Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Banking Committee has jurisdiction over economic, trade, banking, and financial sanctions. During the last year, I have worked with my colleagues in Congress to authorize the President to impose tough sanctions targeting President Putin and his cronies, and he has enlisted our allies in that effort. We all agree that if Putin continues to intimidate the people of Ukraine he must face intensifying economic and political isolation. But unlike with the sanctions bill enacted earlier this year, the Foreign Relations Committee did not consult the Banking Committee on this bill prior to its markup. Even so, my staff has worked cooperatively with Foreign Relations staff in recent weeks to fix many of the most significant textual problems which would have made its implementation unworkable. Those negotiations have now progressed to a point where I have been satisfied with the changes included in the substitute amendment. While it is still not perfect and contains some provisions which in my view are unnecessary, we have made substantial progress. The President has worked to impose punishing sanctions on Russia, maximizing their effect on Russia while minimizing their effect on the U.S. and Western allies. I heard personally from Secretary Lew the administration's concern that the mandatory global energy sanctions in a prior version of this bill could have driven a wedge between the U.S. and our allies.…”