[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 16, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2725-S2727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Allen, Mr. Smith of New 
        Hampshire, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Nickles, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Warner, 
        Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Burns, and Mr. Craig):
  S. 2134. A bill to allow American victims of state sponsored 
terrorism to received compensation from blocked as-sets of those 
states; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to be joined by 
my Republican colleague, Senator George Allen of Virginia, in 
introducing the Terrorism Victim's Access to Compensation Act of 2002. 
Senators Bob Smith of New Hampshire, Schumer, Nickles,

[[Page S2726]]

Clinton, Warner, Mikulski, Burns, and Craig are also original co-
sponsors of this much-needed, bipartisan legislation.
  The war against terrorism must be fought and won on multiple fronts. 
And we cannot forget that terrorist acts are ultimately stories of 
human tragedy. The dedicated, professional woman from Iowa, Kathryn 
Koob, seeking to build cross-cultural ties between the Iranian people 
and the American people only to be held captive for 444 days in the 
U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The teenage boy from Iowa, Taleb Subh, visiting 
family in Kuwait, terrorized by Saddam Hussein at the outbreak of the 
Persian Gulf War. The U.S. aid worker from Virginia, Charles Hegna, 
tortured and killed in 1984 by Iranian-backed hijackers in order ``to 
punish'' the United States. These are only a few of the people we know; 
Americans in all 50 States have suffered. What do we say to these 
families, the wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters?
  We believe that those who sponsor as well as those who commit these 
inhumane acts must pay a price. In 1996, the Congress passed a 
significant law without partisan divide, and with the support of the 
U.S. State Department. This law allows Americans to pursue justice in 
U.S. Federal courts. The idea behind this law is to make the terrorists 
and their sponsors pay an immediate price for attacks against Americans 
abroad. For example, the money of foreign sponsors of terrorism and 
their agents that we hold here in the United States could be used to 
compensate innocent Americans who are victimized by their attacks for 
their pain, suffering and losses. Make the bad guys pay.
  This law only applies to ``terrorist states'', currently a list of 
seven foreign governments officially designated as state sponsors of 
terrorism (i.e. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, North Korea, and 
Cuba). It is those state sponsors of international terrorism, not the 
American taxpayer, who must be compelled to pay these costs first and 
foremost.
  Currently, the U.S. Treasury Department lawfully controls at least 
$3.7 billion in blocked or frozen assets of these seven state sponsors 
of terrorism. But officials of the U.S. Treasury and State Departments 
oppose using these funds to compensate American victims of terrorism 
who have brought lawsuits in Federal courts, won their cases on the 
merits, and secured court-ordered judgments and compensation awards 
against the rogue governments that are responsible for the attacks upon 
them and their families. To summarize, these American victims have been 
encouraged to pursue justice in U.S. Federal courts, have complied with 
existing U.S. law, but have been denied what little justice they were 
encouraged to pursue. Unelected bureaucrats, instead, want American 
taxpayers apparently to foot the bill for what could amount to hundreds 
of millions of dollars. In fact, in the pending case involving the 53 
Americans taken hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1979 and held in 
captivity for 444 days and their families, U.S. Justice and State 
Department attorneys have gone into Federal court in recent months to 
have their lawsuit dismissed in its entirety, thus de facto siding with 
the Government of Iran.
  This policy is wrong-headed and counterproductive for at least three 
reasons.
  First, paying American victims of terrorism from the blocked and 
frozen assets of these rogue governments and their agents will really 
punish and impose a heavy cost on those aiding and abetting the 
terrorists; this tougher policy will provide a new, powerful 
disincentive for any foreign government to continue sponsoring 
terrorist attacks on Americans, while also discouraging any regimes 
tempted to get into the ugly business of sponsoring future terrorist 
attacks.
  Second, making the state sponsors actually lose billions of dollars 
will more effectively deter future acts of terrorism than keeping their 
assets blocked or frozen in perpetuity in pursuit of the delusion that 
long-standing, undemocratic, brutish governments like those in Iran and 
Iraq can be moderated.
  Third, the American wives, husbands, sons, and daughters will have a 
sense of justice, they will have the public condemnation by the U.S. 
Government and statement of guilt, but they will have also made those 
terrorists responsible for the attacks and their sponsors pay a price.
  In his last days in office, former President Clinton signed a law 
endorsing a policy of paying American victims of terrorism from blocked 
assets, while simultaneously signing a waiver of the means to make this 
policy work. But the Bush administration hasn't registered an opinion 
yet on this crucial test of our nation's resolve to fight state-
sponsored terrorism. That is why we are pushing bipartisan legislation 
to establish two new policy cornerstones in our Nation's war against 
terrorism. First, we seek to require that compensation be paid from the 
blocked and frozen assets of the state sponsors of terrorism in cases 
where American victims of terrorism secure a final judgment in our 
Federal courts and are awarded compensation accordingly. Second, we 
will provide a level playing field for all American victims of state-
sponsored terrorism who are pursuing redress by providing equal access 
to our federal courts.
  American victims of state-sponsored terrorism deserve and want to be 
compensated for their losses from those who perpetrated the attacks 
upon them. The Congress should clear the way for them to get some 
satisfaction of court-ordered judgments and, in so doing, deter future 
acts of state-sponsored terrorism against innocent Americans.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2134

       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 ``Terrorism Victim's Access to 
     Compensation Act of 2002''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that:
       (1) The war against international terrorism must be fought 
     and won on multiple fronts.
       (2) The state sponsors of international terrorism 
     (including their agencies and instrumentalities) are 
     ultimately responsible for the damages, pain, and suffering 
     inflicted upon Americans who are victimized by terrorist 
     acts. It is the state sponsors, not the American taxpayer, 
     who must be compelled to pay those costs.
       (3) The Secretary of the Treasury lawfully controls 
     billions of dollars in blocked assets of several governments 
     which the President and the Department of State have 
     determined to be state sponsors of international terrorism 
     and responsible for multiple terrorist attacks on United 
     States citizens abroad.
       (4) There have been multiple Federal lawsuits brought since 
     1996 by American victims of state sponsored terrorism abroad 
     and final judgments and financial awards in some of those 
     cases have been paid appropriately by using some of the 
     blocked assets of state sponsors of terrorism. Additional 
     cases are still pending.
       (5) Paying victims of state sponsored terrorism from the 
     blocked assets of state sponsors of acts of terrorism 
     (including their agencies and instrumentalities) will punish 
     those entities, deter future acts of terrorism, and provide a 
     powerful incentive for any foreign government to stop 
     sponsoring terrorist attacks on Americans.
       (6) There must be a level playing field for all American 
     victims of state sponsored terrorism who are pursuing redress 
     in the Federal courts and compensation from the blocked 
     assets of state sponsors of terrorism (including their 
     agencies and instrumentalities).

     SEC. 3. SENSE OF THE SENATE.

       Considering the policy set forth in this Act, the 
     Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and in 
     the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 
     2000, it is the sense of Congress that it should be the 
     policy of the United States--
       (1) to use the blocked assets of state sponsors of acts of 
     terrorism (including their agencies and instrumentalities) 
     that are under the control of the Secretary of the Treasury 
     to pay court-ordered judgments and awards made to United 
     States nationals harmed by such acts; and
       (2) to provide equal access to all United States victims of 
     state sponsored terrorism who have secured judgments and 
     awards in Federal courts against state sponsors of terrorism 
     (including their agencies and instrumentalities) and that 
     those judgments and awards be paid by state sponsors of 
     terrorism (including their agencies and instrumentalities) 
     from any of their blocked assets controlled by the Secretary 
     of the Treasury.

[[Page S2727]]

     SEC. 4. SATISFACTION OF JUDGMENTS FROM BLOCKED ASSETS OF 
                   TERRORISTS, TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS, AND STATE 
                   SPONSORS OF TERRORISM.

       (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), in 
     every case in which a person has obtained a judgment against 
     a terrorist party on a claim for compensatory damages for an 
     act of terrorism, or a claim for compensatory damages brought 
     pursuant to section 1605(a)(7) of title 28, United States 
     Code, the blocked assets of any terrorist party, or any 
     agency or instrumentality of a terrorist party, shall be 
     available for satisfaction of the judgment.
       (b) Presidential Waiver.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), upon determining 
     on an asset-by-asset basis that a waiver is necessary in the 
     national security interest, the President may waive the 
     requirements of subsection (a) in connection with (and prior 
     to the enforcement of) any judicial order directing 
     attachment or satisfaction in aid of execution of judgment, 
     or execution of judgment, against any property subject to the 
     Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations or the Vienna 
     Convention on Consular Relations.
       (2) Exception.--A waiver under this subsection shall not 
     apply to--
       (A) property subject to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic 
     Relations or the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations that 
     has been used for any nondiplomatic purpose (including use as 
     rental property), and the proceeds of such use; or
       (B) any asset subject to the Vienna Convention on 
     Diplomatic Relations or the Vienna Convention on Consular 
     Relations that is sold or otherwise transferred for value to 
     a third party, and the proceeds of such sale or transfer.
       (c) Definitions.--In this Act:
       (1) Blocked assets.--The term ``blocked assets'' means 
     assets seized or blocked by the United States in accordance 
     with law.
       (2) Property and assets subject to vienna conventions.--The 
     terms ``property subject to the Vienna Convention on 
     Diplomatic Relations or the Vienna Convention on Consular 
     Relations'' and ``asset subject to the Vienna Convention on 
     Diplomatic Relations or the Vienna Convention on Consular 
     Relations'' mean any property or asset, respectively, the 
     attachment in aid of execution or execution of which may, for 
     the limited purpose of satisfying a judgment under subsection 
     (a), breach an obligation of the United States under the 
     Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations or the Vienna 
     Convention on Consular Relations, as the case may be.
       (3) Terrorist party.--The term ``terrorist party'' means a 
     terrorist, a terrorist organization, or a foreign state 
     designated as a state sponsor of terrorism under section 6(j) 
     of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 
     2405(j)) or section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
     1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371) (including any agency or 
     instrumentality of that state).
                                 ______