Jon Kyl: “Let me begin by noting what some of my objections are to the Lautenberg amendment. The point of the Lautenberg amendment…”

“Let me begin by noting what some of my objections are to the Lautenberg amendment. The point of the Lautenberg amendment is to change the way in which sanctions are put on companies doing business abroad. The State Department has issued some objections to this amendment which I will speak to later. To summarize: That it would interfere with the President's discretion in conducting foreign affairs; that it would lead to a number of foreign policy problems for the United States; that it is unnecessary because the President exercises authority with respect to these foreign subsidiaries today. To be precise about a particular concern the State Department expresses, the amendment would actually only focus on ownership, which is a standard that could easily be circumvented by these companies against whom we would all want sanctions to apply, and would be less effective than the administration's current approach utilized by the President.”