[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5608-5611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TIME FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT IN AMERICA'S FOREIGN POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Yoho) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues for joining me 
tonight to talk about foreign aid and saving hard-earned American 
taxpayers' dollars.
  With April 15 fast approaching, Americans will be filling out their 
tax returns and sending a portion of their hard-earned tax money to the 
Federal Treasury. It is up to us as Members of Congress to be good 
stewards of these funds, making sure that they are used to the best 
ability that we can to get the results desired. Time and again, we hear 
of wasteful spending in Washington, D.C., and it is long overdue that 
we commit ourselves to giving proper oversight to how we spend the 
people's money.
  I have made it a priority of mine since having the honor of joining 
the people's House to commit myself to doing the proper oversight of 
government. There are numerous examples of domestic programs that are a 
questionable use of taxpayers' dollars, and many of them should be 
eliminated. However, there is a United States foreign aid program that 
caught my eye and the eyes of my colleagues on the Foreign Affairs 
Committee.
  On March 5, 2014, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on 
Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade held a hearing: ``Threats to 
Israel: Terrorist Funding and Trade Boycotts.'' Through that hearing, 
it was brought to our attention that United States' foreign aid given 
to the Palestinian Authority has the potential to be funneled into a 
fund that pays monthly salaries to Israeli-convicted Palestinian 
terrorists.
  Back in April 2011, the Palestinian Authority Registry published the 
PA Government Resolution of 2010, resolution Nos. 21 and 23, which 
formalized the long-held practice of the PA's paying a monthly salary 
to all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel for security- and terror-
related offenses. The salaries are paid from the PA's general budget to 
the prisoners on a sliding scale based on quality, which in this world 
means, the more vicious the act of terrorism, the more that is paid 
out. The payments can range from 2,400 to 12,000 shekels per month, 
roughly $680 to $3,400 per month.
  It doesn't take a genius to know that money is interchangeable and 
that, once out of the hands of the American foreign aid, the dollars 
can easily be used to pay these salaries. It is reported, as of 
December 2012, salaries have gone to more than 4,500 prisoners who have 
committed acts of terror, acts of terror that have killed at least 54 
U.S. citizens since 1993 and have injured another 83 Americans.
  This is totally unacceptable. It is absurd that the United States 
remains one of the largest donors to the Palestinian Authority while 
these heinous practices remain on the books.
  It is for this reason that my colleagues and I introduced a 
resolution in Congress that simply says that, until the Palestinian 
Authority repeals the resolution supporting convicted terrorists, all 
U.S. foreign aid to the PA should be halted. Representatives Weber, 
Perry, Poe, Westmoreland, Collins, Johnson, King, and Franks all feel 
the same way I do--cut off the funding. I believe this is only fair and 
should have been done a long time ago. The American taxpayers should 
not be funding anyone who wishes death upon them or conspires to 
inflict harm on us or our allies.
  According to Palestinian definition, again, more than 4,500 
Palestinian prisoners who are serving time for terror-related offenses 
are recipients of the PA salaries. This means that Palestinians 
convicted of crimes, such as theft, do not receive a salary, but Hamas 
and Fatah prisoners receive hefty payments for acts of terrorism.
  Madam Speaker, take a moment to think about this. Steal a loaf of 
bread,

[[Page 5609]]

and you don't get a check. Blow up a building and commit murder, and 
you receive a nice stipend from the Palestinian Authority which is 
funded by the hardworking American taxpayers. The thought of this 
angers me, and I know it angers the American taxpayers.
  Since 2011, Palestinian Media Watch has been documenting 
international donors' aid money to the Palestinian Authority that is 
given for salaries and the general budget but that ends up paying the 
salaries of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. These monthly 
payments to prisoners are paid from the Palestinian general budget 
fund. According to the language of the Palestinian regulation as well 
as Palestinian economic reports on government salaries, the monthly 
salaries to prisoners range, again, from 2,400 shekels to 12,000 
shekels a month. That is $680 to $3,400 a month. The average income in 
that region is between $4,000 and $5,000 a year. The Palestinian 
Authority economic report listed the prisoners' salaries as part of the 
Palestinian general salary budget, which includes civil servants, 
military personnel, and others. It was not listed as a social service 
payment.
  Two national bodies exist to process those salaries and other 
benefits. The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, established 
in 1998, is an official bureaucracy of the Palestinian Authority that 
commands as much priority as the Ministries of Health or Education but 
with far more gravitas. The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs 
works in tandem with the semi-official Prisoners' Club, established in 
1994. The ministry dispenses the salary. The club functions as an 
advocate for the prisoners, and it is quite willing to publicly needle 
Palestinian leadership generally and the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs 
specifically into providing ever-greater payments and benefits. The 
ministry channels certain payments and benefits through the Prisoners' 
Club.
  In May 2009, our own GAO issued a report on this very subject, 
entitled, ``Measures to Prevent Inadvertent Payments to Terrorists 
under Palestinian Aid Programs have been Strengthened but Some 
Weaknesses Remain.'' The report explained:

       The U.S. Government is one of the largest donors to the 
     Palestinians. It provided nearly $575 million in assistance 
     in fiscal year 2008.

  At least 54 U.S. citizens have been killed in Palestinian terror 
attacks since 1993, and another 83 have been wounded. The attacks have 
targeted American tourists, students, and expatriates living in Israel 
or in areas under Palestinian control.
  Ahlam Tamimi helped to mastermind the deadly 2001 bombing of the 
Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, which killed 15 people. Among those 
murdered was New Jersey schoolteacher Shoshana Greenbaum. Tamimi, who 
was released in the Shalit deal, now lives in Jordan, and is 
unrepentant about her actions. It is terrorists like these who receive 
monthly salaries from the Palestinian Authority.
  Madam Speaker, at a time in the world that is becoming more 
dangerous, when there are individuals and organizations that wish the 
United States harm, when the administration is proposing cutting our 
military to pre-World War II levels, and when we as Americans are $17.6 
trillion in debt, is it smart to be giving money to people in the name 
of peace who wish to do Americans and Israeli citizens harm?
  Our national security is paramount, and as a Member of Congress, I 
swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United 
States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I intend 
to stay true to that oath and defend the country I love and all who 
call it home. It is time that we as Americans in government have a 
paradigm shift in our foreign policy.
  At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. I thank my friend, the gentleman from Florida.
  Madam Speaker, I will tell you what the gentleman from Florida is 
describing is American and Israeli blood on the hands of terrorists who 
now have American cash in their back pockets. It is unbelievable.
  The history is that, since 2003, the Palestinian Authority has 
provided government salaries to Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli 
jails--let me again say--with Israeli blood on their hands. These are 
prisoners who have actively participated in terrorist activities. 
According to the Palestinians' language of their own law, ``Anyone 
imprisoned in the occupation's, or Israel's, prisons as a result of his 
participation in the struggle against the occupation'' is eligible for 
a monthly salary.
  Let me be clear.
  Prisoners may qualify for a government salary if--and only if--they 
have killed an Israeli and/or participated in terrorist activities. As 
an extra, dare I call it, ``bonus,'' if their crimes are so extensive 
as to warrant imprisonment for 5 years or more, the government salaries 
will continue until 3 years following their release from jail. Salaries 
are also given to the families of suicide bombers or to those who die 
``while participating in the struggle.''
  Originally, these salaries were set at a minimum of $250 per month, 
American dollars. The payments were increased by 300 percent in January 
of 2011. At present, the PA is paying up to $15 million in government 
salaries to those convicted of crimes each month. It seems like a 
pretty good deal to me. Commit a terrorist attack and get yourself 
caught and imprisoned by the Israelis, and you can win free food, 
shelter, education, medical care, and a salary that is significantly 
higher than what you can collect on your own in the outside world.
  How are we to believe the sincerity of a government that incentivizes 
violent acts of terror against the very nation with which they are 
supposedly negotiating a treaty for peace?
  In a meeting with the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, 
while in Ramallah, I told him that actions speak louder than words--
that they need to stop glorifying terrorists and, instead, glorify 
peace and renounce terrorism, that they need to admit that Israel has 
the right to exist as a Jewish state. He was not a happy camper.
  Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority doled out $100 million in 
salaries to 4,762 prisoners last year. An additional $46 million has 
already been allocated this year, and we are only 4 months into the 
year. Let me tell you that that averages out to $2,400 per prisoner per 
month--all for participating in terrorism. What is worse is that we are 
helping the Palestinian Government in their efforts. Did I mention they 
have got Israeli and American blood on their hands and American cash in 
their back pockets? Approximately 85 percent of all international aid 
money sent to the West Bank and Gaza goes to government salaries.
  In spite of multiple congressional freezes on government aid, 
President Obama has continued to use his waiver authority to release 
millions in American taxpayer dollars to that same Palestinian 
Authority. In fact, since 2008, we have averaged $500 million a year in 
bilateral assistance. How does that protect our Nation or our very best 
ally, Israel? Where is the sense in that?
  In the words of the Texas revolutionary, Lieutenant William Barret 
Travis:

       I call on you, members, in the name of liberty, patriotism 
     and everything dear to the American character, to come to our 
     aid. We have got to stop this foolishness.

                              {time}  1745

  We require foreign contractors, vendors, and employees to be properly 
vetted prior to receiving government grant funds to ensure that we are 
not unintentionally contributing to terror around the world. Why are we 
allowing it to happen here, for heaven's sake?
  You are right, Congressman Yoho, at a time when our constituents are 
pulling out their receipts, drafting their tax returns, planning their 
annual budgets, we should be ever more diligent on spending their tax 
dollars.
  The Appropriations Committee must ensure that the language they craft 
and the authority they give safeguards against us ever contributing to 
the financial well-being of those who seek the destruction of our 
allies or our great Nation.

[[Page 5610]]

  Foreign aid is not a right; it is a gift from the American people. 
Terrorists with blood on their hands, we don't want to support 
terrorists with American and Israeli blood on their hands and with 
American cash in their back pockets. We must not let that happen.
  I am Randy Weber, and you know I am right.
  Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for your 
passion. I think it is so true, that we see this so many times. You 
said that foreign aid is not--it's a gift from the American taxpayers.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. It is not a right.
  Mr. YOHO. It is a gift, and it is also not constitutional, and it 
doesn't say in there that we need to do that. So we need to look at all 
these things that we are doing, and that is why I say this is a time 
for a paradigm shift in foreign aid.
  What we are actually doing--we are doing this in the name of peace, 
trying to promote peace, but then we turn around with the other hand, 
and they are giving money to our enemies, so it makes no sense.
  At this moment, I yield to the great gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Perry).
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, many people that each of us meet as 
Representatives in our home district say that things are wrong with 
Washington, and they give us a list.
  Of course, one of the big things is the misspending of their money, 
and they are right. They say: Why aren't you doing something about it?
  Oftentimes, the answer is: look, it is complicated, we have a House 
of Representatives, we have a Senate, and we don't always agree, and 
then we have to get the President to sign something.
  On this occasion, something can be done; it is just not being done. 
In April 2011, the Palestinian Authority registry published a 
government resolution granting all Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in 
Israel for security and terror-related offenses a monthly salary from 
the authority--a monthly salary, like a job.
  Imagine if your job was to blow up people, tear their limbs off, and 
send hot pieces of metal through their bodies and watch their bloody 
corpses being dragged through the street.
  If that was your job, you would get a salary for that. Who in America 
pays--we put people in prison for that, we put people to death for 
that; yet American taxpayers are paying people overseas to do just 
that. Words mean things. They pay a salary.
  The Authority defined eligible beneficiaries as anyone imprisoned in 
Israel's prison as a result of his participation in the struggle 
against the occupation, as is already stated, the occupation; again, 
words mean things.
  I wonder, people complain, and they call it an occupation of the 
Palestinian lands. Let's remember who attacked Israel. I wonder if the 
war had ended inside of Israel's borders, if the attackers would have 
given Israel's borders back. I wonder, but I doubt they would have. 
Words mean things. So if you are involved at all in this struggle, in 
this fight, in this killing, you get a salary.
  Now, according to the Palestinian Authority's definition, as was 
already stated, more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners, as of December 
2012, serving time for terror-related offenses are recipients of these 
salaries.
  This means that Palestinians convicted of crimes such as theft do not 
receive a salary. However, Hamas and Fatah prisoners receive hefty 
payments--hefty.
  According to the regulation and economic reports on government 
salaries, the monthly salaries to these prisoners range from $680 to 
$3,400 a month. Who couldn't use $3,400, especially at tax time? Yet we 
are sending it to people to kill people, literally.
  Like many salaries, payments to prisoners follow a sliding scale 
based on quality--quality of work. If your work is murdering other 
people, as Mr. Weber from Texas already stated, the more murder, the 
more mayhem, the higher the salary. It is unfathomable to us as 
Americans.
  This is happening, and there is a few of us on the floor, but where 
is the rest of the Federal Government, Madam Speaker? Where is the 
Senate? Where is our President? Where is the Secretary of State? He 
knows this is happening, but it is us folks on the floor that are 
talking about it. He is not saying a word.
  In this world, the more heinous the act of terrorism, the greater the 
salary; the more violent the terrorist act, the longer the Israeli 
prison sentence and, in turn, the higher the monthly compensation--
compensation for killing, so we are hiring hit men. American tax 
dollars are hiring hit men and hit women, and the policy literally 
incentivizes terrorism.
  In May of 2009, GAO issued a report on this very subject, the 
Government Accountability Office. This is not Perry's rules; it is not 
Yoho's statistics. It is the GAO.
  The report explained:

       The U.S. Government is one of the largest donors to the 
     Palestinians.

  One of the largest donors. Yet the GAO found incomplete compliance 
with even the minimal paperwork requirements for vetting procedures.
  So we are giving them a pile of money, and as usual with the Federal 
Government, we are not checking up on them. We have no idea what they 
are spending it on. Well, we just found out, right? We just found out.
  In many cases, it seems Federal agencies and offices merely went 
through the motions without proper vetting--so surprising. It is 
shocking to me that U.S. taxpayer dollars have been indirectly used to 
pay Palestinian terrorists' salaries.
  Let me explain the indirectly part of it because it amounts to this 
year--this fiscal year--$440 million. $17 trillion in debt. Annual 
deficits for the last 5-6 years averaging about a trillion dollars; yet 
we are happy to hand away $440 million and some of which--a great deal 
of which is used to kill people.
  So the Congress allocates that money to the Department of State. The 
Department of State then allocates a portion of that money to USAID, 
who then gives it to the Palestinian Authority general budget, which is 
extremely fungible, which means the first dollar or the last dollar--
the dollars don't care--of the $440 million, we are spending about $60 
million--well, someone is--the Palestinian Authority's paying $60 
million to these terrorists in salaries. $60 million of that $440 
million is going to terrorists' salaries.
  Now, I wonder how much we spent tracking down Nidal Hassan and 
convicting him. How much time did we spend? What about those victims? 
How much time, energy, and resources did we spend on the Tsarnaev 
brothers?
  Terrorism, people that kill other people, yet while we spend American 
tax dollars to track them down, imprison them--in the case of Nidal 
Hassan, his rightful punishment, which is the death sentence--on this 
occasion, we actually pay people to kill our allies and even other 
Americans.
  State and Federal Government sanction other nations for this kind of 
behavior. We sanction them. We say we are not going to give you things, 
we are going restrict you; yet on this occasion, the Palestinian 
Authority, we actually pay them.
  I don't get it. As an American, I don't get it. I wonder too, in this 
time of executive orders, this is wholly within the purview of the 
executive branch.
  There have been many times when people in this House have objected to 
the executive orders moved on by this administration, but on this 
occasion, I can't think of one person in this room that would say: oh, 
no, Mr. President, please don't stop the State Department from giving 
$440 million to the Palestinian Authority, so they can spend $60 
million of hard-earned taxpayer money to pay for criminals that kill 
people.
  Yet crickets, Madam Speaker, crickets.
  Mr. YOHO. I appreciate the gentleman form Pennsylvania and your 
passion on that also.
  This is the time, like you brought up and we have talked about, $17.5 
trillion roughly in debt, if we go back to when we first got here, all 
being freshman, one of the first things that we had to deal with--it 
was right before we came in, it was the fiscal cliff, then it was 
sequester, then it was the furloughing, and then the government shut 
down.

[[Page 5611]]

  Why? From a lack of money, right? It wasn't an excess of money; yet 
we have given over $5 billion since 1988 to the Palestinian Authority, 
which is not a country. It is a loosely-knit organization.
  We have to go back to our taxpayers and to our constituents back home 
and say: we need more money, we have got to do this. And they look at 
us, like they say to you: When are you guys going to start fixing it?
  This is the time.
  At this moment, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Iowa (Mr. 
King), my friend.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida 
for yielding and for pulling this Special Order together here and 
bringing out this case as something that all the American people aren't 
going to realize what is taking place here, if we don't have this 
discussion here. It takes leadership in this Congress to do this. I 
appreciate the strong voice of Mr. Perry and Mr. Weber.
  I look back at it this way. On my first trip to Israel some time more 
than 10 years ago, I looked across at what was taking place from Israel 
proper and West Bank, the Palestinian area.
  I went through the briefings and saw the data of a culture of people 
that raise their little girls to put on these fake suicide vests in 
order to make sure that they entrench deeply in them a 
multigenerational hatred towards Israelis and Jewish people. Now, why?
  It is not a rational thing for a culture and a civilization to be so 
full of hate; yet all they really need to do is accept the existence of 
Israel, and a lot of us, this resistance we have within us would start 
to dissipate.
  It wouldn't be gone because you don't just accept somebody's word who 
has such a history of doing what they have done. The hatred goes deep.
  I think of Congressman Gohmert of Texas, if he were standing here 
tonight, he would say: you don't have to pay people to hate you, 
they'll hate you for free.
  So all these billions of dollars--$5 billion since 1988, as Mr. Yoho 
just said, the idea of trying to trade off land for peace, and what you 
get back is a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, in a more violent and 
a bloody and a brutal way.
  You see that there is a fundraising mechanism worldwide that pours 
dollars into the Palestinian Authority, and they then use it to pay the 
payroll of people that are sitting in a prison for crimes against--let 
me say it this way, crimes against humanity, not necessarily the 
technical definition of the convictions that they have--who get a 
payroll check for demonstrating hatred, acting on it, in a kinetic 
fashion, being locked up to protect the rest of society, and then being 
paid in reward for that.
  This is an appalling circumstance, tapping into the United States of 
America where--we have to think about this--if we want to pay people 
that hate Israel, who are prisoners for committing crimes, and we grant 
that over to the Palestinian Authority in our foreign aid package or 
whatever particular line item it might be, so we have to go to China: 
Will you loan us some money, so that we can run it through our 
Treasury, so we can funnel it in to go in to pay people that have 
been--in any measure of decency, what they are committing is wrong?
  They need to have their hearts softened. They need to raise their 
children to love their neighbor as they love themselves. They need to 
understand that there is a good functional government going on in 
Israel proper and still likely the only place in the Middle East where 
an Arab can get a fair trial is in Israel, where Arabs serve in the 
Knesset, where they serve in the supreme court, where they have the 
rights of land ownership.
  That is the way you run a country that has a multidimensional 
ethnicity and religion in it.
  Mr. PERRY. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I would yield.
  Mr. PERRY. So based on this, how should our great ally Israel--how 
should the people of Israel view us, knowing that this is happening and 
knowing that no one outside these four walls right now is talking about 
this? How should they view us?
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Well, I think they will view us as a foolish 
country that doesn't understand our priorities and doesn't understand 
where the money is coming from or where it goes.
  I would say this call out: Mr. Netanyahu, why don't you just ask us 
to take that money and give it to Israel instead? Give it to the people 
that are promoting peace, the people that are surrounded by enemies 
throughout, the people that had to stand there and face the all-out 
attacks over and over again.
  They are a democracy in the Middle East, a stabilizing force in the 
Middle East; and if we allow them to be weakened--sometimes by the 
willful actions of this administration--if we allow them to be 
weakened, if they collapse, so does a lot of freedom in the Middle 
Eastern part of world.
  It threatens Europe, and in the end, it threatens us. So our safety 
and our security is tied together. We need to protect our brethren who 
believe in freedom, who believe in a form of democracy, and we need to 
encourage that everywhere in the world.

                              {time}  1800

  There are good people in the Palestinian lands. They need to have 
good leadership, and if we give them the right incentive, they are 
going to perhaps produce good leadership.
  But if we pay them to hate people, there are going to be more people 
hating people. I think we should turn that money back around and reward 
the people that don't, those who need to be defended.
  Mr. YOHO. I appreciate your participation in this and your leadership 
on so many other things that you have done. Thank you for being here.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________