[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1401 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1401

To provide for the adjudication of certain claims against Iraq, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               August 6 (legislative day, June 30), 1993

  Mr. Pell (by request) introduced the following bill; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the adjudication of certain claims against Iraq, 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 ``Iraq Claims Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. ADJUDICATION OF CLAIMS.

    (a) The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States 
(``the Commission'') is authorized to receive and determine the 
validity and amounts of any claims referred to it by the Secretary of 
State with respect to which the United States has received lump-sum 
payments from the United Nations Compensation Commission (``the 
UNCC'').
    (b) The Commission is further authorized to receive and determine 
the validity and amounts of any claims by nationals of the United 
States against Iraq that are determined by the Secretary of State to be 
outside the jurisdiction of the UNCC.
    (c) In deciding such claims, the Commission shall apply, in the 
following order--
            (1) relevant decisions of the United Nations Security 
        Council and the UNCC (in the case of claims under subsection 
        (a));
            (2) applicable substantive law, including international 
        law; and
            (3) applicable principles of justice and equity.
    (d) The Commission shall, to the extent practical, decide all 
pending non-commercial claims of members of the armed forces and other 
individuals arising out of Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait 
before deciding any other claim.
    (e) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the provisions of 
titles I and VII of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 (22 
U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) shall apply with respect to claims under this Act. 
Any reference in such provisions to ``this title'' shall be deemed to 
refer to those provisions and to this Act. Any reference in such 
provisions to ``section 703'' shall be deemed to refer to section 2(b) 
of this Act.
    (f) In determining the amount of any claim adjudicated under this 
Act, the Commission shall deduct all amounts the claimant has received 
from any source on account of the same loss or losses.

SEC. 3. CLAIMS FUNDS.

    (a) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to establish in the 
Treasury of the United States one or more funds (``the UNCC Claims 
Funds'') for payment of claims under section 2(a). The Secretary of the 
Treasury shall cover into the UNCC Claims Funds such amounts as are 
transferred to him by the Secretary of State pursuant to subsection 
(e).
    (b) The Secretary of the Treasury is further authorized to 
establish in the Treasury of the United States a fund (``the Iraq 
Claims Fund'') for payment of claims under section 2(b). The Secretary 
of the Treasury shall cover into the Iraq Claims Fund such amounts as 
are allocated by the President from assets of the Government of Iraq 
liquidated pursuant to subsection (d).
    (c) In accordance with section 8(g) of the International Claims 
Settlement Act of 1949 (22 U.S.C. 1627(g)), the funds established 
pursuant to sections 3(a) and 3(b) shall be invested in public debt 
securities and shall bear interest at rates determined by the Secretary 
of the Treasury taking into consideration the current average market 
yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of 
comparable maturity.
    (d) The President is authorized to vest and liquidate as much of 
the assets of the Government of Iraq in the United States that have 
been blocked pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) as may be necessary to satisfy claims 
under section 2(b), as well as claims of the United States Government 
against Iraq which are determined by the Secretary of State to be 
outside the jurisdiction of the UNCC. The President shall allocate 
these funds in the manner he determines appropriate between the Iraq 
Claims Fund and such other accounts as are appropriate for the payment 
of claims of the United States Government.
    (e) The Secretary of State shall allocate funds received by the 
United States from the UNCC in the manner he determines appropriate 
between the UNCC Claims Funds and funds established under the authority 
of section 2668a of title 22 of the United States Code.

SEC. 4. PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall deduct an amount equal to 1\1/2\ per centum from any 
amount covered into the claims funds established under section 3, and 
from any amounts the Secretary of State receives from the UNCC which 
are not covered into a claims fund established under section 3 and not 
in payment of a claim of the United States Government, to reimburse the 
agencies of the Government of the United States for their expenses in 
administering the Iraq claims program and this Act. The Secretary of 
the Treasury, in consultation with the Chairman of the Foreign Claims 
Settlement Commission and the Secretary of State, shall determine the 
proportional distribution of the reimbursement set-aside, and shall 
advance for credit or reimburse a department, agency, or 
instrumentality of the Federal Government for its respective expenses 
in administering the Iraq claims program and this Act. Amounts received 
by such department, agency or instrumentality shall be credited or 
reimbursed to the appropriation account then current and shall remain 
available for expenditure without fiscal year limitation.

SEC. 5. PAYMENTS.

    (a) The Commission shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury 
each award made pursuant to section 2. The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall make payment in the following order of priority out of the 
appropriate fund provided for in section 3--
            (1) payment in the amount of $10,000 or the principal 
        amount of the award, whichever is less;
            (2) when the Secretary of the Treasury has determined that 
        funds are available to pay each claim having priority under 
        section 2(d) an additional $90,000, payment of a further 
        $90,000 of the principal of the awards that have priority under 
        section 2(d);
            (3) payments from time to time in ratable proportions on 
        account of the unpaid balance of the principal amounts of all 
        awards according to the proportions which the unpaid balance of 
        such awards bear to the total amount in the appropriate claims 
        fund that is available for distribution at the time such 
        payments are made;
            (4) after payment has been made of the principal amounts of 
        all such awards, pro rata payments on account of accrued 
        interest on such awards as bear interest; and
            (5) after payment has been made in full of all the awards 
        payable out of any of the claims funds established by section 
        3, any funds remaining in that claims fund shall be transferred 
        to the other claims fund created by that section, except any 
        funds received by the United States from the UNCC shall be so 
        transferred to the extent not inconsistent with UNCC 
        requirements.
    (b) Payment of any award made pursuant to this Act shall not 
extinguish any unsatisfied claim, or be construed to have divested any 
claimant, or the United States on his or her behalf, of any rights 
against the Government of Iraq with respect to any unsatisfied claim.

SEC. 6. RECORDS.

    (a) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury may 
transfer or otherwise make available to the Commission such records and 
documents relating to claims authorized by this Act as may be required 
by the Commission in carrying out its functions under this Act.
    (b) Notwithstanding section 552 of title 5 of the United States 
Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), records 
pertaining to claims before the Commission and the UNCC may not be 
disclosed to the general public, except that--
            (1) decisions of the UNCC and filings of the United States 
        on its own behalf of the UNCC shall be made available to the 
        public, unless the Secretary of State determines that public 
        disclosure would be prejudicial to the interests of the United 
        States or United States claimants, or that public disclosure 
        would be inconsistent with the procedures of the UNCC;
            (2) with respect to records of the Department of State, the 
        Secretary of State may determine on a case-by-case basis to 
        make such information available when in the judgment of the 
        Secretary the interests of justice so require;
            (3) with respect to records of the Department of the 
        Treasury, the Secretary of the Treasury may determine on a 
        case-by-case basis to make such information available when in 
        the judgment of the Secretary the interests of justice so 
        require; and
            (4) with respect to records of the Commission, the Chairman 
        of the Commission may determine on a case-by-case basis to make 
        such information available when in the judgment of the Chairman 
        the interests of justice so require. Before releasing records 
        that originated with another Executive Branch agency (as 
        defined in section 105 of title 5 of the United States Code), 
        the Commission shall obtain the concurrence of the originating 
        agency.

SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.

    If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any 
person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the remainder of the Act 
or the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances 
shall not be affected.

SEC. 8. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS; DISPOSITION OF UNPAID CERTIFIED CLAIMS.

    (a) Nine years after the Secretary of the Treasury last covers 
funds into the UNCC Claims Fund(s) or the Iraq Claims Fund established 
under section 3 of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
publish a notice in the Federal Register detailing this statute of 
limitations and identifying the claim numbers and awardee names of 
unpaid certified claims. Any demand or claim for payment on account of 
an award certified under the Iraq claims program shall be barred one 
year after the publication date of the notice required by this 
subsection.
    (b) Two years after the publication date of the notice required by 
subsection (a), any unpaid certified claim amount and any remaining 
balance in the UNCC Claims Fund(s) or the Iraq Claims Fund established 
under section 3 of this Act shall be deposited to the miscellaneous 
receipts of the Treasury.

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