[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7887-7888]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            SANCTIONS REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this Chamber has been dominated with 
discussion over the course of this week dealing with the limitations 
and the costs of the use of force in trying to secure international 
peace. Yet, there is another very critical area.
  As we attempt to work our will on issues around the globe, we are 
finding

[[Page 7888]]

it more and more difficult to gain leverage with other countries as we 
are dealing with issues that deal with economic sanctions. Our efforts 
are made all the more difficult by signals coming from inside this 
Chamber encouraging America to retreat from its role as the world's 
only remaining superpower.
  It is time for us to take a step back and reshape our thinking about 
how we can apply sanctions that are more in tune with what actually 
happens in the world. Well-intentioned sanctions are becoming less and 
less effective if we do it on an unilateral basis. Currently, it is 
estimated that half the world's population is subject to some sort of 
sanction on the part of the United States. Yet it is estimated that 
only one-fifth of the programs that we have applied previously in the 
last 20 years achieved their intended goals.
  The Institute for Economic Analysis estimated that unilateral 
sanctions have a very real cost for Americans and our businesses, 
perhaps as much as $20 billion per year in lost opportunities, which 
translates into a potential job loss of 200,000 American jobs. And 
those that are in the international arena turn out to be amongst the 
highest paying American jobs.
  We see persuasive evidence that unilateral sanctions simply do not 
work. The threat of sanctions not only failed to deter what happened in 
India or Pakistan regarding nuclear testing, but it would have cost 
people in the region that I represent in the Pacific Northwest a huge 
wheat sale if Congress had not acted quickly to grant a waiver 
authority to the President so he would not have to apply the sanction. 
Well, it rescued a potential loss of business but it made us look 
foolish, having this sanction out here and then not applying it when 
the chips were down.
  The example of Cuba is perhaps one of the most abject failure, where 
we have imposed sanctions basically alone in the world. Yet Castro 
continues to thrive after 40 years and, in fact, perhaps has been even 
more entrenched by our opposition to his regime.
  The simple fact is, if we are going to initiate sanctions, we need to 
have better information to make better-informed decisions. We need to 
look in a comprehensive way about what we are trying to achieve. When 
will we decide whether or not the sanction is effective, and how will 
we determine whether or not we have met that objective?
  I personally am embarrassed in conversations that I have had with 
people, parliamentarians from other more developed countries who have 
very thoughtful approaches that allow them to determine when they are 
going to be involved, how they are going to be successful, and when 
they conclude that effort.
  I was pleased to join former Representative Lee Hamilton and Senator 
Lugar, both of Indiana, last session when they introduced comprehensive 
reform of American sanctions policy. I am pleased that this legislation 
has been reintroduced in this session.
  I would strongly urge my colleagues to look at comprehensive sanction 
reform as an area for them to be involved. It is an area that we ought 
to know what we are doing. It will make a big difference for American 
business, and it will make our foreign policy much more effective in 
the long-run.
  At a time when we are dominated by the threat of war and, in fact, 
being actively engaged with American fighting men and women overseas, 
we owe it to them, we owe it to our constituents, we owe it to 
ourselves to make sure that we have all the tools that are available 
and that they are used in a thoughtful fashion.

{time}  1330

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