[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15286-15287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MARKUP

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 28, 2017

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank Chairman Royce 
for convening this mark-up on a number of substantive pieces of 
legislation. As our time is limited, I will focus on a few key items.
  I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 3445, and I thank Chairman Royce 
and Ranking Member Engel, as well as my friend and colleague Karen 
Bass, for trying to strengthen the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
  I would like to thank my good friend and fellow member of the New 
Jersey delegation, Albio Sires, for his bipartisan Global Health 
Innovation Act of 2017, H.R. 1660, of which I am a cosponsor.
  This bill will allow us to exercise greater oversight over USAID 
programs and to gauge how effectively USAID is developing and utilizing 
innovations in health programs.
  I support H.R. 3320 and commend Chairman Yoho for his work on this 
timely bill. The Chinese Communist government has been slowly squeezing 
Taiwan's international space, taking extraordinary measures to exclude 
Taiwan from multi-lateral institutions like the World Health 
Organization.
  Such exclusions create real international blind spots that pose 
threats to global health and security. As you all know, SARS spread 
from Taiwan and China to other parts of the globe.
  With the World Health Organization in particular, I intend to push 
for admission of Taiwan.
  I commend Ranking Member, Mr. Engel, along with Chairman Yoho, Mr. 
Chabot, and Mr. Sherman, for putting together H. Res. 422, on Hong 
Kong.
  The threats to Hong Kong's autonomy and its freedoms are real and 
progressing. These freedoms and the rule of law are vital economic 
interests of the United States and the foundation of the city's 
vitality, creativity, and entrepreneurial sprit.
  Beijing has become more assertive in Hong Kong's affairs over the 
past several years and ramped up efforts to destroy the pro-democracy 
movement over the summer. Six legislations were disqualified through 
unprecedented interventions by the National People's Congress into Hong 
Kong's judiciary. The pan-democratic minority could stop pro-Beijing 
legislation in the past, but now it cannot. China can push through any 
measure it wants now with its block of unelected legislators.
  And, as you all know, the Hong Kong government has re-sentenced the 
leaders of the peaceful Umbrella Movement of 2014. Joshua Wong, Nathan 
Law, and Alex Chow should now be considered Hong Kong's first political 
prisoners. They will not be the last, as new trails begin soon.
  This resolution is needed but should not be our last word. That is 
why I introduced, along with Congressman Tim Walza (a fellow CECC 
Commissioner), the Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act--a bill that 
I introduced in

[[Page 15287]]

the last Congress and which has been introduced by Senator Marco Rubio 
and Senator Ben Cardin in the Senate.
  I would urge my colleagues to consider this legislation and find ways 
to protect U.S. interests in a free and autonomous Hong Kong in 
addition to Ranking Member Engels' resolution which is before us today.
  Hizballah is a cancer that has metastasized in Lebanon and threatens 
to invade nearly every corner of the region if we do not stay vigilant. 
H.R. 3329, introduced by Chairman Royce, would choke off additional 
sources of financial support for this malignant growth, particularly by 
targeting the group's grass roots fundraising enterprise that it 
expanded to circumvent existing sanctions. Building on the Hizballah 
International Financing Prevention Act that the House passed 
unanimously in 2015, this bill would require third-party sanctions on 
those who substantially support Hizballah fundraising operations.
  The reports required in this legislation would also go further to 
ferret out the extent of the group's fundraising network, which it 
would rightly classify as a transnational criminal organization. Make 
no mistake: Hizballah is an international crime syndicate, wrapped in 
an Iranian paramilitary proxy, inside a terrorist organization, 
masquerading as a political resistance movement.
  H.R. 3342 introduced by Mike Gallagher would direct our government to 
use the tools at its disposal to impose penalties on Hizballah for 
employing human shields to defend its installations and outposts. 
Hizballah's use of innocent human lives to protect its nefarious 
activities is a clear human rights violation and plainly demonstrates 
that Hizballah is an enemy of Lebanon's freedom-loving people. The bill 
also encourages the President to direct our Permanent Representative at 
the United Nations to use her voice and vote to push for a resolution 
condemning this sickening practice. I can confidently say that the 
United States could not ask for a stronger or more clear-eyed defender 
of American interests and the security of our most critical regional 
ally, Israel, at the UN than Ambassador Haley.

                          ____________________