Jon Kyl: “I had indicated earlier that I wanted to speak in favor of the Thompson amendment. I do that at this time. It has been…”

“I had indicated earlier that I wanted to speak in favor of the Thompson amendment. I do that at this time. It has been explained by the Senator from Tennessee. The point is, there are some matters that would be very complicated, very complex. Everyone acknowledges that. It may be that a 30-day time for review in that circumstance would be inadequate. All this amendment does is to say that the department, in that case, could ask for an additional period of time, up to 60 days, to review and be able to make its recommendation for export license under the legislation. This was the recommendation of the Cox committee report in 1999, when it indicated that the existing 30-day limit for departmental license review may be inadequate for complex requests that could have a lasting national security impact. And since the legislation before us allows only for extensions on a limited basis, and we think that it would be appropriate, for, for example, the Defense Department, should it deem it necessary to have a little more time, that that at least be written into the bill as a possibility. That is what Senator Thompson has sought to accomplish through his amendment. It seems to me to be eminently reasonable. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to support this very reasonable amendment.”