Eliot Engel

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

The gentleman yields back.

In 2009, I helped pass the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act as a member of this committee.

Last year I was one of the first House members to call on the FDA to ban flavored e-cigarettes.

The science is settled and nicotine certainly has short-term and long-term health consequences for children.

In my home State of New York there's been a 160 percent increase in the number of teens using e-cigarettes between 2014 and 2018.

The way we handle the compacts will demonstrate not only how we treat some of our closest friends, but America's commitment to the Pacific as a whole.

We have created a Pacific Islands Caucus, co-chaired by Ed Case from Hawaii, myself, Ted Yoho, and Don Young.

I have long believed that the United States should have diplomatic representation in every country of the world.

Our relations with the Freely Associated States are a very important part of our overall Indo-Pacific strategy.

I look forward to working with the Natural Resources Committee as we engage on these issues in the months and years ahead to ensure that we have a good outcome to upcoming negotiations on new Compacts of Association.

The Freely Associated States should not have to choose between inattention from their long-term friends and the debt traps.

We must get ahead of the issue, and that is one of the reasons we are holding this hearing.

Over the past months we have watched as the people of Hong Kong have bravely and tirelessly protested for their rights and their freedoms.

I am concerned about the effectiveness of ending the violence that has plagued the country since the removal of the former President Bozize in 2013.

There is a tremendous and bipartisan agreement within Congress that we must engage the Northern Triangle countries in order to enhance security and prosperity and combat corruption.

I believe that the U.S. must, instead, work as a partner to help create conditions whereby Hondurans, Guatemalans, and the Salvadorans can see a future in their home countries.

I am proud to co-sponsor and vote in support of H. Res. 517, a resolution supporting the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and its Sixth Replenishment.

To the Chinese Communist Party and those seeking to undermine Hong Kong's freedom and autonomy let me be crystally clear: the House Foreign Affairs Committee will not just sit idly by.

I am always shocked, and I was here at the beginning--and disappointed to know that other countries pay far less for the same medications than we do.

I want to also thank Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Pallone for their leadership in crafting the Lower Prescription Drug Costs Now Act, which I am pleased to cosponsor.

This horrendous 2003 law, which I voted against, prevents Medicare from using its purchasing power to lower the cost of lifesaving drugs such as insulin.

I do not take subpoenas lightly and I would not have issued this one had we not sent three letters.

The Administration's refusal to provide us and the American people answers prompted me a week ago to subpoena our top negotiator.