Byron Dorgan: “I want to speak again about the issue of using sanctions that are now being employed by the United States of America on…”

“I want to speak again about the issue of using sanctions that are now being employed by the United States of America on the sale or shipment of food and medicine to other countries. Those sanctions are wrong. We ought not use sanctions on the shipment of food and medicine to other countries. Yet we are, so far, unable to repeal sanctions on the shipment of food and medicine. We almost got it repealed last year. Seventy Senators voted to repeal the use of sanctions by the United States on the shipment of food and medicine to other countries--70 Senators voted for that--but we went into a conference and we were hijacked, literally legislatively hijacked by the Members of the House. So we still have sanctions on the shipment of food and medicine to many parts of the world. I also have included this year in the Agriculture appropriations bill, a repeal of the use of sanctions for food and medicine shipments.”