[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3388]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ISIL IN SYRIA

  (Mr. CURBELO of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CURBELO of Florida. Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the 
barrage of attacks committed by ISIL are crimes against humanity.
  The administration's strategy in Syria and against ISIL up until now 
has been to do the bare minimum, which has only exacerbated the 
deteriorating situation. Assad remains in power and has, himself, 
committed an untold number of war crimes through the use of chemical 
weapons and barrel bombs against his own people, all while giving ISIL 
time to develop and to strengthen.
  Last month, the administration failed to comply with the legally 
mandated deadline to submit a plan to Congress. However, just this 
week, the House unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution condemning 
the attacks as genocide; and today, Secretary Kerry determined that 
Christians, Yazidis, and Shiite groups are victims of genocide. Because 
of the Obama administration's inaction and failure to develop a 
comprehensive strategy, minorities continue to be targets for these 
atrocious attacks.
  Now that the administration has begun to recognize the severity of 
these massacres, it is time to finally create a comprehensive strategy 
that will address the root causes of this conflict, including the 
continued presence of Assad in Syria.

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