Eliot Engel: “And I rise in support of this measure. Mr. Speaker, I authored this bill, the Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and…”

“And I rise in support of this measure. Mr. Speaker, I authored this bill, the Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and Defense of Democratic Governance Act, in the House with our chair emeritus of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros- Lehtinen. I want to say that there is no Member of this body who has done more to champion democracy and human rights in Venezuela than the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen). I also want to thank her longtime staff director, Eddy Acevedo, who is in his last week on Capitol Hill. Eddy has been such a positive force on Venezuela and the entire Latin American region in support of Ileana's work. He has been a consistent collaborator with my staff, and his work here will be sorely missed. I also want to say that I appreciate Chairman Royce's steadfast commitment to the Venezuelan people and his support for this legislation. I also want to thank Senator Cardin for authorizing this measure in the other body. I hope we will be able to work with the Senate, the other body, to get this bill on the President's desk. Mr. Speaker, with its massive energy resources, Venezuela should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Unfortunately, irresponsible policies put in place by President Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, brought the country to near economic collapse and created a dangerous humanitarian crisis. The statistics tell a tragic story.…”