Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the legislation before us, the repeal for Jackson-Vanik for Russia and Moldova and the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. The two main components of this package represent a win-win for U.S. businesses and for human rights defenders in Russia. Chairman Baucus and Chairman Kerry deserve a lot of credit for working together to get us to this point. I also want to join my colleague Senator Durbin in singling out and commending Senator Cardin of Maryland for his tremendous effort to bring this historic piece of human rights legislation to the floor tonight. As one of the original cosponsors of the Magnitsky Act, I remember back in May of last year when Senator Cardin first introduced the bill. Since that time, he has been the driving force that has pushed this measure forward. It has taken a lot of patience, a lot of perseverance, but his work on behalf of human rights in Russia has paid off, and he is a big reason why we are here debating this bill today. This legislation comes at a complex time in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia. The truth is the history of this relationship has always been full of complexity and seeming contradictions, and today is no different. Over the last 4 years the subtle change in tone brought on by the reset has allowed us to establish substantial progress on some limited areas of mutual interests including the New START Treaty, Afghanistan, and Iran.…”