Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

I am proud to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and the author of this measure.

As a person who lost her native homeland, Cuba, to communism, where we don't have elections, I always say that it is wonderful to get interrupted by elections and by votes.

I add my support for all the measures before us today.

The United States and our partners have a responsibility to do everything that we can to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the people of Venezuela.

This important resolution condemns the Maduro regime for its role in the deterioration of Venezuela's democratic institutions.

This important bill would extend this longstanding bipartisan lifesaving program for another 5 years.

The United States must continue to lead the global response to HIV/AIDS.

I would like to tighten the sanctions on those military leaders because I see that as the problem.

We had Joe Crowley and Steve Chabot, who's a wonderful member of our committee, pass an important bill condemning the ethnic cleansing going on.

It's important to note Ranking Member Engel's BURMA Act, which still needs to be passed and that aims to impose additional sanctions.

In 2014, we supported a resolution that this committee passed--Jim McGovern's House Resolution 418, which called for an end to persecution.

For years now many of us on this committee have been speaking out in support of the Rohingya people.

Maduro and his cronies must be held to account.

I do, however, strongly urge the administration to take it a step further and signal support for our DETER Act.

The Global Magnitsky Act, authored by our colleague, Chris Smith, has become a very important tool and I am pleased to see that the administration has made use of it, especially in Nicaragua.

I am also proud to have authored the Venezuelan Human Rights and Democracy Protection Act and have helped secure the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Act.

If fully implemented and enforced, U.S. sanctions can be an effective foreign policy tool to pressure dangerous rogue regimes including those in Iran, in North Korea, in Russia, as well as those in our own hemisphere, like my native…

The continued violence and oppression by the Ortega regime is reprehensible.

Ortega and Murillo are responsible for the crimes against humanity that are currently taking place.

The violence must stop immediately.

Thank you to excellent panelists.

I am hoping that there would be some commonsense communication between, you know, the right hand and the left hand...

I am quite a fan of the Global Magnitsky Act, and I want to encourage you to continue to use that...

Their silence is deafening.