Steve Cohen: “It is nice to see a Tennessean in the chair. James Knox Polk might have been the last one who was more permanent as…”

“It is nice to see a Tennessean in the chair. James Knox Polk might have been the last one who was more permanent as Speaker of the House. Yes, it is good to see you. To my friend, Mr. Chabot, it is an honor to rise and to cosponsor this bill with you and with Mr. Goodlatte and Mr. Conyers. Madam Speaker, I do rise in support of H.R. 4292, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, also known as the FCEJIC Act. This makes a modest, but important amendment to the expropriation exception of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976. Specifically, it ensures that foreign states are immune from suits for damages concerning the ownership of cultural property when that property is in the United States pursuant to an agreement between the foreign state and the U.S. or a U.S.-based cultural or educational institution, when the President has granted the work at issue immunity from seizure pursuant to the Immunity from Seizure Act, and when the President's grant of immunity from seizure is published in the Federal Register. The expropriation exception remains available to all claims concerning misappropriated cultural property to which these factual circumstances do not apply. Additionally, H.R. 4292 ensures that the expropriation exception remains available for all Nazi-era claims.…”