[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 24, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S495-S496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               BRINK Act

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I want to start my remarks today by 
focusing on a serious threat to our national security, and that is 
North Korea's nuclear program--both its nuclear weapons program as well 
as its missile program.
  At this moment the United States must exert maximum economic pressure 
to get North Korea to engage in meaningful discussions with the goal of 
denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
  That is why Senator Toomey and I introduced the BRINK Act. I was 
pleased to see the changing of the guard here at the desk, with the 
Senator from Pennsylvania having just been the Presiding Officer and 
the Senator from Colorado taking over, because I know the Senator from 
Colorado has also been very deeply involved in this issue to try to 
make sure that we address the threat of the North Korea program.
  The BRINK Act is bipartisan legislation passed unanimously out of the 
Banking Committee back on November 7. It imposes very tough sanctions 
on North Korea, and, just as importantly, it has enforcement mechanisms 
to make sure financial institutions anywhere in the world that are not 
cooperating with the United States and our allies to impose those 
sanctions on North Korea are penalized. It is a very simple message: 
You can do business with North Korea or you can do business with the 
United States. You cannot do business with both.
  Given that this passed unanimously out of the Banking Committee on 
November 7, and that since then North

[[Page S496]]

Korea has tested an ICBM that analysts believe is capable of reaching 
all of the United States, we should move forward on this legislation 
now. In fact, just yesterday CIA Director Pompeo said that ``North 
Korea is ever closer to being able to hold America at risk'' and that 
its nuclear weapons program had developed at a ``very rapid clip.''
  We have no time to waste. We should move forward immediately on the 
BRINK Act and move forward on other legislation that came out of the 
Foreign Relations Committee on this issue. I think we owe it to the 
American people to do this right away, without further delay.