Russ Feingold: “I wish to respond to both the chairman and the ranking member. They have suggested, it seems to me, that somehow this…”

“I wish to respond to both the chairman and the ranking member. They have suggested, it seems to me, that somehow this provision automatically involves imprisonment. That is simply not correct. Under the first offense, there is only a civil penalty involved for the importer in the amount equal to 200 percent of the declared value of the merchandise. A second offense then would involve perhaps up to 1 year of imprisonment. It is only in a third offense that it would be 5 years. It is simply not correct to suggest that if somebody makes a mistake once, suddenly they are going to be imprisoned. It is not nearly as harsh as that. It is a reasonable series of penalties for people who are going to get enormous benefit under this legislation.”