    [House Hearing, 115 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                      FTO PASSPORT REVOCATION ACT OF 2017;
                       AND COUNTERTERRORISM SCREENING AND
                             ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2017

    =======================================================================

                                     MARKUP

                                   BEFORE THE

             SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE

                                     OF THE

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                         ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                       ON

                             H.R. 425 and H.R. 1196

                                   __________

                                 JULY 19, 2017

                                   __________

                               Serial No. 115-44

                                   __________

            Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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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                       KAREN BASS, California
    DARRELL E. ISSA, California          WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts
    TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania             DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island
    JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina          AMI BERA, California
    MO BROOKS, Alabama                   LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
    PAUL COOK, California                TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania            JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
    RON DeSANTIS, Florida                ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
    MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina         BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
    TED S. YOHO, Florida                 DINA TITUS, Nevada
    ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois             NORMA J. TORRES, California
    LEE M. ZELDIN, New York              BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois
    DANIEL M. DONOVAN, Jr., New York     THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York
    F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr.,         ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
        Wisconsin                        TED LIEU, California
    ANN WAGNER, Missouri
    BRIAN J. MAST, Florida
    FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
    BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
    THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia

         Amy Porter, Chief of Staff      Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director

                   Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director

                                     ------

             Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade

                            TED POE, Texas, Chairman
    JOE WILSON, South Carolina           WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts
    DARRELL E. ISSA, California          LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
    PAUL COOK, California                BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania            DINA TITUS, Nevada
    LEE M. ZELDIN, New York              NORMA J. TORRES, California
    BRIAN J. MAST, Florida               BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois
    THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia

                                C O N T E N T S

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                                                                       Page

                                   MARKUP ON

    H.R. 425, To authorize the revocation or denial of passports to
      individuals affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations,
      and for other purposes.........................................     2
      Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 425 offered by
        the Honorable Ted Poe, a Representative in Congress from the
        State of Texas, and chairman, Subcommittee on Terrorism,
        Nonproliferation, and Trade..................................     5
    H.R. 1196, To require a plan to combat international travel by
      terrorists and foreign fighters, accelerate the transfer of
      certain border security systems to foreign partner governments,
      establish minimum international border security standards,
      authorize the suspension of foreign assistance to countries not
      making significant efforts to comply with such minimum
      standards, and for other purposes..............................     8
      Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1196 offered by
        the Honorable Lee M. Zeldin, a Representative in Congress
        from the State of New York...................................    25

                                    APPENDIX

    Markup notice....................................................    46
    Markup minutes...................................................    47
    Markup summary...................................................    48

    FTO PASSPORT REVOCATION ACT OF 2017; AND COUNTERTERRORISM SCREENING AND
                             ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2017

                                  ----------

                            WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017

                         House of Representatives,

            Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade,

                         Committee on Foreign Affairs,

                                Washington, DC.

        The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., in
    room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ted Poe (chairman
    of the subcommittee) presiding.
        Mr. Poe. The subcommittee will come to order. Now that we
    have eight members, we can proceed on the two markups.
        After the conclusion of this brief business meeting, we
    will proceed immediately to our scheduled hearing on Saudi
    Arabia's Troubling Educational Curriculum.
        Pursuant to notice, we will need to consider two bipartisan
    measures this afternoon. As members were notified yesterday, it
    is the intention of the Chair to consider today's business en
    bloc so that we can proceed promptly to our hearing. So,
    without objection, we will proceed en bloc.
        All members may have 5 days to insert remarks into the
    record and, without objection, the following members' measures
    and amendments will be considered: H.R. 425, the FTO Passport
    Revocation Act of 2017; the Poe Amendment in the Nature of a
    Substitute to H.R. 425; H.R. 1196, the Counterterrorism
    Screening and Assistance Act of 2017; and the Zeldin Amendment
    in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 1196.
        [The information referred to follows:]H.R.
    425 deg.

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        Mr. Poe. Before turning to our ranking member, I now
    recognize myself to speak on today's two bills. The two
    bipartisan bills today before us, H.R. 425 and 1196, address
    dangerous issues: Terrorists and foreign fighter travel.
        H.R. 425, the FTO Passport Revocation Act that Ranking
    Member Keating and myself introduced will authorize the
    Secretary of State to revoke passports of those Americans who
    have aided and abetted terrorist organizations. This will help
    prevent American citizens with evil designs to exploit the
    privilege of a U.S. passport to support the murderous cause of
    terrorism.
        Mr. Zeldin's important bill, H.R. 1196, the
    Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act of 2017 will
    increase U.S. engagement with partner nations and increase the
    capacity to screen and prevent foreign fighter travel. We have
    all seen the devastating results of lax security and
    screenings, including most recently when the perpetrator of the
    Manchester bombing returned from Libya, an ISIS hotspot, days
    before the attack.
        These two measures will go a long way to securing our
    homeland and protecting our allies around the world. I
    encourage all members to vote in favor of these two important
    pieces of legislation.
        I will now yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts, the
    ranking member, Mr. Keating.
        Mr. Keating. Thank you, Chairman Poe and thank you for
    bringing forward those two important pieces of legislation.
        H.R. 425, the FTO Passport Revocation Act of which I am
    proud to join you as a cosponsor, is straightforward. This bill
    would authorize the Secretary of State to refuse to issue a
    passport to or revoke the passport of an individual who is
    affiliated with aiding, assisting, or abetting an organization
    the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist
    organization with certain exceptions, including emergency
    circumstances, humanitarian reasons, and law enforcement
    purposes. I appreciate your leadership on this issue and your
    attention to streamlining the changes between this bill and the
    House-passed version from last Congress.
        H.R. 1196, the Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance
    Act introduced by our colleague, Mr. Zeldin, is a product of
    the House Homeland Security Committee's Foreign Fighters Task
    Force. As many of us know, the task force completed and
    published a review of foreign fighter travel and threats in
    2016. This bill, a version of which passed the House under
    suspension last year, seeks to improve U.S. programs to
    strengthen foreign governments' efforts to disrupt terrorist
    and foreign fighter travel. I am particularly appreciative of
    your willingness to continue to work with me and members of the
    subcommittee to further improve this legislation.
        It is important that we do not penalize our foreign
    partners for their efforts, promote peace at home, and that we
    ensure any foreign assistance authorized to be suspended under
    this bill is not detrimental to our security concerns.
        I look forward to working with you to this end and thank
    you for your commitment. I yield back.
        Mr. Poe. Do any other members wish to seek recognition? The
    Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York, Mr. Zeldin.
        Mr. Zeldin. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the
    subcommittee's consideration of my legislation today.
        Sadly, we have seen terrorist attacks in Europe over the
    last 3 years, which have killed hundreds of people and were
    largely carried about by European nationals. Some of the
    perpetrators of these attacks traveled to train and fight in
    Syria and returned to Europe through Greece and Turkey.
    Although some of the attackers were already known to local
    authorities, they were able to move across borders without
    detection and, in some cases, used fraudulent passports.
        Given the high number of foreign fighters returning from
    ISIS strongholds in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere, there is a
    recognized need for improved border security information-
    sharing between governments.
        The lack of a United States governmentwide risk-based
    approach increases the odds that systematic security gaps
    abroad may persist and that United States response efforts will
    not maximized in order to close these gaps. Failure to
    effectively coordinate capacity-building activities also
    results in greater risk of overlap, waste, and unnecessary
    duplication between the United States and international
    programs.
        To help solve this program problem, I introduced H.R. 1196,
    the Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act of 2017. This
    effort is very similar to H.R. 4314 from the 114th Congress,
    which passed the house by a 371 to 2 vote on March 21, 2016.
        H.R. 1196 mandates a report card which will assess foreign
    governments' respective border security efforts. My bill would
    also require the President to submit a plan to Congress, which
    would catalog ongoing initiatives and programs with the goal of
    enhancing the partner and country capacities of interdicting
    terrorist activities and foreign fighter travel. The plan will
    also identify areas for improvement and steps that will be
    taken to address any concerns.
        H.R. 1196 would also require the Department of State and
    Department of Homeland Security to accelerate the delivery of
    certain border security systems prioritizing delivery to
    countries of greatest concern and risk for foreign fighter or
    terrorist travel. When possible, the U.S. will attempt to
    collect reimbursement for transferred equipment and all
    equipment transfers will comply with existing regulations
    related to the export of sensitive technologies.
        The Department of State and Department of Homeland Security
    will also be required to submit an annual report to Congress
    detailing how countries are meeting the minimum of border
    security standards established within the Act. The report will
    assess partner country efforts over the previous 12 months and
    identify areas for improvement.
        Further, the bill would put in place a monitoring system
    that would screen for infectious diseases to contain and
    prevent any potential outbreaks, which will help quarantine
    viruses by authorizing the Secretary of Homeland Security to
    provide the necessary equipment and supplies to mitigate the
    risk or threat of infectious diseases such as Zika.
        Finally, H.R. 1196 would allow the Secretary of State, in
    consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to
    suspend all nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign
    assistance to any country deemed not to meet the minimum border
    security standards set forth in the bill.
        Senators Marco Rubio and Chris Coons have introduced a
    companion bill in the Senate, which is Senate Bill 942.
        I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House
    and our friends in the Senate to pass and send this bill to the
    President.
        Again, I would like to thank you, Chairman, and the ranking
    member for your hard work and efforts in considering this
    legislation today and I yield back.
        Mr. Poe. I thank the gentleman from New York.
        Does any other member wish to be recognized?
        The Chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina, Mr.
    Wilson.
        Mr. Wilson. Thank you, Chairman Judge Ted Poe, for your
    leadership. I am grateful to support the bills in today's
    markup. I always appreciate being in the presence of Chairman
    Frank Wolf of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
        Recently, we have seen a rise in the terrorist threats
    coming from returned foreign fighters and homegrown terrorists,
    as the Islamic State uses their extensive digital network to
    promote violent extreme messaging in an effort to recruit in
    Western nations, including in the United States.
        I was grateful to introduce an amendment to this year's
    National Defense Authorization Act last week that would counter
    the propaganda and fundraising efforts that are used to recruit
    Americans to join terrorist groups as foreign fighters. We
    should also have penalties for American citizens who join the
    fight against freedom, democracy, and human dignity, including
    the revocation or denial of a United States passport. We also
    need to establish minimum border security standards to combat
    international travel by foreign terrorist fighters. The bills
    before the subcommittee today do just that by working in a
    comprehensive manner to address both the causes of foreign
    terrorist fighters and their movements so that we can protect
    American families.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
        Mr. Poe. Any other members wish to be heard? Seeing none,
    the question occurs on the items mentioned en bloc.
        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.
        Without objection, the measures considered en bloc will be
    ordered favorably to the full committee, as amended. The staff,
    as decided, are directed to make technical and conforming
    changes.
        This concludes our markup. The subcommittee stands
    adjourned on the markup.
        [Whereupon, at 2:45 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

                                A P P E N D I X

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