laws and regulations passed the safeguard, the rights of women, must be enforced and respected at the provincial and local levels in order to make sure that women continue to make progress throughout all as pets of afghan society. it is critical that women legislators of afghanistan receive the necessary training and support to prevent a return to the discrimination to the violence that they faced under the taliban. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i yield back the balance of our time. the chair: the gentlelady from texas. ms. johnson: i have no further requests for time and i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider

amendment number 25 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? ms. johnson: i have an amendment the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 25 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offer by mrs. eddie bernice johnson of texas. the chair: the gentlelady from texas, ms. johnson, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from texas. ms. johnson: thank you. let me begin by thanking the chairman and congresswoman ros-lehtinen for all of their hard work and dedication to improving the lives around the world. my amendment affirms that the use of child soldiers is unacceptable. it is a violation of human rights and the prevex and elimination of child soldiers should be a foreign policy goal of the united states. around the world children have been recruited by armed forces

and exploited as soldiers. amnesty international estimates 250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be currently fighting in conflicts around the world and hundreds of thousands are members of armed forces who could be sent into conflict any time. the use of children as soldiers has been universally condemned as horrible and unacceptable. yet over the last 10 years hundreds of thousands of children have fought and died in conflicts around the world. child soldiers are usually forest -- forced to live under cruel conditions with inadequate foot and little or no access to health care. they're almost always treated cruelly, subjected to beatings and shameful treatment. girl soldiers are particularly at risk of rape, sexual harassment and abuse while in combat.

they're often forced into marriage arrangements and are high-risk for unwanted pregnancies. as a psychiatric nurse, i have seen first-hand the effects of war, the mental, social and emotional abuse is endured as a child soldier would last them the rest of their lives and they'll never know how to solve a problem without fighting. i am eager to work with the state department to ensure that children around the world are off the front lines of conflicts and in schools and on play grounds. children must have a chance to be children. in order to be healthy, happy and productive adults we must take a stand. please join me in expressing to the global community that the use of child soldiers is unacceptable and i ask my colleagues to vote yes and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to claim time

in opposition although i do not oppose the substance of the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam chair. the congress put the force of law behind its condemn nation of the use of child soldiers through the child soldiers prevention act authored by my good friend from nebraska, mr. fortenberry. this was incorporated into the william which will berforce trafficking victims protection reauthorization act and became public law in december, 2008. we further opined on this matter in the child soldiers accountability act of 2008 which became law in october of last year. however, a sense of congress reaffirming that the use of child soldiers is unacceptable must be supported. i applaud my good friend from texas for bringing this important issue to our attention. again, it is right and just to do so. i encourage our colleagues to support this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady from texas.

ms. johnson: i have no requests for time. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. berman: will the gentleman yield? ms. johnson: yes. mr. berman: i just want to express my strong support for this. this issue is an important one and i appreciate you raising it along with other contributions of other members on this issue and i strongly support the resolution. ms. johnson: thank you very much, i yield. the chair: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the question is now on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i have an amendment the at the desk. the chair: it it is now in order to consider amendment number 26 printed in part c of house report is 111-14. the collect will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 26 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offered by mr. poe of texas.

the chair: pursuant to house resolution 522, the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: thank you, madam speaker. this amendment would make it a requirement for the president to report annually the total united states cash in kind contributions to the united nations system. each fiscal year by every united states agency or department. this amendment only applies for the next two calendar years. fiscal years, however. last year american taxpayers crbts contributed $5 billion to the united nations, making the united states the largest member donor to that institution. seeing the amount of american investment and the influence the united nations has on world opinion and world advance, it's important how manies -- americans know how their money is being spent and it's not subsidizing activities which hurt american security, values or our national interests. the amendment i'm sponsoring today would make this requirement for the president to

submit to congress a report of u.s. cash in kind contributions or u.s. cash and in kind contributions to the united nations and u.n. affiliated agencies each fiscal year. the funding would be reported on u.s.a. spend -- usaspending.gov and this amendment would expire after two years. without the report, americans would be in the dark concerning the ways in which their money is being spent in funding the united nations. i urge the adoption of this amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. berman: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition to the amendment although i'm not opposed to the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: it requires the president to report total cash in kind contributions by the united states to the entire united nations system for the period covered by h.r. 2410,

fiscal years 2010 and 2011. that's right. the amendment makes sense. it encourages full transparency in detailing the logistical and other support to the u.s. provides to critical peacekeeping operations, and other u.n. activities in support of u.s. interests, the members of congress have a right to know, the people of america have a right to know and i support the amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: i thank the chairman's response in support of this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. and ask for the adoption thereof. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 27 printed in part c of house report 111-143.

for what purpose does the gentleman from delaware rise? mr. castle: thank you, i rise to the purpose of offering an amendment number 27. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 27 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offered by mr. castle of delaware. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 522, the gentleman from delaware, mr. castle, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from delaware. mr. castle: thank you, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i offer this important amendment before us today for a variety of reasons. when a citizen or national of a foreign country is convicted of a crime or fond found to be in the united states illegally, immigrations and customs enforcement or i.c.e. officials often order a final order of removal. while most countries repatriate their citizens and nationals in a timely manner, there are handful of countries that often refuse or unreasonabley delay this process. u.s. courts have ruled that our

government cannot legally hold criminal aliens in custody for longer than six months following their sentence of imprisonment if their home country refuses or delays in taking them back. as a result, i.c.e. reports that more than 17,000 convicted criminals, many of whom would serve time for crimes such as murder, kidnapping and rape, have been released onto our streets after their home country refuses or delays repay theation. this creates a serious burden on our local law enforcement and wastes millions of dollars. under current law, our government has the option of denying visas to countries that refuse repay theation. however, this tool has rarely been utilized. the amendment i'm offering today would provide our government with two new tool for compelling countries to act. first, the amendment empowers the secretary of homeland security to deny admission to a country's diplomatic visa holders if the secretary determines the country is unreasonabley refusing or delaying repay theryation. second, the amendment requires

quarterly reports to congress from the secretary of homeland security publicly listing the country's that refuse or unreasonabley delay repariation. this includes the specific information on the statute us and number of criminal aliens released in the u.s. it's my hope that this reporting requirement will assist the administration in putting new pressure on those that refuse to delay. this is just the first step toward solving a serious problem and in the end our amendment leaves final discussion to the administration to allow for diplomatic flexibility. i urge my colleagues to support this important amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. berman: i rise to seek unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition, although i am not going to speak in opposition. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: i yield my time -- myself such time as i may

consume. the gentleman has touched on a real problem, even just as he describes it, the notion of criminal aliens released because of the limitations on the time they can be held, not taken in their own country creates a very undesirable situation in our own country. the gentleman's addition to the existing law makes a lot of sense because it's to retaliation against the officials of that government who seek diplomat visas to come to the united states. the existing provision of law is very understandable, although i have a little concern that sometimes we're visiting on the spouse of a u.s. citizen or a worker with a particular skill, the sips of the government on that individual -- sins of the

government on that individual or that individual's american citizen family but the gentleman has been very flexible in working with us and on this amendment and he's certainly trying to go after a real problem. i wish i had a better alternative than this but i'm not -- military force isn't my answer. so i'm going to support the gentleman's amendment. the chair: does the gentleman yield back? mr. berman: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from delaware. cast cast i yield the gentleman from pennsylvania for -- mr. castle: i yield the gentleman from pennsylvania for one moment but i'd like to thank the gentleman for supporting this amendment. i think that's very helpful. at this time i yield to the gentleman from the commonwealth of pennsylvania such time as he may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. dent: i rise in support of the castle-dent amendment. as of may, 2009, just last month, over 147,000 citizens, citizens, residents and nationals of foreign countries remain in the united states because the governments of their home nations are delaying or even refusing repatriation according to u.s. immigration and customs enforcement. it's simply unacceptable. the disconcerting detail regarding this situation is that over 17,000 of these individuals are criminal aliens who have been released into our communities and neighborhoods because u.s. courts have ruled that our system cannot legally hold them in custody for longer than 180 days or six months following their sentence of imprisonment if their home country refuses or reunreasonable delays their return. detainment will only be extendsed if an individual has been prove to be especially dangerous by a court and a psychiatrist.

this extension has only been exercised a handful of times since being instituted in 2004. a releasing dangerous crms back onto our streets is not fair to our citizenry and the families of individuals who have legally immigrated to america. that said, the castle-dent amendment requires quarterly reports, reports every the -- 90 days, to the congress of the homeland of security, that delay repay theation, including -- repay the ration. furthermore, the secretary of homeland security will have the power to facilitate the process by denying the entrance to the u.s. of those holding diplomatic visas of the offending country. the administration can exercise discretion regarding diplomatic flexibility with an affected nation if necessary. under current statute, the immigration nationality act that provides that the u.s. state department the authority to

discontinue the granting of immigrant or nonimmigrant visas to nationals from foreign countries that unreasonabley delay or deny accepting an alien who is a citizen subject, national or resident of that country. although state has threatened to deny visas in this capacity, it has never enforced this authority. additionally, the congressional budget office has indicated this amendment has no significant impact on pay-go. on the other hand, drawn out negotiations divert scarce federal and state resources. as an example in one case, the u.s. government paid 197,000 -- $197,000 to fly an alien convicted of assault with a knife back to his home country of somali. only to be denied and sent back to the u.s. where he was released and fled to canada. i don't understand the logic here. we cannot spend taxpayer dollars to remove the dangerous individual from american soil only to discover the nation is refusing the re-entry of their citizen.

the congressional action on comprehensive immigration hangs in the future. . the chair: the gentleman from california. mr. berman: the gentleman need an additional minute? i would be happy to yield to him . mr. dent: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the offending countries tend to be about eight countries, china, india, vietnam, laos, eritrea and i'm probably neglecting one or two, but there are some that have valid removal orders against them and should be removed. i thank the gentleman from california for working with us to provide an amendment. it sends a very strong message that it is unacceptable that we have to expend our limited resources to hold people that

should have been returned. i urge adoption of the castle-dent amendment. the chair: the gentleman from california. mr. berman: no further speakers. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from delaware. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is goad to. pursuant to the order of the house of today, it is now in order to consider amendment number 17 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? mr. matheson: i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: amendment number 17 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offered by mr. matheson of utah. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 522, the gentleman from utah, mr. matheson and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from utah. mr. matheson: thank you, madam

chair. i want to thank foreign affairs, rules, judiciary and administration committees for working with me. my amendment ensures that americans living overseas, all of whom who are required to pay taxes to the u.s. government are counted in u.s. census and get to vote in u.s. elections. this amendment structs the secretary of state in consultation with the director of the census bureau and attorney general to develop passports to determine how they can fully participate in future crens uses and the elections. in utah, it narrowly missed getting a fourth congressional seat because missionaries living overseas were not counted. my amendment seeks to correct this practice to ensure that all americans living overseas will be counted and get to vote in

u.s. future elections. this amendment is straightforward in establishing the study dwri to examine this issue and i encourage my colleagues to support it. and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. does any member seek the time to claim opposition. seeing none, the question occurs on the amendment offered by the gentleman from utah. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is goode to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in part c of house report 111-143 on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order. amendment number 1, by mr. berman of california. amendment number 2, by ms. ros-lehtinen of florida. amendment number 6 by mr. mccaul of texas.

amendment number 7 by mr. larsen of washington. amendment number 10 of ms. brown-waite of florida. amendment number 15 of mr. royce of california and amendment number 19 of mr. kirk of illinois. the chair will reduce to two minutes the voting. the unfinished business is the request of a recorded vote of amendment number 1 by the gentleman from california, mr. berman, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the yeas prevailed by voice vote. the clerk: amendment number 1, printed in part b printed in house report 111-143 offered by mr. berman of california the speaker pro tempore: a -- the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered.

those in favor say aye. in favor of the amendment will votea. those opposed, no. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]