Ed Royce

They see it as ransom, and that intention has been to take Americans and get ransom.

China needs to realize that there will be consequences well beyond our current targeted sanctions on this or that business entity if it continues to do business as usual with North Korea.

The fact that this bill has only Republican co-sponsors, 50 of it, sends a message to us that it is not a bipartisan bill.

When you make payments like this, all you do is invite more Americans to be held hostage.

I want a deterrence out there for this administration and future administrations.

I think we should focus on substance and not derail ourselves over something on which we are simply not going to agree.

the Obama administration paid $1.7 billion to Iran in exchange for hostages.

The point of the no-concessions policy is to remove the incentive to take Americans hostage.

The head of the Justice Department's National Security Division warned that Iran would see this as ransom and would respond to this by taking more Americans hostage.

To me, it was textbook ransom. And the Iranians viewed it as ransom because I have seen the tapes of their comments when this transaction occurred.

I am going to continue my effort to convince the Chinese Government that they should not allow nonstop flights between Pyongyang and Tehran that don't stop for fuel in China.

We have to play a very, very important role.

I call it ransom, because that is what Iran demanded.

The U.S. should never pay ransom for the release of our citizens held hostage abroad.

We should explore whether some of our sanctions on North Korea could be reduced or eliminated, at least for a while, if there were very intrusive inspections to enforce a regime that froze its nuclear program.

I had raised several times during the course of those negotiations that the hostages should have been freed without any precondition.

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as this resolution notes, Israel faces a growing number of threats, and I think I would just speak for a moment about the nature of those threats. I appreciate Representative Ileana…

I would like to start by thanking Senator Nelson for advancing this measure through the other body. I would also like to recognize the good work of Chairman Emeritus Ros-Lehtinen as well as Congressman Deutch for their companion resolution…

I would begin by saying I appreciate the efforts of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel). I appreciate his work here for authoring this resolution. I think it, again, has been said, but his life's work, Elie Wiesel's life's work…

I want to thank my good friends, the gentlewoman and gentleman from Florida, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen and Mr. Deutch, who are chair and ranking member of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, for their hard work and leadership in bringing…

I thank the chairman. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and the underlying legislation of this H.R. 2357. It encompasses, by the way, H.R. 4850, and this is the Micro Offering Safe Harbor Act. What I will share with my colleagues…

The reason we are concerned with cash going to Iran, especially $1.7 billion in cash, is because Iran is in the process, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, of funding terrorism in the region.

In closing, I would just point out that as Kim Jong-Un continues to ratchet up his aggressive actions, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Korean and Japanese allies, and part of this also means being more proactive in…

I see the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) on the floor, also one of the original authors of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, along with Chairman Chris Smith and Ranking Member Karen Bass, one of the most engaged on initiatives…

I also wanted to recognize the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott). Mr. Jim McDermott was also one of the original authors of the AGOA legislation. He worked for many, many years to see it come to fruition. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the…