Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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Oh my, my, my, Mr. Chairman, and my good friend from Michigan. The fact of the matter is that section 1502 is, in fact, working. The GAO report that Mr. Huizenga referred to actually said that the civil war and conflict is, in fact, diminishing as section 1502 is being implemented. It is working better and sooner than I
thought it would be.

Just a little bit of a refresher course for you, Mr. Chairman. The minerals contained in consumer electronics that we all use--TVs, cell phones--are fueling war and conflict in the Congo. And I am not talking about a little skirmish here. I am talking about, we are funding armed militias, and it is a civil war on a scale of deaths that compare with World War II, and notable for its brutality, its savagery, its mutilation, rape.

I can tell you that our good GOP friends say that it is a laudable goal to stop these civil wars, but it just doesn't belong in securities law; the logic being the transparency doesn't belong in security law.

Oh, okay. Well, I can tell you that companies find that it is material, a security term of art, whether their brand is tarnished with literally the blood of children and enslaved workers that are standing there, I would suspect, with some of these Congolese who want section 1502 to go away, who are running these armed militias for profit. So do consumers and so do investors. Hence, the rise of socially-conscious mutual funds that are regulated by the SEC.

I notice that my comrades have not introduced--there's nothing in this amendment that would provide for ending this kind of civil war on the scale of World War II in their amendment.

I want to say, because of the United States' leadership on conflict minerals, the EU and China are enacting their own versions of implementing prohibitions against the receipt of conflict minerals. This amendment puts America last in world leadership.

I do realize the gentleman had the right to close, but his time having been consumed, I will go on to report to you, Mr. Chairman, that more than 75 percent of the world's smelters for the four minerals now have passed conflict-free audits. Companies are putting this in place and they are finding that they are happy with it; that the costs of implementing it are less than they thought it would be, much less than they thought it would be; and they are receiving a premium for these metals if they can, in fact, report that they are conflict-free.

According to the United Nations, as of 2016, over three-quarters of 3T miners surveyed in eastern Congo are working in mines where there is no armed group standing over them. That is according to an independent study.

Today, 78 percent of the world's smelters for the four minerals have now passed conflict-free audits, or 253 smelters in total. The record is abundantly clear. Section 1502 is working.

Now, he talked about Congolese leaders who don't like it. These are people who are profiting from the armed conflict, but there are Congolese communities and leaders who support section 1502 because they are seeing the improvements in security and rule of law.

For example, Justine Masika Bihamba, the coordinator of Synergy of Women for Victims of Sexual Violence says: ``Ten years ago, we were under the de facto control of armed groups. Today, let's admit we are a long way from that. And if we are honest, that is in part because of Dodd-Frank.''

Bishop Nicolas Djomo came before our committee and said: ``We urge the U.S. business community to account for the gruesome social costs of the illicit mining as they calculate their cost for compliance with section 1502.''

There is a moral dimension to this that we cannot ignore. If we want to make America great again, let's not cede our moral authority on this issue.

Mr. Chairman, I would ask my colleagues to vote against this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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