Sam Brownback: “I rise today because, as you may know, for several years now there have been ongoing negotiations between the State of…”

“I rise today because, as you may know, for several years now there have been ongoing negotiations between the State of Israel and the Office of the United States Trade Representative, USTR, regarding Israel's protections of U.S. intellectual property rights. I commend the USTR for so vigorously protecting these very valuable assets to the U.S. economy. However, what has caused my colleagues and I concern has been the treatment of Israel in this process; a process that we hope will become more transparent. This year, I was joined by Senators Schumer and Wyden on a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative expressing our hope that the positive steps Israel has taken, particularly in the context of how many of our other trading partners have acted, would be granted the recognition it deserves. Unfortunately, when this year's Special 301 report was released, Israel was put on par with countries such as China and Russia while other countries, which have little or no intellectual property protections, were given a much less egregious designation.…”