Max Baucus: “Mr. President, we are now embarked on a very significant policy change with respect to sanctions. Over the past several…”

“Mr. President, we are now embarked on a very significant policy change with respect to sanctions. Over the past several years, it was simple for the U.S. Congress to slap sanctions on an offensive country. We could also give the President the authority to grant sanctions. We could do this because we believed this power was free. That is to say, we in Congress freely used sanctions to express our sentiments about issues of particular concern, and we passed several pieces of legislation giving the President sanctions authority because it didn't cost anything. And we made our statements loud and clear by doing so. Good statements, for example, that tried to curb proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And at that time, these efforts were necessary in steering certain countries away from a course contrary to world public policy. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, most of these sanctions bills have been ineffective. Many have not accomplished the purpose for which they were intended. We may ask ourselves why? I believe one important reason is the fact that the world has become so global.”