[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 54 (Thursday, April 3, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H2900-H2903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TIME FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT IN AMERICA'S FOREIGN POLICY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Yoho) for 30 minutes.
Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues for joining me
tonight to talk about foreign aid and saving hard-earned American
taxpayers' dollars.
With April 15 fast approaching, Americans will be filling out their
tax returns and sending a portion of their hard-earned tax money to the
Federal Treasury. It is up to us as Members of Congress to be good
stewards of these funds, making sure that they are used to the best
ability that we can to get the results desired. Time and again, we hear
of wasteful spending in Washington, D.C., and it is long overdue that
we commit ourselves to giving proper oversight to how we spend the
people's money.
I have made it a priority of mine since having the honor of joining
the people's House to commit myself to doing the proper oversight of
government. There are numerous examples of domestic programs that are a
questionable use of taxpayers' dollars, and many of them should be
eliminated. However, there is a United States foreign aid program that
caught my eye and the eyes of my colleagues on the Foreign Affairs
Committee.
On March 5, 2014, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on
Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade held a hearing: ``Threats to
Israel: Terrorist Funding and Trade Boycotts.'' Through that hearing,
it was brought to our attention that United States' foreign aid given
to the Palestinian Authority has the potential to be funneled into a
fund that pays monthly salaries to Israeli-convicted Palestinian
terrorists.
Back in April 2011, the Palestinian Authority Registry published the
PA Government Resolution of 2010, resolution Nos. 21 and 23, which
formalized the long-held practice of the PA's paying a monthly salary
to all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel for security- and terror-
related offenses. The salaries are paid from the PA's general budget to
the prisoners on a sliding scale based on quality, which in this world
means, the more vicious the act of terrorism, the more that is paid
out. The payments can range from 2,400 to 12,000 shekels per month,
roughly $680 to $3,400 per month.
It doesn't take a genius to know that money is interchangeable and
that, once out of the hands of the American foreign aid, the dollars
can easily be used to pay these salaries. It is reported, as of
December 2012, salaries have gone to more than 4,500 prisoners who have
committed acts of terror, acts of terror that have killed at least 54
U.S. citizens since 1993 and have injured another 83 Americans.
This is totally unacceptable. It is absurd that the United States
remains one of the largest donors to the Palestinian Authority while
these heinous practices remain on the books.
It is for this reason that my colleagues and I introduced a
resolution in Congress that simply says that, until the Palestinian
Authority repeals the resolution supporting convicted terrorists, all
U.S. foreign aid to the PA should be halted. Representatives Weber,
Perry, Poe, Westmoreland, Collins, Johnson, King, and Franks all feel
the same way I do--cut off the funding. I believe this is only fair and
should have been done a long time ago. The American taxpayers should
not be funding anyone who wishes death upon them or conspires to
inflict harm on us or our allies.
According to Palestinian definition, again, more than 4,500
Palestinian prisoners who are serving time for terror-related offenses
are recipients of the PA salaries. This means that Palestinians
convicted of crimes, such as theft, do not receive a salary, but Hamas
and Fatah prisoners receive hefty payments for acts of terrorism.
Madam Speaker, take a moment to think about this. Steal a loaf of
bread, and you don't get a check. Blow up a building and commit murder,
and you receive a nice stipend from the Palestinian Authority which is
funded by the hardworking American taxpayers. The thought of this
angers me, and I know it angers the American taxpayers.
Since 2011, Palestinian Media Watch has been documenting
international donors' aid money to the Palestinian Authority that is
given for salaries and the general budget but that ends up paying the
salaries of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. These monthly
payments to prisoners are paid from the Palestinian general budget
fund. According to the language of the Palestinian regulation as well
as Palestinian economic reports on government salaries, the monthly
salaries to prisoners range, again, from 2,400 shekels to 12,000
shekels a month. That is $680 to $3,400 a month. The average income in
that region is between $4,000 and $5,000 a year. The Palestinian
Authority economic report listed the prisoners' salaries as part of the
Palestinian general salary budget, which includes civil servants,
military personnel, and others. It was not listed as a social service
payment.
Two national bodies exist to process those salaries and other
benefits. The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, established
in 1998, is an official bureaucracy of the Palestinian Authority that
commands as much priority as the Ministries of Health or Education but
with far more gravitas. The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs
works in tandem with the semi-official Prisoners' Club, established in
1994. The ministry dispenses the salary. The club functions as an
advocate for the prisoners, and it is quite willing to publicly needle
Palestinian leadership generally and the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs
specifically into providing ever-greater payments and benefits. The
ministry channels certain payments and benefits through the Prisoners'
Club.
In May 2009, our own GAO issued a report on this very subject,
entitled, ``Measures to Prevent Inadvertent Payments to Terrorists
under Palestinian Aid Programs have been Strengthened but Some
Weaknesses Remain.'' The report explained:
The U.S. Government is one of the largest donors to the
Palestinians. It provided nearly $575 million in assistance
in fiscal year 2008.
At least 54 U.S. citizens have been killed in Palestinian terror
attacks since 1993, and another 83 have been wounded. The attacks have
targeted American tourists, students, and expatriates living in Israel
or in areas under Palestinian control.
Ahlam Tamimi helped to mastermind the deadly 2001 bombing of the
Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, which killed 15 people. Among those
murdered was New Jersey schoolteacher Shoshana Greenbaum. Tamimi, who
was released in the Shalit deal, now lives in Jordan, and is
unrepentant about her actions. It is terrorists like these who receive
monthly salaries from the Palestinian Authority.
Madam Speaker, at a time in the world that is becoming more
dangerous, when there are individuals and organizations that wish the
United States harm, when the administration is proposing cutting our
military to pre-World War II levels, and when we as Americans are $17.6
trillion in debt, is it smart to be giving money to people in the name
of peace who wish to do Americans and Israeli citizens harm?
Our national security is paramount, and as a Member of Congress, I
swore
[[Page H2901]]
an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of
America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I intend to stay
true to that oath and defend the country I love and all who call it
home. It is time that we as Americans in government have a paradigm
shift in our foreign policy.
At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).
Mr. WEBER of Texas. I thank my friend, the gentleman from Florida.
Madam Speaker, I will tell you what the gentleman from Florida is
describing is American and Israeli blood on the hands of terrorists who
now have American cash in their back pockets. It is unbelievable.
The history is that, since 2003, the Palestinian Authority has
provided government salaries to Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli
jails--let me again say--with Israeli blood on their hands. These are
prisoners who have actively participated in terrorist activities.
According to the Palestinians' language of their own law, ``Anyone
imprisoned in the occupation's, or Israel's, prisons as a result of his
participation in the struggle against the occupation'' is eligible for
a monthly salary.
Let me be clear.
Prisoners may qualify for a government salary if--and only if--they
have killed an Israeli and/or participated in terrorist activities. As
an extra, dare I call it, ``bonus,'' if their crimes are so extensive
as to warrant imprisonment for 5 years or more, the government salaries
will continue until 3 years following their release from jail. Salaries
are also given to the families of suicide bombers or to those who die
``while participating in the struggle.''
Originally, these salaries were set at a minimum of $250 per month,
American dollars. The payments were increased by 300 percent in January
of 2011. At present, the PA is paying up to $15 million in government
salaries to those convicted of crimes each month. It seems like a
pretty good deal to me. Commit a terrorist attack and get yourself
caught and imprisoned by the Israelis, and you can win free food,
shelter, education, medical care, and a salary that is significantly
higher than what you can collect on your own in the outside world.
How are we to believe the sincerity of a government that incentivizes
violent acts of terror against the very nation with which they are
supposedly negotiating a treaty for peace?
In a meeting with the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat,
while in Ramallah, I told him that actions speak louder than words--
that they need to stop glorifying terrorists and, instead, glorify
peace and renounce terrorism, that they need to admit that Israel has
the right to exist as a Jewish state. He was not a happy camper.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority doled out $100 million in
salaries to 4,762 prisoners last year. An additional $46 million has
already been allocated this year, and we are only 4 months into the
year. Let me tell you that that averages out to $2,400 per prisoner per
month--all for participating in terrorism. What is worse is that we are
helping the Palestinian Government in their efforts. Did I mention they
have got Israeli and American blood on their hands and American cash in
their back pockets? Approximately 85 percent of all international aid
money sent to the West Bank and Gaza goes to government salaries.
In spite of multiple congressional freezes on government aid,
President Obama has continued to use his waiver authority to release
millions in American taxpayer dollars to that same Palestinian
Authority. In fact, since 2008, we have averaged $500 million a year in
bilateral assistance. How does that protect our Nation or our very best
ally, Israel? Where is the sense in that?
In the words of the Texas revolutionary, Lieutenant William Barret
Travis:
I call on you, members, in the name of liberty, patriotism
and everything dear to the American character, to come to our
aid. We have got to stop this foolishness.
{time} 1745
We require foreign contractors, vendors, and employees to be properly
vetted prior to receiving government grant funds to ensure that we are
not unintentionally contributing to terror around the world. Why are we
allowing it to happen here, for heaven's sake?
You are right, Congressman Yoho, at a time when our constituents are
pulling out their receipts, drafting their tax returns, planning their
annual budgets, we should be ever more diligent on spending their tax
dollars.
The Appropriations Committee must ensure that the language they craft
and the authority they give safeguards against us ever contributing to
the financial well-being of those who seek the destruction of our
allies or our great Nation.
Foreign aid is not a right; it is a gift from the American people.
Terrorists with blood on their hands, we don't want to support
terrorists with American and Israeli blood on their hands and with
American cash in their back pockets. We must not let that happen.
I am Randy Weber, and you know I am right.
Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for your
passion. I think it is so true, that we see this so many times. You
said that foreign aid is not--it's a gift from the American taxpayers.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. It is not a right.
Mr. YOHO. It is a gift, and it is also not constitutional, and it
doesn't say in there that we need to do that. So we need to look at all
these things that we are doing, and that is why I say this is a time
for a paradigm shift in foreign aid.
What we are actually doing--we are doing this in the name of peace,
trying to promote peace, but then we turn around with the other hand,
and they are giving money to our enemies, so it makes no sense.
At this moment, I yield to the great gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, many people that each of us meet as
Representatives in our home district say that things are wrong with
Washington, and they give us a list.
Of course, one of the big things is the misspending of their money,
and they are right. They say: Why aren't you doing something about it?
Oftentimes, the answer is: look, it is complicated, we have a House
of Representatives, we have a Senate, and we don't always agree, and
then we have to get the President to sign something.
On this occasion, something can be done; it is just not being done.
In April 2011, the Palestinian Authority registry published a
government resolution granting all Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in
Israel for security and terror-related offenses a monthly salary from
the authority--a monthly salary, like a job.
Imagine if your job was to blow up people, tear their limbs off, and
send hot pieces of metal through their bodies and watch their bloody
corpses being dragged through the street.
If that was your job, you would get a salary for that. Who in America
pays--we put people in prison for that, we put people to death for
that; yet American taxpayers are paying people overseas to do just
that. Words mean things. They pay a salary.
The Authority defined eligible beneficiaries as anyone imprisoned in
Israel's prison as a result of his participation in the struggle
against the occupation, as is already stated, the occupation; again,
words mean things.
I wonder, people complain, and they call it an occupation of the
Palestinian lands. Let's remember who attacked Israel. I wonder if the
war had ended inside of Israel's borders, if the attackers would have
given Israel's borders back. I wonder, but I doubt they would have.
Words mean things. So if you are involved at all in this struggle, in
this fight, in this killing, you get a salary.
Now, according to the Palestinian Authority's definition, as was
already stated, more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners, as of December
2012, serving time for terror-related offenses are recipients of these
salaries.
This means that Palestinians convicted of crimes such as theft do not
receive a salary. However, Hamas and Fatah prisoners receive hefty
payments--hefty.
According to the regulation and economic reports on government
salaries, the monthly salaries to these prisoners range from $680 to
$3,400 a month. Who couldn't use $3,400, especially at tax time? Yet we
are sending it to people to kill people, literally.
Like many salaries, payments to prisoners follow a sliding scale
based
[[Page H2902]]
on quality--quality of work. If your work is murdering other people, as
Mr. Weber from Texas already stated, the more murder, the more mayhem,
the higher the salary. It is unfathomable to us as Americans.
This is happening, and there is a few of us on the floor, but where
is the rest of the Federal Government, Madam Speaker? Where is the
Senate? Where is our President? Where is the Secretary of State? He
knows this is happening, but it is us folks on the floor that are
talking about it. He is not saying a word.
In this world, the more heinous the act of terrorism, the greater the
salary; the more violent the terrorist act, the longer the Israeli
prison sentence and, in turn, the higher the monthly compensation--
compensation for killing, so we are hiring hit men. American tax
dollars are hiring hit men and hit women, and the policy literally
incentivizes terrorism.
In May of 2009, GAO issued a report on this very subject, the
Government Accountability Office. This is not Perry's rules; it is not
Yoho's statistics. It is the GAO.
The report explained:
The U.S. Government is one of the largest donors to the
Palestinians.
One of the largest donors. Yet the GAO found incomplete compliance
with even the minimal paperwork requirements for vetting procedures.
So we are giving them a pile of money, and as usual with the Federal
Government, we are not checking up on them. We have no idea what they
are spending it on. Well, we just found out, right? We just found out.
In many cases, it seems Federal agencies and offices merely went
through the motions without proper vetting--so surprising. It is
shocking to me that U.S. taxpayer dollars have been indirectly used to
pay Palestinian terrorists' salaries.
Let me explain the indirectly part of it because it amounts to this
year--this fiscal year--$440 million. $17 trillion in debt. Annual
deficits for the last 5-6 years averaging about a trillion dollars; yet
we are happy to hand away $440 million and some of which--a great deal
of which is used to kill people.
So the Congress allocates that money to the Department of State. The
Department of State then allocates a portion of that money to USAID,
who then gives it to the Palestinian Authority general budget, which is
extremely fungible, which means the first dollar or the last dollar--
the dollars don't care--of the $440 million, we are spending about $60
million--well, someone is--the Palestinian Authority's paying $60
million to these terrorists in salaries. $60 million of that $440
million is going to terrorists' salaries.
Now, I wonder how much we spent tracking down Nidal Hassan and
convicting him. How much time did we spend? What about those victims?
How much time, energy, and resources did we spend on the Tsarnaev
brothers?
Terrorism, people that kill other people, yet while we spend American
tax dollars to track them down, imprison them--in the case of Nidal
Hassan, his rightful punishment, which is the death sentence--on this
occasion, we actually pay people to kill our allies and even other
Americans.
State and Federal Government sanction other nations for this kind of
behavior. We sanction them. We say we are not going to give you things,
we are going restrict you; yet on this occasion, the Palestinian
Authority, we actually pay them.
I don't get it. As an American, I don't get it. I wonder too, in this
time of executive orders, this is wholly within the purview of the
executive branch.
There have been many times when people in this House have objected to
the executive orders moved on by this administration, but on this
occasion, I can't think of one person in this room that would say: oh,
no, Mr. President, please don't stop the State Department from giving
$440 million to the Palestinian Authority, so they can spend $60
million of hard-earned taxpayer money to pay for criminals that kill
people.
Yet crickets, Madam Speaker, crickets.
Mr. YOHO. I appreciate the gentleman form Pennsylvania and your
passion on that also.
This is the time, like you brought up and we have talked about, $17.5
trillion roughly in debt, if we go back to when we first got here, all
being freshman, one of the first things that we had to deal with--it
was right before we came in, it was the fiscal cliff, then it was
sequester, then it was the furloughing, and then the government shut
down.
Why? From a lack of money, right? It wasn't an excess of money; yet
we have given over $5 billion since 1988 to the Palestinian Authority,
which is not a country. It is a loosely-knit organization.
We have to go back to our taxpayers and to our constituents back home
and say: we need more money, we have got to do this. And they look at
us, like they say to you: When are you guys going to start fixing it?
This is the time.
At this moment, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Iowa (Mr.
King), my friend.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida
for yielding and for pulling this Special Order together here and
bringing out this case as something that all the American people aren't
going to realize what is taking place here, if we don't have this
discussion here. It takes leadership in this Congress to do this. I
appreciate the strong voice of Mr. Perry and Mr. Weber.
I look back at it this way. On my first trip to Israel some time more
than 10 years ago, I looked across at what was taking place from Israel
proper and West Bank, the Palestinian area.
I went through the briefings and saw the data of a culture of people
that raise their little girls to put on these fake suicide vests in
order to make sure that they entrench deeply in them a
multigenerational hatred towards Israelis and Jewish people. Now, why?
It is not a rational thing for a culture and a civilization to be so
full of hate; yet all they really need to do is accept the existence of
Israel, and a lot of us, this resistance we have within us would start
to dissipate.
It wouldn't be gone because you don't just accept somebody's word who
has such a history of doing what they have done. The hatred goes deep.
I think of Congressman Gohmert of Texas, if he were standing here
tonight, he would say: you don't have to pay people to hate you,
they'll hate you for free.
So all these billions of dollars--$5 billion since 1988, as Mr. Yoho
just said, the idea of trying to trade off land for peace, and what you
get back is a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, in a more violent and
a bloody and a brutal way.
You see that there is a fundraising mechanism worldwide that pours
dollars into the Palestinian Authority, and they then use it to pay the
payroll of people that are sitting in a prison for crimes against--let
me say it this way, crimes against humanity, not necessarily the
technical definition of the convictions that they have--who get a
payroll check for demonstrating hatred, acting on it, in a kinetic
fashion, being locked up to protect the rest of society, and then being
paid in reward for that.
This is an appalling circumstance, tapping into the United States of
America where--we have to think about this--if we want to pay people
that hate Israel, who are prisoners for committing crimes, and we grant
that over to the Palestinian Authority in our foreign aid package or
whatever particular line item it might be, so we have to go to China:
Will you loan us some money, so that we can run it through our
Treasury, so we can funnel it in to go in to pay people that have
been--in any measure of decency, what they are committing is wrong?
They need to have their hearts softened. They need to raise their
children to love their neighbor as they love themselves. They need to
understand that there is a good functional government going on in
Israel proper and still likely the only place in the Middle East where
an Arab can get a fair trial is in Israel, where Arabs serve in the
Knesset, where they serve in the supreme court, where they have the
rights of land ownership.
That is the way you run a country that has a multidimensional
ethnicity and religion in it.
Mr. PERRY. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. KING of Iowa. I would yield.
Mr. PERRY. So based on this, how should our great ally Israel--how
should the people of Israel view us, knowing that this is happening and
knowing that no one outside these four
[[Page H2903]]
walls right now is talking about this? How should they view us?
Mr. KING of Iowa. Well, I think they will view us as a foolish
country that doesn't understand our priorities and doesn't understand
where the money is coming from or where it goes.
I would say this call out: Mr. Netanyahu, why don't you just ask us
to take that money and give it to Israel instead? Give it to the people
that are promoting peace, the people that are surrounded by enemies
throughout, the people that had to stand there and face the all-out
attacks over and over again.
They are a democracy in the Middle East, a stabilizing force in the
Middle East; and if we allow them to be weakened--sometimes by the
willful actions of this administration--if we allow them to be
weakened, if they collapse, so does a lot of freedom in the Middle
Eastern part of world.
It threatens Europe, and in the end, it threatens us. So our safety
and our security is tied together. We need to protect our brethren who
believe in freedom, who believe in a form of democracy, and we need to
encourage that everywhere in the world.
{time} 1800
There are good people in the Palestinian lands. They need to have
good leadership, and if we give them the right incentive, they are
going to perhaps produce good leadership.
But if we pay them to hate people, there are going to be more people
hating people. I think we should turn that money back around and reward
the people that don't, those who need to be defended.
Mr. YOHO. I appreciate your participation in this and your leadership
on so many other things that you have done. Thank you for being here.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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