We will hear more about the legislative agenda for democrats with Javier Becerra chair of the House Democratic caucus. He talks about the 2016 race and the latest speculation for a potential running mate for presumptive nominee hillary clinton. That is a decision left totally to the person who had earned our nomination. Select clinton has earned the right to make that selection. I have total faith that she is going to make a really good selection. I have confidence that her decidings are going to be great for america and one of the most important ones that she will make will come early with her selection. What should be the role for senator sanders Going Forward in the party . Big, influential, active. I hope he is as animated moving into november as he has been throughout this primary process. Folks. Woken many he has made young people believe. He has given democrats the opportunity to bring into our party so many different faces. I thank him for all he has done, but i dont want to say for all he has done because he he still has a lot to do, and his voice is going to be very important out there. He inspired people who were beginning to distance themselves from the electoral process and from government. Our government needs to have people betancesing to be involved. Think back to when all this first started, the president ial season, the primary season. Do you think at that point you would have ever said that senator sanders has a big role to play in the Democratic Party . No. No. And you know what . This is america. That is the beauty of america. Who also would have said that the Republican Party would become the party of trump . You never know. You can watch that entire interview with the congressman tomorrow at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Madam secretary, we proudly give 72 of our delegate votes to the next president of the United States [cheers and applause] coming up next, a hearing on efforts to recover lost art that was stolen during the holocaust. Then a look at the impact Foreign Workers are having on the u. S. Labor market. And later, defense secretary Ashton Carter talks about ongoing efforts to modernize the military. Helen mirim recently testified on khalil about effort to locate and return artwork that was stolen from victims of the holocaust. The actress recently starred in a film that focused on the issues. She appeared along shied those involved in the recovery process, including a man searching for lost family hair looms. This is two hours. We are considering the holocaust exappropriated art recovery act. Nothing congress does, and nothing anyone could ever do could right the wrongs of the holocaust. The nazis and alleys perpetrated a crime against humanity as evil and fast as any in history information a sense they destroyed the world as we knew it. As general eisenhower wrote to general george c. Marshall upon liberating the concentration things germany, i saw that beg description. Liberating them is one of the greatest accomplishments. I am proud my dad is one of that great generation who flew b17 missions from england over into nazi germany, shot down and captured as a p. O. W. On his 26th mission. There was a happy ending to this story or else i wouldnt be here. Among many crimes committed by the nazis was the mass looting of art and Cultural Property from victims in europe. Estimates reached as high as several million on thes. In the immediate aftermath of world war ii. The United States catalogged property and undertook to repatriate lost art to its native country. But for a variety of reasons, much never reached the people it was taken from in the first place. Decades later, though, when more information began to come to light about the scope of the nazis crimes, the United States government resolved to do better. So in 1998 we convened the washington conference with more than 40 nations present. Together we urged the victims and their heirs todom four and claim their heritage and took steps to achieve a just and fair solution to their claims. That same Year Congress expresseded that all governments should undertake good faith efforts to facilitate the return of private and public property. And then in 2009 the United States and nearly 50 other nations issued the tarazen decoration, urging the signatories, including the United States, to ensure their Legal Systems facilitated the just and Fair Solutions and that claims were resolved based on the fact and merits of the claims and awful the relevant. Coms submitted by the pearts. The heer act will ensure the u. S. Government meets its commitment to these international pledges. Fundamentally but for a limited time it enables claimants to proceed to the merits of their claims in a court with jurisdiction. The act creates a limitations period of six years from when laimants actually discover the identityity and location of the art and information that it is their. It waives state bars and the doctrine of latches. Important doctrines developed based on assumptions that do not apply to the holocaust. But the act also represents a exroo mize. The ability to find art is better now, and claimants should be given a chance, but that chance should not last forever. In addressing civil procedure and remedies to the violations of humanity rights, the act falls in the jurisdiction of both subcommittees here today and requires federal congressional attention. As the u. S. Court of appeals for the 9th circuit wrote, the power to wage and resolve record, including the power to legislate restitutions and represent rations is one that has been rereserved to the national government. Californias attempt to limit the period was an unlafell encroachment. So congress has the power to act, and we should. I want to thank again each of our witnesses for being here today to advance their testimony. Next i think i will recognize senator schumer for his opening statement, then senator cruz, senator blumenthal and then to the witnesses. Thank you, senator. Thank you for being here. For decades survivors and family members of those who parished in the holocaust have sought whatever small measure of justice they could for the crimes committed against them. Even today, more than 70 years after those atrocities, there are still wrongs that need to be righted. While there are so many things that we can never recover from the holocaust, so many lives taken from us, it is our moral duty to help those survivors and their families achieve what justice can be found. For example, the nazis not only sought to kill jews in europe. They sought to destroy their heritage. Temples were destroyed, books were burned and art was stolen. The nazis tried to end european jewelry totally, including the rich intellectual history of the jews of europe. They failed. But there is still work to be done to help the survivors and their families reclaim pressured family hair looms that were stolen from them. Pieces of art stolen by jewish families by the nazis have been passed down and sold through the years even though there are survivors and descendents out there who are the Rightful Owners. The statute of limitations for these crimes has passed. They occurred over 70 years ago. But the existence and location of these pieces of art of still be discovered. The movie women in gold was about one womans legal fight to recover a piece of her stolen family history. And after seeing the incredible performance in the move, i called up ambassador l lauder and told him i wanted to help these Holocaust Victims and their families. So, along with my friend and colleagues, we put together legislation to allow vakets to have their day in court. Changing the statute of limitations to allow families to bring their claims to court once they identify a piece of art that was stolen, instead of when the crime was committed. This only makes sense this not only makes eminent sense, it is morally the right thing to do. It is a drop of justice in what was an ocean of injustice, but it is our duty as legislators to give that justice, that drop, to these families. So i want to thank again the senators for working with me on this important legislation, and want to thank chairman grassley for his willingness to work with us as well. And i thank the witnesses for lefthanding your voice toss this important issue, and i hope we can pass this bill as soon as possible. Senator cruz . Thank you, mr. Chairman. On this day 72 years ago american, british and canadian troops had fought their way 10 miles inland of norm did on the coast of france. It was the day after dday, which launched the allies forces invasion to free europe from the grip of the third reich. As our troops swept across europe and into germany, what they found would shock and appall the world. They liberated places like dachau and or concentration camps where the nazis sent june speakable numbers of jews to forced labor, and many to their death. They also discovered hidden away in churches and underground mines countless works of art and other valuable Cultural Property that the nazis had taken from their victims. These stolen treasures were not simply the spoils of war. They were the fruits of a policy that stretched back well before the war to 1933, when hitler and the nazi party took power. This policy called for the systemic discrimination and oppression of jews and other grooms whom the nazis regarded as unacceptable according to their eviliology. The nazis enacted laws denying them citizenship, segregating them from society, banning marriages and exappropriating their property. The goal of course was to dehumanize the jewish people, a process that led to the socalled final solution, the nazi phaneuf mitchell for the policy of sternum nation. After all, if a regime is willing to strip people of their citizenship, their homes, their businesses, their precious belongings, it is not much further of a step to expect that it may try to take their lives as well. And that is precisely what the nazis did to the jewish people on a horrific and unprecedented scale. Sadly today over 70 years later we are still trying to cope with the consequences of the holocaust. One consequence that we are here today to address is the nazis looting of hundreds of thousands of works of art and other Cultural Property in what has been described as the greatest displacement of art in human history. Despite the allies restitution efforts following the war, much of the stolen property was never reunited with its Rightful Owners. And over the years, often through sheer happenen stance, many works found their way into american museums and galleries. The great dislocations caused by the holocaust and a world war, followed by a cold war that lasted another 50 years made it difficult, if not impossible for many Holocaust Victims and their families to locator prove the ownership of their stolen valuables. Records were lost or destroyed. Some were inaccessible because of the cold war, and many transfers of property went unrecorded on the black market. To undertake the Herculean Task of tracking down lost motions under these circumstances would have been a tall order even for a family with the resource toss do so. But many surviving families were left with nothing after the war, having narrowly escaped extinction. Many families were not emotionally and psychologically prepared for such an arduous undertaking. And in many cases the work of finding and reclaiming a familys stolen heritage fell to future generations. This work unfortunately remains unfinished. The heer act which i am proud to sponsor is intended to ease the burden on those families by temporarily preempting state timebased litigation defense like statutes of limitations and latches. Instead it creates a uniform federal sixyear statute of limitation that is tailored to the unique circumstance of of holocaust era disputes. This bill well help ensure that claims are adjudicated based on the actual facts and merit and are not short circuited by technical or nonmerits defenses that far too often work to the disadvantage of Holocaust Victims and their family. The act is just one modest step to make good on the commitments the United States has made since it agreed to the warrant ference principles on nazi confiscated art in 1998. These principles declare that families, quote, should be encouraged to come forward and make known their claims to art that was confiscated by the nazis and not subsequently returned. And that steps should be taken to achieve a fair and just solution to such claim. In 2009 the United States adepositted the terrorism decoration, which called on the signatories to make certain that claims to Nazi Looted Art are resolved exe dishesly and based on the facts and marty of the claim. That is what the heer act aims to accomplish. The quest to reunite the families of Holocaust Victims with their stolen heritage is ultimately a quest to helm them reclaim a tangible link to a happier fine in their familys history arcs time before the darkness of the holocaust. That is far more valuable than whatever economic value the works of art or cultural artifacts might have today. Indeed that is priceless. There are many issues on which the sponsors of this cornen, on, jorn blumenthal and others and i might disagree, but on this issue i am glad to see bipartisan cooperation coming together on issues of principles and justice. That is what i am pleased to see and i am glad the witnesses are here to testimony and these important issues. Thank you senators. To assure justice to victims, survivors, families, who is art was brazen len looted and stolen. This hearing room has seen a lot of history. This hearing is truly historic. It is a milestone and a landmark in assuring that this Congress Speaks on behalf of justice. My father came to this country in 1935 to escape nazi persecution. E succeeded in bringing over his immediate family. They did not lose art, but they lost lives of family members. The destruction, and looting more ft of this art was than pilfering of property. Was an act of inhumanity, problemming the victims of fundamental dignity and respect and culture that has lasted all of these years. It has been described in very clinical terms as, quote, the greatest displacement of art in human history. But that on subtract characterization failed to do justice to the horror and unspeakable inhumanity of that era and of what they did. There are reports that hundreds of thousands of pieces of art and other cultural items were taken from those persecuted by the nazis and an estimated 20 of western art in europe according to the commission on art recovery. The time is long past to return e illgotten gains of that unspeakable horror. It was in fact more than the theft of material goods. Was the hardship of loss of heritage and of a personal ackground. And aggravating the theft was the destruction of the documentation by the same act of theft. In many cases the opportunity of victims and survivors to bring their claims ended before the end of world war ii under the statute of limitations. Arbitrary statutes of limitations should not be used to bar these claims. The federal courts have ruled that states cannot provide a remedy, and that is why the act is fundamentally needed. It is not just a legal issue. It is a humanitarian issue. Decades and generations overdue, congress can now provide some measure of peace and justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen, and the time is long well past for this action. Financial recovery can never fully recover the lives that were lost, can never compensate for the unspeakable inhumanity and tragedy of the holocaust, but it helps recognize at least the courage and strength of rvivors in this room echoing programs unseen and invisible are voices and faces of people who could not be here, and their losses are very much with us now. You give them the advocacy that they deserve and need, and i thank every one of you for being here. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Chairman . I think since we have had a long time for opening remarks, i will put my statement in the record. But i should thank all the witnesses for participating and one sentence from my speech will kind of sum up where i was going to end up, the bottom line. We need to fulfill our commitment to make sure that the artwork is returned to its Rightful Owners. In addition, when the authors of this legislation feel it is ready to be put on the agenda, i will put it on the agenda. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We very much appreciate that and appreciate your leadership. At this point i want to welcome and introduce each of our five witnesses today. The first witness testifying will be ahmad rashad ronald lauder. He is a former ambassador to austria and former Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for the european and nato policy. He is currently the chairman of the council of the world jewish restitution organization, which was established in 1993 to address the unfinished work of returning jewish property that was stolen by the nazis during the holocaust. A graduate of the school of the university of pennsylvania, ambassador lauder has served in prominent rolls in community sufficiency. Healthen mirim is a prominent actress. She won an oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth ii. And in 2015 she portrayed maria altman and the women in gold, a get about their efforts to back a painting that was taken from her family during the holocaust. Ms. Monica dugot. She is a Senior Vice President and International Rector of restitution for the world renowned auction house christies, where she works to help investigate and resolving restitution claims. She is a graduate of the cordoza law school. She served eight years as Deputy Director of the new york state banking department, holocaust claims officer. Agnes i