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“DEPARTMENT OF STATE REWARDS PROGRAM UPDATE AND TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2012” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7461-H7462 on Dec. 30, 2012.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE REWARDS PROGRAM UPDATE AND TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS
ACT OF 2012
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2318) to authorize the Secretary of State to pay a reward to combat transnational organized crime and for information concerning foreign nationals wanted by international criminal tribunals, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 2318
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Department of State Rewards Program Update and Technical Corrections Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Department of State's existing rewards programs permit the payment of reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of--
(A) individuals who have committed, or attempted or conspired to commit, certain acts of international terrorism;
(B) individuals who have committed, or attempted or conspired to commit, certain narcotics-related offenses; and
(C) individuals who have been indicted by certain international criminal tribunals.
(2) The Department of State considers the rewards program to be ``one of the most valuable assets the U.S. Government has in the fight against international terrorism''. Since the program's inception in 1984, the United States Government has rewarded over 60 people who provided actionable information that, according to the Department of State, prevented international terrorist attacks or helped convict individuals involved in terrorist attacks.
(3) The program has been credited with providing information in several high-profile cases, including the arrest of Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, who United States military forces located and killed in Iraq after receiving information about their locations, and the arrests or deaths of several members of the Abu Sayyaf group, believed to be responsible for the kidnappings and deaths of United States citizens and Filipinos in the Philippines.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the rewards program of the Department of State should be expanded in order to--
(1) address the growing threat to important United States interests from transnational criminal activity, such as intellectual property rights piracy, money laundering, trafficking in persons, arms trafficking, and cybercrime; and
(2) target other individuals indicted by international, hybrid, or mixed tribunals for genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.
SEC. 3. ENHANCED REWARDS AUTHORITY.
Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting ``serious violations of international humanitarian law, transnational organized crime,'' after ``international narcotics trafficking,'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking
``Attorney General'' and inserting ``heads of other relevant departments or agencies'';
(B) in paragraphs (4) and (5), by striking ``paragraph (1),
(2), or (3)'' both places it appears and inserting
``paragraph (1), (2), (3), (8), or (9)'';
(C) in paragraph (6)--
(i) by inserting ``or transnational organized crime group'' after ``terrorist organization''; and
(ii) by striking ``or'' at the end;
(D) in paragraph (7)--
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking
``, including the use by the organization of illicit narcotics production or international narcotics trafficking'' and inserting ``or transnational organized crime group, including the use by such organization or group of illicit narcotics production or international narcotics trafficking'';
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``or transnational organized crime'' after ``international terrorism''; and
(iii) in subparagraph (B)--
(I) by inserting ``or transnational organized crime group'' after ``terrorist organization''; and
(II) by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(E) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(8) the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual for participating in, primarily outside the United States, transnational organized crime;
``(9) the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in transnational organized crime; or
``(10) the arrest or conviction in any country, or the transfer to or conviction by an international criminal tribunal (including a hybrid or mixed tribunal), of any foreign national accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, as defined under the statute of such tribunal.'';
(3) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(3) Advance notification for international criminal tribunal rewards.--Not less than 15 days before publicly announcing that a reward may be offered for a particular foreign national accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report, which may be submitted in classified form if necessary, setting forth the reasons why the arrest or conviction of such foreign national is in the national interests of the United States.''; and
(4) in subsection (k)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs
(7) and (8), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following new paragraphs:
``(5) Transnational organized crime.--The term
`transnational organized crime' means--
``(A) racketeering activity (as such term is defined in section 1961 of title 18, United States Code) that involves at least one jurisdiction outside the United States; or
``(B) any other criminal offense punishable by a term of imprisonment of at least four years under Federal, State, or local law that involves at least one jurisdiction outside the United States and that is intended to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit.
``(6) Transnational organized crime group.--The term
`transnational organized crime group' means a group of persons that includes one or more citizens of a foreign country, exists for a period of time, and acts in concert with the aim of engaging in transnational organized crime.''.
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL CORRECTION.
Section 36(e)(1) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended by striking ``The Secretary shall authorize a reward of $50,000,000 for the capture or death or information leading to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.''.
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed as authorizing the use of activity precluded under the American Servicemembers' Protection Act of 2002 (title II of Public Law 107-206; 22 U.S.C. 7421 et seq.).
SEC. 6. FUNDING.
The Secretary of State shall use amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to the Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Services account of the Department of State to pay rewards authorized pursuant to this Act and to carry out other activities related to such rewards authorized under section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act (22 U.S.C. 2708).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.
General Leave
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in strong support of S. 2318, the Department of State Rewards Program Update and Technical Corrections Act of 2012. This bipartisan bill is Senator Kerry's Senate companion to H.R. 4077, the House bill introduced 2 months prior by my good friend from California (Mr. Royce).
Since the 1980s, the State Department has had authority to offer rewards leading to the arrests and convictions for international narcotics trafficking, acts of terrorism, and war crimes. These reward programs have proven to be effective tools for disrupting and dismantling terrorist cells and drug cartels around the world, enjoying both high-profile and quiet successes in locating many dangerous individuals, including Ramzi Yousef, one of the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, Saddam Hussein's sons, and narcotrafficking commanders of the FARC in Colombia.
This bill is a critical tool in our ongoing efforts to locate Joseph Kony, the murderous head of the predatory Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, in Central Africa. This bill is a responsible, bipartisan bill that will significantly enhance our ability to fight transnational organized crime and grave human rights abuses. I urge unanimous support.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of S. 2318. I want to join my chairman in commending the author of this legislation, Senator Kerry, and my friend and colleague, Ed Royce, the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who authored the House version of this bill and fought long and hard for it.
The chairman has described the legislation and the existing law. The bill makes two key changes in existing law. They're small, but they're very important modifications to the rewards program.
It would authorize payments for the arrest or conviction of those engaged in transnational criminal activity, including intellectual property, piracy, money laundering, trafficking in persons and arms trafficking.
Transnational organized crime poses a growing threat to U.S. economic and national security interests. According to U.N. estimates, these criminal enterprises generate hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit revenues every year. Expanding the rewards program to cover this activity is manifestly in our interest.
Second, this legislation would expand the universe of individuals targeted for their involvement in gross violations of international humanitarian law, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Specifically, this bill would cover all individuals indicted by international tribunals for violations of international humanitarian law, not just those indicted by the existing tribunals for Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the former Yugoslavia. The change is strongly supported by the Departments of Defense and State.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, and the author of the original House-side version of this bill.
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 Kony to the bar of justice for the mass killings that he's committed with the Lord's Resistance Army, or if we can 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. It was included as a provision in the State Department authorization bill that the House Foreign Affairs Committee moved earlier this year. I think it's 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 House companion bill that I introduced, H.R. 4077, has enjoyed very strong bipartisan support, and I want to thank Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I want to thank Ranking Member Howard Berman and others for the support they've given to this measure.
As has been explained, this rewards program, to date, has had some very, very successful cases here; but it's been targeted mostly on those involved in drug trafficking, occasionally on terrorists.
Earlier this year, our subcommittee held a hearing where the State Department testified that one captured target, one narcoterrorist told DEA agents that he could no longer trust anyone in his organization after a reward was offered on his head.
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He said, I felt like a hunted man.
And so he was turned in. Well, that was the plan--to make him feel like a hunted man, to make him feel like he could not trust anyone in his organization.
This bill would expand this program to additionally target those transnational organized criminals, those wanted for the most serious human rights abuses. Today, unfortunately, those involved in that line of work are diversifying. They're looking to sell anything to anybody. It could be arms. It could be intellectual property. It's even people. The overlap between the networks employed by criminals and employed by terrorists is growing. So this legislation helps us keep pace. And, very importantly, the legislation also allows the rewards program to target those wanted for genocide, to target those wanted for war crimes, for crimes against humanity--again, the world's worst human rights abusers.
The target of the new war crimes authority would be killers like Joseph Kony and the top commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army. This group has terrorized across Central Africa for over two decades with unspeakable crimes committed against children such as amputations committed against children, taking child soldiers, taking sex slaves. In accordance with U.S. policy, a small team of U.S. troops are currently in the field helping local forces hunt this killer. Our U.S. troops believe that a rewards program aimed at Kony could help generate intelligence and bolster their efforts. They are asking for this. They think this can make a difference on the ground. Let's answer their call and send this bill to the President for his signature.
I thank my colleagues for their support.
Mr. BERMAN. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I also have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, S. 2318.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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