Political Quotes

“First, I want to thank Jeff Duncan for his leadership and friendship on this issue and for his hard work on this. It's a very important bill that obviously enjoys bipartisan support. I rise in support of H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act. This important legislation is of particular interest to western New York, and it addresses a pressing national security concern for the United States. Mr. Speaker, Hezbollah, otherwise known as the ``party of God'' in Arabic, is a militant Shia organization committed to violent jihad. It is based in Lebanon, but serves as a proxy for Iran, Syria, and Venezuela. During hearings in the House Committee on Homeland Security, we heard expert testimony linking Hezbollah to criminal activity throughout the Western Hemisphere. We learned that there are roughly 80 Hezbollah operatives in the 15-nation region of Latin America and that it is involved in the South American drug trade and radicalization efforts in Mexico. We also learned that Hezbollah has an active presence in four cities in Canada and 15 cities in the United States. I questioned the witnesses about Hezbollah's activity in North America. I asked, If Hezbollah is not targeting the United States, what are they doing here? The response was that these activities were not significant because they were largely limited to fundraising. Mr. Speaker, I don't see the distinction between terrorist activity and fundraising for terrorist activity.…”