[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1119 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1119

To amend the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to provide for 
     the payment of certain secured debts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                June 16 (legislative day, June 15), 1993

Mr. Robb (for himself, Mr. Dole, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Helms, Mr. Campbell, 
Mr. Warner, Mr. Kerrey, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Exon, Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Brown, 
Mr. Sasser, and Mr. Bond) introduced the following bill; which was read 
  twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to provide for 
     the payment of certain secured debts, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Secured Payment Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) a number of United States corporations and their 
        foreign subsidiaries engaged in lawful trade with Iraq and 
        fulfilled their contractual or letter of credit obligations 
        before August 2, 1990, but have not been paid;
            (2) since August 2, 1990, pursuant to Executive Orders No. 
        12722 and No. 12724, the Department of the Treasury has frozen 
        Iraqi assets in the United States, including funds sufficient 
        to pay the debts described in the preceding paragraph, even 
        though (A) payment is secured by irrevocable letters of credit, 
        and (B) the transactions covered by the letters of credit are 
        otherwise complete; and
            (3) the Department of the Treasury has no jurisdiction over 
        such funds.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide for the 
immediate release to the lawful owners of the funds described in 
subsection (a)(2).

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POWERS ACT.

    (a) Grant of Authority.--Section 203(b) of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as 
        subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively;
            (2) by inserting ``(1)'' immediately after ``(b)'';
            (3) by amending paragraph (1) (as redesignated)--
                    (A) by striking out ``or'' at the end of 
                subparagraph (B);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of 
                subparagraph (C) and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
            ``(D) payments under irrevocable letters of credit issued 
        by a United States or foreign bank, from any type of account, 
        of amounts owed to or for the benefit of a national of the 
        United States, including any foreign subsidiary or branch 
        thereof, that is the beneficiary of an irrevocable letter of 
        credit and that shipped the goods, or otherwise performed its 
        obligations under an underlying contract, before the 
        declaration of any national emergency under section 202.''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) Paragraph (1)(D) shall not apply to any United States 
national who is found to have violated the Export Administration Act of 
1979, the Arms Export Control Act, or any license, order, or regulation 
issued under either Act.''.
    (b) Application of Amendments.--The amendments made by subsection 
(a) apply to actions taken by the President under section 203 of the 
International Economic Emergency Powers Act before the date of 
enactment of this Act which are in effect on such date and to actions 
taken under such section on or after such date.

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