Ed Royce: “Please excuse my voice today, but I did want to rise in support of this legislation, and also to associate myself with…”

“Please excuse my voice today, but I did want to rise in support of this legislation, and also to associate myself with the observations made by my colleague, Congressman Berman, and certainly with Congressman Burton. The legislation here that was originally enacted in 1974, Congressman Howard Berman is quite correct, this, during the Cold War, did play a very key role with respect to immigration. But today, that is long over. And with Russia joining the WTO in August, we have a problem here in the United States, and that is, Russia, in doing so, made tariff cuts for every country in the world except the United States. This bill would correct that. And of course, without this legislation, exporters here in the United States would lose. I've never viewed Jackson-Vanik as an impediment to Russian relations today. But neither do I see it as very helpful in pressing Russia on issues like Iran or their conduct toward Syria. Russian opposition level leaders, however, and Russian civil society, and the Russian press, what free press remains in Russia today, really support this legislation. I think what this legislation intends is sort of a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia, based on the rule of law, based on human rights. That's the hope.…”