Chris Dodd: “I urge people to read the bill. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not read the legislation. But if you read this…”

“I urge people to read the bill. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not read the legislation. But if you read this legislation, section 808 imposes a prohibition on financing U.S. assistance. One part of this says no more sanctions. Then it says no more sanctions, except--``Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this law, the export of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to the government of a country''--as of June 1, 2000. These are the countries that have been termed by the Secretary of State to be ``terrorist states.'' Those are the very countries. The only countries that we have sanctions against are those countries. The very countries we say we have sanctions against are these countries. If you are on the list on June 1, 2000, none of this law applies. Second, it says on financial assistance that you can't have any Government support for Libya, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan. And then, on private financing, it says no financing on the part of the U.S. Government, any State or local government, private person, or entity--including, I suspect, even foreign financing. This says if sanctions are coming off, then we eliminate all means of financing it--both public and private--and we continue with the same list that was in effect June 1, 2000, which lists only countries on whom we have unilateral sanctions. This is a bill that needs more work. The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee bill is vastly superior to this.”