Lois Frankel: “I thank the chair and ranking member for their great leadership. Mr. Speaker, imagine a mother crying in despair while…”

“I thank the chair and ranking member for their great leadership. Mr. Speaker, imagine a mother crying in despair while holding her child in her arms, a child who is gasping for his last breath, an innocent victim of a barrel bomb filled with sarin gas dropped on his school. The situation in Syria is the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. President Assad's brutal regime has killed half a million innocent victims and displaced 14 million more, with millions fleeing into Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and over Europe, straining their resources, threatening regional stability, weakening European institutions, and undermining United States economic and security interests. We must hold Assad and his supporters responsible for their atrocities. American leadership is needed more now than ever. I urge my colleagues to support the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act. Mr. Speaker, I fear that one day we will look back and we will ask: Why did we not do more? The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) has reclaimed the time from the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly). There was no objection.”