Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I would like to raise concerns about efforts to erode the effectiveness of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA. This law requires the administration to impose a host of costs on the government of the Russian Federation for its interference in democratic processes around the world, its support for the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad, and its active role in destabilizing Ukraine. Ninety-eight Senators voted in favor of this legislation and should expect the administration to fully implement it. Of particular concern to me today is section 231, which requires the imposition of sanctions on those who conduct significant transactions with specific entities in the Russian defense and intelligence sectors. We targeted those sectors because our intelligence community deemed them responsible for the attack on our election in 2016. The law is meant to cut financial income for these sectors. Using the model implemented in the CISADA sanctions regime on Iran, section 231 includes a provision to delay sanctions if the individual in question can show that they are substantially reducing significant transactions from these Russian entities. This model was extremely effective in diminishing the volume of energy products that Iran was able to sell to the rest of the world and ultimately helped to drive them to the negotiating table.…”