[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H3664-H3666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RELATING TO A NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE PRESIDENT ON MAY 16, 
                                  2012

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of 
the House of July 13, 2023, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 
74) relating to a national emergency declared by the President on May 
16, 2012, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of July 
13, 2023, the joint resolution is considered read.
  The text of the joint resolution is as follows:

                              H.J. Res. 74

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That, 
     pursuant to section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 
     U.S.C. 1622), the national emergency declared by the finding 
     of the President on May 16, 2012, in Executive Order 13611 is 
     hereby terminated.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The joint resolution shall be debatable for 
30 minutes equally divided among and controlled by Representative 
McCaul of Texas, Representative Meeks of New York, and Representative 
Gosar of Arizona, or their respective designees.
  The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Phillips), and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar) 
each will control 10 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from South Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the resolution. This Yemen 
national emergency is the basis for sanctions against Iran-backed 
Houthi leaders, who have spent the past decade waging a deadly, 
murderous, and destructive civil war in Yemen.
  The extremists sanctioned under this emergency have destabilized the 
Middle East and threaten the security of tens of thousands of Americans 
who reside or work in or near Yemen, throughout the Persian Gulf, and 
our great ally Saudi Arabia. If we overturn this national emergency, 
those sanctions will automatically and immediately disappear.

[[Page H3665]]

  The Iranian-backed Houthis sanctioned under this emergency proudly 
chant the slogan, ``Death to America. Death to Israel.'' They recruit 
and indoctrinate thousands of Yemeni youths into their extremist 
ideology through schools and summer camps, all while committing 
murderous human rights abuses every day.
  The Houthis are a key part of Iran's strategy to undermine the 
stability of the United States and its partners. Thanks to years of 
support from Iran, the Houthis now have advanced indigenous lethal 
weapons capabilities while continuing to receive shipments of weapons 
from the Iranian regime, which threaten Americans in the Middle East 
and global commerce in the Red Sea.
  Sanctions issued pursuant to this authority have blocked critical 
financial support from reaching these dangerous Iranian proxies. If we 
remove these sanctions, the Houthis will have more funds to develop 
weapons and threaten American citizens and international shipping 
interests.
  Terminating this national emergency would lift sanctions on the 
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who oversees their campaign of 
terror. Al-Houthi is also responsible for the ongoing detention of 
former U.S. Embassy staff and the active occupation of the U.S. Embassy 
compound in Yemen. What message are we sending to our enemies around 
the world by arbitrarily terminating sanctions on this dangerous 
extremist?
  This radical group should not gain access to more cash to help fund 
its war machine. Being weak and lifting sanctions on Iran and its 
proxies is not an option.
  President Donald Trump agreed. His administration stood strong 
against Iran and renewed this Yemen national emergency on four separate 
occasions.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand against Iran and oppose 
this reckless resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.J. Res. 74, which terminates 
the national emergency pertaining to actions and policies that threaten 
the very tenuous diplomatic progress that we have achieved in Yemen.
  Active American diplomacy has supported a very fragile U.N.-mediated 
truce, but lifting the national emergency prematurely would undermine 
the nascent progress that has been made over the past several years.
  Sanctions are leverage. If the United States Government unilaterally, 
and without receiving anything in return, grants amnesty to Yemeni 
figures seeking to undermine the country's fragile cease-fire, we would 
potentially be enabling even more conflict.
  The list of individuals sanctioned under the Yemen executive order is 
quite short, but let's take a look at some.
  Mansur al-Sa'adi is a Houthi commander of Yemen's Naval and Coastal 
Defense Forces. He led attacks against international shipping in the 
Red Sea and smuggled Iranian weapons to Yemen.
  Ahmed Ali Saleh is the son of former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. 
President Obama sanctioned Saleh, as he played a critical role in 
destabilizing the country in 2014 and 2015, and is still seeking to 
reignite his family's legacy of ruling the country.
  Now, I could go on, but the individuals currently sanctioned under 
the Yemen emergency executive order are on the sanctions list for a 
reason. They have violated human rights and acted against American 
national interests, including abducting locally employed staff at the 
United States Embassy in Yemen.
  I am a strong supporter of using diplomacy over military force to 
bring about a stable, long-term peace in Yemen, but let's be clear. We 
must use every diplomatic tool at our disposal to bring about that 
result. Throwing out one of the most powerful weapons in that 
diplomatic arsenal, economic sanctions, will not result in peace. 
Rather, it is much more likely to cascade Yemen into more chaos and 
more violence.
  That is why I oppose this resolution and urge all of my colleagues to 
do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, Golda Meir once said that there would be no 
peace in Israel until Palestinians love their children more than they 
hate Israelis. Can't that be the same way?
  Why I say that is, let's talk about Yemen. Heartlessly, while this 
emergency has been extended, Yemen stifles the donation of food, 
clothing, and medicine intended for human suffering in Yemen.

  It is estimated that 130 children die each day because of the famine 
in Yemen. That is more than 85,000 over the past decade.
  I thought love meant a lot to children. Is it our way or the highway? 
Is it thinking outside the box? A child needs very little. A child 
needs very little, and this is one of those things that we ought to be 
looking at, those children.
  Right now, because of our sanctions, no international groups will 
even give food or medicines. Not one. That is sad. That is the result 
of the United States. I would hate to be that individual.
  Nearly 80 percent of the people in Yemen need treatment for 
malnutrition, and 20 million lack access to adequate healthcare. I have 
to tell you, I think we need to start thinking outside the box.
  If we are building these futures that hate America, that hate all, 
where is the joy in that? There is no joy. This is one of those that we 
can actually seemingly give some help to, and those children are not 
going to balk.
  Now, once again, let's go back. National emergencies every 6 months 
have to be brought up and reviewed by Congress. To this date, none of 
these five have had any review whatsoever. I have heard a lot about the 
Presidents here and there--President Obama, President Trump, President 
this or that--all saying that they looked at it and anted up, but I 
have yet to hear where Congress has reviewed these designations. Not 
one.
  Therefore, when I saw these, when I looked at these and my staff 
looked at these, we said, oh my God, we are not doing our job, and we 
are not doing our job. We are not doing our job at all if we are not 
reviewing each one of these to find out whether they pertain, whether 
they don't. If they are not a national emergency, where do they belong?
  I hate to give a lot of additional thought to the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, but this isn't the place for these national emergencies, 
even with the involvement of IEEPA. We have to do something a little 
bit different. These have to be mainstayed, where we are actually 
looking at these and saying: ``Okay, here are all the different bad 
actors in the world. Here are all these bad institutions going on 
across this world. How do we involve all our assets, whether they be 
humanitarian, military, or just a little bit of everything?'' That is 
what we should be doing.
  However, once again, Congress hasn't done its job. Let me say it 
again. Congress hasn't done its job.
  We just went through the COVID national emergency, where $4.8 
trillion had been allocated to fighting COVID. Not one inventory on 
that disbursement record is actually there. Not one, for $4.8 trillion. 
That is a sad state of affairs. That is a really sad state of affairs.
  Mr. Speaker, when I look at these and then turn and look at--the 
United Nations actually looks at this as the worst humanitarian crisis 
in the world.
  Let me also ask you this. Did the United States do this on its own or 
was there somebody else that they are speaking up for?
  I will let you answer that question, but I will actually tell you 
that I hope you will vote for this if nothing else for children, the 
malnutrition, the medicines. Let's see if we can get a new tomorrow 
where people love the United States instead of hating us.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of 
my time to close.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 4\1/2\ minutes remaining.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

[[Page H3666]]

  With that 4 minutes what I will do at this point in time is speak up 
on behalf of my good friend Eli Crane, who is looking at the Iraq 
national emergency, and then my good friend Matt Gaetz, who is looking 
at Syria. These are all from the same area, same detail. None of them 
have had renewals by the National Emergencies Act. That is flawed. We 
allow Presidents to re-up them, but we don't do anything on the 
Congress side.
  As a Congress, we need to step up. We need to step up our game.
  If these aren't part of the National Emergencies Act--and I find it 
very atrocious that they are--then we need to find a home for these. We 
need to find a home where they manage it properly, that everybody gets 
a chance to see them, look at them, and inventory them. Other than 
that, we have to make some serious changes.
  It is sad that we are here on these five. There will be 36 more 
coming your way because, once again, when Congress doesn't do its job, 
somebody has got to squawk, and I will be one of those that squawks 
from here to sunset.
  I have to tell you, we have to do something different. I wish all 
Members would vote for my amendment, and, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for 
the purpose of closing.
  Mr. Speaker, let me say I share the sentiment of the gentleman from 
Arizona about engaging Congress more regularly on these issues. I would 
like to see Congress reassert itself on issues of foreign affairs. I 
think we can actually all agree on that.
  However, the notion of terminating these executive orders only to 
return assets to terrorists and some of the worst malign actors in the 
world strikes me as a real threat to the United States of America, 
counter to the principles of Democrats and Republicans.
  That is why, for the reasons that I stated in my opening remarks, I 
believe a termination of this national emergency will actively 
undermine our diplomatic efforts and further destabilize Yemen.
  We cannot and must not allow people who seek to undermine Yemen and 
the Gulf to obtain funds that would allow them to accomplish those very 
ends. That is why I have opposed H.J. Res. 74, and I encourage all of 
my colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance 
of my time.
  I thank Ranking Member Dean Phillips for his bipartisan cooperation 
as we work together to strengthen our country and actually work 
together with all Members of Congress.
  The Yemen national emergency is the basis for sanctioning some of the 
Iranian regime's worst henchmen in Yemen. These terrorists are 
responsible for staging direct attacks on Americans and direct attacks 
on Saudi Arabia in Saudi Arabia and on our Middle Eastern allies, 
diverting critical aid away from the Yemenis who desperately need it.
  I have had the opportunity firsthand to see destroyed Iranian drones 
that had been used to kill Americans and Saudi Arabians. Clearly, they 
were marked very helpfully in English, ``Made in Iran.'' There is no 
question what was going on.
  War criminal Putin is using these same drones to murder civilians 
across Ukraine as war criminal Putin and the regime in Tehran as 
dictators with rule of gun attack democracies with rule of law 
worldwide.
  Again, this national emergency gives no authority to the President to 
pursue anything outside of economic sanctions.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this resolution, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to the order of the House of July 13, 2023, the previous 
question is ordered on the joint resolution.
  The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint 
resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third 
time, and was read the third time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on passage of the joint 
resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.
  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

                          ____________________