[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.
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