Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding but more importantly for bringing up this very important issue.

I think this particular czar, envoy, is really emblematic of a serious issue. Here we have a person who travels the world, as the gentleman has mentioned, in jets going to royal coronations, royal weddings, lavish receptions in elite capitals around the world, and then lectures the rest of us and pats himself on the back.

I thank the gentleman for bringing this issue up. That is why in this bill we prohibit funding for all special envoys that are not authorized in law or that have not been confirmed by the Senate. That eliminates 33 positions and their associated staff. This is potentially the most dramatic example of wasteful spending, of virtue signaling while, frankly, wasting taxpayer money. I commend the gentleman for bringing this to our attention.

It is difficult to find a more obvious example of waste than the one that we are dealing with here, so I strongly support the gentleman's amendment, and I also thank him for emphasizing it, for bringing this issue forward.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), I move to strike the last word.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I rise to discuss a very serious concern about the lack of cooperation from the Government of The Bahamas. It is something that concerns me and Congressman Graves, my colleague from Louisiana.

I greatly appreciate the gentleman's concern and his impassioned and relentless search for answers that unfortunately still remain after a horrific tragedy that happened to one of his constituents. Obviously, I share his concerns, and I am grateful that he is standing up.

I am prepared to work with him so that we get the answers that he deserves, that his constituents deserve, and that all of us are entitled to. Again, I thank him for bringing this very important issue to the attention of the House. This is something we will continue to pursue.

Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves).

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I again thank the gentleman for bringing this forward. It is important that everyone realizes that we are going to continue to work on this. There needs to be transparency and we need to get answers.

The gentleman has my commitment that I will do everything and anything that I can to work with him to get those answers and to make sure that the family of this American who was lost much too soon understands that everything has been done to get those answers.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for bringing this to the floor, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of this amendment, which would prohibit funds, as the gentleman said, to delist the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, very simply.

I would note that section 7041 in our bill contains substantially the same limitation, one of several provisions designed to counter Iran's nuclear program and its terrorist activities around the globe.

In addition, the bill provides funding to enforce a future agreement, any future agreement, related to the nuclear program of Iran until such an agreement is submitted to Congress and receives the advice and consent of the Senate. It is not that complicated.

Let's be clear. With the administration's just recent decision to waive sanctions and facilitate a transfer of $6 billion to fund the mullahs in Iran, the world's top state sponsor of terrorism, this debate, this issue, could not come at a more timely moment.

I applaud the gentleman for bringing this issue. It is an issue that all of us should be on the same side on, as he mentioned, because we have to continue to counter Iran.

Mr. Chair, I strongly urge the support of this timely and important amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I respectfully rise in opposition to the amendment, which would impose a blanket prohibition on the transfer of cluster munitions to any ally or partner abroad.

Although the bill contains a longstanding limitation on the use abroad of U.S. cluster munitions, it does permit the transfer of these weapons where the dud rate is 1 percent or less. The bill also allows the transfer of related assistance where the purpose is for demilitarization or permanently disposing of such munitions.

This amendment, however, goes beyond the restrictions in this bill. It would ban the transfer of those weapons to any foreign partner under any circumstances, whether to respond to a conflict potentially in the Korean Peninsula, to support Taiwan, or in the event of a Communist Chinese invasion or other unforeseen potential issues.

I say this respectfully: It would, I think, unwisely tie the hands of our military in any potential future conflict.

For those reasons, I respectfully urge defeat of this amendment.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Massie) having assumed the chair, Mr. Yakym, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4665) making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

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