Chris Smith: “I thank the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on The Middle East and North Africa and chairwoman emeritus of the full…”

“I thank the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on The Middle East and North Africa and chairwoman emeritus of the full committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, for her leadership on this issue. I also thank Ted Deutch, who authored this very, very important resolution. I also thank Tom Rice and Eliot Engel for quickly bringing this legislation to the floor so that Members can vote on it in anticipation of the ninth anniversary of Bob Levinson's being held by the Iranians. Almost 9 years ago, the Levinson family wrote, in part, on helpboblevinson.com. I quote them, in part. They said: ``If you pray for Bob, we thank you. If you frequently follow the news stories and blogs about Bob's situation, we thank you. If you have spread the word about his story and continue to do so, we thank you. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Please continue to pray for Bob. We would love to have him home for Father's Day.'' That was May 25, 2007. That, Mr. Speaker, was almost 9 years ago. In a letter to Dad, also in May of 2007, Bob Levinson's children wrote: ``Dad . . . your seven children love and miss you very much. We are writing you this letter in the hopes that you will be able to read it wherever you are and know that you are in our thoughts and prayers every minute of every day.'' The seven children continued: ``As you know, Mom is our rock. She has encouraged us to take each day one day at a time.…”