[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3583]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IMPOSING NEW SANCTIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Schiff, for his 
remarks on genocide and turning our back on the facts that we find 
around the world. I really appreciate his thoughts.
  I want to rise today and talk to my colleagues and the American 
people about the atrocities in Syria and call on my colleagues in the 
Senate to expeditiously vote on a bill authored here in the House by 
the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, H.R. 
1677, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017.
  This legislation imposes new sanctions on human rights abusers in the 
sad state of affairs in Syria and those who facilitate the Assad 
regime's atrocities, and it encourages negotiations to bring about a 
lasting political solution there. It also authorizes the State 
Department to support entities that are collecting and preserving the 
chain of evidence for the eventual prosecution of those who have 
committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria since March 
of 2011.
  The world has witnessed many generational examples of butchery and 
genocide by menaces, including Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and many 
others. But in the last 7 years, the world has allowed us to recognize 
a new name for evil and cruelty in this millennium: Bashar al-Assad and 
his henchmen.
  For the last 7 years, the world has expressed outrage, yet twiddled 
their thumbs while this modern-day Hitler annihilates the civilian 
population of Syria.

                              {time}  1045

  Systematically, leader Assad has savagely directed the bombing, 
bludgeoning, gassing, electrocution, and torture of his people.
  Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Iran 
appears tame in comparison to the calculated bombing of weaponized 
chlorine and sarin dropped into children's hospitals, medical 
facilities, and villages across Syria.
  I am grateful that, after a little thumb twiddling from the prior 
administration, the Trump administration has galvanized our allies 
against this genocide and has taken action to stop the use of chemical 
weapons against the Syrian people.
  I call on the Senate to act with expedition and pass the Caesar Syria 
Civilian Protection Act, and finally help obtain the kind of 
documentation that we need, Mr. Speaker, to end this step back into 
darkness and convict Assad and his co-conspirators and his enablers of 
war crimes.


          Vilonia Students Returning Lost Items After Tornado

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a group of students 
in Vilonia, Arkansas, who are collecting personal items lost after the 
devastating tornado that hit their town 4 years ago.
  Erin Rappold, the teacher who created this project, was inspired 
after finding a baby picture in the debris.
  Over the last 4 years, the students have collected 90,000 items, and 
only have about 2,000 left to be claimed. They launched their own 
website to help people reunite with their photos, their birth 
certificates, and their education diplomas.
  A memorial dedication planned by those students will be held Friday, 
at 10 a.m., to remember the victims of the 2011 and 2014 tornadoes.
  In the face of tragedy, these students have furnished us with an 
inspirational model for solidarity and hope.
  I applaud Ms. Rappold and these courageous students for their efforts 
and dedication to the Vilonia community.

                          ____________________