Political Quotes

“So I am glad, very glad, that finally, the Jackson-Vanik law is no longer going to apply to Russia. Not only does the bill under consideration grant Russia PNTR, it also contains enforcement provisions that my brother, Congressman Sander Levin, fought for to address concerns about Russia's compliance with its WTO obligations and other trade concerns such as Russia's persistent failure to stop intellectual property rights infringement, and to help promote the rule of law in Russia. These are important enforcement tools that will give us a chance to monitor Russia's progress in fulfilling its commitments. I have looked forward to getting these actions accomplished in PNTR legislation. The bill before us also includes the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 which was inspired by the Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who was ruthlessly murdered. The legislation would require that human rights violators in Russia be identified and that we deny them U.S. visas as well as freeze their U.S. assets. However, and here's the problem for me, the Magnitsky language before us is not the Magnitsky language adopted by our Finance and Foreign Relations committees. Their Magnitsky language applied the same sanctions to human rights violators wherever they might be--whether in Russia, or Syria, or Sudan, or North Korea, or China, or in any other country. In other words, the Senate committee-approved bill wisely adopted a global Magnitsky standard.…”