mr. schiff. >> thank you, madam chair. and welcome, ambassador. it's great to see you. appreciate your superb job. i want to follow up on mr. dent's questions. i share his frustration, i think that of many americans, when we hear the syrian opposition say why has the world forsaken us? and i know we are trying. but it's appalling to see the kind of bloodshed that's going on there. and i've been very gratified to see the strong words that you have spoken against what russia and china have done, particularly russia. recently there have been some statements by the russian foreign minister that they might be amenable to something that kofi annan is working out recently. the chinese have indicated they might not veto another resolution. do you see any meaningful movement on the part of either country? and if there's still time after that question, i'd love to get your thoughts on the situation in north korea. i was surprised, frankly, that kim jong un agreed as early in his tenure to resume discussions, but then of course very disappointed with the announcement of these satel

mr. schiff. to my distinguished friend from ohio. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding and i rise to thank our house parliamentarian, john sullivan, for his years of service to this nation and to the house of representatives. john has been a trusted advisor and an honest broker of the rules of the house. he has served at a time when partisan ran chore has unfortunately been prevalent in this body but his integrity and impartiality have remained beyond question and beyond reproach. john joined the office of the parliamentarian 25 years ago, rising to his current role in 2004 when he was appointed by speaker hastert. before joining the office of parliamentarian, he a distinguished career as an active duty member of the u.s. armed -- u.s. air force, he also served as respected council on the house armed services committee. as parliamentarian, john's keen legal mind and passion for the constitution has always been apparent. mr. schiff: i remember with great fondness, working with the parliamentarian

mr. schiff. russia and china on the security council. their behavior to protect the assad regime has been reprehensible. i think, frankly, they have heard that message from the entire international community, not just from the united states and our western partners, the entire arab world and the majority members of the united nations. soon after the second double the though -- double veto the assembly took a more or less the same resolution that was blocked in the security council. a very small handful, i think about eight countries, voted no, and they included russia, china, venezuela, zimbabwe, north korea, iran and syria. it was company that one -- it is company that russia and china do not typically want to find themselves in. that has been followed by strong action from the human rights council and repeated international unity with the glaring exception of russia and china on issues related to syria. i think the combination of that kind of isolation has given them, particularly the chinese to a greater extent than the russians, some