UPDATED: A Look Ahead—March 29-31
*Measure added to markup*
Washington, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) announced the following upcoming Committee events:
Wednesday, March 29
10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, March 29 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman
Measures to be Marked Up Include:
H. Res. 137, Honoring the life of Shimon Peres;
*H. Res. 187, Relating to efforts to respond to the famine in South Sudan;
H.R. 390, Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017;
H.R. 479, North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 2017;
H.R. 672, Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017; and
H.R. 1644, Korean Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act.
Wednesday, March 29
2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman
Invited Witnesses Include:
Kenneth Katzman, Ph.D.
Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
Congressional Research Service
Mr. Michael Eisenstadt
Kahn Fellow
Director of Military and Security Studies Program
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Ms. Elizabeth Rosenberg
Senior Fellow and Director
Energy, Economics and Security Program
Center for a New American Security
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen on the hearing: “Iran’s illicit behavior has only gotten worse since implementation of the JCPOA, taking U.S. citizens hostage, seizing U.S. Navy vessels, and increasing its support for Assad, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The most troubling example, however, may be the advancement of its ballistic missile program, a program historically proven to correspond to the pursuit of nuclear weapons, in open defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. This hearing will explore Iran policy options before Members and the administration, including revisiting the JCPOA, reevaluating Resolution 2231, and fully implementing all available sanctions, in order to curb the dual-threat of Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.”
Thursday, March 30
Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Consequences and Context for Russia’s Violations of the INF Treaty
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the Committee on Armed Services
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), Chairman
10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 30 in 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building
Invited Witnesses Include:
The Honorable Frank Rose
(Former Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, U.S. Department of State)
The Honorable Robert Scher
(Former Assistant Secretary for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities, U.S. Department of Defense)
Mr. Jon Wolfsthal
(Former Senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, National Security Council)
Chairman Rogers on the hearing: “After promising military responses and economic sanctions, the Obama Administration did nothing about Russia’s blatant violations of arms control agreements like the INF treaty. It was thus not a surprise that the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had to warn that Russia has now deployed its illegal weapons system and that such a deployed system poses a direct threat to U.S. forces and U.S. allies. The question now turns to what the new Administration can do about this mess it inherited from President Obama? Mr. Poe and I provided the previous Administration tools to use to deal with Russia’s violation; but they chose to appease Russia to prioritize other matters, like the fantasy of cooperation in Syria and the dangerous Iran deal. The new administration must do better, and I hope this hearing will help to show how it can. Russia cannot continue to believe it will pay no price for its belligerent and unlawful actions.”
Chairman Poe on the hearing: “Russia’s ongoing violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty are a direct threat to U.S. national security. It was bad enough when it appeared that Russia was testing missile systems in violation of the arms control agreement. Now we have indications that Putin actually deployed prohibited cruise missiles at two sites in Russia late last year, crossing a threshold that could have dangerous consequences. Chairman Rogers and I have long called for reviewing U.S. compliance with the INF Treaty in light of consistent Russian violations going back to 2008. The time is ripe to study our contingency plans and make sure that the U.S. is not left unprepared and vulnerable due to its strict compliance with an agreement that Russia does not honor. This hearing will allow members to hear about these serious concerns from former U.S. officials who worked directly on our arms control agreements with Moscow and learn more about potential responses we can take to protect our national security.”
***See www.foreignaffairs.house.gov for updates.
***Coverage note: All Foreign Affairs Committee proceedings are webcast live at www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/live-video-feed.
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