On the recordOctober 25, 2017
I would like to start by thanking Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their bipartisan leadership and the model that they show all of us on this committee in the work that they do together, and for their mentorship as well. I would also like to thank and applaud my colleague and friend, Mike Gallagher, for his leadership on this bill, and for working so closely to get this done. We are very grateful to him for his work here. The Shields Act that I rise in support of right now will sanction Hezbollah members and their supporters for the use of human shields. It also seeks to punish the governments that enable such war crimes, including their primary supporter, Iran. This summer, I visited Israel and I stood near Lebanon's southern border, not far from where Hezbollah threatens Israel's security. In the over 30 years since Hezbollah in 1983 killed hundreds of Americans when it bombed the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, they have become one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations, not only in Lebanon, but across the entire Middle East. In 2006, it provoked a war with Israel by killing and kidnapping soldiers in cross-border raids, and then for nearly a month rained rockets down on Israel cities, killing dozens of civilians. Journalists and human rights groups found that it fired many of these rockets from populated areas, even from inside private homes and other civilian buildings.…
