Chris Smith: “I think this amendment should be noncontroversial. It would require the President to report to Congress about any border…”

“I think this amendment should be noncontroversial. It would require the President to report to Congress about any border closures or the use of an economic or commercial blockade by or against any of the new independent states against any other country. The report would be due within 60 days of enactment of the bill. The amendment stipulates that the report shall describe the extent to which such border closures or economic or commercial blockades impede or restrict directly or indirectly the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid and whether the closure would be considered to be in violation of Humanitarian Aid Corridors Act. As we know, Mr. Chairman, the corridors law calls for the cutoff of U.S. assistance to countries that impede the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance to third countries. The report would allow Congress and the State Department to have a clear mutual understanding of where violations or potential violations occur. As a result of ethnic separatist conflicts in the territory of the former Soviet Union, especially in the Caucasus, various states have at times imposed border closures or blockades on neighboring states. These blockades or border closures hamper or make impossible the delivery of humanitarian assistance.”