Norma Torres: “I take issue with the ranking member questioning my hard work. I have spent every year since I came to Congress in 2015…”

“I take issue with the ranking member questioning my hard work. I have spent every year since I came to Congress in 2015 working to address the issues of public corruption in Central America and throughout Latin America. So for this to come up now is, frankly, very disappointing. My amendment, yes, does build on important provisions that are already in the bill, which prohibit extending credit to individuals who are subject to U.S. sanctions. These provisions will protect the new agency, uphold American values, and protect our national security. I urge my colleagues to find a way to see through this fog and understand that this is the right way to go about it. I hope they will support the bill and support my amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. {time} 1545 Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time. Again, let me state this: If you are a sanctioned individual or entity, under American law, American businesses cannot do business with them. We have an amendment here that says they also can't get subsidized financing from Ex-Im to do that business that they are prevented from doing. Okay, fine. I get this. It has language about human rights, but we already have that limitation in law, in fact. If we wanted to do something real and substantive when it comes to sanctioned individuals, we would have gone a step further, including the China provisions in the bipartisan Waters-McHenry bill. All this does is restate existing law.…”