mr. royce: mr. lewis. mr. lewis: chairman royce, ranking member engel, distinguish members of the committee, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify today. i'm honored to join my colleague, lee wolosky. mr. chairman, i particularly appreciate your continued and sustained interest in this extremely important issue. at the outset, i want to echo special envoy wolosky's statement and one final point regarding the detention facility at guantanamo bay. the president and his national security team have determined closing this detention facility is a bipartisan national security imperative. the president has repeatedly stated that the continued operation of the detention facility at guantanamo weakens our national security by damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, draining resources and providing violent extremists with a propaganda tool. in january of last year, 42 retired military leaders, all retired general officers or flag officers, wrote the leadership of the senate armed serv

mr. royce: without objection. mr. engel: thank you, mr. chairman. so coming back to our question. what are the costs of closing guantanamo? to me the answers are clear. the cost of closing the facility are far, far less than the cost of keeping it open. i'm not alone in this view. president george w. bush was very clear that he wanted to close gitmo. john mccain made a campaign promise to do the same. an overwhelming majority of national security and military experts, including former secretaries of state and defense, c.i.a. directors, national security advisors and chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff think it should be shuttered. as i pointed out, the arguments against closing it just don't hold up. at the end of the day, my opinion, the only justification for keeping the prison open is fear, fear of violent extremism, fear our justice system or prison system cannot get the job done despite all the evidence of the contrary and fear is precisely what our enemies want to instill on us. i don't

mr. royce: this committee will come to order. president obama's race to empty the guantanamo bay detention facility is on. in recent weeks and months, many hardened terrorists have been released. many of them have been sent abroad and according to the president's closure plan sent to congress last month, another 35 are set to be transferred this summer. unfortunately, we know many of the recipient countries don't have the desire or commitment or even ability to monitor these dangerous individuals and prevent them from returning to the battlefield. countries like ghana and uruguay aren't typical security and intelligence partners but they are being asked to shoulder a heavy burden and a heavy responsibility. and there are real concerns about the administration setting aside intelligence assessments to deceive countries about the threat posed by the militants they are being asked to take in. that was certainly a finding of this committee, our investigation into the release of six detainees to uru

mr. royce: matt salmon. mr. salmon: as long as we're talking about cuba policy, i have something to get off my chest. i find the images of the president yukking it up with farc terrorists at a baseball game when europe is under siege disgusting. absolutely disgusting. i believe that -- well, i'm not going to go on on that. i just think there are better things that i think the public hould be seeing. one of the troubling aspects of the transfer of six detainees to uruguay was the slow letter, the letter assuring the uruguay government that none of the detainees had been associated with terrorism. we know this isn't true. i know it was your predecessor who wrote the letter but can you walk us through how the administration could make such a misleading statement? how can you expect a host government to then take seriously the monitoring and mitigation of the detainee in uruguay's case the government stated ahead of time they would not monitor we still released them. does this speak to the administration's overall w

mr. royce: thank you, mr. chairman. on the question of exemptive authority, as it applies, as it applies to your ability, you -- to exempt banks from rulemaking, you argued in a recent speech that it was not plausible for you to use such authority to override congress' own judgment on such a broad-based policy matter. as you know, section 1022 of the dodd-frank act gave the cfpb the authority to adopt regulations, by allowing it to exempt any class of entity from its rulemakings. just this week 329 members of this house wrote to you, it was mr. stivers' letter, actually, wrote to you to tailor regulations for community banks and credit unions citing section 1022 exemptive authority specifically. do you believe that section 1022 gives you the ability to tailor regulations for community financial institutions, and does a letter -- this would be over 3/4 of congress, does such a letter change your view of congressional intent? mr. cordray: i would say two things. first of all, we have routinely ta

mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. again, i thank major lee zeldin, congressman from new york for authoring this bill. and let me also again express my appreciation for the cooperation of ranking member engel and to commend his work and of our colleague from california, dr. bera, on this legislation. the 9/11 commission states in their report to us on recommendations, said to the congress, the u.s. government cannot meet its own obligations to the american people to prevent the entry of terrorists without a major effort to collaborate with other governments. we should do more to exchange terrorist information with trusted allies. and raise u.s. and global border security standards for travel and for border crossing over the medium and long-term through extensive international cooperation. this bill does that and adds another component and that's as relates to the collateral benefit which will come through ying to prevent infection -- infectious diseases bourn by ese exotic vectors, like the mosquitoes that bring the zi

mr. royce: thank you, mr. chairman. on the question of exemptive , as it y, as it applies ou ies to your ability, y argued in a recent speech that it was not plausible for you to use such authority to override congress' own judgment on such a broad-based policy matter. as you know, section 1022 of the dodd-frank act gave the cfpb the authority to adopt regulations, by allowing it to exempt any class of entity from its rulemakings. just this week 329 members of this house wrote to you, it was mr. stivers' letter, actually, wrote to you to tailor regulations for community banks and credit unions citing section 1022 exemptive authority specifically. do you believe that section 1022 gives you the ability to tailor regulations for community financial institutions, and does a letter -- this would be over 3/4 of congress, does such a letter change your view of congressional intent? mr. cordray: i would say two things. irst of all, we have routinely tailored our rules to take account of different circu

and you probably, i know you answered the question to mr. royce of california earlier, sent you a letter with 329 members of congress, bipartisan a massive majority of members of congress and mr. royce asked you a lit -- little bit about it and left a little bit out. did you read the letter? mr. cordray: i don't think it's come to me yet. it came over yesterday and i ave not seen it. mr. stivers: the bottom line -- mr. cordray: i read all the letters, i just haven't seen that one. mr. stivers: they found that community financial institutions had to discontinue or limit access to services as a result of your regulations and you have the authority under section 1022 of dodd frank to modify your regulations and sort of adapt them to the people they're applied. to i would urge you to do that and i'm a very visual person, i have a visual display for you, and jessie is going to hand you a t-shirt. could you hold that up and take a look at it real quick. is it a nice t-shirt? well-designed? expert ay: i'm not an on t-shirts. but it looks -- could you try

of rule 20, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from california, mr. royce, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4314 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. he clerk: h.r. 4314, a bill to provide a plan to combat travel by foreign fighters, establish minimum international border security standards, authorize the suspension of foreign assistance to countries not making significant efforts to comply with such minimum standards and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is 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.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 370, the nays are two. 2/3 of t

the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. royce, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. on the question of exemptive authority as it applies, mr. cordray, as it applies to your ability to exempt community banks and credit unions from rule makings, you argued in a recent speech that it was not plausible for you to use such authority to override congress' own judgment on such a broad-based policy matter. and director, as you know, section 1022 of the dodd-frank act gave the cfpb the authority to adopt regulations by allowing it to exempt any class of entity from its rule makings. just this week 329 members of this house wrote to you. it was mr. stiver's letter, actually. wrote to you to tailor regulations for community banks and credit unions, citing section 1022 exemptive authority specifically. do you believe that section 1022 gives you the ability to tailor regulations for community financial institutions? does a letter from -- this would be over three quarters of congress. does such a letter

mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker.e in support of this resolution condemning the terrorist attacks in brussels carried out by islamic extremists yesterday. they struck in europe and this time in belgium. the murderers coldly chose crowded areas at the brussels airport and at the metro system in order to kill as many innocent men, women and children as possible and the latest numbers are 31 dead and 270 wounded, including a number of americans. isis has claimed responsibility for the attacks. the latest in a series that cludes an horrific attack in brussels, the attack in paris, a double suicide bombing in beirut, lebanon and downing a russian passenger jet in egypt. the list of atrocities is far longer including those by isis affiliates elsewhere such as the recent attack on the ivory coast. as these assaults show, isis is rapidly expanding its reach beyond syria and iraq. over 30,000 fighters from more than 100 countries have joined isis, including 250 americans. we had a young yazidi girl tell us she was taken by one

. >> the gentlemen from california, mr. roycehairman of the house foreign affairs committee. >> thank you very much. secretary lew, i wanted to talk trade. when on tpp, i know you share the concern, but data localization provisions are a trade barrier pure and simple. they are to be protected and the financial services sector are excluded from the data localization part of the agreement. you talked about the possibility of having an agreement to thread the needle as you explained on this issue. where are we in discussions with the tpp partners. do you think a side deal is possible? they will make it more expensive. in the area of financial services, there are two competing goods. is to prevent them from being put into effect. they have access to what they need and when they need it. there concerns they have. i have been working with the regulators to try to have them work through and understanding with how going forward we might be able to address this. >> we need to see progress. i know many of my colleagues will as well. i thin

mr. chairman. chairman royce, ranking member engel, distinguished names of the committee, good morning.portunity to appear before you this morning to discuss the important matter of closing guantÁnamo bay, cuba's detention facility. i am honored to be joined today by my colleague paul lewis, special envoy for guantÁnamo detention closure at the department of defense. today i would describe the rigors processes that determine whether a detainee should be approved for transfer and the extensive interagency efforts that ensure compliance with apical statutory requirements before each transfer takes place. at the outset let me emphasize that president obama concluded that the continued operation of the guantÁnamo detention facility damages our national security fro for many of the sae reasons that led president george w. bush to the same conclusion. according to president bush, by his second term, and i quote, the detention facility have become a propaganda tool for our enemies at a distraction for our allies, closed quote. it remains so when president obama took office and it remains so to

i want to thank chairman royce and i want to thank mr. fortenberry for their leadership on this issue. i also want to thank the knights of columbus and all those organizations and leaders around the world who have spoken out on this. this makes a different. their efforts in speaking out against genocide is making a different. but now that our government is recognizing this crisis, it needs to do more to stop it. i hope the president will seize this opportunity to present a very clear strategy to defeat this enemy and to all those brave people who are being persecuted, i would simply like to say this. we will stand with you, we will pray for you, and we will work every day to put these words into action. thank you. >> speaker ryan, my friend john harwood -- mr. ryan: i wasn't trying to. >> but to clarify, i want to make sure, in the event that no person running for the republican nominee right now gets enough on the first ballot, that you will unequivocally not -- mr. ryan: it is not me. i didn't think i made news. i thought i was pretty c

the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, ed royce of california. mr.ry much for joining us. i want to get your reaction first of all to the news there could be multiple terror plots in the works right now. how likely would it be for another plot to go off in europe in the midst of all this information that's being released? >> very likely. i had the conversations with european authorities. not only scotland yard overwhelmed here or feel they are but the continental europeans in particular. and belgium is a case in point where there were grave concerns about just the sheer number per capita of people coming from belgium to train with isis and then going back with the skill set. this is the problem in europe. the continental europeans are overwhelmed right now in terms of their ability to keep up with the sheer numbers of former terrorists coming -- or terrorists who participate in training with isis in the middle east and then come back to carry out these attacks. >> mr. chairman it was revealed by belgium authorities they are seeking a second suspect f

mr. chairman. chairman royce ranking member engle, distinguished members of the committee, good morning. i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you this morning to discuss the important matter of closing guantanamo bay, cuba's detention facility. i'm honored to be joined today by my colleague, paul lewis, special envoy for guantanamo detention closure for department of defense. today i'll describe the rigorous processes to determine whether a detainee should be approved for transfer around the extensive interagency efforts that ensure compliance with applicable statutory requirements before each transfer takes place. at the outset, let me emphasize that president obama concluded that the continued operation of the guantanamo detention facility damages our national security for many of the same reasons that led president george w. bush to the same conclusi conclusion. according to president bush at the end of his second term, "the detention facility had become a propaganda tool for our enemies and a distrac

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action by congressman ed royce, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee urges president obama to step up with a new plan to destroy the terror group. more provocative mr. north korea as the country tires to ballistic missiles into the sea. u.s. defense official says a clue about 500 miles before crashing off the northeast coast. this comes days after kim jong "fbn:am" declared a long-range nuclear missile and condemns ongoing annual u.s. and south korean military drills in the region. today's launch violates multiple u.n. security council resolutions. nicole: president obama's nominee meeting with democratic senators yesterday. more now from fox news. >> he hardly needed an introduction. merrick garland on capitol hill for an formal meetings, many of whom voted to confirm him and hope to do so again for the supreme court. the conversations on a day when the left called gop readers to hold hearings and an up or down vote. >> we stand with men and women everywhere who have to do their job, who went able to say coming in now, there's a part of my job i don't like. i'm not going to do a four year period >> we are asking republicans to do their job. >> it

mr. speaker, in a letter to the president, house foreign affairs committee chairman ed royce revealed, quote, since your administration advanced normalized relations with havana, the regime's oppression of basic human rights has gone from bad to worse. in the first two months of 2016 alone, the cuban commission for human rights has documented a staggering 2,588 political arrests. in spite of this, reports announce more one-sided concessions that will serve to shore up the communist castro regime, end of quote. while visiting havana, the president supports plans to end the embargo, yet ignores the fact that increased trade will not reach the cuban people. it will benefit the cuban military and intelligence agencies which have stolen cuba's most profitable industries. the president's bizarre legacy has led to more oppression as the failed dictatorship has propped up. may the president, by his actions, never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. our prayers go out to the people of brussels and the prime minister as the global war on terrorism continues. the speaker pro tempore: t

mr. speaker, the u.n. security council should move immediately to establish a syrian war crimes tribunal. h.con.res. 121, which i introduced, and it's a bipartisan piece of legislation, it's backed by the chairman, chairman royce, as well as by he will yote engel, and others -- eliot engel, and others, calls on the administration to pursue this policy goal, including using our voice and our vote at the united nations. mr. speaker, past ad hoc regional war crimes tribunals, including courts for sierra leone, rwanda and former yugoslavia have made a significant difference in holding some of the worst mass murderers to account with successful prosecutions followed by long jail sentences. who can forget the picture of the infamous former president of liberia, charles taylor, with his head boughed incredulous at the special -- t for sierra leone in 12 2012, meeted out a 50-year jail term for his war crimes. according to the syrian center for policy research, approximately five years of wanton bloodshed in syria has killed eelingter directly or indirectly an estimated 470,000 people. other estimates put the death toll at a quarter of a million. while the united nations long ago abandoned estimating the death toll du

chairman ed royce has harsh words for the obama administration and says that americans will continue to be a target of terror attacks. the congressman joins us this morning with more on this. mrrman, thanks for being here today. >> thank you, becky. >> we have heard time and time again from many of the people, the experts we've talked to since the attacks in brussels that brussels was a unique situation. they were not prepared. they were not coordinated. there were massive holes. and we're in a better situation. you're not convinced of that. >> what i'm convinced of is as long as there's the ability to train in bomb making techniques and recruit out of raqqah and the islamic state, there are going to be new recruits coming in and the ability to get on the internet and direct attacks, the ability to bring people into that -- into isis territory, whether it's in north africa and beyond. so obviously we are at risk. >> if you listen to some of the administration officials, they'll say that we are starting to win, at least in the middle east, against isis. isis is stronger in europe now than middle east. >> isis is continuing to expand. it's now represented in some 20 country rus