[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4281-H4291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CAESAR SYRIA CIVILIAN PROTECTION ACT OF 2017
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 1677) to halt the wholesale slaughter of the Syrian people,
encourage a negotiated political settlement, and hold Syrian human
rights abusers accountable for their crimes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1677
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Caesar
Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 3. Statement of policy.
TITLE I--ADDITIONAL ACTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY
WITH RESPECT TO SYRIA
Sec. 101. Sanctions with respect to Central Bank of Syria and foreign
persons that engage in certain transactions.
Sec. 102. Prohibitions with respect to the transfer of arms and related
materials to Syria.
Sec. 103. Rule of construction.
Sec. 104. Definitions.
TITLE II--AMENDMENTS TO SYRIA HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2012
Sec. 201. Imposition of sanctions with respect to certain persons who
are responsible for or complicit in human rights abuses
committed against citizens of Syria or their family
members.
Sec. 202. Imposition of sanctions with respect to the transfer of goods
or technologies to Syria that are likely to be used to
commit human rights abuses.
Sec. 203. Imposition of sanctions with respect to persons who hinder
humanitarian access.
Sec. 204. Report on certain persons who are responsible for or
complicit in certain human rights abuses in Syria.
TITLE III--REPORTS AND WAIVER FOR HUMANITARIAN-RELATED ACTIVITIES WITH
RESPECT TO SYRIA
Sec. 301. Briefing on monitoring and evaluating of ongoing assistance
programs in Syria and to the Syrian people.
Sec. 302. Assessment of potential methods to enhance the protection of
civilians.
Sec. 303. Assistance to support entities taking actions relating to
gathering evidence for investigations into war crimes or
crimes against humanity in Syria since March 2011.
TITLE IV--SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO SYRIA
Sec. 401. Suspension of sanctions with respect to Syria.
Sec. 402. Waivers and exemptions.
TITLE V--REGULATORY AUTHORITY, COST LIMITATION, AND SUNSET
Sec. 501. Implementation and regulatory authorities.
Sec. 502. Cost limitation.
Sec. 503. Authority to consolidate reports.
Sec. 504. Sunset.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) Bashar al-Assad's murderous actions against the people
of Syria have directly contributed to the deaths of more than
480,000 civilians, led to the destruction of more than 50
percent of Syria's critical infrastructure, and forced the
displacement of more than 14,000,000 people, precipitating
one of the worst humanitarian crises in more than 60 years;
(2) international actions to protect vulnerable populations
from attack by uniformed and irregular forces associated with
the Assad regime, including Hezbollah, on land and by air,
including through the use of barrel bombs, chemical weapons,
mass starvation, industrial-scale torture and execution of
political dissidents, sniper attacks against pregnant women,
and the deliberate targeting of medical facilities, schools,
residential areas, and community gathering places, including
markets, have been insufficient to date;
(3) Assad's use of chemical weapons, including chlorine,
against the Syrian people violates the Chemical Weapons
Convention, to which Syria is a party;
(4) Assad's abhorrent use of chemical weapons, most
recently on April 4, 2017, in an attack on the town of Khan
Shakhyn in which more than 90 people died, including women
and children, and more than 600 hundred people were injured,
is condemned in the strongest terms;
(5) violent attacks resulting in death, injury,
imprisonment or threat of prosecution against humanitarian
aid workers and diplomatic personnel, as well as attacks on
humanitarian supplies, facilities, transports, and assets,
and acts to impede the access and secure movement of all
humanitarian personnel are in violation of international
humanitarian law and impede the lifesaving work of
humanitarian organizations and diplomatic institutions; and
(6) Assad's continued claim of leadership and war crimes in
Syria have served as a rallying point for the extremist
ideology of the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, and other
terrorist organizations.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States that all diplomatic
and coercive economic means should be utilized to compel the
government of Bashar al-Assad to immediately halt the
wholesale slaughter of the Syrian people and to support an
immediate transition to a democratic government in Syria that
respects the rule of law, human rights, and peaceful co-
existence with its neighbors.
TITLE I--ADDITIONAL ACTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY
WITH RESPECT TO SYRIA
SEC. 101. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CENTRAL BANK OF SYRIA AND
FOREIGN PERSONS THAT ENGAGE IN CERTAIN
TRANSACTIONS.
(a) Application of Certain Measures to Central Bank of
Syria.--Except as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of
section 402, the President shall apply the measures described
in section 5318A(b)(5) of title 31, United States Code, to
the Central Bank of Syria.
(b) Blocking Property of Foreign Persons That Engage in
Certain Transactions.--
(1) In general.--Beginning on and after the date that is 30
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
President shall impose on a foreign person the sanctions
described in subsection (c) if the President determines that
such foreign person, on or after such date of enactment,
knowingly engages in an activity described in paragraph (2).
(2) Activities described.--A foreign person engages in an
activity described in this paragraph if the foreign person--
(A) knowingly provides significant financial, material or
technological support to (including engaging in or
facilitating a significant transaction or transactions with)
or provides significant financial services for--
(i) the Government of Syria (including government entities
operating as a business enterprise) and the Central Bank of
Syria, or any of its agencies or instrumentalities; or
(ii) a foreign person subject to sanctions pursuant to--
(I) the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) with respect to Syria or any other
provision of law that imposes sanctions with respect to
Syria; or
(II) a resolution that is agreed to by the United Nations
Security Council that imposes sanctions with respect to
Syria;
(B) knowingly--
(i) sells or provides significant goods, services,
technology, information, or other support that directly and
significantly facilitates the maintenance or expansion of the
Government of Syria's domestic production of natural gas or
petroleum or petroleum products of Syrian origin in areas
controlled by the Government of Syria or associated forces;
[[Page H4282]]
(ii) sells or provides to the Government of Syria crude oil
or condensate, refined petroleum products, liquefied natural
gas, or petrochemical products that have a fair market value
of $500,000 or more or that during a 12-month period have an
aggregate fair market value of $2,000,000 or more in areas
controlled by the Government of Syria or associated forces;
(iii) sells or provides aircraft or spare parts, or
provides significant goods, services, or technologies
associated with the operation of such aircraft or air
carriers to any foreign person operating in areas controlled
by the Government of Syria or associated forces that are
used, in whole or in part, for military purposes; or
(iv) sells or provides significant goods, services, or
technology to a foreign person operating in the shipping
(including ports and free trade zones), transportation, or
telecommunications sectors in areas controlled by the
Government of Syria or associated forces;
(C) knowingly facilitates efforts by a foreign person to
carry out an activity described in subparagraph (A) or (B);
or
(D) knowingly provides significant loans, credits,
including export credits, or financing to carry out an
activity described in subparagraph (A) or (B).
(c) Sanctions Against a Foreign Person.--The sanctions to
be imposed on a foreign person described in subsection (b)
are the following:
(1) In general.--The President shall exercise all of the
powers granted to the President under the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the
extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in
property and interests in property of the foreign person if
such property and interests in property are in the United
States, come within the United States, or are or come within
the possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Aliens ineligible for visas, admission, or parole.--
(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien who the
Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or
a designee of one of such Secretaries) knows, or has reason
to believe, meets any of the criteria described in subsection
(a) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to
enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into
the United States or to receive any other benefit under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--The issuing consular officer, the
Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or
a designee of one of such Secretaries) shall revoke any visa
or other entry documentation issued to an alien who meets any
of the criteria described in subsection (a) regardless of
when issued.
(ii) Effect of revocation.--A revocation under clause (i)--
(I) shall take effect immediately; and
(II) shall automatically cancel any other valid visa or
entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.
(3) Exception to comply with united nations headquarters
agreement.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to
an alien if admitting the alien into the United States is
necessary to permit the United States to comply with the
Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force
November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
States, or other applicable international obligations.
(4) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person
that knowingly violates, attempts to violate, conspires to
violate, or causes a violation of regulations promulgated
under section 501(a) to carry out paragraph (1) of this
subsection to the same extent that such penalties apply to a
person that knowingly commits an unlawful act described in
section 206(a) of that Act.
SEC. 102. PROHIBITIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE TRANSFER OF ARMS
AND RELATED MATERIALS TO SYRIA.
(a) Sanctions.--
(1) In general.--Beginning on and after the date that is 30
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
President shall impose on a foreign person the sanctions
described in subsection (b) if the President determines that
such foreign person, on or after such date of enactment,
knowingly exports, transfers, or provides significant
financial, material, or technological support to the
Government of Syria to--
(A) acquire or develop chemical, biological, or nuclear
weapons or related technologies;
(B) acquire or develop ballistic or cruise missile
capabilities;
(C) acquire or develop destabilizing numbers and types of
advanced conventional weapons; or
(D) acquire defense articles, defense services, or defense
information (as such terms are defined under the Arms Export
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.)), if the President
determines that a significant type or amount of such
articles, services, or information has been so acquired.
(2) Applicability to other foreign persons.--The sanctions
described in subsection (b) shall also be imposed on any
foreign person that is a successor entity to a foreign person
described in paragraph (1).
(b) Sanctions Against a Foreign Person.--The sanctions to
be imposed on a foreign person described in subsection (a)
are the following:
(1) In general.--The President shall exercise all powers
granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to freeze
and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests
in property of the foreign person if such property and
interests in property are in the United States, come within
the United States, or are or come within the possession or
control of a United States person.
(2) Aliens ineligible for visas, admission, or parole.--
(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien who the
Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or
a designee of one of such Secretaries) knows, or has reason
to believe, meets any of the criteria described in subsection
(a) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to
enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into
the United States or to receive any other benefit under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--The issuing consular officer, the
Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or
a designee of one of such Secretaries) shall revoke any visa
or other entry documentation issued to an alien who meets any
of the criteria described in subsection (a) regardless of
when issued.
(ii) Effect of revocation.--A revocation under clause (i)--
(I) shall take effect immediately; and
(II) shall automatically cancel any other valid visa or
entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.
(3) Exception to comply with united nations headquarters
agreement.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to
an alien if admitting the alien into the United States is
necessary to permit the United States to comply with the
Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force
November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
States, or other applicable international obligations.
(4) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to
violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of any
regulation, license, or order issued to carry out this
section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in
subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same
extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in
subsection (a) of that section.
SEC. 103. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this title shall be construed to limit the
authority of the President pursuant to the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
SEC. 104. DEFINITIONS.
In this title:
(1) Admitted; alien.--The terms ``admitted'' and ``alien''
have the meanings given such terms in section 101 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
(2) Financial, material, or technological support.--The
term ``financial, material, or technological support'' has
the meaning given such term in section 542.304 of title 31,
Code of Federal Regulations, as such section was in effect on
the date of the enactment of this Act.
(3) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means any
citizen or national of a foreign country, or any entity not
organized solely under the laws of the United States or
existing solely in the United States.
(4) Government of syria.--The term ``Government of Syria''
has the meaning given such term in section 542.305 of title
31, Code of Federal Regulations, as such section was in
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
(5) Knowingly.--The term ``knowingly'' has the meaning
given such term in section 566.312 of title 31, Code of
Federal Regulations, as such section was in effect on the
date of the enactment of this Act.
(6) Person.--The term ``person'' means an individual or
entity.
(7) Petroleum or petroleum products of syrian origin.--The
term ``petroleum or petroleum products of Syrian origin'' has
the meaning given such term in section 542.314 of title 31,
Code of Federal Regulations, as such section was in effect on
the date of the enactment of this Act.
(8) Significant transaction or transactions; significant
financial services.--A transaction or transactions or
financial services shall be determined to be a significant
for purposes of this section in accordance with section
566.404 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, as such
section was in effect on the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(9) Syria.--The term ``Syria'' has the meaning given such
term in section 542.316 of title 31, Code of Federal
Regulations, as such section was in effect on the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(10) United states person.--The term ``United States
person'' means any United States citizen, permanent resident
alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States
(including foreign branches), or any person in the United
States.
[[Page H4283]]
TITLE II--AMENDMENTS TO SYRIA HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2012
SEC. 201. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN
PERSONS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OR COMPLICIT IN
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST CITIZENS
OF SYRIA OR THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS.
(a) In General.--Section 702(c) of the Syria Human Rights
Accountability Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8791(c)) is amended to
read as follows:
``(c) Sanctions Described.--
``(1) In general.--The President shall exercise all powers
granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to freeze
and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests
in property of a person on the list required by subsection
(b) if such property and interests in property are in the
United States, come within the United States, or are or come
within the possession or control of a United States person.
``(2) Aliens ineligible for visas, admission, or parole.--
``(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien who the
Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or
a designee of one of such Secretaries) knows, or has reason
to believe, meets any of the criteria described in subsection
(b) is--
``(i) inadmissible to the United States;
``(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation
to enter the United States; and
``(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into
the United States or to receive any other benefit under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
``(B) Current visas revoked.--
``(i) In general.--The issuing consular officer, the
Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or
a designee of one of such Secretaries) shall revoke any visa
or other entry documentation issued to an alien who meets any
of the criteria described in subsection (b) regardless of
when issued.
``(ii) Effect of revocation.--A revocation under clause
(i)--
``(I) shall take effect immediately; and
``(II) shall automatically cancel any other valid visa or
entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.
``(3) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to
violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of this
section or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry
out this section shall be subject to the penalties set forth
in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705)
to the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act
described in subsection (a) of that section.
``(4) Regulatory authority.--The President shall, not later
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
section, promulgate regulations as necessary for the
implementation of this section.
``(5) Exception to comply with united nations headquarters
agreement.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to
an alien if admitting the alien into the United States is
necessary to permit the United States to comply with the
Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force
November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
States, or other applicable international obligations.
``(6) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this section shall
be construed to limit the authority of the President pursuant
to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.
1701 et seq.), relevant Executive orders, regulations, or
other provisions of law.''.
(b) Serious Human Rights Abuses Described.--Section 702 of
the Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C.
8791) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Serious Human Rights Abuses Described.--In subsection
(b), the term `serious human rights abuses' includes--
``(1) the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure
to include schools, hospitals, markets, and other
infrastructure that is essential to human life, such as power
and water systems; and
``(2) the deliberate diversion, hindering, or blocking of
access for humanitarian purposes, including access across
conflict lines and borders.''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a)
and (b) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of
this Act and shall apply with respect to the imposition of
sanctions under section 702(a) of the Syria Human Rights
Accountability Act of 2012 on after such date of enactment.
SEC. 202. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE
TRANSFER OF GOODS OR TECHNOLOGIES TO SYRIA THAT
ARE LIKELY TO BE USED TO COMMIT HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES.
Section 703(b)(2)(C) of the Syria Human Rights
Accountability Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8792(b)(2)(C)) is
amended--
(1) in clause (i), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and
inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(iii) any article--
``(I) designated by the President for purposes of the
United States Munitions List under section 38(a)(1) of the
Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778(a)(1)); and
``(II) with respect to which the President determines is
significant for purposes of the imposition of sanctions under
subsection (a); or
``(iv) other goods or technologies that the President
determines may be used by the Government of Syria to commit
human rights abuses against the people of Syria.''.
SEC. 203. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO PERSONS WHO
HINDER HUMANITARIAN ACCESS.
(a) In General.--The Syria Human Rights Accountability Act
of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8791 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating sections 705 and 706 as sections 706
and 707, respectively;
(2) by inserting after section 704 the following:
``SEC. 705. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO PERSONS
WHO HINDER HUMANITARIAN ACCESS.
``(a) In General.--The President shall impose sanctions
described in section 702(c) with respect to each person on
the list required by subsection (b).
``(b) List of Persons Who Hinder Humanitarian Access.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date
of the enactment of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act
of 2017, the President shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a list of persons that the President
determines have engaged in deliberate diversion, hindering,
or blocking of access for humanitarian purposes for the
United Nations, its specialized agencies and implementing
partners, national and international nongovernmental
organizations, and all other actors engaged in humanitarian
relief activities in Syria, including through the deliberate
targeting of such humanitarian actors and activities in Syria
and across conflict lines and borders.
``(2) Updates of list.--The President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees an updated list under
paragraph (1)--
``(A) not later than 300 days after the date of the
enactment of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017
and every 180 days thereafter; and
``(B) as new information becomes available.
``(3) Form.--The list required by paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified
annex.''; and
(3) in section 706 (as so redesignated), by striking ``or
704'' and inserting ``704, or 705''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for the
Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012 is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 704 the
following new item:
``Sec. 705. Imposition of sanctions with respect to persons who hinder
humanitarian access.''.
SEC. 204. REPORT ON CERTAIN PERSONS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
OR COMPLICIT IN CERTAIN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN
SYRIA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a detailed report with
respect to whether each person described in subsection (c)
meets the requirements described in section 702(b) of the
Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C.
8791(b)) for purposes of inclusion on the list of persons who
are responsible for or complicit in certain human rights
abuses under such section.
(b) Justification.--The President shall include in the
report required by subsection (a) a description of the
reasons why any of the persons described in subsection (c) do
not meet the requirements described in section 702(b) of the
Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C.
8791(b)), including information on whether sufficient
credible evidence of responsibility for such abuses was found
or whether any of the persons described in subsection (c)
have been designated pursuant to--
(1) Executive Order 13572 of April 29, 2011 (76 Fed. Reg.
24787; relating to blocking property of certain persons with
respect to human rights abuses in Syria);
(2) Executive Order 13573 of May 18, 2011 (76 Fed. Reg.
29143; relating to blocking property of senior officials of
the Government of Syria);
(3) Executive Order 13582 of August 17, 2011 (76 Fed. Reg.
52209; relating to blocking property of the Government of
Syria and prohibiting certain transactions with respect to
Syria); or
(4) Executive Order 13606 of April 22, 2012 (77 Fed. Reg.
24571; relating to blocking the property and suspending entry
into the United States of certain persons with respect to
grave human rights abuses by the Governments of Iran and
Syria via information technology).
(c) Persons Described.--The persons described in this
subsection are the following:
(1) Bashar Al-Assad.
(2) Asma Al-Assad.
(3) Rami Makhlouf.
(4) Bouthayna Shaaban.
(5) Walid Moallem.
(6) Ali Al-Salim.
(7) Wael Nader Al-Halqi.
(8) Jamil Hassan.
(9) Suhail Hassan.
(10) Ali Mamluk.
(11) Muhammed Khadour, Deir Ez Zor Military and Security.
(12) Jamal Razzouq, Security Branch 243.
(13) Munzer Ghanam, Air Force Intelligence.
(14) Daas Hasan Ali, Branch 327.
(15) Jassem Ali Jassem Hamad, Political Security.
[[Page H4284]]
(16) Samir Muhammad Youssef, Military Intelligence.
(17) Ali Ahmad Dayoub, Air Force Intelligence.
(18) Khaled Muhsen Al-Halabi, Security Branch 335.
(19) Mahmoud Kahila, Political Security.
(20) Zuhair Ahmad Hamad, Provincial Security.
(21) Wafiq Nasser, Security Branch 245.
(22) Qussay Mayoub, Air Force Intelligence.
(23) Muhammad Ammar Sardini, Political Security.
(24) Fouad Hammouda, Military Security.
(25) Hasan Daaboul, Branch 261.
(26) Yahia Wahbi, Air Force Intelligence.
(27) Okab Saqer, Security Branch 318.
(28) Husam Luqa, Political Security.
(29) Sami Al-Hasan, Security Branch 219.
(30) Yassir Deeb, Political Security.
(31) Ibrahim Darwish, Security Branch 220.
(32) Nasser Deeb, Political Security.
(33) Abdullatif Al-Fahed, Security Branch 290.
(34) Adeeb Namer Salamah, Air Force Intelligence.
(35) Akram Muhammed, State Security.
(36) Reyad Abbas, Political Security.
(37) Ali Abdullah Ayoub, Syrian Armed Forces.
(38) Fahd Jassem Al-Freij, Defense Ministry.
(39) Issam Halaq, Air Force.
(40) Ghassan Al-Abdullah, General Intelligence Directorate.
(41) Maher Al-Assad, Republican Guard.
(42) Fahad Al-Farouch.
(43) Rafiq Shahada, Military Intelligence.
(44) Loay Al-Ali, Military Intelligence.
(45) Nawfal Al-Husayn, Military Intelligence.
(46) Muhammad Zamrini, Military Intelligence.
(47) Muhammad Mahallah, Military Intelligence.
(d) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified
annex if necessary.
(e) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on
Financial Services, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives;
and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on
Finance, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
TITLE III--REPORTS AND WAIVER FOR HUMANITARIAN-RELATED ACTIVITIES WITH
RESPECT TO SYRIA
SEC. 301. BRIEFING ON MONITORING AND EVALUATING OF ONGOING
ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS IN SYRIA AND TO THE SYRIAN
PEOPLE.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State and the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development shall brief the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate on the monitoring and evaluation of
ongoing assistance programs in Syria and for the Syrian
people, including assistance provided through multilateral
organizations.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The briefing required by
subsection (a) shall include--
(1) the specific project monitoring and evaluation efforts,
including measurable goals and performance metrics for
assistance in Syria;
(2) a description of the memoranda of understanding entered
into by the Department of State, the United States Agency for
International Development, and their respective Inspectors
General and the multilateral organizations through which
United States assistance will be delivered that formalize
requirements for the sharing of information between such
entities for the conduct of audits, investigations, and
evaluations; and
(3) the major challenges to monitoring and evaluating such
programs.
SEC. 302. ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL METHODS TO ENHANCE THE
PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report that--
(1) assesses the potential effectiveness, risks, and
operational requirements of the establishment and maintenance
of a no-fly zone over part or all of Syria, including--
(A) the operational and legal requirements for United
States and coalition air power to establish a no-fly zone in
Syria;
(B) the impact a no-fly zone in Syria would have on
humanitarian and counterterrorism efforts in Syria and the
surrounding region; and
(C) the potential for force contributions from other
countries to establish a no-fly zone in Syria;
(2) assesses the potential effectiveness, risks, and
operational requirements for the establishment of one or more
safe zones in Syria for internally displaced persons or for
the facilitation of humanitarian assistance, including--
(A) the operational and legal requirements for United
States and coalition forces to establish one or more safe
zones in Syria;
(B) the impact one or more safe zones in Syria would have
on humanitarian and counterterrorism efforts in Syria and the
surrounding region; and
(C) the potential for contributions from other countries
and vetted non-state actor partners to establish and maintain
one or more safe zones in Syria;
(3) assesses the potential effectiveness, risks, and
operational requirements of other non-military means to
enhance the protection of civilians, especially civilians who
are in besieged areas, trapped at borders, or internally
displaced; and
(4) describes the Administration's plan for recruitment,
training, and retention of partner forces, including--
(A) identification of the United States partner forces
operating on the ground;
(B) the primary source of strength for each armed actor
engaged in hostilities;
(C) the capabilities, requirements, and vulnerabilities of
each armed actor;
(D) the United States role in mitigating vulnerabilities of
partner forces; and
(E) the Administration's measures of success for partner
forces, including--
(i) increasing Syrian civilian security; and
(ii) working toward an end to the conflict in Syria.
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified
annex if necessary.
(c) Consultation.--The report required by subsection (a)
shall be informed by consultations with the Department of
State, the United States Agency for International
Development, the Department of Defense, and international and
local organizations operating in Syria or in neighboring
countries to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.
(d) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Armed Services of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Armed Services of the Senate.
SEC. 303. ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT ENTITIES TAKING ACTIONS
RELATING TO GATHERING EVIDENCE FOR
INVESTIGATIONS INTO WAR CRIMES OR CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY IN SYRIA SINCE MARCH 2011.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Secretary of State, acting through the Assistant
Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and the
Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs, is authorized to provide assistance to
support entities that are conducting criminal investigations,
building Syrian investigative capacity, supporting
prosecutions in national courts, collecting evidence and
preserving the chain of evidence for eventual prosecution
against those who have committed war crimes or crimes against
humanity in Syria, including the aiding and abetting of such
crimes by foreign governments and organizations supporting
the Government of Syria, since March 2011.
(b) Briefing.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall brief
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate on assistance provided under subsection (a).
TITLE IV--SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO SYRIA
SEC. 401. SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO SYRIA.
(a) Suspension of Sanctions.--
(1) Negotiations not concluding in agreement.--If the
President determines that internationally recognized
negotiations to resolve the violence in Syria have not
concluded in an agreement or are likely not to conclude in an
agreement, the President may suspend, as appropriate, in
whole or in part, the imposition of sanctions otherwise
required under this Act or any amendment made by this Act for
a period not to exceed 120 days, and renewable for additional
periods not to exceed 120 days, if the President submits to
the appropriate congressional committees in writing a
determination and certification that the Government of Syria
has ended military attacks against and gross violations of
the human rights of the Syrian people, specifically--
(A) the air space over Syria is no longer being utilized by
the Government of Syria and associated forces to target
civilian populations through the use of incendiary devices,
including barrel bombs, chemical weapons, and conventional
arms, including air-delivered missiles and explosives;
(B) areas besieged by the Assad regime and associated
forces, including Hezbollah and irregular Iranian forces, are
no longer cut off from international aid and have regular
access to humanitarian assistance, freedom of travel, and
medical care;
(C) the Government of Syria is releasing all political
prisoners forcibly held within the Assad regime prison
system, including the facilities maintained by various
security, intelligence, and military elements associated with
the Government of Syria and allowed full access to the same
facilities for investigations by appropriate international
human rights organizations; and
(D) the forces of the Government of Syria and associated
forces, including Hezbollah, irregular Iranian forces, and
Russian government air assets, are no longer engaged in
deliberate targeting of medical facilities, schools,
residential areas, and community
[[Page H4285]]
gathering places, including markets, in flagrant violation of
international norms.
(2) Negotiations concluding in agreement.--
(A) Initial suspension of sanctions.--If the President
determines that internationally recognized negotiations to
resolve the violence in Syria have concluded in an agreement
or are likely to conclude in an agreement, the President may
suspend, as appropriate, in whole or in part, the imposition
of sanctions otherwise required under this Act or any
amendment made by this Act for a period not to exceed 120
days if the President submits to the appropriate
congressional committees in writing a determination and
certification that--
(i) in the case in which the negotiations are likely to
conclude in an agreement--
(I) the Government of Syria, the Syrian High Negotiations
Committee or its internationally-recognized successor, and
appropriate international parties are participating in
direct, face-to-face negotiations; and
(II) the suspension of sanctions under this Act or any
amendment made by this Act is essential to the advancement of
such negotiations; and
(ii) the Government of Syria has demonstrated a commitment
to a significant and substantial reduction in attacks on and
violence against the Syrian people by the Government of Syria
and associated forces.
(B) Renewal of suspension of sanctions.--The President may
renew a suspension of sanctions under subparagraph (A) for
additional periods not to exceed 120 days if, for each such
additional period, the President submits to the appropriate
congressional committees in writing a determination and
certification that--
(i) the conditions described in clauses (i) and (ii) of
subparagraph (A) are continuing to be met;
(ii) the renewal of the suspension of sanctions is
essential to implementing an agreement described in
subparagraph (A) or making progress toward concluding an
agreement described in subparagraph (A);
(iii) the Government of Syria and associated forces have
ceased attacks against Syrian civilians; and
(iv) the Government of Syria has publicly committed to
negotiations for a transitional government in Syria and
continues to demonstrate that commitment through sustained
engagement in talks and substantive and verifiable progress
towards the implementation of such an agreement.
(3) Briefing and reimposition of sanctions.--
(A) Briefing.--Not later than 30 days after the President
submits to the appropriate congressional committees a
determination and certification in the case of a renewal of
suspension of sanctions under paragraph (2)(B), and every 30
days thereafter, the President shall provide a briefing to
the appropriate congressional committees on the status and
frequency of negotiations described in paragraph (2).
(B) Re-imposition of sanctions.--If the President provides
a briefing to the appropriate congressional committees under
subparagraph (A) with respect to which the President
indicates a lapse in negotiations described in paragraph (2)
for a period that equals or exceeds 90 days, the sanctions
that were suspended under paragraph (2)(B) shall be re-
imposed and any further suspension of such sanctions is
prohibited.
(4) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on
Financial Services, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives;
and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on
Finance, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
(b) Sense of Congress To Be Considered for Determining a
Transitional Government in Syria.--It is the sense of
Congress that a transitional government in Syria is a
government that--
(1) is taking verifiable steps to release all political
prisoners and is providing full access to Syrian prisons for
investigations by appropriate international human rights
organizations;
(2) is taking verifiable steps to remove former senior
Syrian Government officials who are complicit in the
conception, implementation, or cover up of war crimes, crimes
against humanity, or human rights abuses and any person
subject to sanctions under any provision of law from
government positions;
(3) is in the process of organizing free and fair elections
for a new government--
(A) to be held in a timely manner and scheduled while the
suspension of sanctions or the renewal of the suspension of
sanctions under this section is in effect; and
(B) to be conducted under the supervision of
internationally recognized observers;
(4) is making tangible progress toward establishing an
independent judiciary;
(5) is demonstrating respect for and compliance with
internationally recognized human rights and basic freedoms as
specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
(6) is taking steps to verifiably fulfill its commitments
under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and is making tangible
progress toward becoming a signatory to Convention on the
Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of
Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their
Destruction, entered into force March 26, 1975, and adhering
to the Missile Technology Control Regime and other control
lists, as necessary;
(7) has halted the development and deployment of ballistic
and cruise missiles; and
(8) is taking verifiable steps to remove from positions of
authority within the intelligence and security services as
well as the military those who were in a position of
authority or responsibility during the conflict and who under
the authority of their position were implicated in or
implicit in the torture, extrajudicial killing, or execution
of civilians, to include those who were involved in
decisionmaking or execution of plans to use chemical weapons.
SEC. 402. WAIVERS AND EXEMPTIONS.
(a) Exemptions.--The following activities and transactions
shall be exempt from sanctions authorized under this Act or
any amendment made by this Act:
(1) Any activity subject to the reporting requirements
under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C.
3091 et seq.), or to any authorized intelligence activities
of the United States.
(2) Any transaction necessary to comply with United States
obligations under--
(A) the Agreement between the United Nations and the United
States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United
Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered
into force November 21, 1947;
(B) the Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna
April 24, 1963, and entered into force March 19, 1967; or
(C) any other international agreement to which the United
States is a party.
(b) Humanitarian, Stabilization, and Democracy Assistance
Waiver.--
(1) Statement of policy.--It shall be the policy of the
United States to fully utilize the waiver authority under
this subsection to ensure that adequate humanitarian relief
or support for stabilization and democracy promotion is
provided to the Syrian people.
(2) Waiver.--Except as provided in paragraph (5) and
subsection (d), the President may waive, on a case-by-case
basis, for a period not to exceed one year, and renewable for
additional periods not to exceed one year, the application of
sanctions authorized under this Act with respect to a person
if the President submits to the appropriate congressional
committees a written determination that the waiver is
necessary for purposes of providing humanitarian or
stabilization assistance or support for democracy promotion
to the people of Syria.
(3) Content of written determination.--A written
determination submitted under paragraph (2) with respect to a
waiver shall include a description of all notification and
accountability controls that have been employed in order to
ensure that the activities covered by the waiver are
humanitarian or stabilization assistance or support for
democracy promotion and do not entail any activities in Syria
or dealings with the Government of Syria not reasonably
related to humanitarian or stabilization assistance or
support for democracy promotion.
(4) Clarification of permitted activities under waiver.--
The President may not impose sanctions authorized under this
Act against a humanitarian organization for--
(A) engaging in a financial transaction relating to
humanitarian assistance or for humanitarian purposes pursuant
to a waiver issued under paragraph (2);
(B) transporting goods or services that are necessary to
carry out operations relating to humanitarian assistance or
humanitarian purposes pursuant to such a waiver; or
(C) having incidental contact, in the course of providing
humanitarian assistance or aid for humanitarian purposes
pursuant to such a waiver, with individuals who are under the
control of a foreign person subject to sanctions under this
Act or any amendment made by this Act unless the organization
or its officers, members, representatives or employees have
engaged in (or the President knows or has reasonable ground
to believe is engaged in or is likely to engage in) conduct
described in section 212(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI)).
(5) Exception to waiver authority.--The President may not
exercise the waiver authority under paragraph (2) with
respect to a foreign person who has (or whose officers,
members, representatives or employees have) engaged in (or
the President knows or has reasonable ground to believe is
engaged in or is likely to engage in) conduct described in
section 212(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI)).
(c) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--The President may, for periods not to
exceed 120 days, waive the application of sanctions under
this Act with respect to a foreign person if the President
certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that
such waiver is vital to the national security interests of
the United States.
(2) Consultation.--
(A) Before waiver issued.--Not later than 5 days before the
issuance of a waiver under paragraph (1) is to take effect,
the President shall notify and brief the appropriate
congressional committees on the status of the foreign
person's involvement in activities described in this Act.
[[Page H4286]]
(B) After waiver issued.--Not later than 90 days after the
issuance of a waiver under paragraph (1), and every 120 days
thereafter if the waiver remains in effect, the President
shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on the
status of the foreign person's involvement in activities
described in this Act.
(3) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on
Financial Services, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives;
and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on
Finance, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
(d) Codification of Certain Services in Support of
Nongovernmental Organizations' Activities Authorized.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2),
section 542.516 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations
(relating to certain services in support of nongovernmental
organizations' activities authorized), as in effect on the
day before the date of the enactment of this Act, shall--
(A) remain in effect on and after such date of enactment;
and
(B) in the case of a nongovernmental organization that is
authorized to export or reexport services to Syria under such
section on the day before such date of enactment, shall apply
to such organization on and after such date of enactment to
the same extent and in the same manner as such section
applied to such organization on the day before such date of
enactment.
(2) Exception.--Section 542.516 of title 31, Code of
Federal Regulations, as codified under paragraph (1), shall
not apply with respect to a foreign person who has (or whose
officers, members, representatives or employees have) engaged
in (or the President knows or has reasonable ground to
believe is engaged in or is likely to engage in) conduct
described in section 212(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI)).
(e) Strategy Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report containing a
strategy to ensure that humanitarian organizations can access
financial services to ensure the safe and timely delivery of
assistance to communities in need in Syria.
(2) Consideration of data from other countries and
nongovernmental organizations.--In preparing the strategy
required by paragraph (1), the President shall consider
credible data already obtained by other countries and
nongovernmental organizations, including organizations
operating in Syria.
(3) Form.--The strategy required by paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified
annex.
TITLE V--REGULATORY AUTHORITY, COST LIMITATION, AND SUNSET
SEC. 501. IMPLEMENTATION AND REGULATORY AUTHORITIES.
(a) Implementation Authority.--The President may exercise
all authorities provided to the President under sections 203
and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) for purposes of carrying out this
Act and the amendments made by this Act.
(b) Regulatory Authority.--The President shall, not later
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
promulgate regulations as necessary for the implementation of
this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
(c) Briefing to Congress.--Not less than 10 days before the
promulgation of regulations under subsection (a), the
President shall brief the appropriate congressional
committees on the proposed regulations and the provisions of
this Act and the amendments made by this Act that the
regulations are implementing.
(d) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.
SEC. 502. COST LIMITATION.
No additional funds are authorized to carry out the
requirements of this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts
otherwise authorized.
SEC. 503. AUTHORITY TO CONSOLIDATE REPORTS.
(a) In General.--Any reports required to be submitted to
the appropriate congressional committees under this Act or
any amendment made by this Act that are subject to a deadline
for submission consisting of the same unit of time may be
consolidated into a single report that is submitted to
appropriate congressional committees pursuant to such
deadline. The consolidated reports shall contain all
information required under this Act or any amendment made by
this Act, in addition to all other elements mandated by
previous law.
(b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.
SEC. 504. SUNSET.
This Act shall cease to be effective beginning on December
31, 2021.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include any extraneous material in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by commending the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Engel), the ranking member, for his leadership in
authoring this critical legislation. Mr. Engel has long been the voice
on Syria, and I must mention that the outline that he has given in
terms of the initial problems when we saw those citizens on the streets
of Damascus, walking, saying, ``Peaceful, peaceful,'' and then, as we
saw on CNN, the automatic weapons open up and saw the Assad regime mow
those civilians down--he was the first to begin to ring the alarm. I
wish this body, and previous administrations as well, had done more to
heed his calls.
For 6 years, we have watched the Syrian regime launch wave after wave
of unrelenting destruction on the people of Syria. Airstrikes, chemical
weapons attacks, forced starvation, industrial-scale torture, the
deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools, marketplaces, and this done
with precision bombs and with crude barrel bombs, and, as a
consequence, Syrians suffering every day.
Now, just last month, we saw footage of entire families killed,
suffocated by sarin gas, a chemical weapon that Assad supposedly gave
up under a deal brokered by Russia and the previous administration. The
number of dead is estimated now to be close to 500,000, and another 14
million have been driven from their homes.
And while ISIS plays a role in the violence in Syria, it is Bashar
al-Assad and his backers--among them, Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah--who
are the main drivers of this death and destruction. ISIS has no
airplanes. It is Russian and Syrian fighter planes and helicopters that
drop those bombs on those hospitals and schools.
It is Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps fighters who
attack cities, who burn crops, who prevent food and water and medical
supplies from reaching vulnerable civilians.
It is Assad's secret police and intelligence groups who kidnap and
torture and murder civilians from every ethnic group and political
party, Sunni, Shia, Christians, Alawite; none are safe.
One of the worst facilities is just 20 miles from Damascus, Sednaya,
a prison, a place so terrible that it is called a human slaughterhouse.
Thousands and thousands of people have been tortured and hung and shot
and left to starve to death within the prison. And the numbers are so
high that, in 2013, Assad began constructing a crematorium to dispose
of the bodies.
Over the past 4 years, our committee heard agonizing testimony from
Syrians caught up in this horror, including the brave Syrian defector
known to the world as Caesar and for whom this bill is named. Caesar
testified about the shocking scale of torture being carried out within
the prisons of Syria.
We saw his photographs and the tens of thousands of photographs he
took with those bodies numbered numerically. I don't know what it is
about totalitarian regimes that leads them to want to number their dead
and catalog it, but, because of his bravery, we have those photographs.
We have also heard from doctors who treat victims of chemical
attacks, volunteers who dig through rubble with their bare hands to
rescue those trapped within, and we have heard
[[Page H4287]]
from the survivors of torture in Assad's prisons.
As Syria drags on and on, vital U.S. national security interests are
at stake. Assad's brutality is both a magnet for terrorist recruitment
and a destabilizing force driving tens of millions of refugees out of
that country. We have 14 million Syrians, as I said, who are displaced
right now, many of them still in the country, and millions outside of
the country, yet we have taken no steps to apply the economic tools
that are available to us with respect to Assad and his backers.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is designed to increase the cost to
Assad and to those outside backers by targeting the sectors of the
economy that allow Assad to murder with impunity. Under the bill,
foreign companies and banks will have to choose between doing business
with the regime or with the United States. It would also sanction
anyone who flies weapons or sends fighters into Syria to support the
Assad regime.
This bill is also about creating economic leverage to push the
parties to negotiate, creating the conditions for a negotiated peace.
It is about finding a way forward to be determined by the Syrian people
that does not allow Assad to exterminate his own community; it does not
allow him to do it with impunity; does not guarantee ISIS a safe space
from which to operate; and does not drive another 10 million people
from their homes.
For there to be peace in Syria, the parties must come together, and
so long as Assad and his backers can slaughter the people of Syria with
no consequences, there is no hope for peace.
As we speak, Russia and Iran have proclaimed themselves the
guarantors of peace and have promised to create de-escalation zones
where military operations can be curtailed and civilians can seek
safety. But these zones would be policed by the Syrian Army, supported
by Russian military police, by Hezbollah fighters, and IRGC, Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, backed by those Shia militias--
the very same people who have murdered thousands of Syrian civilians
with impunity throughout this conflict and who are actively engaged in
fomenting sectarian-based violence throughout the region. With this
scenario, peace does not have a chance.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is long overdue. And last year, Eliot Engel
and I brought this up, and we passed it unanimously, yet the other body
did not take it up before we adjourned.
I urge all Members to support this legislation as we seek to ease the
suffering of the Syrian people.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, April 20, 2017.
Hon. Edward R. Royce,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Royce: I write with respect to H.R. 1677, the
``Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act.'' As a result of your
having consulted with us on provisions within H.R. 1677 that
fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on the
Judiciary, I forego any further consideration of this bill so
that it may proceed expeditiously to the House floor for
consideration.
The Judiciary Committee takes this action with our mutual
understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 1677 at
this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over subject
matter contained in this or similar legislation and that our
committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as
this bill or similar legislation moves forward so that we may
address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. Our
committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving this or similar legislation and asks
that you support any such request.
I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming
this understanding with respect to H.R. 1677 and would ask
that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be
included in the Congressional Record during floor
consideration of H.R. 1677.
Sincerely,
Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, April 24, 2017.
Hon. Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Goodlatte: Thank you for consulting with the
Foreign Affairs Committee on agreeing to be discharged from
further consideration of H.R. 1677, the Caesar Syria Civilian
Protection Act, so that the bill may proceed expeditiously to
the House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this resolution or similar legislation in the future. I
would support your effort to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees from your committee to any
House-Senate conference on this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 1677 into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of the
resolution. I appreciate your cooperation regarding this
legislation and look forward to continuing to work together
as this measure moves through the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Edward R. Royce,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC, May 11, 2017.
Hon. Ed Royce,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Royce: I am writing concerning H.R. 1677, the
Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017.
As a result of your having consulted with the Committee on
Financial Services concerning provisions in the bill that
fall within our Rule X jurisdiction, I agree to forgo action
on the bill so that it may proceed expeditiously to the House
Floor. The Committee on Financial Services takes this action
with our mutual understanding that, by foregoing
consideration of H.R. 1677 at this time, we do not waive any
jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in this or
similar legislation, and that our Committee will be
appropriately consulted and involved as this or similar
legislation moves forward so that we may address any
remaining issues that fall within our Rule X jurisdiction.
Our Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of
an appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving this or similar legislation, and
requests your support for any such request.
Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter
confirming this understanding with respect to H.R. 1677 and
would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this
matter be placed in the Congressional Record during floor
consideration thereof.
Sincerely,
Jeb Hensarling,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, May 11, 2017.
Hon. Jeb Hensarling,
Chairman, Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Hensarling: Thank you for consulting with the
Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to be discharged from
further consideration of H.R. 1677, the Caesar Syria Civilian
Protection Act, so that the bill may proceed expeditiously to
the House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this resolution or similar legislation in the future. I
would support your effort to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees from your committee to any
House-Senate conference on this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 1677 into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill.
I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and
look forward to continuing to work together as this measure
moves through the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Edward R. Royce,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Ways and Means,
Washington, DC, May 16, 2017.
Hon. Edward R. Royce,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Royce: I am writing with respect to H.R.
1677, the ``Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017.''
As a result of your having consulted with us on provisions on
which the Committee on Ways and Means has a jurisdictional
interest, I will not request a sequential referral on this
measure.
The Committee on Ways and Means takes this action with the
mutual understanding that we do not waive any jurisdiction
over the subject matter contained in this or similar
legislation, and the Committee will be appropriately
consulted and involved as the bill or similar legislation
moves forward so that we may address any remaining issues
that fall within our jurisdiction. The Committee also
reserves the right to seek appointment of an appropriate
number of conferees to any House-Senate conference involving
this or similar legislation, and requests your support for
such request.
Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter
confirming this understanding,
[[Page H4288]]
and would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this
matter be included in the Congressional Record during floor
consideration of H.R. 1677.
Sincerely,
Kevin Brady,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, May 16, 2017.
Hon. Kevin Brady,
Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Brady: Thank you for consulting with the
Foreign Affairs Committee on H.R. 1677, the Caesar Syria
Civilian Protection Act of 2017, and for agreeing to forgo a
sequential referral request so that the bill may proceed
expeditiously to the House floor.
I agree that your declining to pursue a sequential referral
in this case does not diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
the Committee on Ways and Means, or prejudice its
jurisdictional prerogatives on this bill or similar
legislation in the future. I would support your effort to
seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees from
your committee to any House-Senate conference on this
legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on this bill into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill.
I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and
look forward to continuing to work with the Committee on Ways
and Means as this measure moves through the legislative
process.
Sincerely,
Edward R. Royce,
Chairman.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation,
and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful that the House is considering my bill
today, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act.
I want to thank my friend, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Committee, Ed Royce, for joining as the lead Republican cosponsor of
this measure. I am proud that we are bringing it up to the floor with
108 cosponsors, Members from both sides of the aisle.
Mr. Speaker, every week, more and more bad news pours in about the
civil war in Syria. I am grateful to Chairman Royce for making the
comments he just made because my heart has been bleeding for Syria, or
crying out for Syria, for 4 or 5 years now, ever since, as Mr. Royce
said, there were peaceful demonstrations and they were mowed down by
the Assad regime.
The United States didn't do much. We sort of watched and retreated
and perhaps were afraid that we would be bogged down in another war.
But we should have, at that point, in my estimation, helped the free
Syria Army, which begged us for help, not people, not troops, but help,
and we didn't do it. We didn't give it to them.
We thought that Assad would fall on his own, ultimately, but he
didn't, and we are bearing the price today. We are paying the price
today. The people of Syria, unfortunately, are the ones paying the
price. Millions of people have died and have been misplaced and just
the horrors of war and the horrors of civilians. So my heart really
bleeds for the Syrian people.
This week, it was the revelation of a crematorium, a furnace where
the criminals who do Assad's bidding can pile the bodies and try to
burn away the evidence of their atrocities.
Also this week, Russia announced that they will work with Iran, Iraq,
and Assad to open a secure road from Baghdad to Damascus. What that
really means, Mr. Speaker, is a road from Beirut to Tehran in Iran, a
permanent Iranian foothold right in the Middle East, a permanent
Iranian foothold right on Israel's border, a permanent Iranian foothold
to do mischief and the usual nefarious things that the Iranian
Government does.
This crisis has been burning out of control for six long years. I was
an early vocal supporter, as I mentioned before, of arming the moderate
Syrian opposition. I thought we should have done much more to help push
Assad out of power and help the Syrian people chart the course for
their country's future. When we didn't, I spoke out.
Since then, Assad has plowed ahead with his campaign of carnage. The
few times he appeared to be taking on water, he was given a lifeline by
his devoted enablers, Russia and Iran, through its terrorist proxy,
Hezbollah. Every time Assad seemed to be losing, he was given a
lifeline and, as I just mentioned, by Hezbollah, also given a lifeline
by the Russians who came in.
So while it was suspected in the highest annals of Washington that
Assad wouldn't last more than a few months, no one would have imagined
that 4 and 5 years later there would be Assad winning the war, again,
with the help of Russia, Iran, and their terrorist proxy.
It is a disgrace, Mr. Speaker, and we need to act out. We need to
help.
Today, we find ourselves no closer to a solution, and 4 months into
the new administration, we have yet to hear a strategy for dealing with
Syria. The Tomahawk missile strike last month was an appropriate
response to the chemical weapons attack, although I believe the
administration's policy shift, with respect to Assad, emboldened Assad
to launch that attack, and a single missile strike is not a strategy.
We need a plan to stop the violence, push a political transition that
sees the end of Assad's rule and helps the Syrian people recover and
move forward. My bill, this bill, would be part of that strategy.
{time} 1715
It is named, as Mr. Royce pointed out, for Caesar, a former Syrian
Government photographer. Fed up with documenting the brutality of the
Assad regime, he defected and escaped so he could show the world
exactly what was happening to the regime's victims.
I will never forget the images he showed us when he came to the
Foreign Affairs Committee. Those images are still seared in my brain
and I will never forget them; the depth of brutality and indifference
to human life.
We have named this bill after him because we want to send a message.
If you are supporting this murder, if you are enabling the butcher in
Damascus to continue waging that sort of violence against his own
people, you are going to face consequences.
This bill would sanction anyone who provides material support for the
Assad regime. We want to go after the actual hardware that keeps his
war machine running, the planes and bombs that terrorize the Syrian
people, and the spare parts and oil that keep everything running. If
you do business with Assad, the blood of the Syrian people is on your
hands and you are going to get caught up in these sanction. Yes, that
means Iran and Russia.
If conditions on the ground change and negotiations were in sight, it
might be useful to dial back these sanctions in order to help end the
violence. So we have built in some degree of flexibility. The measures
are tough, but we all want them to be a roadblock to peace.
This bill also seeks to provide some relief to the Syrian people who
are now suffering terribly. It would improve oversight of assistance
flowing into Syria and evaluate the feasibility of a no-fly zone.
We also need to think about what must happen after the violence has
ended, about who must be held accountable. So this bill requires
reporting on human rights violators, and would support efforts to
gather evidence of crimes against humanity. This bill isn't a silver
bullet. It isn't a strategy for resolving the crisis in Syria.
Congress can do a lot, though, when it comes to foreign policy. We
can give an administration tools and resources, but it is up to the
White House to lead on this issue. If the first step in a serious
strategy is stopping the violence--and I think it is--this legislation
can help dial up pressure on those driving the war.
So I continue to push ahead; Mr. Royce at my side, and I am grateful
to my colleagues for their support. I am grateful to the Foreign
Affairs Committee for moving this swiftly.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger), a member of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs and an Air Force pilot.
Mr. KINZINGER. Mr. Speaker, I thank you and the chairman. I want to
commend the chairman. I want to commend Mr. Engel for his foresight in
this bill and for bringing it to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I was just recently in Auschwitz. It was my first visit
to Auschwitz and, obviously, seeing something like that is not
something you are going to forget very quickly. Seeing something like
that and an industrial machine put together to eliminate people is not
something that people thought humanity was capable of
[[Page H4289]]
until they found out that it actually was possible.
So in preserving Auschwitz, the purpose was to say: Hey, this is
possible. Never forget that this can happen again.
Mr. Speaker, it was just recently that we learned about the
crematorium that was built in the Syrian prison.
Now, why was this built?
It was built to hide the massive amounts of bodies coming out,
tortured to death; destroyed the lives cut short in this Syrian prison.
It was used to disguise that. It was used to prevent mass graves from
being dug.
I think that proves that Bashar al-Assad is actually a modern-day
Hitler. In fact, if you look at when, as was mentioned prior, Caesar
came to our committee and showed us the images of brutality--the
government cataloging the victims of the Syrian regime with markers
written on the body, a numbering system, and a catalog to say, in
essence, document these massive amounts of death--it became very clear
to us in a very visual sense what was going on in Syria.
Mr. Speaker, oftentimes it is easy in the United States of America,
where we have a lot of comforts and we have a lot of things granted to
us that we take for granted, to look at a situation happening overseas
and think it doesn't apply to us or doesn't affect us; and it is really
tempting sometimes to get into that because it is easy sometimes to
pretend something doesn't affect us. But it does.
We see the massive amounts of migration from Syria, the young 7-, 8-,
and 9-year-olds who are not going to school now because they have been
disrupted and their lives have been disrupted, and in 5 or 6 years, if
they don't get an education and don't get hope and opportunity, they
will provide now the next recruiting ground for ISIS, or ISIS two, or
al-Qaida three, because people without hope and without opportunity are
easy to bring into a terrorist ideology like those.
Mr. Speaker, the President rightly decided to enforce the red line in
Syria when it came to the use of chemical weapons--something that the
Western world has held very dear, that chemical weapons on the
battlefield have no place--and he destroyed a Syrian airfield. It was
the right move. It began to shift the balance of power in Syria, but
way more needs to be done.
I have called for action in Syria, as many on this committee have for
a very long time, and this, the Caesar bill, is a fantastic first step
to doing it. It would increase sanctions on the Assad regime and its
supporters for continued atrocities committed against the Syrian
people. It requires this administration and any future administration
to stand up and impose costs on the Russians, on the Iranians, and on
the Syrian backers for the barrel bombing and gassing of innocent
civilians.
Think about that, a barrel filled with explosives dropped
indiscriminately on a population center intended to commit the largest
amounts of casualties possible; a GPS-guided bomb, or a laser-guided
bomb intentionally dropped into a hospital, and then a delay of 20
minutes so they can hit it again, or hit areas where first responders
have responded to.
Mr. Speaker, this isn't a legitimate way of fighting war, if there is
a legitimate way of fighting war. This is brutality to the top level,
and this is a great step for this Congress to take. We unanimously
passed this the last time. I sure hope we can do that again.
Again, I thank the leadership for leading on this. I thank Mr. Engel
and Chairman Royce for their leadership.
I ask my colleagues to join me and join us in supporting this very
important bill.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished Democratic
whip, someone who I know, through our meetings, feels so strongly about
this and feels as we do.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from New
York, the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee for yielding.
I thank Mr. Kinzinger for his leadership as well as his statement.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bipartisan legislation, which
will impose tough sanctions on entities aiding the Assad regime in
Syria.
Bashar al-Assad is brutal murderer. Very frankly, there are too many
countries facilitating and complicit in the murders that he
perpetrates. He has gassed his own people and waged a civil war that
has displaced millions from their homes and their country.
Recently, Mr. Speaker, I had the honor of meeting some of the White
Helmet civil defense workers who are risking their lives daily to
rescue civilians caught in the crossfire and targeted by government
forces; facilitated, I might say, by Mr. Putin's troops in Syria.
The Assad regime is being propped up by Iran and Russia in a
dangerous and destabilizing geopolitical game. There are reports that
the Assad government is now cremating victims of mass murder in an
attempt to hide the evidence of its numerous crimes. While this is
taking place, Americans watched in disbelief; frankly, as President
Trump met in the Oval Office with those who are protecting, aiding and
abetting Bashar al-Assad and those committing atrocities by his command
and in his name.
Not only does that show how little this President understands about
the conflict in Syria and its broader complexities, it also reminds us
that he has articulated no clear strategy on how to end that conflict
and to defeat ISIS.
Having said that, let me congratulate the President for taking the
actions against the airfield after the chemical attack. But, frankly,
that was a significant, but small, step.
The continuation of the war that the Assad government is waging
against its own people only makes it harder to defeat the terrorists
who threaten America, the region, and the world. Today's legislation
will help address this problem.
I see on the floor, my friend, Chairman Royce, who is a great leader
on issues relating to our foreign policy and to human rights. I
congratulate him for his leadership. Working with his partner, Mr.
Engel, we have taken significant steps to raise both the moral and the
foreign policy issues that need to be raised. The efforts are
bipartisan and reflect hard work on the part of the ranking member, the
chairman, as well as members of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
I thank them for their efforts, and I urge my colleagues to join in
strong and, hopefully, unanimous support of this important resolution.
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), who chairs the Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Royce again for
yielding the time.
Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support of Ranking Member Eliot
Engel's Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, H.R. 1677, of which I am
proud to be an original cosponsor, and I commend him and the chairman
for all of their hard work in authoring the bill and bringing it before
us today.
During our committee's hearing on Syria in April--and we have had so
many hearings--one of our witnesses made a point that I think bears
repeating, a point that highlights the importance of the ranking
member's bill before us today. As long as Assad remains in power, there
is very little chance that we will be able to defeat ISIS or its
offshoots because Assad, in many ways, has facilitated the growth of
the very jihadist groups for which he claims are protecting Syria.
Hogwash.
As we talk about how to stop the slaughter in Syria, we must remember
that no one bears more responsibility for that slaughter than Assad. He
and his regime are the ones dropping barrel bombs. They are the ones
unleashing chemical weapons on their own people. And if we want to have
any chance of stopping the bloodbath, of defeating ISIS, or of putting
an end to the immense humanitarian challenges spreading throughout the
region and beyond, we must put a stop to Assad.
This bill ratchets up the pressure on Assad and his collaborators,
especially his main allies--Russia and Iran--while expanding on the
Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act, a bill which I
authored and which became law in 2012. It gives the administration new
tools to go after individuals and entities working with Assad in the
finance, aircraft, transportation, telecom, and energy sectors, as well
as
[[Page H4290]]
it gives them the tools to target individuals complicit in human rights
abuses.
I am glad to have worked with the ranking member and our esteemed
chairman to include my amendments in this bill, amendments that would
determine that denying or hindering access to humanitarian aid is a
serious human rights violation, and, as such, it would allow the
administration to sanction any individual responsible for doing so.
All of these tools, Mr. Speaker, are vital components of doing
something that we still desperately need in Syria: a comprehensive,
holistic strategy that looks beyond short-term tactical successes and,
instead, targets the foundation of so many of the problems rippling
through the region.
If we continue to narrowly focus on ISIS without getting at the root
of the Syrian conflict--Assad, Russia, and Iran--then we will only be
treating the symptoms instead of the disease.
{time} 1730
If we are to have any hope of finding a solution in Syria, the kind
of pressure that this bill would achieve is an essential piece of that
puzzle.
I offer my full support for this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do
the same.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) will control the time.
There was no objection.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I certainly add my voice to that of my
colleagues in support of this important legislation. Syria is a mess.
It does affect all of us, as Mr. Kinzinger said, whether we like it or
not. It is destabilizing the entire region. I believe this bill can be
a useful tool in our diplomatic efforts.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms.
Frankel), my friend and colleague.
Ms. FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair and ranking
member for their great leadership.
Mr. Speaker, imagine a mother crying in despair while holding her
child in her arms, a child who is gasping for his last breath, an
innocent victim of a barrel bomb filled with sarin gas dropped on his
school.
The situation in Syria is the worst humanitarian crisis since World
War II. President Assad's brutal regime has killed half a million
innocent victims and displaced 14 million more, with millions fleeing
into Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and over Europe, straining their
resources, threatening regional stability, weakening European
institutions, and undermining United States economic and security
interests.
We must hold Assad and his supporters responsible for their
atrocities. American leadership is needed more now than ever. I urge my
colleagues to support the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act.
Mr. Speaker, I fear that one day we will look back and we will ask:
Why did we not do more?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Engel) has reclaimed the time from the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Connolly).
There was no objection.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Caesar Syria
Civilian Protection Act of 2017.
Since 2011, the Assad regime's forces have killed an estimated
500,000 people, mostly civilians, by unconscionably targeting and
attacking major population centers. According to Human Rights Watch,
last month, the Syrian regime used a nerve agent in northwest Syria
that killed at least 92 people, including 30 children.
Even more heartbreaking is the fact that this was not the first
chemical weapons attack by the Syrian Government against its own
people. To the contrary, reports suggest that the Assad regime's use of
chemical weapons has become ``widespread and systematic,'' and it has
dropped bombs with nerve agents on at least four other occasions since
December 12.
Just yesterday, our own State Department revealed that the Syrian
regime is actively using a large crematorium to dispose of the remains
of thousands of Syrian men, women, and children, whom they continue to
slaughter.
Not only has the Syrian Government become a source of such crimes
against humanity, but Syria has also indisputably become a hotbed for
terrorist activity, propped up by Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. Both
ISIS and al-Qaida are operating near the Syria-Israel border, putting
the Jewish State of Israel and our regional security in grave danger.
As a mother and a Jew, I cannot turn my cheek to this unadulterated
evil. As a Member of the United States Congress, I have a duty to keep
the American people safe and hold the Assad regime accountable for its
war crimes and brutality. That is why I strongly support this critical
legislation, and I thank Ranking Member Engel for all of his hard work
in sponsoring it.
This bipartisan legislation would expand sanctions on those
individuals who commit such monstrous acts of violence and inflict such
extreme suffering upon innocent Syrians. It would ensure that the
United States has the tools it needs to reach its ultimate goal of
ending the Assad regime's campaign of carnage once and for all.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important
legislation.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard both sides simply agree. This is as
bipartisan as you can get. It is as unanimous, hopefully, as you can
get.
Six years into the Syrian civil war, with hundreds of thousands dead
and millions more driven from their homes, we cannot waste time looking
backward or just simply placing blame. We need to face the reality of
this crisis today and do all we can to forge a new strategy to deal
with it.
Three, four, five years ago, no one would have imagined that Assad
would still be clinging to power over more and more deaths of his own
people. We need to find a way to push for an end to the violence and
bring about a political resolution that gets Assad out of power. By the
way, that is going to be harder to do because the Russians and
Ukrainians are really backing him.
Let's allow the Syrian people to start their long journey forward.
This legislation will help us meet that challenge. It will impose a new
cost on those who so far have aided the Assad regime with impunity. It
will apply new pressure to the regime, which relies on the patronage of
its enablers in Moscow. It will signal to the Syrian people that we
share a vision of a future in which they make the decisions and Assad
has no role.
The bill passed the House unanimously a year ago. I am hopeful we
will soon pass it in a little while again overwhelmingly. I urge the
other body to act on it without delay so we can get it to the
President's desk.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to once again recognize the
work of Ranking Member Engel and the other committee members who have
contributed to this bill.
Our committee has heard the firsthand accounts of the suffering. We
heard the testimony from Raed Saleh of the Syrian White Helmets as he
spoke of their efforts to rescue and treat those who were killed and
injured in Assad's brutal air assaults. When the bombs come in, as they
often do, his organization, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize, runs toward those shelters being destroyed to provide relief for
the victims and to pull them out.
We have heard of the terror. More than a year ago, Dr. Mohamed
Tennari of the Syrian American Medical Society described for the
committee the sound of helicopters overhead, the thump of exploding
bombs, and the overpowering smell of bleach in the air. This brave
doctor described the horrendous effects this toxic gas has on the human
body and the slow, agonizing deaths as the chlorine gas turned to
hydrochloric acid in the lungs of victims.
Many of those victims he spoke of were children. They were targeted
by the regime. People were targeted as they slept in their beds in
their neighborhoods. Just a few weeks ago, one family lost 20 relatives
in a single sarin
[[Page H4291]]
gas attack. Of the 92 victims of that attack on that day, 23 were
children.
Mr. Speaker, in 2016, efforts to establish a lasting cease-fire
failed, resulting in an aggressive campaign by Syrian and Russian air
assets against eastern Aleppo. U.N. officials described that assault as
``crimes of historic proportions.''
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this legislation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1677 ``Caesar
Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017.''
This bill, introduced by my colleague, Foreign Affairs Committee
Ranking Member Eliot Engel, uses sanctions to put pressure on the
Syrian government and anyone supporting it to stop committing war
crimes against humanity.
I support this legislation for its important and necessary purpose to
halt the wholesale slaughter of the Syrian people, encourage a
negotiated political settlement, and hold Syrian human rights abusers
accountable for their crimes.
The Syrian government, empowered with support from Iran and Russia,
has pursued a strategy of targeting civilians to eliminate any
opposition to its rule, including arresting anyone who opposes it.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported the deaths of
60,000 people in prisons since the start of the conflict.
The Syrian government is the main aggressor in a conflict that has
resulted in at least 400,000 dead and 14 million Syrians displaced;
between 2011 and 2015, the Syrian Network for Human Rights attributed
96 percent of civilian deaths to the Syrian regime.
Additionally, President Bashar al-Assad has blocked United Nations
humanitarian aid from reaching the intended recipients.
Who is Caesar? Caesar, who uses the pseudonym to remain anonymous as
a way to protect his family, defected from the Syrian military in 2013.
He worked as a crime scene photographer for the Assad government
after joining the military, years before the current conflict began.
As the conflict escalated, so did the number of bodies he would
photograph each day.
Photographing the torture and rising death began to change his
attitude towards the regime and in 2013, with help from the opposition,
he faked his own death and defected from the Syrian military.
When he fled in August 2013, Caesar had collected over 53,000
photographs of detainees who had been tortured and killed.
He handed these photographs over to an anti-government political
group, the Syrian National Movement, who then distributed the
photographs to other groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW).
With these photographs, HRW ``found evidence of widespread torture,
starvation, beatings, and disease in Syrian government detention
facilities.''
With the conflict in Syria in its fifth year, the U.S. House of
Representatives introduced a bill intended to punish the Assad regime
and its supporters and based it on both Caesar's photographs and his
testimony in front of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs this past
July.
The photographs and testimony show a clear connection between the
reported human rights violations and the Assad government, legitimizing
the bill and giving clear evidence to the international courts if
President Assad stands trial for international war crimes.
H.R. 1677 is intended to sanction both the Syrian regime and any
actors, what the bill refers to as a ``foreign person,'' who support
its human rights violations by imposing sanctions on them.
This support can be in any capacity, such as economic or military
support.
H.R. 1677 is important and necessary as the United States cannot sit
in silence while tens of thousands innocent civilians are slaughtered
by Assad's authoritative regime.
Assad's crimes are not only against humanity but also against
democracy, and I fully support legislation aiming to stop these
atrocities.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hultgren). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1677, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________