Henry Cuellar: “I want to thank Representative Jackson Lee for her leadership in this effort to make sure that we protect not only other…”

“I want to thank Representative Jackson Lee for her leadership in this effort to make sure that we protect not only other diplomats, but our agents that work overseas. I also want to thank Mr. Michael McCaul, one of my co-leads on this, Mr. Bill Pascrell, Mr. Filemon Vela, and other Members, all bipartisan, that support this. On the Senate side, the lead sponsors were Senator John Cornyn and also Senator Chris Coons, and a whole bunch of other folks. I certainly want to say thank you so much. Mr. Speaker, this legislation is important because this is a bipartisan bill, and it ensures that individuals who harm or attempt to harm U.S. Federal officers or employees serving abroad can be brought to justice and prosecuted in the United States. Furthermore, this bill will improve the safety and the security of not only the agents but any diplomat or any Federal employee that works outside the U.S. or overseas by ensuring that crimes that are committed against Americans serving abroad can be prosecuted by United States courts. {time} 1300 As the chairwoman mentioned a few minutes ago, it was very unfortunate what happened, and it is a change on the--we want to make sure that the intent of the law that has been there will be followed, and that basically just means that that section 1114 of the United States Code would say that it also covers foreign jurisdiction.…”