to the international community. And
we know for a fact that the regime has increasingly used
chlorine as a chemical weapon, which is prohibited under the
Chemical Weapons Convention.
This resolution condemns the Assad Regime's use of chlorine
as a chemical weapon, calls for those involved in this unlawful
activity to be held accountable, and urges the administration
to support efforts to collect evidence of the use of chemical
weapons in Syria.
And lastly, let me thank Mr. Sires for offering this
resolution supporting press freedom in Latin America and the
Caribbean, and condemning violence against journalists. I am
deeply troubled that the freedom of the press is under grave
threat in some countries right here in our neighborhood. We
hear a great deal from regional leaders in the Americas when
electoral democracy is at risk, and I appreciate this.
Unfortunately, we hear too little about the subtle challenges
to democracy, particularly violations of press freedom.
When the Ecuadorian Government threatened to close down
Punta Medeos earlier this year, Chairman Royce and I strongly
condemned the effort. Fortunately, President Correa relented in
the face of international condemnation, but this is just one
example. Violence against journalists has become a scourge in
the Americas. Being a journalist in Colombia, Mexico, and
Honduras is a very dangerous business. Of course, there is no
press freedom in Cuba. Venezuela is also a worry, and a country
that represses freedom; although, the election held there a few
days ago gives us pause for hope.
This resolution shines a light on the problem and urges
these governments to do more to provide protection to those
journalists under threat, and I'm pleased to support it.
So, once again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leadership
and for bringing all these measures forward today. I yield
back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Engel. We now go to Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, and any other members who are seeking
recognition, but Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and
Ranking Member Engel for convening this Markup, and bringing up
all of these important measures in front of our committee in a
bipartisan manner as you always do.
I would also like to express my strong support for House
Resolution 536 introduced by my dear friend, Albio Sires, of
which I am the lead Republican sponsor. Freedom of expression
is under attack in Latin America. We've seen it in Venezuela
where the Maduro regime has used intimidation and control of
the media to repress the opposition. Courageously, the
opposition was able to beat the odds and took control of the
legislature by a super majority just this past weekend. I
congratulate the Venezuelan people on their tremendous win, but
there's still a long road ahead.
We need all political prisoners to be released immediately,
including pro-democracy advocate, Leopoldo Lopez. In Nicaragua,
Ortega just forced through a new sovereignty security law that
could be used to further harass and intimidate the people in
the media to impede freedom of expression. I worry that Ortega
will use this as yet another tool to clamp down on civil
society and silence the media as we approach next year's
Presidential election.
In Cuba, as both of you have pointed out, the Castro regime
continues to control all print and broadcast media, and blocks
and censors the internet. The regime also threatens, beats,
jails, and tortures any perceived opposition, intimidating the
Cuban people into self-censorship. Cuba has long been infamous
for these tactics, but we also see in Venezuela, Nicaragua,
Bolivia, Ecuador many like-minded dictatorships in Latin
America. Regimes that want to control the flow of information
to stay in power, repress any dissent before their survival is
threatened, employ these tactics.
It's crucial that we as a country continue to speak out
against these tactics and that we do everything that we can to
stand up for this fundamental human right to express freely
one's views. So, I thank Albio for offering his important
resolution. I offer my full support, and I urge my colleagues
to do the same.
I also want to thank my friend and colleague from Florida,
Dr. Ted Yoho, for introducing House Resolution 346, condemning
Assad for committing mass atrocities and for the use of
chemical weapons, including chlorine barrel bombs.
I was an original cosponsor of this measure, and I fully
support it. This important resolution reminds us all of the
grim reality and the true nature of the Assad regime. The idea
that Assad should be part of a political solution, or that he
can be a partner in the war against ISIS, and the war against
terror, is appalling. Assad's ruthless tactics and wanton
disregard for human rights and the sanctity of life has been a
key reason why the Syrian conflict has been so devastating, and
why ISIS has grown dramatically.
Assad's actions have led to the deaths of over 220,000
Syrians. Because of Assad, we have millions of refugees fleeing
into the Middle East and Europe destabilizing these regions and
taxing their resources.
In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S.
intelligence agencies concluded that the Assad regime did not
give up all of its chemical weapons, and now some reports
suggest that ISIS may be in possession of chemical weapons, as
well. And what has been the punishment from the international
community for Assad's deception? Nothing. So, if the
international community is not willing to punish Assad for
using chemical weapons, and then lying about destroying all of
its stockpiles, what faith do we have in keeping the Iranian
regime accountable for its nuclear weapons program? This is a
very dangerous situation, Mr. Chairman, and I believe that it
is not receiving the attention it merits, so that's why I thank
my Florida colleague, Dr. Yoho, for bringing this bipartisan
resolution forward. I urge my colleagues to support this
measure, and condemn the use of chemical weapons.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Ileana. We now go to Mr. Brad
Sherman of California.
Mr. Sherman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We're considering
five excellent bills here today. They're commonsense, they're
bipartisan, and that reflects the leadership that the chair and
the ranking member have brought to this committee.
I'll address three of those bills. First, the Taiwan Naval
Support Act. I want to thank the chairman for bringing up this
bill, which we put together with a lot of input from others.
And I want to thank the chairman, ranking member, and Mr.
Salmon, the chairman of the Asia Subcommittee for cosponsoring
the bill.
When we look at the East and South China Sea, we see China
becoming more aggressive. Already, we are spending tens or
hundreds of billions of dollars on research, procurement,
planning, and deployment designed to confront China. That
invariably creates risks for the United States, and most of
that is focused on uninhabited islets. In contrast, look at
Taiwan. What is at stake is not uninhabited reefs but the
entire country. And Taiwan is not asking us for deployment, or
to spend money. They are simply asking for the tools to defend
themselves.
When it comes to these frigates the time has come to
transfer the frigging frigates. We should be helping Taiwan
defend----
Mr. Connolly. Is that a technical term, Mr. Sherman?
Mr. Sherman. Yes, it is, and it's in the statute with a
page and a half of definition. Yes.
When it comes to helping Taiwan defend itself, I think it
should be classified as a major non-NATO ally, and I offered an
amendment back 15 years ago to do just that. If that had
passed, we wouldn't even need, I think, to prod the
administration as we do now.
In 1979, the Taiwan Relations Act was signed into law, and
it requires the United States to make available to Taiwan such
defense articles as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to
maintain sufficient defense capacities, self-defense
capacities.
In December 2014, this Congress passed the Naval Vessel
Transfer Act, and authorized the sale of four frigates to
Taiwan, and the President signed that bill into law. Taiwan has
indicated it's ready to purchase two frigates out of the four.
It has the money to do so. It faces a budgetary deadline at the
end of 2015, and it's time for the administration to move
forward with this transfer.
What this bill does is requires the administration to give
Congress a timeline. I hope they transfer the frigates before
they give us the timeline. That would be a very good timeline.
Next, I'm pleased to join with Mr. Poe as the lead
Democratic sponsor of the Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media
Act. Three things about the bill. The State Department's
current strategy for countering ISIS and other extremist groups
online is obviously not working. That's not my opinion, that's
the State Department's internal opinion which concluded in June
of this year, when it comes to the external message, our
narrative is being trumped by ISIS. We are losing a popularity
contest to people that behead women.
Public information also shows the State Department's
strategy isn't working. The Think Again Turn Away Twitter
campaign has 24,000 followers. In order to reach out to those
who might be swayed by ISIS, you're going to need a much bigger
following. This bill requires the State Department to reassess
their approach and come up with a better, more effective
strategy.
Second, I'm hoping that this bill will prod the State
Department to hire experts in Islamic theology, and in Islamic
jurisprudence. Not everybody they hire has to be a graduate of
an Ivy League school, or a top American school. We need just a
couple of folks over there, graduates of Al-Azhar University in
Egypt. I'm not saying the State Department can issue a fatwa,
but somebody at the State Department should be paid because
they're an expert at knowing who should be issuing a fatwa, and
how to make our arguments consistent with all of the
intricacies of Islamic law, and Islamic jurisprudence.
Finally, the social media companies have played a role in
this. I believe Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have a
responsibility to make sure that their platforms are not used
by terrorists. Facebook, YouTube, and with some prodding from
members of this committee, Twitter, have made changes to take
down bad content, but that won't work effectively if the State
Department isn't identifying the bad content. The only thing
worse than playing Whac-A-Mole is to not whack the moles. And
every time one of these terrorist sites pops up, we should get
it before the intended audience and have it taken down before
the intended audience. So, I look forward to the passage of the
legislation and to a much better strategy from the State
Department.
Finally, as far as arming the Kurdish regional government,
it's about time. We wouldn't have to do it if Baghdad had been
reasonable, but if Baghdad had been reasonable we wouldn't even
have ISIS to begin with. I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you. We go now to Mr. Dana
Rohrabacher of California.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
again I appreciate your leadership on these issues that are of
vital importance to the security of our country and the peace
of the world.
Number one, obviously, we need to move forward as quickly
as possible. It's long overdue of helping our friends, the
Kurds, who are bearing the brunt of this whole battle against
radical Islam in that part of the world at this time.
Certainly, we need to combat terrorists use of the social
media, and certainly our friends in Taiwan, if they have the
money and they want to buy our frigging frigates, we should be
able to make sure we provide it for them. And, of course,
supporting press freedom in Latin America is vitally important
because you have forces at play that can be combated with an
informational combat rather than physical combat. And we should
be part of that competition.
But let me note to this condemnation of toxic chemicals by
the Syrian regime. There's no doubt the Syrian regime is a
murderous regime, it's a brutal regime. They're tyrannical,
they're corrupt, blah, blah, blah. The Assad regime is the last
Baathist regime of the region, but let us be honest about
what's going on here. There is an uprising going on in Syria.
I will tell you, I don't know any of the regimes in that
part of the world that would not be as murderous and as brutal
in suppressing, they might not use chemical weapons, but they
will kill as many civilians as they need to maintain their
power. In that part of the world, an uprising against a regime
is the equivalent of World War II to them. They know if they
lose, they lose everything.
Now, I'm not excusing the use of chemical weapons or the
killing of civilians, but remember collateral damage is what
we're talking about here. And we, ourselves, understand a
certain level of collateral damage when you are at war. The
Assad regime, which is a tyrannical regime like our other
allies in that region, know that if they lose an uprising they
will be killed. And yes, we hope that collateral damage in our
own troops is kept to a minimum, but we also know that during
World War II when we were threatened, we carpet bombed the
cities of Germany and Japan. We incinerated about tens of
thousands of civilians in order to end that war, and we did
that. So, number two, I would hope that we understand that
we're not going to be hypocritical here by claiming that Assad
is so bad as compared to everybody else. He's not. He's
tyrannical, he's horrible, but he is no different in terms of
the brutality that he would rain upon his people as any other
regime that is allied with us in that region.
And, finally, let me just note that I disagree with my good
friend, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on the point that Assad is causing
all of these people to flee. It's not Assad that's causing it,
it's ISIL. You have a new force moving across that part of the
world, and without them, and I believe even without Assad in
there, that force in that part of the world would be creating
this refugee flow from Lybia, from Africa, and from that part
of the world. So, I would have to say that--and one last note
on this condemnation of toxic chemicals. It also says we should
be open to the idea of a no-fly zone. What you're saying there
is yes, we should be open to the idea that American airplanes
will shoot down Russian airplanes, Russian military aircraft. I
think that we need to do a lot of thinking before we approve
anything like that; although, the actual resolution just says
we should be looking at alternatives, including that. But do we
really want to send American airplanes there to do combat with
Russian military aircraft in order to bring Assad down, in
order to create a more benevolent regime, which may end up
being immediately overthrown like what happened with Qaddafi by
racial Islamic forces. This is a very complex area, and it's a
complex fight. Let's make sure that we're being honest with
ourselves in our analysis of what's going on.
And thank you very much. I will be voting with you, Mr.
Chairman, if these are en bloc, but I stated my objections. And
I certainly support everything in all the rest of the
amendments.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher. Now we go to
Mr. Albio Sires of New Jersey.
Mr. Sires. Thank you, Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel,
and the staff for their support of promoting democratic values
around the world, and their efforts to markup this bill.
I want to thank my good friend, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, for
serving as the Republican lead on this legislation. And my
colleague, Chairman Jeff Duncan, for his leadership on this
issue.
Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of any democratic
nation. It is the number one tool to hold people and
governments accountable for their actions. In recent years,
many organizations dedicated to freedom of speech and advancing
civil societies have been trying to bring attention to the
deterioration of press freedom in parts of the Western
Hemisphere, specially Latin American and the Caribbean.
Cuba has consistently been characterized as having one of
the most repressive media environments in the world with the
Castro regime controlling all aspects of the print and
electronic media. Venezuela and Ecuador have harassed and fined
the media, shut down their operations, and even physically
attacked journalists who are trying to expose the state-
sponsored crackdown against peaceful political dissenters.
In other countries, such as Mexico and Honduras, an
increase in drug-related violence and worsening security
situations are creating a culture of impunity, allowing
violence against journalists and press institutions to go
unpunished. As a child in Cuba, I witnessed the deterioration
of Democracy as the Castro regime took over the island and
systematically destroyed all aspects of freedom of speech and
expression.
There is a strong connection between a country's democratic
values and the freedom afforded to their press. Working to
preserve freedom of speech and pushing back against those who
seek to quiet their dissenters should be a top priority when
engaging our neighbors in the region. That is why I introduced
H.R. 536, a resolution condemning violations of press freedom
and violence against journalists, bloggers, and individuals
exercising their right to freedom of speech.
This resolution condemns these violations, and urges
countries in the region to implement the recommendations of
member states made by the Organization of American States
Office of Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, and
urges our administration to assist the media in closed
societies to promote free press.
I thank the committee for their time, and I'd urge my
colleagues to support H.R. 536.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Sires. We now go to Mr.
Chabot.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief. I
support all the resolutions. I'll just comment on two of them.
One, I certainly support the--with respect to Kurdistan, I
think it's embarrassing how long it's taken the administration
basically to arm those people that have been willing to stand
up to these murderous miscreants of ISIS. And it reminds me a
bit of Ukraine where we've been embarrassingly delayed in
helping those people who need help in standing up to Putin's
bullies over there.
And relative to Mr. Sherman's frigging frigates bill, I
totally support him there. I was one of the founding Members of
the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, and it's ridiculous how long
it's taken to get this to happen. And following pretty closely
what's going on in Taiwan, there's a lot of speculation there
that the most recent delay has been related to the
administration's not wanting to offend or upset President Xi of
China who the Obama administration has believed that they need
the support, and the assistance, and the cooperation, and their
global warming/climate change conference in Paris. And, of
course, they were very quick to announce the cooperation that
we have with China, everything down the road, nothing up front.
You know, we're supposed to do this stuff up front, which is
going to affect our economy and if passed, which it won't, but
if it did pass, we'd kill an awful lot of jobs here in the
United States. But they push this stuff, they work with Xi. It
looks like we're cooperating, but everything China does is way
out in the future. Everything we do would be now. But a lot of
speculation in Taiwan that that's what the most recent delay on
this frigates is, they didn't want to upset President Xi. But I
commend Mr. Sherman for pushing this, and will support all
these measures. I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much. Mr. Connolly is
recognized.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I support all five bills in front of us today, and commend
both the chairman and ranking member and their respective
staffs for bringing bipartisan legislation before us.
Two I'd like to just highlight briefly. One is H.R. 1654,
authorizing the direct provision of defense articles to the
Kurds, to the Kurdistan Regional Government. We need to do
this. The only thing succeeding on the ground in that region
that we've invested in is the Peshmerga. They're willing to
fight, and they've got successes. And we ought to be supportive
of them as robustly as we possibly can, and that's why this
bill, I think, is so important.
Whatever reluctance there's been in the past well, we've
got to go through the central government of Baghdad and so
forth, we can't afford to do that. They're effective, they're
willing to fight, they're willing to take the risk, all they
need is our assistance. And I think we need to provide it, and
I'm happy to support this bill.
And the second bill I want to highlight, as the Co-Chair of
the Taiwan Caucus, I agree with the sentiments that have been
expressed with respect to H.R. 4154, the Taiwan Naval Support
Act. This is about us keeping our commitment pursuant to the
Taiwan Relations Act. It's not about tweaking somebody else, or
trying to provoke. It's about keeping our commitment so that
Taiwan has the ability to defend itself. And this is a modest
effort, and it's been going on, as Mr. Chabot said, way too
long. And I might add, the reluctance to provoke Beijing is a
bipartisan reluctance in terms of White Houses, and it's time
we move on.
Beijing needs to understand we're going to keep our
commitment with respect to the Taiwan Relations Act. This is
not aimed at them, it's not to provoke them, but we have a
commitment, a statutory commitment, and we want to keep it.
We're only talking about four frigates of the Oliver Hazard
Perry Class, hardly something that's a threat to somebody else
in the region, but definitely designed to help a country or a
nation defend itself. And that's all we're doing here. I
support the legislation as long overdue.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Connolly. Judge Ted Poe of
Texas.
Mr. Poe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank the
chair, ranking member, and especially my friend, Mr. Connolly
from Virginia for helping get the Foreign Aid Transparency and
Accountability Act to the House floor last night, passed the
House by voice vote unanimously, and hopefully the Senate will
take this bill up. As the chair knows, this bill passed the
House 4 years ago in December, and the Senate blocked it, so
maybe we can get some accountability with the State Department
and Foreign Affairs.
I want to echo also what Mr. Connolly mentioned about the
Kurds. It's ironic that when ISIS first started their battle
with the Iraqi troops, the Iraqi troops cut and ran, left
American equipment on the battlefield. ISIS took that
equipment, including tanks and trucks, and every type of weapon
you can come up with. It seems only fair that we get the same
kind of equipment to the Kurds who are now fighting ISIS with
the equipment that we sent the Kurds who left it there on the
battlefield. So, I think that we--I support this bill with
helping out the Kurds.
The bill I really want to talk most about is the bill that
my friend, Mr. Sherman, and I are cosponsoring, and that's the
social media bill, that terrorist organizations have used
social media, and it's exploded over the last few years. A
recent Brookings Institution found ISIS has 40,000 Twitter
accounts, and they use these accounts for not only propaganda,
not only to recruit, but also to raise money for their
terrorist organizations.
Al-Qaeda affiliate Al Shabab live-tweeted its attack on a
Kenyan mall that killed 72 people. The recipes for bombs used
in the Boston marathon attacks were published in al-Qaeda's
Inspire Magazine online. Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen known as AQAP
held a press conference on Twitter allowing users to submit
questions that were answered by a terror group and posted back
on Twitter the following week.
In October, ISIS issued a new instruction manual on how
terrorists can use social media, so they can pull up the
instruction manual on social media and read about how to use
social media to further their activities. There are between 27
and 31,000 foreign fighters in foreign countries, 86 countries.
That's double the number from last year.
The FBI says that instead of terrorists now having to go to
Syria or Iraq to train, all they have to do is log on and get
online training. That is quite disturbing.
Since March 2014, 71 people in the United States have been
charged with crimes related to ISIS. They don't fit any ethnic
profile. There's a trio of teenagers, siblings from Chicago,
former Air Force mechanic in his late 40s from New Jersey, and
a mother of two from Philadelphia. But nearly all of them had
spent hours online voicing their support for ISIS, and later
were arrested on their online posts after that drew the
attention to the FBI.
The Federal Government does not have a strategy to counter
this problem of online radicalization. In 2011, the
administration acknowledged terrorists' use of social media and
promised a strategy to prevent online radicalization. We don't
have that strategy. This legislation says let's come up with a
strategy to prevent terrorist groups, foreign terrorist groups
using social media.
Facebook and YouTube have done a pretty good job of
bringing down these sites. Twitter has not. This bill, H.R.
3654 to combat terrorists use of social media, requires the
President to come up with a strategy. A suggested protocol
would be the same strategy that social media companies use to
bring down child pornography sites. They have a strategy, a
protocol that works to bring down these sites. It would seem to
me they could use the same strategy, the same protocol to bring
down these terrorist sites.
And just to be clear, a foreign terrorist organization does
not have a constitutional right under the First Amendment.
That's already been ruled in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
in 2010. If it's a foreign terrorist organization, the
constitution doesn't protect those foreign terrorist
organizations from using social media to radicalize, to preach
their propaganda, and to raise money, and I support this bill.
Thanks again, Mr. Sherman, and I support all the other
bills, as well. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Poe. Lois Frankel of
Florida.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the ranking
member, and all my colleagues who brought these good bills and
resolutions, which I will support. And I want to add my voice
to my colleagues who have pretty much said what I feel about
Bashar al-Assad, which he is a scourge to humanity. And to me,
it doesn't matter whether there's anyone better or worse than
him. He needs to be condemned for what he's going.
But moving on, I wanted to make a comment. You know,
yesterday, one of the Presidential candidates whose name I will
not promote, he called on our country as a way of combating
terrorism to ban Muslims from entering the country. Not only
were his remarks unfair, and prejudicial, and contrary to our
American values and way of life, those remarks were dangerous,
they were inflammatory, they serve to further pit the United
States against the Muslim world at a time when we need allies
in that arena who will fight with us and join with us to
destroy the terrorists that would take away our lives and our
way of life.
And that's why I am very proud to be here today, Mr. Chair,
with my colleagues as we are showing our constituents and the
American people that there are sensible efforts that we can
make to combat terrorism, while maintaining our respect, our
dignity, and our American values. And I'm honored to support
these efforts today, and I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Lois Frankel. We now go to Mr.
Jeff Duncan of South Carolina.
Mr. Duncan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to align
myself with the comments of Judge Poe from Texas on H.R. 1654,
arming the Kurds. And I would encourage anyone that hasn't
traveled to Erbil to meet with the Kurdish leaders and
understand these noble people, I would encourage that because
we need to arm them. They've been a strong ally in the region.
I also want to align myself with the comments that Judge
Poe made on 3654 about the use of social media. And I'm glad
we're taking that bill up in this particular committee hearing
Markup.
As cosponsor of H.R. 536 with Congressman Sires, I want to
raise my voice in support of it, and thank the ranking member
of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee for his efforts and
passion on the issue of press freedoms in the Americas. The
ability to speak openly without censure or fear of reprisal is
a hallmark of free peoples everywhere, and the freedom of the
press is critical to sustaining Democracy and the Rule of Law.
In July, the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee held a hearing
to examine the threats to press freedoms in the Americas, and
we heard testimony of severe government repression and outright
targeting of journalists by Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and
the terrible impact to journalists from organized crime,
corruption, and impunity in other countries in the region.
According to Reporters Without Borders, 2015 World Press
Freedom Index, only three countries in the Western Hemisphere
managed to score in the top 20 of 180 countries documented, and
those were Canada, Jamaica, and Costa Rica. Notoriously, Mexico
and Cuba were among the worst offenders in the Western
Hemisphere listed in that report. In addition to these
countries, Ecuador, Honduras, and Peru all received the worst
press freedom scores in over a decade from Freedom House. So,
all in all, it's important for the United States to promote
freedom of the press, and this resolution is an important step
in doing that. I fully support it as Chairman of the Western
Hemisphere Subcommittee. And with that, I yield back.
Chairman Royce. We'll go now to Joaquin Castro of Texas.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Chairman. And I, too, echo the
sentiments that these are five very good pieces of legislation
before us today, and I'd like to quickly address three of them.
The first one is H.R. 1654 with respect to arming the
Kurds. What I appreciate most about this piece of legislation
is that it represents the United States Congress taking an
active role in shaping our policy in the war on terror, and the
war against ISIS. For too long, I think this Congress has been
both a spectator and a Monday morning quarterback when it comes
to dealing with the war on terror. We have to take action. We
have to eventually pass another AUMF for the President. So
thank you, Chairman, for bringing this piece of legislation
forward.
The second one is that by Chairman Poe, H.R. 3654 to combat
terrorist use of social media. We understand that there are
many components to the war on terror, but to really win this
war, we have to stop these folks from communicating their
message and inspiring people to commit heinous acts in the
United States and other parts of the world. It's important that
our social media companies partner with us in that endeavor.
So, thank you to Chairman Poe for that.
And then, finally, H. Res. 536, supporting press freedom in
Latin America. Thank you to my colleague, Albio Sires, for
that. When you think about what's going on in places like Cuba,
31 journalists detained in 2014 in Venezuela with the rough few
years that they've had under President Maduro, and also in
Mexico where dozens of journalists have been hurt, injured, or
killed not only sometimes by the government there, or
governments, whether it's the Federal Government or the local
governments, but also by those involved in the drug trade. So,
this is not just an issue of protecting the press from state
action or government action, but also asking the governments in
these countries to make sure that journalists are being
protected from private actors, from criminals. So, Albio, thank
you for this piece of legislation. I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Mr. Ted Yoho of Florida.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you, Chairman Royce and Ranking Member
Engel. I have an amendment in the nature of a substitute that
updates the numbers of the Syrian death and refugees, as well
as a few other points to H. Resolution 346.
This resolution is extremely important as it condemns the
Assad regime for the atrocities against the Syrian people
despite the adoption of the United Nations Security Council
Resolution 2209, including the use of barrel bombs which are
made up of liquid chlorine as a weapon placed in 55-gallon
drums filled with scrap metal, TNT, and dropped in residential
neighborhoods at night on their own people.
The civil war in Syria has been raging for over 4 years
resulting in over 250,000 deaths, six and a half million
internally displaced refugees, at least 4 million people have
fled that country. This has led to the largest displacement of
people since World War II, creating a refugee crisis not just
seen in Syria and the Middle East, but in the world. This has
facilitated ISIS' growing strength in terrorist activity.
As recently as last June, Samantha Power testified before
this committee that there are serious and alarming reports that
Assad has been turning chlorine into a chemical weapon via the
barrel bombs. This resolution condemns this abhorrent behavior,
and urges the United States and her allies and partners to seek
a comprehensive strategy in Syria.
If we are serious about bringing this civil war to an end,
I urge unanimous support for this large bipartisan- supported
resolution, for a period of 4 years is way too long for there
not to be a plan to stop this atrocity. And thanks again to
Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, Eddie Acevedo, Tom
Sheehy, and on the Foreign Affairs Committee, their staff and
our team, Jimmy Walsh, and all who have helped with this
resolution. And I yield back. Thank you.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Yoho. Do any other members
seek recognition?
Hearing no further requests, the question occurs on the
items considered en bloc. All those in favor say aye.
[A chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Royce. All those opposed, no.
[No response.]
Chairman Royce. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have
it and the measure is considered en bloc are agreed to. And
without objection, the measures considered en bloc are ordered
favorably reported as amended, and staff is directed to make
any technical and conforming changes.
And also without objection, the chair is authorized to seek
House consideration of these measures under suspension of the
rules. And that concludes our business for today.
I want to thank Ranking Member Engel and all our committee
members for their contributions, and all of their assistance
with today's Markup. The committee is--oh, and Mr. Engel is
right to remind everyone that at 5 o'clock this evening, the
committee will re-adjourn here for the holiday. Okay? All
right. Until then, we stand adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:39 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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