mr. royce: i thank the gentlelady. and i do think it's important, as we move forward here, to expand the state department's rewards program. we have found a technique that works and if we can deploy this in order to bring joseph coni or use it to bring to the bar of justice some of the international crime figures that would be turned in under this bill, then it could be very, very beneficial. the bill has already passed the house and was included as a provision in the state department authorization bill that the house foreign affairs committee moved earlier this year. it is regrettable that the senate chose not to act on the house's comprehensive state department authorization bill, but with today's action, this bill can now go to the president's desk for signature where it promises to have an immediate impact. the bill that i introduced h.r. 4077 has enjoyed strong bipartisan support and i thank chairman ros-lehtinen and i thank ranking member berman and others for the support they have given this measure and as has b

so mr. royce, the time is yours. mr. royce: thank you for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as -- as he wishes. mr. royce: thank you. i rise in support of this resolution of which i am an original co-sponsor. i think members are very rightly concerned right now as the same technology that's used to put a satellite into space is also used in order to launch a ballistic missile. this experiment by north korea is definitely an advance for them, it's definitely a threat to the region, it's definitely a threat to the united states because what we're talking about here are three stage icbm's. it is estimated that north korea has spent $3 billion since 1998 on that missile program. that is the amount of money that would have bought enough corn to feed that country over the last three years, but instead of feeding its people and i have been in north korea, i have seen the malnutrition. instead of feeding its people it continues to put billions of dollars into its military. that's the type of despicable regime we'r

mr. royce: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i'd just like to begin by thanking jeff duncan and his staff as well for their good work on this legislation. but i would remind the members in terms of iranian activity in this hemisphere, we think what first comes to mind is the attack in the 1990's in argentina, but more recently hezbollah has penetrated our borders and one example i would give to you is a man trained by iranian intelligence. he paid a bribe in order to get to mexico from beirut. once in mexico he paid a second bribe, this time to a cartel group in order to have himself inserted in a special compartment in the back of a car. the reason is he important is because it was his brother who was in charge for security in israel and during the hezbollah war, and i was there at the time, i saw those missiles that were ordered launched by hezbollah into a town that was under attack. there were some 600 casualties in that hospital trarp a direct result of those iranian and syrian missiles that were being fired on the hospital

mr. royce, the chairman of the subcommittee on terrorists and non-proliferation of trade is recognized. >> madam chair i would like to begin by acknowledging the role that you have played in leading this committee. if you have always brought energy and a smile to this committee and we look forward to working together next year and the committee. i would also like to wish howard well as he moves on to the next chapter and i would like to say to both of you, that this committee and the institution is better because of the service on your part. the leadership on your part. and we look forward to secretary clinton testifying next year or next month, and i think all of us want to make sure that at the end of the day, our diplomats are safer and i look forward to working with mr. engel and all the members here. we look forward to making certain that something like this does not happen again. but part of that is making the right policy decisions. part of that goes to policy. and if we look at some of