Spencer Cox: “I oppose the amendment. The effect of this amendment is to abrogate our post-World War II agreement with Japan on…”

“I oppose the amendment. The effect of this amendment is to abrogate our post-World War II agreement with Japan on reparations to U.S. citizens injured by Japan during World War II. It would bar the Justice Department and the State Department from using appropriated funds "to file a motion in any court opposing a civil action against any Japanese person or corporation for compensation or reparations in which the plaintiff alleges that, as an American prisoner of war during World War II he or she was used as slave or forced labor." Although U.S. POWs used as slave laborers deserve redress, this amendment may raise serious constitutional concerns. During the Reagan Administration, the Department of Justice regularly advised Congress of its constitutional concerns over the so-called Rudman Amendment, a funding bar annually added by Congress that purported to bar the President from spending appropriated funds to advocate in court the view that the antitrust laws did not bar vertical non-price restraints.”