We are only at 14 percent or so of GDP in terms of federal revenue; that is too low.

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 19, after line 2, insert the following new section (and conform the table of contents accordingly)…

Vietnam is a signatory, and has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is a matter of international law, they have signed on the dotted line themselves, and these rights are being violated with impunity.

I would like to offer my support for Taiwan joining the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The first case that was brought against Vietnam and individuals in the Government of Vietnam, pursuant to my law, the Trafficking Victims Protection of 2000, was a sweatshop in American Samoa where hundreds of people were abused…

I support the State Department's rewards programs, which have been effective in leading to the capture of some of the most reprehensible individuals.

Taiwan's participation in the IKO as an observer would not only benefit Taiwan, but it would benefit the rest of the world as well as it helps ensure that IKO can fulfill its mission and address threats to aviation security.

We had a $20-billion trade relationship in 2011 with Vietnam. Don't expect a labor union to exist in Vietnam because they are crushed, not unlike the way they are crushed in the People's Republic of China.

If we are going to normalize our relations we have with Vietnam, then we expect certain things from them as well.

Last month, the House Republican leadership commemorated Valentine's Day by planning a shotgun wedding between transportation reauthorization and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; between highway funding and Federal pension cuts. Many…

Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1410 offered by the Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Don Payne brought honor to this institution, to this committee.

My hope is, given the fact the situation has markedly deteriorated, that will hopefully improve its chances so that we can send a clear unequivocal message to Hanoi that we are serious about human rights abuses.

I think would be a dereliction of duty on our part as a committee and as a Congress.

When I think of Don Payne and watch him in this committee, I think of three words--passion, witness, and honor.

It is important that we speak up.

I support expanding this program. I have cosponsored your bill, H.R. 4077, which is bipartisan legislation which would expand the program to target transnational organized crime and those wanted for the most serious human rights abuses.

Nobody brought more passion to issues affecting the African continent than Don Payne.

H.R. 3783, the Counter Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act by Mr. Duncan, requires the administration to prepare a strategy to address Iran's increasing presence in the Americas.

He will be sorely missed as a colleague and as a friend.

I am also delighted that we are passing this bill to include Taiwan and the family of nations in international machinery.

Don didn't take the Africa Subcommittee issues as an academic exercise.

Not to speak out about blatant abuses still going on in Vietnam... would be a dereliction of duty.

I will never forget meeting my constituent, Mr. Solofish, who had an actual copy of his father's life insurance policy which was never paid by his European insurance company.

This recognition is long overdue.