Ted Deutch: “I thank my friend for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the bipartisan Hezbollah International…”

“I thank my friend for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the bipartisan Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015. I would like to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their leadership on this critical piece of national security legislation. I especially want to acknowledge the leadership of my friend from North Carolina (Mr. Meadows) in championing this effort and diligently pushing to make sure that we have the opportunity to hear this important bill. And I want to thank Representatives Meng, Zeldin, and Tom Price of Georgia for the key role that they have played in bringing this bill to the House floor. Since its inception in 1982, Hezbollah has attacked American citizens: in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983, killing 63, including 17 Americans; in the U.S. Marine barracks bombing in October 1983, which killed 241 American and 58 French servicemen; in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in 1984, which killed 24; in the hijacking of TWA flight 847 in 1985, in which a U.S. Navy diver was shot in the head and his body dumped on the tarmac; and in the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia in 1996 that killed 19 airmen. Hezbollah has been a U.S.-designated terrorist organization since 1997. And while it claims to be a resistance group, it is a very dangerous terrorist organization. It does not just attack Americans. It launches attacks not just on Israel. It attacks around the world.…”