The two representatives from South Florida who lead a U.S. House subcommittee, guided through a host of bills this week focused on Middle Eastern affairs.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, helped usher six bills through this week. The subcommittee passed resolutions
urging Iran to help provide information on Robert Levinson, a Florida resident who has been missing in that Middle Eastern for a decade, and condemning that nation’s holding American citizens and other nationals as political prisoners and persecution of its Baha’i minority and other human rights violations. Also this week, the subcommittee passed resolutions calling for greater economic ties with Israel, urging the European Union to designate Hizballah in its entirety as a terrorist organization and Ros-Lehtinen's “United States-Jordan Defense Cooperation Extension Act” to help that nation battle Islamic State (ISIS) terrorism.
“These bipartisan measures get to the heart of some our subcommittee’s top priorities: support for Israel and Jordan, as well as the need to hold Iran accountable for supporting terror, for taking American hostages, and for its abysmal human rights record, particularly its persecution of religious minorities, such as the Baha’i," Ros-Lehtinen said on Thursday. “Expanding cooperation with our allies in Israel and Jordan is to the benefit of all of our economic and security interests and important for the region’s long-term stability. I thank my colleagues for their bipartisan support of these measures and look forward to their consideration in the full committee.”
Deutch also sounded a bipartisan note on Thursday after the resolutions passed.
“I’m proud to have worked on these bipartisan bills with Chairman Ros-Lethinen and my other colleagues," Deutch said. "These bills send a clear message to the world that the United States is ready to strengthen ties with our allies like Israel and Jordan and increase pressure on terrorists and human rights violators. We’re also continuing to press Iran on the return of my constituent Bob Levinson, who has been missing for over ten years and is the longest held civilian in American history. I appreciate my colleagues’ support, and I look forward to swift consideration by the full Foreign Affairs Committee and swift approval by the full House of Representatives.”
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