House Committee on Foreign Affairs - Democrats

WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today welcomed the release of a new report he requested from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the protection of cultural antiquities looted from Iraq and Syria. The report shows how the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act (PL 114-151), which Rep. Engel authored and which the President signed in May, will help to address the problem of looted antiquities being trafficked on the black market to finance terrorism. The report also provides strong support for implementing the law’s recommended whole-of-government approach to address looting.