Jeff Bingaman: “This is one of these feel-good amendments where you can tell your constituents you struck a blow for freedom by…”

“This is one of these feel-good amendments where you can tell your constituents you struck a blow for freedom by outlawing OPEC. The truth is, this is terrible precedent for us to say we are going to drag foreign governments into our court system and allow them to be sued for antitrust violations. We have always stopped short of doing this. The precedent would be terrible because obviously they would do the same thing with us. If we can bring foreign governments into our courts and subject them to penalties here, they can bring our Government into their courts and do the same thing. The courts have stayed away from these issues. These are diplomatic issues and political issues the courts should stay out of. I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment.”