[applause] and then i received an extraordinary letter from pastor abedini.gratitude for my visit with his family. .. we are going to keep up this work. all those around the world that are unjustly held or persecuted because of their faith and we are grateful to the new ambassador for international religious freedom who has hit the ground running and is heading to iraq in a few days to help communities address challenges. where is david, i know she's here somewhere. thank you for the great work you're doing. [applause] humility, suspicion of government getting between us and our faith. we are trying to dictate our faith, elevates one over another. and finally let's remember if there is one law we can be most certain of that seems to bind people of all faiths and people who are still finding their way towards faith that have a sense of ethics and morality and that the golden rule that we should treat each other as we wish to be treated. love thy neighbor as myself. in islam than a few truly be the huntsville he loves his brother what he wants for himself. the

[applause] and then i received an extraordinary letter from pastor abedini. and in it he describes his captivity and expressed his gratitude for my visit with his family. and thanked us all for standing and solitary -- solidarity with him. he wrote nothing is more valuable to the body of christ than to see how the lord is in control and moves ahead of countries and leadership through united prayer. and he closed his letter by describing himself as a prisoner for christ, who is proud to be a part of this great nation, the united states of america, that cares for religious freedom around the world. [applause] we are going to keep up this work. for all those around the world that are unjustly held or persecuted because of their faith and we are grateful to the new ambassador for international religious freedom who has hit the ground running and is heading to iraq in a few days to help communities address challenges. where is david? i know he is here somewhere. [applause] thank you for the great work you're doing. humility, suspicion of government getting between

we raise these -- let me tell you, with the iranians whether it's, you know, saeed abedini or leftenson or jason i mean, these names are all in the front of my head because we constantly raise people being held in one place or another. we don't always talk about the names publicly because sometimes that works to a disadvantage. but there are folks in pakistan places where we are highly focused on these situations. and it's a daily concern of the state d.. >> we appreciate -- of the state department. >> we appreciate your commitment to the authorization process and i think that in many ways it can help you significantly in what you're doing to leverage efforts and get congress more bought into some of the issues you're talking about today. and yet there's almost no knowledge of those activities because of the lack of involvement that's taken place. so i look forward to working with you on that. >> okay. >> i appreciate very much your comments regarding the modern slavery initiative, and senator menendez and i introduced legislation today that hopefully will move through the committee lat