[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 19, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H6869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  BOLSTERING EFFORTS TO BRING HOSTAGES AND WRONGFULLY DETAINED UNITED 
STATES NATIONALS HOME--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
                         (H. DOC. NO. 117-132)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Auchincloss) laid before the House the 
following message from the President of the United States; which was 
read and, together with the accompanying papers, referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive 
Order declaring a national emergency with respect to hostage-taking and 
the wrongful detention of United States nationals.
  Hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of United States nationals 
are heinous acts that undermine the rule of law. Terrorist 
organizations, criminal groups, and other malicious actors who take 
hostages for financial, political, or other gain--as well as foreign 
states that engage in the practice of wrongful detention, including for 
political leverage or to seek concessions from the United States--
threaten the integrity of the international political system and the 
safety of United States nationals and other persons abroad. I have 
determined that hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of United 
States nationals abroad constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat 
to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United 
States.
  I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
                                                 Joseph R. Biden, Jr.  
The White House, July 19, 2022.

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