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Leonard Lance on Foreign Policy
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Voted NO on supporting democratic institutions in Pakistan.
Congressional Summary:Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act (PEACE Act): Authorizes the President to provide assistance for Pakistan to support democratic institutions; economic development; human rights; health care; and public diplomacy. Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. IKE SKELTON (D, MO-4): Pakistan is important to the Middle East and our intentions there. Their cooperation, of course, is so very, very important. This legislation gives economic and democratic development assistance to that country.
Rep. HOWARD BERMAN (D, CA-28): We can't allow al Qaeda or any other terrorist group that threatens our national security to operate with impunity in the tribal regions or any other part of Pakistan. Nor can we permit the Pakistani state and its nuclear arsenal to be taken over by the Taliban.
To help prevent this nightmare scenario, we need to forge a true strategic partnership with Pakistan and its people, strengthen Pakistan's democrat government, and work to make Pakistan a source of stability in a volatile region.
Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R, FL-18): This bill focuses on past actions and failures attributed to the Pakistani Government, punishing the new leadership for the sins of its predecessors. While the authors of H.R. 1886 may have sought to empower our Pakistani partners to undertake the formidable task of fighting and winning against violent extremists, it does the opposite. We have gone down this road before. I recall during the Iraq debate, Members sought to prejudge the surge strategy before it could even be implemented. Let us hope that this will not be repeated with respect to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Reference: The PEACE Act;
Bill H.R.1886
; vote number 2009-H333
on Jun 11, 2009
Withhold UN funding until voluntary and program-specific.
Lance signed United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act
Directs the President to influence the UN to shift the funding mechanism for the UN from an assessed to a voluntary basis.- Withholds up to 50% of nonvoluntary US contributions to the regular budget of the UN unless 80% of the total regular budget of the UN is apportioned on a voluntary basis.
- Requires the annual congressional budget justification to include a detailed itemized request.
- Prohibits making funds available for international peacekeeping activities for any purpose other than the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) or to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
- States that it is US policy to oppose any proposals on expansion of the Security Council that would include veto rights for new members.
- Withholds US contributions from any UN entity that recognizes a Palestinian state or upgrades the status of the Palestinian observer mission at the UN.
- Withholds funds for human rights investigations in
Palestinian territories.
- Withholds support for any member state which is subject to Security Council sanctions, has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, or is a country of particular concern for religious freedom.
The Congress makes the following findings:- The US pays billions of dollars into the UN system every year (almost $7.7 billion in 2010), significantly more than any other nation.
- The UN system suffers from unacceptably high levels of waste, fraud, and abuse, which seriously impair its ability to fulfill the lofty ideals of its founding.
- Amidst the continuing financial, corruption, and sexual abuse scandals of the past several years, American public disapproval of United Nations has reached all-time highs: 62% of Americans believe that the UN is doing a poor job
- Significant improvements in UN transparency and accountability are necessary for improving public perceptions of and American support for UN operations.
Source: H.R.2829 11-HR2829 on Aug 30, 2011
Rated -4 by AAI, indicating a anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record.
Lance scores -4 by AAI on Arab-Israeli issues
The Arab American Institute has compiled a Scorecard to catalogue the voting record of the 112th Congress on issues of importance to the Arab American community. For the House, we included 15 items: two bills on the Arab Spring, five bills and one letter on Palestine, two bills on Lebanon, three bills and a letter regarding civil liberties, and two bills on immigration.
- H.Res. 88 (+): supporting democratic aspirations in Egypt
- H.R. 2643 (+): penalizing the Bahraini government for attacking medical personnel
- H.R. 1006 (-): the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act
- H.R. 1501 (-): withholding US contributions until the UN retracts accusations of Israeli war crimes.
- H.Res. 268 (-): opposing any unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state
- H.R. 2457 (-): prohibiting any US government document from referring to "Palestine"
- H.R. 2829 (-): defunding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The bill's 141 co-sponsors receive a (-).
- 8. (+).
Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) issued a letter titled "Support Palestinian Aid and Israel's Security," in which they call upon Congress to continue aid to the Palestinian Authority.
- H.R. 2215 (*) "to ensure that United States taxpayer dollars are not used to fund terrorist entities in Lebanon
- H.R. 996 (+): to raise awareness of the use of cluster munitions where civilians are present
- H.R. 140 (-): the "Birthright Citizenship Act, to eliminate "anchor babies" by changing the 14th Amendment.
- H. Res. 283 (+): to counter violence and discrimination against Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian communities
- H.R. 1805 (-): authorizing an extension of the USA PATRIOT Act until 2013, and amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
- H.R. 1842 (+): the DREAM Act to protect undocumented minors pursuing higher education.
- H.R. 1932 (-): the Keep our Communities Safe Act for greater power to detain undocumented immigrants.
Source: AAI website 12-AAI-H on May 2, 2012
Sponsored resuming normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Lance co-sponsored Resolution on Taiwan
Congressional Summary:CONCURRENT RESOLUTION expressing the sense of Congress that the US should resume normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
- WHEREAS Taiwan has never been under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which continues to illegitimately claim sovereignty over Taiwan and its 23,000,000 citizens;
- WHEREAS the Shanghai Communique, which maintains that there is 'One China' and that 'Taiwan is part of China', was established without the consultation of Congress or the people of Taiwan;
- WHEREAS the PRC has since used the 'One China Policy' to block Taiwan's membership and full participation in international organizations and events, ranging from the UN to the Olympics;
- WHEREAS the 'One China Policy' is effectively obsolete, and does not reflect the obvious reality that Taiwan has functioned as an independent and sovereign country for over half a century;
Now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that it is the sense of
Congress that--- the President should abandon the fundamentally flawed 'One China Policy' in favor of a more realistic 'One China, One Taiwan Policy' that recognizes Taiwan as a sovereign and independent country
- the President should begin the proces
Source: H.CON.RES.29 13-HCR29 on Apr 10, 2013
Condemn China's organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners.
Lance signed Resolution on Falun Gong
RESOLUTION expressing concern over persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience, in the People's Republic of China, including from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their religious beliefs, and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups.
- Whereas the People's Republic of China performs more than10,000 organ transplantations per year;
- Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human Rights for China for 2011 reported 'instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong practitioners and Uighurs';
- Whereas the People's Republic of China implemented regulations in 1984 that permitted the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners;
- Whereas Falun Gong, a spiritual practice involving meditative exercises, with the number of practitioners upwards of 70,000,000;
- Whereas in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched an intensive, nationwide
persecution designed to eradicate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--- calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to immediately end the practice of organ harvesting from all prisoners, and particularly from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups;
- calls for a full and transparent investigation into organ transplant practices;
- demands an immediate end to the 14-year persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice;
- recommends that the United States State Department issue a travel warning for US citizens traveling to China for organ transplants informing them that the organ source for their operation may be a prisoner of conscience; and
- recommends that the US Government publicly condemn organ transplantation abuses in China and ban the entry of those who have participated in illegal removal of human tissues and organs.
Source: H.Res.281 14_HRes281 on Jun 27, 2013
Move US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; recognize as cap.
Lance co-sponsored H.R.114 & S.117
Congressional Summary: States that it is US policy to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, and that the US Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem by 2017.
Supporters reasons for voting YEA: (Times of Israel ): Congressional legislation would force the Obama administration to change longstanding US policy and move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The bill challenges presidential authority on a key foreign policy question. The bill strikes the language in the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 that gave the president waiver authority to delay the move. Every president since Bill Clinton has signed a presidential waiver every six months in order to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv, citing concerns that a move to Jerusalem would upset the prospects for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1980, but the US, like all other countries, maintains
its embassy in Tel Aviv.
Opponents reasons for voting NAY: (The Morning Call, April 16, 1984) The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) have begun a "multifaceted protest" opposing moving the US. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem from Jordan after capturing it in the 1967 war but assured free access to religious shrines. The nations of the Arab League argue that the Israelis are in Jerusalem as an "army of occupation" and they have never recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. One compromise would be the placement of the American Consulate in Jerusalem with the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Secretary of State George P. Shultz cautioned that a relocation "would fan Islamic extremism, possibly inciting a wave of violence against our citizens, diplomats and installations in the region."
Source: Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act 15_H114 on Jan 6, 2015
Acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, as official US policy.
Lance signed Affirmation of US Record on Armenian Genocide
The House of Representatives finds the following:- The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children w
President Woodrow Wilson concurred and chartered some $116,000,000 from 1915 to 1930 to aid Armenian Genocide survivors, including 132,000 orphans who became foster children of the American people.
- [Presidential concurrence has been echoed through Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Bush].
DECLARATION OF POLICY: Congress calls upon the President:- to ensure that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the U.S. record relating to the Armenian Genocide and the consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution; and
- in the President's annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide to accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, and to recall the proud history of U.S. intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
Source: H.RES.252 2009-HR252 on Mar 17, 2009
Commitment to unbreakable U.S.-Israel bond.
Lance signed Hoyer-Cantor letter to Secy. Clinton from 327 House members
Dear Secretary Clinton:
We are writing to reaffirm our commitment to the unbreakable bond that exists between our country and the State of Israel and to express to you our deep concern over recent tension. In every important relationship, there will be occasional misunderstandings and conflicts.
Our valuable bilateral relationship with Israel needs and deserves constant reinforcement. As the Vice-President said during his recent visit to Israel: "Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the U.S. and Israel when it comes to security, none. No space."
Steadfast American backing has helped lead to Israeli peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. And American involvement continues to be critical to the effort to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
We recognize that, despite the extraordinary closeness between our country and Israel, there will be differences over issues both large and small. Our view is that such differences are best resolved quietly, in trust and confidence, as befits longstanding strategic allies. We hope and expect that, with mutual effort and good faith, the United States and Israel will move beyond this disruption quickly, to the lasting benefit of both nations.
Source: Hoyer-Cantor letter to Secy. Clinton from 327 House members 2010-LT-UB on Mar 25, 2010
Page last updated: Feb 23, 2016