David Cicilline

I want to thank you for your leadership and for calling today's hearing on responding to the rising tide of anti-Semitism.

I think it should be clear to everyone in the world that the relationship between our two countries is unbreakable.

Nobody is born a bigot and nobody is born with this sort of hatred, but what can we do in terms of the assistance we provide and the programs that we fund to be sure that those resources aren't going to the teaching of young people to…

The goal of this agreement should be to be sure that we set it out so that it is difficult for them to violate the agreement.

Guaranteeing that actors to a negotiated agreement are going to behave in a certain way is always difficult.

Last year the Pentagon's Defense Science Board released a report that found the U.S. Government mechanisms for detection and monitoring of small nuclear enterprises or covert facilities are 'either inadequate or, more often, do not exist.'

I am hopeful that the ongoing negotiations will ultimately result in an agreement that we can get behind.

We will be willing to provide that as soon as they set another election date.

But it is clear to me that we are doing our part, the Jordanians are doing their part but are we doing things to press others in the region to undertake some more of this humanitarian work?

The current situation in the Middle East is incredibly turbulent and constantly changing.

I think the parties will be judged by this in local elections in October.

We cannot ignore egregious human rights violations at the same time.

I was proud to cosponsor the resolution offered by my friend and college Congresswoman Robin Kelly condemning the violence and terrorism perpetrated by Boko Haram, abducting innocent students and forcing children into marriage or slavery…

Put simply, human trafficking is slavery. It violates the founding principles of the United States of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and humanity's very basic principle of respect.

Whatever you think of the underlying policy, a decision to defund the Department of Homeland Security simply will not result in the president's reversing his actions on immigration.

I still believe that. If Speaker Boehner would allow the measure to come to the floor, the bill that has sat on his desk for more than 500 days would receive majority support in the House.

The mass telephone metadata program has never disrupted a terrorist plot, does not extend to the new media formats favored by ISIL, and must be brought to an end without delay.

The question that comes to mind, you know, really is what comes first, a modernization of the Copyright Office or a modernization of the Copyright Act?

What concerns me is, frankly, it seems to me we have someone who I may not always agree with, but who is willing to put the mental mind power to saying what should my office look at.

I have always said that this is a discussion that needs to be had not in the immediate.

We can all agree that the Copyright Office should be able to meet both the needs of the users and the creators.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The government's manipulation of the electoral process severely limited citizens' right to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections.

Iran remains one of the world's worst perpetrators of human rights abuses and it is critical that we continue to bring attention to this issue.

The human rights abuses in Iran are horrific and are contrary to basic American values and universal values of human rights.