mr. engel: you know, mr. speaker, we're taking up a bill from the senate which i fully support, with a couple of install amendments. within of -- one -- small amendments. one of these amendments is to name this bill after a member of our house. i'm experiencing a little bit of denial because it reminds me that one of our most able and valued colleagues is about to wrap up her distinguished clear. i can't imagine what it's going to be like without ileana ros-lehtinen around here. she came to congress the year after i did and we've been close friends ever since. the gentlewoman from florida has been a dear friend and an exceptional colleague and there has been no fiercer champion of the u.s.-israel relationship than ileana ros-lehtinen. so it's entirely fitting that we amend this bill to name it in her honor, the ileana ros-lehtinen u.s.-israel security assistance authorization act. let me also thank the chief democratic sponsor of this legislation, mr. deutch, also of florida, who has worked tirelessly to shap

mr. engel: i wouldn't object to it. mr. speaker, hezbollah is a threat to peace and stability across the middle east. his group is emerging from the civil war. their tactics have grown more sophisticated and we have to give every tool they can to crack down. this bill is a great example of what we can produce when we work across the aisle. and how proud i am on the foreign affairs committee and the chairmanship for what we think is the most bipartisan committee in congress. it is important that america speak with one voice and it's important when we talk about foreign politics that politics sfops at the waters' edge. its a great example of what we can produce when we work across he aisle and get it across the finish line. thank my congrat layings to the gentlewoman from florida. ros-lehtinen rapet thank you so much. and i echo mr. engel's remarks under the leadership of chairman committee is gn the most bipartisan committee. the speaker pro tempore: will the house pass the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in

mr. engel. mr. engel: thank you very much, mr. chairman, and as i said many, many times privately and publicly, i want to thank you for the fair way you've always run this committee. i know this is an unusual situation for us, for both of us. but we've reached the point with this administration when i believe it's time for tougher action to be taken. for 18 months, we've been trying to exercise basic oversight of the state department. two secretaries of state have been here and have said they'd be responsive to our committee's request. it hasn't happened. we've been stonewalled over and over again. we've heard excuse after excuse after excuse and on the rare occasion like today that the administration sends officials to testify before our committee, we rarely get the answers we need. this has frustrated me and aye -- i've heard the same from many of our members and the secret meeting between president trump and president putin in helsinki was the last straw, literally. vladimir putin unleashed an attack on our democracy to try to

mr. engel: thank you, mr. speaker, i'm prepared to close. . i ask my colleagues to support this measure. the scope of the cyber threat that we're facing is immense. this is a good bill and moves us in the right direction and i urge all our colleagues to support it. i want to thank chairman royce, as usual. i want to thank chairman royce and congressman yoho for their friendship and their hard work on this critical issue. thank you and i reserve the balance of my time -- i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. royce: i'll yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: in closing, mr. speaker, i'd really like to thank our colleagues here, especially ted yoho, the chairman of the subcommittee on asia and the pacific, and the ranking member of the foreign affairs committee, mr. eliot engel of new york. and i also want to thank the financial services committee that worked with us on t

said, i think we will go to an introduction of the witnesses and i think mr. engel intended to make an opening statement but if you would like, mr. sherman, i will defer to you. when he arrives. as long as he has his time to give an opening statement when he arrives. he certainly does but i have communicated that he is stuck in traffic at this moment. we will go now to an introduction of our witnesses. i am pleased to welcome assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs and mr. marshall billingsley, assistant secretary of the treasury today. saying --singh previously served as the deputy assistant secretary and as deputy chief counsel to the committee on foreign relations. marshall billingsley has been serving since june 2017 and prior to his current role, mr. billingsley was the managing financial advisory services. he has held multiple positions within the department of defense and state and we appreciate both of them being with us. without objection, the full statement is going to be made part of the record. if you would, please summarize your r

now to the gentleman from new york, mr. engel, for four minutes. >> that is a hard act to follow, mr. chairman. that's a hard act to follow. maybe i'll get mr. long to help me along a little bit as well. thank you, mr. channing and mr. pal own and mr. darcy. our country is facing a direct threat to our democratic institutions and we need to find ways to stop russia and iran from using technology against us. this year robert mueller filed an indictment charging creating fake social media accounts and using american stolen identities to sew discord and interfere with our elections and i have a copy of the indictment here and would like to introduce it to the record. >> without objection. >> twitter recently took down a number of russian and iranian-linked accounts after it was tipped off by a cybersecurity firm. i'm glad to see twitter is taking action to protect us but do you think we should be concern that an outside cybersecurity firm detected fraudulent activity before you did. >> i think it is important that we have outsiders

mr. engel: thank you, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i want to thank chairman walden and representative eshoo and brooks as well as all the staff for their hard work on this bill. together we have a robust product. mr. pallone: this is a vitally important public health bill that ensures we can prepare for and respond to health security events like bioterrorism, emerging infeshes, diseases and natural disasters. it will support the go new treatments and the stockpiles of medications and supplies that will be deployed to communs nationwide in the case of an emergency. as we all know, effectively prepared for and responding to these events requires extensive coordination between federal, state, local and tribal governments as well as private sector organizations across the country. this bill re-authorizes orest tab learns critical programs that will help us better prepare and respond to any major health emergency. let me discuss some of the specifics of how this bill will help us do

mr. elliott engel of new york for his opening statement and afterwards for questions of the witnesses. thank you both for your testimony today. >> thank you free much can mr. chairman and for callingy welcome and thank you for your service and time this morning. we appreciate having administration witnesses here and i do have to be honest it happens too rarely. the president of the administration has been increased labor luck in to work with congress. that's how it seemsk to us and it's very frustrating but we are happy you're here. the latest example pertinent to our conversation this morning was the development the six executive order in sanctions. no no discussion of upper with congress whatsoever. we learned about itt from reutes and from what i hear your agencies were caught equally by surprise and obviously it's not the way it's supposed to work so i want to use this time we do have before a committee to tackle this important topic. sanctions can be very good tool to achieve our foreign policy object is. but i'm concerned that this administration is turning reflectively to sanctio

i will now turn to the gentleman engel,ew york, mr. for four minutes. likes that is a hard act to follow, mr. chairman. -- >> that is a hard act to follow, mr. chairman. you, mr. chairman, mr. blown. mr. draghi, welcome. the country is facing a direct threat to our democratic institute -- mr. dorsey, welcome. -- eed to focus earlier this year, special counsel robert mueller filed an indictment against a russian internet research agency, charging that they created fake social media accounts, sometimes using american stolen identities to sow discord and interfere with our 2016 elections. i have a copy of that indictment here, and mr. chairman, i would like to introduce it for the record. objection. rep. engel: twitter recently talked down a number of russian link because after it was tipped off by a cyber security firm. i am glad that twitter is taking action to protect us, but should we be concerned that an outside cybersecurity firm detected this activity before you did? mr. dorsey: i think it is important that we have outsiders and that we have an open

engel: i think he enjoyed. i had the privilege of going a couple of times and reading the book, reading chapters of the book to him and mrs. bush before she passed. -- a differentt time to president bush himself. it is a remarkable opportunity that few historians ever get, to read their book to their subject. brian: why did you do that? why did he listen? dr. engel: first of all, i thought it would be really cool. but secondly because president bush asked. or his staff asked. withs having difficulty his eyes and could not read as much as he liked to. people were reading to him daily. they thought this would be a bookie would want to hear and ,hat would be a good experience and that it would be a chance to catch up. i do remember saying, most people have audiotapes. it was explained to me when you are the former president, people read to you.. brian: you are critical of him in the book. dr. engel: yes, frequently. brian: did he blanch when he heard that? dr. engel: i did inadvertently read apart i was not intending to, which was the difficulty he had over his budget deal. his no new taxes pledge. i had forgotten that was p