Political Quotes

“Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, I think it is incredibly important that we read bills before we vote on them, that we have adequate debate, and that we really understand what we are doing. The Magnitsky Act was originally an act that sought to sanction people in Russia--still does--but was expanded beyond Russia, and now, this bill would expand it further. When you are going to sanction people, there has to be an argument about whom you are going to sanction, so the original Magnitsky Act has in law that you would sanction people who have gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. Well, that sounds good, but the Magnitsky Act goes a step further and defines what these are. Gross violations of human rights include torture; cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment; punishment or long detention without charges and trial; causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons--a lot of this applies to, really, what happened to Magnitsky; this was named after him because of what happened to him--other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, and the security of the person. What we are having happen right now is sort of--they are trying to pull a fast one, basically.…”