[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 183 (Wednesday, December 16, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9349-H9352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TRACKING FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN TERRORIST SAFE HAVENS ACT

  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4239) to require intelligence community reporting on foreign 
fighter flows to and from terrorist safe havens abroad, and for other 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4239

       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 ``Tracking Foreign Fighters in 
     Terrorist Safe Havens Act''.

     SEC. 2. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY REPORTING TO CONGRESS ON 
                   FOREIGN FIGHTER FLOWS.

       (a) Reports Required.--Not later than 60 days after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 
     thereafter, the Director of National Intelligence, consistent 
     with the protection of intelligence sources and methods, 
     shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
     report on foreign fighter flows to and from terrorist safe 
     havens abroad.
       (b) Contents.--Each report submitted under subsection (a) 
     shall include, with respect to each terrorist safe haven, the 
     following:
       (1) The total number of foreign fighters who have traveled 
     or are suspected of having traveled to the terrorist safe 
     haven since 2011, including the countries of origin of such 
     foreign fighters.
       (2) The total number of United States citizens present in 
     the terrorist safe haven.
       (3) The total number of foreign fighters who have left the 
     terrorist safe haven or whose whereabouts are unknown.
       (c) Form.--The reports submitted under subsection (a) may 
     be submitted in classified form. If such a report is 
     submitted in classified form, such report shall also include 
     an unclassified summary.
       (d) Sunset.--The requirement to submit reports under 
     subsection (a) shall terminate on the date that is two years 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (e) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this 
     section, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
     means--
       (1) in the Senate--
       (A) the Committee on Armed Services;
       (B) the Select Committee on Intelligence;
       (C) the Committee on the Judiciary;
       (D) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
     Affairs;
       (E) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs;
       (F) the Committee on Foreign Relations; and
       (G) the Committee on Appropriations; and
       (2) in the House of Representatives--
       (A) the Committee on Armed Services;
       (B) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence;
       (C) the Committee on the Judiciary;
       (D) the Committee on Homeland Security;
       (E) the Committee on Financial Services;
       (F) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and
       (G) the Committee on Appropriations.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 4239.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, terrorism remains one of the greatest threats facing our 
Nation today. As a member of both the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence and the Committee on Armed Services, I have seen how the 
brave men and women of our Nation's Armed Forces and the intelligence 
services battle this threat on a daily basis.
  But the recent terrorist attack in San Bernardino has highlighted 
that this is not just a threat to be faced by our servicemen and -
women. We face this threat here at home, in our communities, from 
individuals who have been radicalized abroad and entered our country 
with the intent to do us harm.
  We must focus our intelligence efforts and bring them to bear 
directly on the problem of individuals radicalizing abroad and 
traveling to commit terrorist acts here at home. We must ensure that 
this important information gets into the hands of our Nation's 
representatives here in the United States Congress.
  The bill we are debating today will do just that. The Tracking 
Foreign Fighters in Terrorist Safe Havens Act requires the intelligence 
community to report to Congress three important categories of 
information:
  The total number of foreign fighters who have traveled to terrorist 
safe havens, including their country of origin;
  The number of U.S. citizens present in terrorist safe havens; and
  The total number of foreign fighters who have left terrorist safe 
havens or whose whereabouts are unknown.
  This information is crucial to policymakers. It will help Members 
understand the size and scope of the threats we face, the potential 
risk of terrorism at home, and how terrorist safe havens can undermine 
our national security.
  By ensuring that this information goes to a wide range of 
congressional committees, the bill ensures that relevant committees of 
Congress can begin to address this growing threat.
  This legislation is also bipartisan. I want to thank the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Swalwell) for cosponsoring this legislation.
  I want to also thank Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff and my 
colleagues on Homeland Security, Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member 
Thompson.
  Before closing, I want to take a moment to thank the men and women of

[[Page H9350]]

this country who serve our intelligence community and our Armed Forces. 
I am honored to know so many of them in the course of my oversight work 
and to see their diligent efforts in helping to keep our Nation safe.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  First, let me express my thanks to Mr. LoBiondo, my colleague on the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the chairman of its CIA 
Subcommittee.
  I serve as the subcommittee's ranking member. I appreciate the 
bipartisan way that the chairman of the whole committee and our ranking 
member, Mr. Schiff, as well as the way that Mr. LoBiondo and I have 
approached this critical issue of foreign fighter flow.
  ISIS is one of the greatest threats facing the United States today. 
Defeating ISIS means that the United States and its allies must be more 
coordinated in our efforts to scrub ISIS from this Earth and to protect 
Americans at home than ISIS is in attacking us. This will require a 
multifaceted approach, involving both foreign policy and the way that 
our intelligence community tracks ISIS here at home.
  The threat posed by foreign fighters who travel to and from a foreign 
zone or a terrorist safe haven and then return to wreak havoc in the 
West is both real and persistent.
  The challenge is that, when these foreign fighters go to these 
countries, if they are not killed on the battlefield, oftentimes they 
learn even better training and are able to return either to Western 
Europe or other parts of the world or even the United States with 
improved training and an increased hatred for innocent people. That 
leaves us very vulnerable.

                              {time}  1200

  To help confront this threat, the Tracking Foreign Fighters in 
Terrorist Safe Havens Act builds on important provisions in the 2016 
Intelligence Authorization Act which require a report on foreign 
fighter flows into and out of Syria and Iraq. This would expand the 
scope of that report.
  This bill broadens this requirement by calling on the Director of 
National Intelligence to report regularly on foreign fighter travel to 
and from any foreign safe haven or terrorist safe haven. If we do not 
know who is going to fight in these hot zones, we will have an 
incomplete picture of our own vulnerabilities.
  And, these reports have to be specific. They must include, for 
example, the foreign fighters' countries of origin, the number of 
foreign fighters who have traveled to or departed each safe haven, and 
the number of those whose whereabouts remain unknown.
  Importantly, to the extent a report is submitted in a classified 
form, it must also include an unclassified summary of the report's 
contents. I appreciate the chairman agreeing to my request to include 
this unclassified requirement.
  Increased transparency and public awareness is very important in the 
fight against terrorism. These broad, comprehensive reports will allow 
us to better understand the foreign fighter threat and, in turn, help 
all of us better protect our national security.
  Let me again thank Mr. LoBiondo. I urge my colleagues to vote in 
support of the Tracking Foreign Fighters in Terrorist Safe Havens Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Arizona (Ms. McSally).
  Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4239, the 
Tracking Foreign Fighters in Terrorist Safe Havens Act. This 
legislation fulfills a recommendation of the Committee on Homeland 
Security's Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter 
Travel, of which I was proud to be a member. In fact, our chairman, Mr. 
Katko, and another member, Mr. Hurd, are with us today to speak on this 
important legislation.
  Our bipartisan task force investigated America's security 
vulnerabilities for 6 months. We produced a final report in September 
that made 32 key findings and over 50 recommendations to make Americans 
safer. Today's bill, which I cosponsored, is the direct result of one 
of these recommendations.
  We know that ISIS is adept at propaganda and has used social media 
extensively to attract fighters to their cause. At least 30,000 people 
from 100 different countries have traveled to Iraq and Syria, including 
250 Americans. But their calls to action now extend past Syria and 
Iraq. In fact, our Task Force found ISIS now has a direct presence, 
affiliates, or groups pledging support in at least 19 countries.
  In my 26 years in uniform, including six deployments to the Middle 
East and Afghanistan and a final assignment at U.S. Africa Command, we 
watched foreign fighters flow to safe havens in Africa and the Middle 
East to get training and join the Islamic extremist fight. ISIS has 
accelerated this dangerous dynamic and is expanding, despite the 
President declaring otherwise. So our efforts to track these fighters 
should not be limited to Iraq and Syria. That is why our Task Force 
recommended that the intelligence community regularly track and update 
Congress on foreign fighter flows to all terrorist sanctuaries, which 
is what this bill requires.
  The administration's response to ISIS can only be described as 
anemic. We must take decisive action to defeat the ISIS threat and 
protect Americans.
  I am pleased that, in the last month, the House has taken action on 
several of our Task Force's recommendations. It is obvious that more 
work remains. And if the President won't act, the House will.
  I urge all Members to join me in supporting H.R. 4239.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff), the ranking member.
  Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Tracking Foreign Fighters in 
Terrorist Safe Havens Act, and I want to thank Chairman LoBiondo, 
Representative Swalwell, and the full committee chairman, Mr. Nunes, 
for their leadership on this issue.
  This bill will help inform Congress and the public on one of the most 
pressing counterterrorism challenges we face today: the flow of foreign 
fighters from the West to and from Syria, Iraq, and other terrorist 
safe havens.
  The Paris attacks brought home the dangers posed by citizens of 
Western nations who can move easily between countries, traveling to 
Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS, and who may then return home to 
commit horrific acts of terror and violence in their own countries.
  Tracking foreign fighters is a constant concern of the intelligence 
community and an issue on which we receive continual briefings. I 
believe these new reporting requirements will help keep Congress and 
the Nation more fully informed about this very serious threat to our 
national security.
  Of course, tracking foreign fighters is not enough. We have to 
redouble our efforts to staunch the flow of foreign fighters to and 
from Syria and Iraq. In addition to intelligence coordination, this 
requires a serious, substantial, and new commitment from Turkey, whose 
border with Syria has proven to be a conduit for a large number of 
fighters, as well as oil, money, and arms entering and leaving Syria.
  From the Mara line to the Euphrates, there is a 60-mile stretch along 
the Turkish-Syrian border through which much of the illegal trafficking 
in fighters and goods flow to ISIS. Turkey must close that border to 
ISIS. It has the power to do so, but does it have the will? Thus far, 
the answer has been, tragically, no, and this must change.
  Turkey must stop the flow of foreign fighters from crossing into 
Syria to join the fight. Where the Turks have been unable or unwilling 
to stop that flow, Kurdish forces have stepped up and demonstrated much 
greater success. I believe that if the Turks are unwilling to do more 
to shut down the flow of foreign fighters and resources that cross that 
border, we should increase our assistance to the Kurds, who have proven 
themselves far and away the most effective anti-ISIS fighting force in 
the region.
  Once again, I thank the chairman and Representative Swalwell for 
their leadership on this issue. I hope that, in addition to these 
reports, we will also hear from the intelligence community

[[Page H9351]]

about actions that Turkey takes to close down this critical 60-mile 
stretch of border between the Mara line and the Euphrates.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Hurd).
  Mr. HURD of Texas. Mr. Speaker, threat equals capabilities plus 
intent.
  ISIS has demonstrated that it has both the capabilities and the 
intent to attack the homeland. ISIS has expanded far beyond Iraq and 
Syria. It has affiliates that have carried out deadly attacks in Egypt, 
Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and France.
  Groups and individuals have pledged their support to ISIS in numerous 
other places, including the Philippines, the Palestinian territories, 
Nigeria, and Sudan. Tracking foreign fighters who travel to Iraq and 
Syria alone is not enough to mitigate the threat they pose to our 
national security. Terrorist safe havens around the globe are potential 
petri dishes for bad guys aiming to do bad things to the U.S.

  ISIS has explicitly encouraged fighters who cannot make it to Iraq 
and Syria to join their struggle in other locations. It is imperative 
that our intelligence and defense efforts aim at tracking and stemming 
the flow of fighters to and from all terrorist safe havens, even those 
outside of Iraq and Syria.
  I was an undercover officer in the CIA, and I understand how 
important it is to track threat indicators early. We cannot wait until 
one of these foreign fighters in a terrorist safe haven attempts an 
attack. We must preempt rather than react. This legislation supports 
our intelligence community's efforts to do just that.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from 
Texas for his service in the intelligence community, and I appreciate 
the bipartisan nature of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. 
Sewell).
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of our 
Nation's security and in our ongoing fight against terrorists and 
extremism around the world. As a Member who serves on the Intelligence 
Committee, the safety and security of the American people is my top 
priority.
  H.R. 4239, the Tracking Foreign Fighters in Terrorist Safe Havens 
Act, requires the intelligence community to report on foreign fighter 
flows to and from terrorist safe havens abroad.
  The recent horrific terrorist attacks that occurred in Paris, Beirut, 
and here at home in San Bernardino, California, not only shake our very 
conscience, but also cause us to evaluate our own security measures and 
intelligence protocols.
  This bill expands on the approach to tracking foreign fighters 
outlined in the Intelligence Authorization Act, and requires the DNI to 
produce an additional written report on foreign fighter flows to and 
from terrorist safe havens abroad every 180 days. Each report would 
include invaluable details, such as countries of origin, the numbers of 
U.S. citizen foreign fighters, and the numbers of foreign fighters 
whose whereabouts are unknown to us.
  The threat of extremists returning to the United States from the 
battlefields in Iraq and Syria are serious, and we must do what we can 
to prevent it. I am convinced that a more vigilant and robust foreign 
fighter tracking and reporting process is critically important to 
fighting terrorism and combating ISIS abroad, as well as extremism here 
at home.
  We must evaluate our national counterterrorism strategy and policies 
continuously to ensure that we are doing everything within our power to 
protect the American people and to defeat and destroy ISIS and all 
terrorists that seek to do us harm.
  I want to congratulate the chairman and my colleague, Mr. Swalwell, 
for their leadership on this effort, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Katko).
  Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey for introducing this bill, and I rise today in support of it.
  The tragic events in San Bernardino have brought ISIS violence to our 
shores. Attacks like this are aimed at undermining our democratic way 
of life and sowing fear among the citizens of our Nation. This threat 
must be defeated, plain and simple. To defeat it, we need to respond in 
an intelligent manner that deals with the vulnerabilities and protects 
the constitutional liberties that we hold dear.
  The measure before us today strengthens our hand against terrorism, 
and I hope the House will join today in a strong, bipartisan manner to 
support this bill.
  I had the privilege of chairing the bipartisan Task Force on 
Combating Terrorism and Foreign Fighter Travel. Over 6 months, we 
investigated security gaps at home and abroad to determine the best 
ways to make America safe. We heard from stakeholders here in the 
United States, Europe, and the Middle East, about the unique challenges 
they face every day in combating terrorism.
  Out of this Task Force, we came up with 32 findings and over 50 
recommendations that will make our country and our allies safer, if 
adopted. This bill, Mr. Speaker, contains one of those recommendations, 
that our intelligence community should report regularly on the flow of 
foreign fighters to terrorist safe havens.
  The bill takes action to stop ISIS' practice of encouraging fighters 
to go to what it calls provinces in places like Libya to carry out acts 
of terrorism by improving the sharing of information on the flow of 
these foreign fighters between nations.
  Understanding where the enemy's safe havens are and tracking and 
analyzing foreign fighter flows will better allow our intelligence 
agencies and the Department of Defense to strike effectively and deadly 
and give us a better picture of the ISIS threat.
  As we leave to celebrate the holidays with our families, let's leave 
having taken action on this commonsense bill that will make every 
American safer.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson).
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this 
legislation, which I believe is critical to our national security and 
that of our allies.
  Public estimates indicate that over 30,000 foreign fighters, 
including some from the United States, have traveled to Iraq and Syria.
  Over the last few years, Mr. Speaker, Americans watched as three 
teenage girls from Denver were arrested on their way to Syria. Ten 
young men from Minnesota were arrested--including the ringleader just 
last week--for a similar attempt.
  These young men and women, Mr. Speaker, and many others who make it 
to Syria, intend to carry out terrible atrocities against innocent 
people. Even more concerning, we know that some people hope to return 
and bring their fight to American soil.

                              {time}  1215

  As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I have confidence 
that the men and women in our intelligence community have the resources 
and expertise to keep us safe.
  Every day, they are tracking foreign fighters around the world, 
coordinating with our allies, and shutting down threats before they 
become a reality. We need to better understand this threat to create a 
whole-of-government response.
  Mr. Speaker, this information will help us conduct outreach into 
affected communities here at home so we can show parents what their 
kids are doing online and how to protect them from radicalization.
  Mr. Speaker, it will help us expand our support and coordination with 
our allies, including Turkey and Iraq, to show them what they can do, 
what we can do, and combine our efforts to stop these fighters.
  These reports, mandated in this legislation, will show where 
terrorists are coming from and where they train. It will help us assess 
when they may be returning home and what precautions we need to put in 
place. In light of the attacks in San Bernardino and Paris, this is 
absolutely critical.
  I encourage support from my colleagues.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the

[[Page H9352]]

gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the chairman of the Homeland 
Security Committee.
  Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank Chairman LoBiondo for 
his hard work on this legislation. And I want to thank the House 
Intelligence Committee for working closely with my committee to get 
this important legislation done. I can think of no more timely piece of 
legislation. I want to thank Ranking Member Swalwell from California 
for his hard work on this as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. Hundreds of our people 
have been radicalized, lured to the jihadist safe haven in Syria. They 
have been joined by thousands of Westerners, forming a terrorist army 
unlike anything we have ever seen.
  These foreign fighters represent a triple threat: They strengthen 
groups like ISIS on the ground; they radicalize others back home; and, 
worst of all, they may be sent back to conduct terrorist attacks 
against us in the homeland.
  We saw this in the streets of Paris, where battle-hardened extremists 
returned from Syria prepared to kill. And here at home, we have 
arrested so-called returnees from Syria, including one individual 
plotting a terrorist attack in Ohio.
  Earlier this year, I launched a bipartisan congressional Task Force 
on Combating Terrorists and Foreign Fighter Travel. One of their 
findings was that we must do more to track ``the great jihadi 
migration'' around the world.
  Our intelligence about foreign fighters in Syria is improving, but as 
we have seen, the threat can change almost overnight. ISIS is already 
urging its followers to go to its other sanctuaries in places like 
Afghanistan and Libya.
  We need to stay a step ahead of this threat, which is why this 
legislation requires the intelligence community to track extremist 
travel patterns and to report on a regular basis to Congress. It also 
requires agencies to monitor the number of U.S. citizens in terror 
hotspots and to report on how many individuals have departed those 
locations.
  This is the kind of early-warning intelligence we need in order to 
create a ``firebreak'' to slow the spread of Islamist terror, and to 
keep Americans from being lured to new jihadist safe havens.
  I would like to commend the task force for their hard work on this, 
including Mr. Katko.
  And let me just say this. I get regular threat briefings, and I have 
never seen a higher threat environment than we have seen since 9/11, 
and it is from the flow of foreign fighters.
  We have 5,000 of them that have Western passports, 30,000 foreign 
fighters from 100 different countries; 250 Americans have left to join 
the fight, and, Mr. Speaker, that is just who we know about.
  Now we know they are communicating in dark space. As the Director of 
the FBI says, they have one simple message: Come to fight in Syria or 
kill where you are. Unfortunately, we have seen them too often come to 
fight in Syria and, unfortunately, just recently, too many that have 
come to kill here in the United States.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley).
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, in these trying times, Congress needs to 
provide leadership and answer the question: What really keeps Americans 
safe?
  ISIS has directed U.S. and Western passport holders to launch attacks 
at home and abroad, and this threat requires our vigilance. But it is 
foolish to think we can effectively combat this terrorism blindly. 
Congress needs an accurate estimation of the number of foreign fighters 
who have traveled to terrorist havens like Syria. We need to know how 
many U.S. citizens are currently there, and we need to know the 
whereabouts of those who have left.
  Given that many of the terrorist attackers were European nationals, 
the need for this intelligence is crucial in the fight against ISIS and 
those who wish to harm the U.S.
  The Tracking Foreign Fighters in Terrorist Safe Havens Act provides 
for a more clear understanding of the real threats to U.S. security and 
allows Congress to work in partnership with our national security 
agencies to defend against these threats. I am happy to support this 
commonsense step to keep Americans safe.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers on this 
side, so I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  Again, I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for working in a 
bipartisan way to address one of the greatest threats that the United 
States, our allies, and people in the Middle East face today, and that 
is ISIS. ISIS is a brutal, growing force, growing in its influence and 
ability to carry out successful terrorist attacks, but also growing in 
its ability to inspire others to take up attacks on their own.
  ISIS has been so successful these days that they don't even have to 
order attacks here in America. Their success has inspired others to 
take up their own attacks. Until we are as coordinated as they are, 
they will continue to be successful. We saw, in Paris, that a number of 
the attackers were people who had traveled from Western Europe to Syria 
and then returned to carry out the horrific attacks we saw back in 
November.
  But we can defeat ISIS. We have defeated evil as a country before, 
and this country works best when its leaders work to protect the 
American people in a bipartisan way, as we are seeing today.
  There is no silver bullet we can fire to stop ISIS. Instead, ISIS' 
defeat will come at the hands of American leadership--American 
leadership in stitching together a coalition of countries willing and 
able to defeat ISIS--but also American leadership and its own 
intelligence community to protect us here at home.
  Mr. Speaker, let me close by reiterating my strong support for the 
Tracking Foreign Fighters in Terrorist Safe Havens Act. The information 
that this will provide is an important step regarding foreign fighter 
training, and it will be of great importance as we continue to fight 
terrorism at home and abroad and secure our homeland.

  Again, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Once again, I join in thanking my colleague from California (Mr. 
Swalwell). I think the approach we have had to this is exactly what we 
need in combating terrorism.
  It is hard to imagine, even just a few years ago, that we would be 
facing this threat that we face today and this threat of terrorism that 
we have seen, this barbaric face in Paris and in San Bernardino, the 
fact that the enemy is evolving in so many different ways, and the fact 
that we have to be right 100 percent of the time and that they have so 
many different avenues that they can pursue.
  This piece of legislation is another piece to the puzzle which will 
help our country and our agencies be able to figure things out. Our 
intelligence community works tirelessly with law enforcement to be able 
to figure out what the next challenge is.
  I hope the people of America understand the expertise and 
professionalism that the intelligence community and law enforcement 
bring to the table to keep our country safe. I hope my colleagues 
understand how important this legislation is and everyone votes ``yes'' 
to support it.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tipton). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4239, as amended.
  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. LoBIONDO. 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 motion will be postponed.

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