Ed Royce: “I want to begin by recognizing the efforts of Mr. Smith, Chair of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Global…”

“I want to begin by recognizing the efforts of Mr. Smith, Chair of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights, and Ranking Member Engel for their strong leadership on this critical issue. Mr. Speaker, for seven years, the world has watched the brutal dictator Assad inflict untold suffering on the Syrian people. Since the beginning of the conflict, half a million people have been killed and 13 million--largely women and children--remain in dire need of basic humanitarian assistance in Syria. Over the course of this deadly conflict, we have seen Assad and his backers--Russia in the air, and Iran on the ground--commit atrocious war crimes, including using chemical weapons on civilians. I am sure I am not the only one who will never forget the footage shown before our Committee of a Syrian doctor trying to revive two young children, foaming at the mouth, after chlorine bombs rained down on their village; or the testimony of Caesar, a former regime police photographer, who bravely smuggled thousands of images cataloguing the gruesome and methodical torture in Assad's prisons out of Syria. But the brutal Assad regime is not the only terror the Syrian people have had to endure--his brutality paved the way for ISIS to expand in the country as well.…”