[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21537]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      RETURN CONFISCATED PROPERTY

  (Mr. ROHRABACHER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, at the height of the cold war, Ethiopia 
fell to the Communists in 1974. Shortly thereafter, an Ethiopian 
family--the Berhane family--ended up in Huntington Beach, California, 
and for a long time they have been proud Americans and good citizens.
  After the Communist regime in Ethiopia collapsed in 1991, thanks to 
Ronald Reagan's global efforts to undue the Communist establishment, 
the government in Ethiopia, which was replaced in 1991, has refused to 
return the confiscated property the Communists took from the Berhane 
family.
  I rise in support of my constituents. I ask my fellow colleagues to 
join me in opposing any aid or activities helping the Ethiopian 
Government until they have returned the property of American citizens 
confiscated by the Communists.
  It is our job to stand up for American citizens, whether they come 
from Ethiopia or are born in Brooklyn. They are now proud Americans. We 
need to stick together and refuse to give support to regimes like 
Ethiopia that refuse to turn confiscated property.

                          ____________________