Jeanne Shaheen: “I come to the floor today to oppose H.R. 23. This is a bill that levels unprecedented mandatory sanctions on the…”

“I come to the floor today to oppose H.R. 23. This is a bill that levels unprecedented mandatory sanctions on the International Criminal Court, the ICC. I understand my colleagues' concerns about whether the court has jurisdiction over Israel, and I share those. I agree the court should not focus its resources investigating U.S. servicemembers. I can't believe anybody in this Chamber wants to see that. But the way this bill is drafted, sanctioning the ICC will not get them to withdraw the arrest warrants for Israeli officials. It could actually have the opposite effect, hardening the court's position. These sweeping sanctions we are about to consider are an incredibly powerful tool, and making this an issue that, frankly, goes beyond Israel and the United States and stretching around the world is not going to be helpful to our national security. These sanctions will make it almost impossible for the United States to engage the court on other issues in our national interest, whether that is prosecuting the atrocities in Sudan or human rights abuses by the Taliban or in Venezuela or Russia's war crimes against Ukraine. This bill would target the civil servants who work at the ICC--and not just them, it would target their families. Lower level workers who provide administrative, paralegal, research, even catering and sanitary services would be affected. It could target their family members just for being related.…”