[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 170 (Sunday, December 30, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H7461-H7462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE REWARDS PROGRAM UPDATE AND TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS
ACT OF 2012
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (S. 2318) to authorize the Secretary of State to pay a reward
to combat transnational organized crime and for information concerning
foreign nationals wanted by international criminal tribunals, and for
other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 2318
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Department of State Rewards
Program Update and Technical Corrections Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Department of State's existing rewards programs
permit the payment of reward for information leading to the
arrest or conviction of--
(A) individuals who have committed, or attempted or
conspired to commit, certain acts of international terrorism;
(B) individuals who have committed, or attempted or
conspired to commit, certain narcotics-related offenses; and
(C) individuals who have been indicted by certain
international criminal tribunals.
(2) The Department of State considers the rewards program
to be ``one of the most valuable assets the U.S. Government
has in the fight against international terrorism''. Since the
program's inception in 1984, the United States Government has
rewarded over 60 people who provided actionable information
that, according to the Department of State, prevented
international terrorist attacks or helped convict individuals
involved in terrorist attacks.
(3) The program has been credited with providing
information in several high-profile cases, including the
arrest of Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing
of the World Trade Center, the deaths of Uday and Qusay
Hussein, who United States military forces located and killed
in Iraq after receiving information about their locations,
and the arrests or deaths of several members of the Abu
Sayyaf group, believed to be responsible for the kidnappings
and deaths of United States citizens and Filipinos in the
Philippines.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the rewards program of the Department of State should be
expanded in order to--
(1) address the growing threat to important United States
interests from transnational criminal activity, such as
intellectual property rights piracy, money laundering,
trafficking in persons, arms trafficking, and cybercrime; and
(2) target other individuals indicted by international,
hybrid, or mixed tribunals for genocide, war crimes, or
crimes against humanity.
SEC. 3. ENHANCED REWARDS AUTHORITY.
Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of
1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting ``serious violations
of international humanitarian law, transnational organized
crime,'' after ``international narcotics trafficking,'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking
``Attorney General'' and inserting ``heads of other relevant
departments or agencies'';
(B) in paragraphs (4) and (5), by striking ``paragraph (1),
(2), or (3)'' both places it appears and inserting
``paragraph (1), (2), (3), (8), or (9)'';
(C) in paragraph (6)--
(i) by inserting ``or transnational organized crime group''
after ``terrorist organization''; and
(ii) by striking ``or'' at the end;
(D) in paragraph (7)--
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking
``, including the use by the organization of illicit
narcotics production or international narcotics trafficking''
and inserting ``or transnational organized crime group,
including the use by such organization or group of illicit
narcotics production or international narcotics
trafficking'';
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``or transnational
organized crime'' after ``international terrorism''; and
(iii) in subparagraph (B)--
(I) by inserting ``or transnational organized crime group''
after ``terrorist organization''; and
(II) by striking the period at the end and inserting a
semicolon; and
(E) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(8) the arrest or conviction in any country of any
individual for participating in, primarily outside the United
States, transnational organized crime;
``(9) the arrest or conviction in any country of any
individual conspiring to participate in or attempting to
participate in transnational organized crime; or
``(10) the arrest or conviction in any country, or the
transfer to or conviction by an international criminal
tribunal (including a hybrid or mixed tribunal), of any
foreign national accused of war crimes, crimes against
humanity, or genocide, as defined under the statute of such
tribunal.'';
(3) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
``(3) Advance notification for international criminal
tribunal rewards.--Not less than 15 days before publicly
announcing that a reward may be offered for a particular
foreign national accused of war crimes, crimes against
humanity, or genocide, the Secretary of State shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report, which may
be submitted in classified form if necessary, setting forth
the reasons why the arrest or conviction of such foreign
national is in the national interests of the United
States.''; and
(4) in subsection (k)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs
(7) and (8), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following new
paragraphs:
``(5) Transnational organized crime.--The term
`transnational organized crime' means--
``(A) racketeering activity (as such term is defined in
section 1961 of title 18, United States Code) that involves
at least one jurisdiction outside the United States; or
``(B) any other criminal offense punishable by a term of
imprisonment of at least four years under Federal, State, or
local law that involves at least one jurisdiction outside the
United States and that is intended to obtain, directly or
indirectly, a financial or other material benefit.
``(6) Transnational organized crime group.--The term
`transnational organized crime group' means a group of
persons that includes one or more citizens of a foreign
country, exists for a period of time, and acts in concert
with the aim of engaging in transnational organized crime.''.
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL CORRECTION.
Section 36(e)(1) of the State Department Basic Authorities
Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended by striking ``The
Secretary shall authorize a reward of $50,000,000 for the
capture or death or information leading to the capture or
death of Osama bin Laden.''.
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act
shall be construed as authorizing the use of activity
precluded under the American Servicemembers' Protection Act
of 2002 (title II of Public Law 107-206; 22 U.S.C. 7421 et
seq.).
SEC. 6. FUNDING.
The Secretary of State shall use amounts appropriated or
otherwise made available to the Emergencies in the Diplomatic
and Consular Services account of the Department of State to
pay rewards authorized pursuant to this Act and to carry out
other activities related to such rewards authorized under
section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act (22
U.S.C. 2708).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Berman) 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 include extraneous material in the Record on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
[[Page H7462]]
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise in strong support of S. 2318, the Department of State Rewards
Program Update and Technical Corrections Act of 2012. This bipartisan
bill is Senator Kerry's Senate companion to H.R. 4077, the House bill
introduced 2 months prior by my good friend from California (Mr.
Royce).
Since the 1980s, the State Department has had authority to offer
rewards leading to the arrests and convictions for international
narcotics trafficking, acts of terrorism, and war crimes. These reward
programs have proven to be effective tools for disrupting and
dismantling terrorist cells and drug cartels around the world, enjoying
both high-profile and quiet successes in locating many dangerous
individuals, including Ramzi Yousef, one of the perpetrators of the
1993 World Trade Center attack, Saddam Hussein's sons, and
narcotrafficking commanders of the FARC in Colombia.
This bill is a critical tool in our ongoing efforts to locate Joseph
Kony, the murderous head of the predatory Lord's Resistance Army, LRA,
in Central Africa. This bill is a responsible, bipartisan bill that
will significantly enhance our ability to fight transnational organized
crime and grave human rights abuses. I urge unanimous support.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of S. 2318. I want to join my chairman in
commending the author of this legislation, Senator Kerry, and my friend
and colleague, Ed Royce, the incoming chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, who authored the House version of this bill and
fought long and hard for it.
The chairman has described the legislation and the existing law. The
bill makes two key changes in existing law. They're small, but they're
very important modifications to the rewards program.
It would authorize payments for the arrest or conviction of those
engaged in transnational criminal activity, including intellectual
property, piracy, money laundering, trafficking in persons and arms
trafficking.
Transnational organized crime poses a growing threat to U.S. economic
and national security interests. According to U.N. estimates, these
criminal enterprises generate hundreds of billions of dollars in
illicit revenues every year. Expanding the rewards program to cover
this activity is manifestly in our interest.
Second, this legislation would expand the universe of individuals
targeted for their involvement in gross violations of international
humanitarian law, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against
humanity. Specifically, this bill would cover all individuals indicted
by international tribunals for violations of international humanitarian
law, not just those indicted by the existing tribunals for Rwanda,
Sierra Leone, and the former Yugoslavia. The change is strongly
supported by the Departments of Defense and State.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important
legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, and the
author of the original House-side version of this bill.
Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady.
And I do think it's important, as we move forward here, to expand the
State Department's rewards program. We have found a technique that
works; and if we can deploy this in order to bring Joseph Kony to the
bar of justice for the mass killings that he's committed with the
Lord's Resistance Army, or if we can use it to bring to the bar of
justice some of the international crime figures that would be turned in
under this bill, then it could be very, very beneficial.
The bill has already passed the House. It was included as a provision
in the State Department authorization bill that the House Foreign
Affairs Committee moved earlier this year. I think it's regrettable
that the Senate chose not to act on the House's comprehensive State
Department authorization bill; but with today's action, this bill can
now go to the President's desk for signature where it promises to have
an immediate impact.
The House companion bill that I introduced, H.R. 4077, has enjoyed
very strong bipartisan support, and I want to thank Chairman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen. I want to thank Ranking Member Howard Berman and others
for the support they've given to this measure.
As has been explained, this rewards program, to date, has had some
very, very successful cases here; but it's been targeted mostly on
those involved in drug trafficking, occasionally on terrorists.
Earlier this year, our subcommittee held a hearing where the State
Department testified that one captured target, one narcoterrorist told
DEA agents that he could no longer trust anyone in his organization
after a reward was offered on his head.
{time} 1830
He said, I felt like a hunted man.
And so he was turned in. Well, that was the plan--to make him feel
like a hunted man, to make him feel like he could not trust anyone in
his organization.
This bill would expand this program to additionally target those
transnational organized criminals, those wanted for the most serious
human rights abuses. Today, unfortunately, those involved in that line
of work are diversifying. They're looking to sell anything to anybody.
It could be arms. It could be intellectual property. It's even people.
The overlap between the networks employed by criminals and employed by
terrorists is growing. So this legislation helps us keep pace. And,
very importantly, the legislation also allows the rewards program to
target those wanted for genocide, to target those wanted for war
crimes, for crimes against humanity--again, the world's worst human
rights abusers.
The target of the new war crimes authority would be killers like
Joseph Kony and the top commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army. This
group has terrorized across Central Africa for over two decades with
unspeakable crimes committed against children such as amputations
committed against children, taking child soldiers, taking sex slaves.
In accordance with U.S. policy, a small team of U.S. troops are
currently in the field helping local forces hunt this killer. Our U.S.
troops believe that a rewards program aimed at Kony could help generate
intelligence and bolster their efforts. They are asking for this. They
think this can make a difference on the ground. Let's answer their call
and send this bill to the President for his signature.
I thank my colleagues for their support.
Mr. BERMAN. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I also 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 pass the bill, S. 2318.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground
that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum
is not present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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