[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 163 (Tuesday, December 18, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6840-H6842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COUNTERING IRAN IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE ACT OF 2012

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur 
in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 3783) to provide for a 
comprehensive strategy to counter Iran's growing hostile presence and 
activity in the Western Hemisphere, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:

       Senate amendment:
       On page 11, strike lines 17-19 and insert the following:
       (d) Form.--The strategy in this section may be submitted in 
     classified form, but shall include an unclassified summary of 
     policy recommendations to address the growing Iranian threat 
     in the Western Hemisphere.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Sires) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and to insert extraneous material into the Record on this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support today of H.R. 3783, as amended, 
the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012, a bill 
introduced by my good friend from South Carolina and a member of our 
Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Duncan, who is here with us.
  In September, the House acted and passed the Duncan bill 
overwhelmingly, and last week the Senate further reiterated its strong 
bipartisan and bicameral support for the bill and the need to address 
Iran's increased presence in the Western Hemisphere.
  In February, the Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing entitled 
``Ahmadinejad's Tour of Tyrants and Iran's Agenda in the Western 
Hemisphere'' in order to examine the growing threat posed by Iran and 
its proxies to U.S. national security interests in the Western 
Hemisphere, a threat that first became evident 18 years ago with the 
deadly assault on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, 
Argentina.
  Eighteen years ago, so-called Iranian diplomats readily partnered 
with Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, to 
carry out the AMIA attack. Since then, Tehran has only increased its 
subversive actions, as well as its diplomatic and economic relations 
with radical regimes in Latin America.
  Iran's Ahmadinejad made two trips to Latin America this year in an 
attempt to garner support from his fellow tyrants, the Castro brothers 
in Cuba, Ortega in Nicaragua, Correa in Ecuador, Chavez in Venezuela, 
and Morales in Bolivia. Just last week, the Iranian Deputy Foreign 
Minister for Europe and the Americas finished a similar tour around 
Latin America seeking support for a nuclear Iran.
  The Pentagon's Southern Command, SOUTHCOM, underscores that Iran 
continues to expand its influence throughout the region, opening more 
embassies and more cultural centers in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, 
Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay, in addition to its existing diplomatic 
missions in Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela.
  According to a U.S. intelligence analyst, these diplomatic missions 
are simply fronts for Iran to carry out its nefarious activities in the 
region and a potential platform to increase the presence of Quds Force 
operatives, a designated foreign terrorist organization and an arm of 
Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
  Iran is not only an enemy of the United States but also of our 
allies. In the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the 
Iranian regime has time and again displayed its brazen disregard for 
peace by wanting to resupply the Hamas terrorist organization in 
Lebanon to continue their deadly rocket barrage on our greatest ally, 
the democratic Jewish State of Israel.
  One state sponsor of terrorism after another continues to receive the 
royal treatment from these tyrants of Latin America. Last month, 
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister also visited the regimes of Venezuela, 
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Ecuador.
  After that trip, news reports indicated that Assad, a close ally of 
the Iranian regime, and an enabler for their Hezbollah branch, may be 
seeking political asylum in one of these countries as the situation in 
Syria continues to rapidly deteriorate.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow these violent actors a safe haven to 
conduct their evil schemes, and the presence of these individuals only 
reaffirms the significant threat posed by Iran and its proxies to the 
United States and to the hemisphere.
  H.R. 3783 requires that the Secretary of State outline a U.S. 
Government-wide strategy to combat the aggressive actions of Iran and 
its proxies, such as Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere, toward a 
comprehensive policy stance that protects the security interests of the 
United States.
  We must do everything we can to isolate Iran and its proxies from 
sources of financial assistance in the hemisphere, as well as prevent 
entities from possibly helping Iran to evade sanctions. We must ensure 
that the U.S. is actively monitoring this threat and takes appropriate 
steps to counter the Iranian regime's agenda in our hemisphere.
  I strongly support passage of this legislation, and I look forward to 
the President signing it into law.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3783, as amended by 
the Senate, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume. And I 
want to thank the Congresswoman for all her hard work on this issue.
  The underlying bill, H.R. 3783, has already been passed by the House, 
and for that reason, I will only briefly summarize the bill and then 
move to explain the Senate amendment.
  This legislation authorizes $1 million for the State Department to 
generate an assessment of the threat posed to our country by Iran's 
growing presence and hostile activity in the Western Hemisphere, as 
well as a strategy to address that threat.

                              {time}  1250

  As many of our colleagues reminded us during House consideration of 
the bill, the issue could not be more pressing. Tehran's pursuit of a 
nuclear weapons capability, its continued support for international 
terrorism, and its abuse of basic human rights require the United 
States to maintain extreme vigilance in countering these threats. 
Thanks to the leadership of this Congress and the Obama administration, 
more pressure has been placed on the Iranian regime than ever before. 
But now is not the time to let down our guard.
  In a show of defiance to the U.S., Ahmadinejad has made six trips to 
our hemisphere. Although it is unclear that he has put anything of real 
value on the table, it is important that the U.S. Government continue 
to closely monitor the nature and effectiveness of these Iranian 
efforts, including attempts to gain support for circumventing 
international sanctions.
  None of this occurs in a vacuum. Iran was complicit in the horrific 
bombings of the Israeli Embassy and the Jewish Community Center in 
Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the first half of the 1990s. And we have 
evidence of Iran's increasing willingness to conduct an attack on U.S. 
soil, such as the discovery this year of a twisted Iranian plot to 
assassinate the Saudi Ambassador here in Washington. It is clear that 
Iran's behavior poses a clear and obvious danger to its own people and 
its neighbors, and its growing presence closer to our shores also 
deserves closer attention.
  H.R. 3783 makes clear that we must continue to monitor this situation 
closely and provide resources necessary

[[Page H6841]]

to ensure that the efforts of various U.S. Government agencies are 
coordinated and clearly focused. The amendment adopted by the Senate 
provides that the strategy generated by the administration ``may be 
submitted in classified form, but shall include an unclassified summary 
of policy recommendations.'' This modifies the original formulation, 
which provided that this strategy be unclassified, but with a 
classified addition.
  I urge my colleagues to support this amended legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I am so honored to yield 3 minutes to the author of 
this legislation, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan).
  Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. Let me first say how proud we are that 
the Governor of South Carolina appointed one of our colleagues, Tim 
Scott, to the United States Senate yesterday. We wish him well.
  I want to thank Madam Chairman for her leadership on this issue and 
her leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee. I also want to thank 
Chairman Royce, the new chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, for 
his leadership on this as this bill came through the TNT Subcommittee. 
I want to thank the folks on the other side of the aisle that worked 
with us in a bipartisan fashion to pass this unanimously through the 
committee. It passed the House unanimously. I thank the Senate for 
taking up this very important issue. Furthermore, I want to thank 
Chairman Mike McCaul, the new chairman of the Homeland Security 
Committee, for leading a codel specifically focused on this issue this 
past summer to South America.
  We're all aware of the Iranian threat or their proxies' activity here 
in this hemisphere. Whether it's the thwarted assassination attempt 
last year where the Quds Force operatives of the Iranian Revolutionary 
Guard were trying to use Mexican drug cartel connections to enter the 
United States to assassinate the Ambassador from Saudi Arabia, or the 
fact that it has recently been revealed that Hezbollah had a terrorist 
training camp or a training camp of some origin in Nicaragua here in 
this hemisphere, we know that Iran is active here.
  Last week, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and the 
Americas visited Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Uruguay. This follows 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's frequent trips to the region. 
Most recently, Iranian naval commanders have expressed their intent to 
extend Iran's maritime presence into the Atlantic Ocean, closer to the 
coastlines of the U.S.
  With this piece of legislation, we seek to protect U.S. citizens from 
threats from Iran and defend American interests and assets here in this 
hemisphere. It requires the Secretary of State to conduct an assessment 
and develop a coordinated and targeted strategy, working together with 
our allies and partners here in the region, to address Iran's growing 
hostile presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere. With this, it 
establishes a strong U.S. posture, policy, and most important, a 
relationship with Latin American countries. It requires a plan to 
define and outline the presence, activities, and operations of Iran, 
the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, Hezbollah, and any of their 
proxy organizations or transnational criminal organizations linked to 
Iran that may be present here. We require a plan to protect U.S. 
interests and assets here in the Western Hemisphere, including our 
embassies, consulates, businesses, energy pipelines, and cultural 
organizations, including threats to U.S. allies.
  Iran's actions here in our neighborhood represent a real threat to 
our safety and security, and I urge my colleagues to concur in the 
Senate amendment so that this legislation may pass the House and be 
sent to the desk of the President of the United States.
  Mr. SIRES. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield such time as he may consume to the incoming 
chairman of our Foreign Affairs Committee, the esteemed gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce), who is currently the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
  Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  I would like to begin by thanking Jeff Duncan and his staff, as well, 
for their good work on this legislation. But I would remind the 
Members, in terms of Iranian activity in this hemisphere, we think what 
first comes to mind is the attack in the 1990s in Argentina. But more 
recently, Hezbollah has penetrated our borders. One example I would 
give to you is Mahmoud Kourani, trained by Iranian intelligence. He 
paid a bribe in order to get to Mexico from Beirut. Once in Mexico, he 
paid a second bribe, this time to a cartel group, in order to have 
himself inserted into a special compartment in the back of a car.
  The reason Mahmoud Kourani is important is because it was his brother 
who was in charge of security in Israel during the Hezbollah war. I was 
there at the time. I saw those missiles that were ordered launched by 
Hezbollah into the town of Haifa. Haifa was under attack. There were 
some 600 casualties in that hospital that were a direct result of those 
Iranian and Syrian missiles that were being fired on the hospital--
frankly, one of the targets--but fired on that town, fired on the 
residential sections of that city.
  So the brother was caught coming into the United States. Actually, he 
was caught near Detroit. He's now serving time. There were some 50 
other Hezbollah operatives who were also discovered here. When you go 
through the background of his training in terror in terms of weapons 
and in terms of the capabilities that Iranian intelligence gave him, 
you begin to realize why our intelligence officials are so concerned 
about Iran's attempts to penetrate here.
  Look at Iran's attempt last year to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador 
on U.S. soil using a Mexican drug cartel. That's the latest example of 
the threat. I've had many ambassadors tell me that they dined in that 
same restaurant. You saw the commentary that they were willing to 
accept their deaths as collateral damage to the bombing in order to 
kill the Saudi Ambassador.
  These are the designs of Hezbollah. This is the problem with Iran. 
Many believe that countries close to Iran and that they're courting in 
this hemisphere, they're doing it because they're trying to help them 
beat back these sanctions--the sanctions bill which Chairman Ileana 
Ros-Lehtinen and I are going to be meeting on this afternoon. This is 
an attempt of Iran to extend their authority and try to convince those 
would-be allies that they should help them avoid these sanctions.
  I'll just quote our DNI, Director of National Intelligence. He told 
us:

       The dangerous activities of Iran and Hezbollah so near our 
     borders demand a whole-of-government strategy, beginning with 
     an interagency review to understand and assess the 
     transnational multifaceted nature of this problem and to 
     mobilize friendly governments to respond.

                              {time}  1300

  We're concerned that the administration is not doing that. That's why 
in this legislation we are pushing for this action. This bill requires 
that review; it requires that strategy. It will kick the bureaucracy 
into gear, and it enjoys strong bipartisan support. I urge its passage.
  This is an issue that the House Foreign Affairs Committee looks 
forward to continuing our oversight and work on in the 113th Congress. 
I really commend the chairwoman and Mr. Duncan for their work.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the 
rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 3783.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

[[Page H6842]]



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