Chris Smith

The Chinese Government continues to insist that credible accounts of torture, sexual crimes, and arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners are mere rumors.

I strongly believe that this resolution is an important step in bringing a measure of accountability and transparency to what may be one of the great crimes of the 21st century, the 17-year-old effort to eradicate Falun Gong from China.

Many of us have been deeply concerned about the President's trip... it is not just that little has been gained, nothing has been gained.

The trend line has been in the opposite direction of what perhaps the President had intended, and that calls for a serious recalibration if not a reversal of this policy of all give and absolutely no take.

First of all, I want to thank Mr. Fortenberry for his very eloquent remarks and for reminding us that this is an existential threat to Christians, but really, as well, to civilization. I thank him again for the resolution. Mr. Speaker, I…

And the faith-based groups, Catholic Relief Services... they are absolutely essential.

My hope is that everyone who cares about the humanitarian impact that war has, particularly when it is a genocide, could weigh in on the administration.

My hope is that the administration can support this bipartisan legislation.

The Syrian war crimes tribunal will prosecute all those who commit these atrocities whether they be with ISIS, or al-Nusra, or any other, or Assad and his people.

It's never a good time. The argument in 2013 when I first proposed it in September, not a good time.

The only way to defeat ISIS is to stop Assad from killing thousands of Sunni Muslims every month.

It's absolutely true. There is a genocide against the Yezidis. But omitted from that declaration... was that the Christians were going to be left out.

The time has come to establish a Syrian war crimes tribunal.

I introduced the first iteration of it in September 2013, continually have asked Secretary Kerry and others in the administration.

I support this resolution and its call on member states of the United Nations...to coordinate urgently on measures to prevent further war crimes.

This resolution, H. Con. Res. 75, calls the violent acts of ISIS by the right name--war crimes, crimes against humanity and, where appropriate, genocide.

The resolution we're considering today, H. Con. Res. 121, makes specific mention of the role that Iran and this extremist Shi'ite alliance have played.

Assad has also conducted deliberate bombings of schools, hospitals, and humanitarian sites for the purpose of expelling the civilian population.

The bill condemns the gross violations of international law perpetrated by the Assad regime and the forces supporting Assad.

I think that is an excellent idea that we will look to follow up.

Through that, through that $100 million a year you are eliminating three diseases. I mean where else in the U.S. Government can you get that kind of impact?

I would note parenthetically that for the second year in a row the administration's budget has looked to cut the neglected tropical disease budget.

One of the reasons why I have introduced the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act is because it really does take a modest amount of money to have a spectacular impact.

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…

Failure to call ISIS' mass murder of Christians, Muslims, and other groups in addition to the Yazidis by its proper name, genocide, would be an act of denial as grave as U.S. refusal to recognize the Rwandan genocide in 1994.