Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I join Senator Shelby and other senior Senators to introduce the Libyan Assets for Humanitarian Relief Act of 2011, designed to explicitly authorize the President to confiscate and distribute some of the assets of Muammar Qaddafi's government to be used to provide urgent humanitarian relief for the people of Libya. This issue lies within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs because it involves frozen assets being held by U.S. banks and other financial institutions. We are joined by Chairman Kerry of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Armed Services Committee Chairman Levin and Ranking Minority Member John McCain, and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Lieberman as original cosponsors of this measure. A few weeks ago the President's senior advisors from the Treasury Department, the State Department, and the White House came to Congress and provided draft legislation to explicitly authorize the President to seize and vest the Qaddafi government's assets to be used to benefit the Libyan people. This measure is an updated version of that legislation, imposing certain conditions on that authority, and providing for certain reporting, tracking and auditing requirements on the use of the funds. Currently, there are approximately $36 billion in Libyan Government assets in banks and other financial institutions subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, both here and abroad.…”