[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S709-S710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS AND POLICY ENHANCEMENT BILL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on one final matter, the regime in 
North Korea presents serious threats to regional stability, to the 
security of Americans, to the safety of our allies, and to the well-
being of North Koreans themselves.
  Pyongyang regularly threatens neighbors, such as South Korea and 
Japan. It routinely engages in cyber warfare. It repeatedly commits 
gross human rights violations against its own people and continues to 
develop a nuclear program that threatens peace in the region and 
throughout the world. The regime's most recent display of belligerent 
behavior only underlines that the administration's approach has 
certainly not worked. Let's

[[Page S710]]

work together to change that. Let's vote to move America's policy in a 
better and more successful direction.
  Last month the House of Representatives voted to pass comprehensive 
sanctions legislation on a bipartisan basis. Tomorrow the Senate will 
turn to comprehensive sanctions legislation that builds on what the 
House passed, and we should pass that measure on a bipartisan basis as 
well.
  The North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act was written by a 
Republican from Colorado, Senator Cory Gardner, and a Democrat from New 
Jersey, Senator Bob Menendez, and reported from the Foreign Relations 
Committee. It would strengthen congressional oversight. It would give 
the President more tools to take action against North Korea's growing 
aggression and require him to do so. It would also reassure our 
regional allies that we have not despaired in taking any action against 
North Korea--with or without help from China.
  The kind of belligerence we have seen from Pyongyang must not be 
ignored. Let's work together to make our country and our world safer by 
passing this bipartisan bill.

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