Barbara Mikulski: “I am proud to cosponsor the Lautenberg amendment to cut foreign aid to any country that violates U.N. sanctions against…”

“I am proud to cosponsor the Lautenberg amendment to cut foreign aid to any country that violates U.N. sanctions against Libya. You cannot seek to undermine important policies of the United States and expect to receive economic assistance. The international community imposed sanctions on Libya because of their failure to extradite their intelligence agents who were indicted for the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. This one act of terrorism cost the lives of 270 people. Libya provides sanctuary to their murderers. Yet Egypt--which receives billions of dollars of United States aid--has allowed Libyan airlines to land on their soil. They also attempted to weaken U.N. sanctions and even to build a free trade zone with Libya. The families of those murdered on Pan Am 103 need no reminder of why we have sanctions on Libya. They live with this tragedy every day of their lives. Seven people from Maryland died in this tragedy. They were Michael Bernstein, Jay Kingham, Karen Noonan, Ann Lindsey Otenasek, Lousie Rogers, Miriam Wolf, and Jordy Williams. They were so young. They were college students, a young Army lieutenant, a businessman and a lawyer. They were sons, daughters, and fathers. We swore that we would never forget them. We would improve airline safety, we would fight terrorism--and most importantly, we would seek justice. One of the victims, Michael Bernstein, was a renowned Nazi hunter working for the Justice Department.”