Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman.

Mr. PITTS. The gentleman, Mr. Ackerman.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Reserving the right to object.

Mr. PITTS. Reserving the right to object, the gentleman is recognized.

Mr. ACKERMAN. And I certainly will not object. I thank you for chairing today's session, Mr. Chairman. I want to particularly commend the Chair of the Subcommittee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for bringing these resolutions before us today. She has long been a champion for human rights around the globe, and today's resolutions regarding human rights in Syria and concerning the repression of the Bahá'í in Iran continue her good works in that regard.

Additionally, I am pleased to see the resolutions regarding Israel's participation in the Western European and Others Group at the U.N. and supporting Israel's ascension to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. I think it is important for the Congress to speak out in support of Israel's participation in international organizations, and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen has been a leader in that regard as well. I thank her, and I thank you, Mr. Chair, and I urge our colleagues to support the resolutions, and I withdraw my reservation.

Mr. CROWLEY. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. PITTS. The gentleman is recognized on his reservation.

Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Chairman, let me also add, I am certainly not going to object at all to these resolutions going forward. I just want to express my gratitude to the Chair and the Ranking Member for moving these resolutions forward, in particular, the resolution with regard to Israel's participation in WEOG, also known as the Western European and Others Group within the United Nations, is an issue that I have been working on for quite some time, and I congratulate Ms. Ros-Lehtinen for her leadership on this issue. It is also representative of the fact that I am on all of these resolutions, and I strongly support them, as well as H. Res. 617, expressing support for the accession of Israel to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an issue, again, that I have been working on for quite some time. But all of these resolutions, I think, are laudable and deserve unanimous support, and with that I withdraw my right to object.

Mr. PITTS. The Chair thanks the gentleman. The gentleman from California, Mr. Schiff, is recognized.

Mr. SCHIFF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. I also want to thank the Chair of the Subcommittee for her leadership on these issues and join in my support of them. The Syria Accountability Act, I think, was a very important step, but H. Con. Res. 363 goes further, acknowledging the very significant and poor human rights record in Syria. I think, is very important, and it is regrettable that we have not seen more progress by Bashar Assad, notwithstanding high expectations in the beginning of his rule of that country.

I also want to reiterate my own condemnation of the persecution of the Iranian Bahá'í, something Congress has spoken out on many times, and I am proud to be a co-sponsor of that resolution.

Finally, on the two resolutions affecting Israel's membership in WEOG and OECD, the exclusion from these organizations, I think,