ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4587 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4587, a bill to impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for carrying out or ordering human rights abuses against the citizens of venezuela and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, and the gentleman from texas, mr. castro, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to place into the record letters between the chairman of the committees of referral on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

congresswoman ros-lehtinen? >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. and thank you to our ranking member eliot engel for working with my office and mr. salmon's office, and mr. sires, to bring up this bill on the venezuela situation to mark up this morning. i'd like to recognize the many venezuelan americans who have made a long trip from new york, michigan, ohio, florida, to be here and to witness this day, and like to point out in the audience maria conchito alonzo who is a wonderful actress. i loved her role in moscow on the hudson with robin williams. it's good to see her. thank you all for being here. for three months now as both of the gentlemen have explained the maduro regime in venezuela has committed human rights violations as it seeks to muzzle the students who are peaceful, and they have been marching with a clear call. they're calling for the respect for human rights, and democracy to really take hold in their nation. so far they have been over 40 people killed, nearly 60 reported cases of torture, more than 2,000 people unjustly detained.

ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. as we continue to celebrate national foster care month, i'd like to recognize the dedicated foster families, social workers and service providers for their work to support the nearly 400,000 youth who are part of our country's foster care system. our kids of miami-dade and monroe county, foster care review and charlie of dade county are just a few of the many organizations that work each and every day in our south florida community to find a stable home with a devoted and loving family for our youth. while may has been designated as national foster care month, the work to ensure that every child has a safe and permanent family does not stop when the calendar turns. in fact, before the end of this year, mr. speaker, at least 23,000 of these vulnerable members

ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i rise today to speak about debby's dream foundation. a nonprofit dedicated to advancing stomach ock cancer research -- stomach cancer research and it recently hosted its fifth annual dream makers gala in florida. each year the event mobilizes efforts to fight stomach cancer, a disease that will be diagnosed in more than 22,000 americans and kill almost 11,000 americans this year alone. although stomach cancer is the second most prevalent cancer killer worldwide, it receives the least amount of federal funding per death of any type of cancer. i was proud to lead a letter with my fellow floridian colleague lois frankel and 55 of our house colleagues to include stomach cancer in a list of cancers eligible for department of defense research funding. thanks to debby zellman, her incredible team, and their determination and perseverance, we can help debby's dream of curing stomach cancer a reality soon. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman fro

ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i rise to speak out for sonia, a member of the pro democracy group, the ladies in white, who has languished in one of castro's prisons for over two years. her case is one of many that demonstrates the dismal condition of human rights under the castro tyranny in my native homeland of cuba. in 2012, sonia and the ladies in white sought an audience with the pope, but unfortunately were imprisoned in the wave of repression leading up to the visit of his holiness. i along with many of our congressional colleagues have asked amnesty international to designate sonia as a prisoner of conscience. the castros cannot tolerate dissent and use violence to science calls for democracy by beating and imprisoning dissenting voices. but the cuban people are courageous, mr. speaker, and they will continue to fight for liberty, for human rights, and we must help them in their struggle for freedom. i thank the speaker for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does

ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i am proud to join my colleagues this month of may to observe lupus awareness month. a time where we work to increase public understanding of this cruel mystery. affecting approximately 28,000 people in my south florida community and almost 1.5 million americans nationwide, lupus is a tragically misunderstood disease. with symptoms that imitate many other illnesses, lupus is extremely difficult to diagnose and usually develops anywhere between age 15 and 44. of those who are diagnosed, mr. speaker, 90% are women and it impacts minorities two to three times more than caucasians. along with my fellow co-chairs of the congressional lupus caucus, tom rooney, bill keating and jim moran, i am committed to increasing awareness about lupus and putting an end to this terrible disease. thank you, mr. speaker, for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the house is not in order. please remove conversations from the floor at this time. for

ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. and i rise today to bring attention to the case of juliette diaz, an independent afro-cuban journalist who was unjustly detained by castro's thugs simply for photographing the brutality of the state security forces of fidel and raul castro in havana. the detention of this young journalist is not just the example of the regime's efforts to silence those who are critical of its actions but it also shows how ruthless the castro brothers continue to be in their policy of repressing independent voices and violating human rights. there's no independent press in cuba, and many journalists are afraid to speak out against the dictatorship for fear of incarceration. that is why it is so important to support the free flow of information on the island so that the cuban people can exchange ideas to promote democratic principles and the rule of law. thank you, mr. speaker for the time, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from the district of columbia seek

congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen and i have a bill which would mandate that by a certain amount of time all cars in america would be flex fuel cars. we can build these cars for under $100 per car and i think it is ridiculous that we don't do it. i want to thank mr. wolf and mr. fattah for their courtesies and i ask that the engel amendment be supported. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. fattah: i seek to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. fattah: so, i want to thank the gentleman for bringing this amendment forward. it's so very important that our country move aggressively in this area. as you travel around the world you see other countries doing so much more in terms of renewable energy and utilizing cleaner energy sources. in ireland it's wind energy, in france there's nuclear and in israel you have solar along the dead sea. morocco has one of the largest solar operations. one of the things that our government can do to s

ros-lehtinen, to suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 599 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 599, resolution urging the goth of the people's republic of china to respect the freedom of assembly, expression and religion of all fundamental human rights and the rule of law for all its sit certains and stop censoring discussion of the 1989 tiananmen square demonstrations and their violent suppression. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution? 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 379, the nays are one. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the a

co-sponsors of this bipartisan resolution, congressman engel, congressman royce, congresswoman ros-lehtinen, congressman smith, congresswoman bass and the support of leader pelosi. i stand here today on the house floor demanding that we bring back our girls. i am outraged and heart broken over the kidnapping of hundreds of female students in nigeria by the terrorist group boko haram. these girls have now been away from their home for more than a month. i cannot even begin to imagine what this is like for these girls, for their mothers, their not thers, their brothers, their entire village. we must end this nightmare. the abduction of these girls was committed to keep them from getting an education. the girls knew the dangers they might encounter. the school had previously been closed due to terrorist attacks, but they went to school any way. they went because they were determined to get an education, determined to build a better life for themselves and for their families. women and girls have the right to go to school without fear of violence and unjust treatment. i believe we must do every

ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i rise to recognize a pro-democracy civil society organization called mothers and women against repression. m.a.r. for 20 years this miami-based group of women has been advocated for freedom in cuba and continues to be a voice for those being repressed under the brutal castro regime. the mission of the group is to help and advance causes like justice, liberty, fundamental freedoms for the people of cuba. this civic organization has been vital in educating the public about the retail of the atrocities committed on the island and has given a voice to those who put their lives on the line for a free cuba. i thank the organization's president for her endless commitment and dedication to the causes of liberty and free elections in cuba. i commend the important work of the women of the group who remind us that we must not ignore the brutal repression that takes place only 90 miles from our shores. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields

ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i rise to speak in support of those fighting for freedom in venezuela.this morning, our house foreign affairs committee passed by bipartisan measure h.r. 4587, the venezuela wail an human rights and democracy protection act to protect the individuals. human rights watch released a deeply troubling report that made clear that there have been, quote, a serious pattern of abuse by security forces of venezuela. and there are stories of a 40-year-old photographer for a local newspaper who said quote, i live in suspense because i don't know from where they are going to shoot at me, unquote. or a 17-year-old was shot by a national guardsman and was taken to a building and beaten and burned. even as this brutality continues the obama administration and congress have yet to act. i urge my colleagues to support bringing this important measure which is bipartisan to bring it to the floor immediately and send a clear signal to the regime that his reign of oppression will have serious consequences. thank you for the time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose doe

ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4587 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4587, a bill to impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for

ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. and i'd like to congratulate the team from hebrew academy in south florida for winning this year's national council of synagogue youth jump competition. schools across the country were charged with creating events related to israel advocacy, jewish values, holocaust remembrance and bullying prevention. through this competition, students developed -- develop and build critical aspects of leadership that can be applied lives. ut their for their teams' winning project, the hebrew academy jump team created an israel awareness day developed -- day, developed a bullingy awareness -- bullying awareness week and created a remembrance project that engaged holocaust survivors to have their stories integrated in their school's holocaust crick limb. i congratulate -- curriculum. i congratulate these impressive students on what they have accomplished for our community and for their victory in the national competition. at this time, mr. speaker, i would like to submit into the record the names of t

co-sponsors of this bipartisan resolution, congressman engel, congressman royce, congresswoman ros-lehtinen, congressman smith, congresswoman bass and the support of leader pelosi. i stand here today on the house floor demanding that we bring back our girls. i am outraged and heart broken over the kidnapping of hundreds of female students in nigeria by the terrorist group boko haram. these girls have now been away from their home for more than a month. i cannot even begin to imagine what this is like for these girls, for their mothers, their not thers, their brothers, their entire village. we must end this nightmare. the abduction of these girls was committed to keep them from getting an education. the girls knew the dangers they might encounter. the school had previously been closed due to terrorist attacks, but they went to school any way. they went because they were determined to get an education, determined to build a better life for themselves and for their families. women and girls have the right to go to school without fear of violence and unjust treatment. i believe we must do every