II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1161

To establish procedures for the consideration and enactment of unilateral

economic sanctions legislation and for the use of authority to impose

sanctions under law.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 27, 1999

Mr. DODD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To establish procedures for the consideration and enactment

of unilateral economic sanctions legislation and for the

use of authority to impose sanctions under law.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Sanctions

5 Reform Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 It is the purpose of this Act to establish an effective

8 framework for the consideration and enactment of unilat9 eral economic sanctions legislation and for the use of sanc-
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1 tions in order to ensure strong and effective use of sanc2 tions in pursuit of United States national interests while

3 minimizing the associated adverse effects and costs im4 posed on United States businesses, exporters, farmers,

5 and workers.

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:

8 (1) NEW UNILATERAL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

9 LAW.—The term ‘‘new unilateral economic sanctions

10 law’’ means any law, or provision of law, enacted on

11 or after the date of enactment of this Act, that au12 thorizes or requires, under specified circumstances,

13 the implementation by the United States of a unilat14 eral economic sanction.

15 (2) NEW UNILATERAL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

16 LEGISLATION.—The term ‘‘new unilateral economic

17 sanctions legislation’’ means any bill, joint resolu18 tion, amendment, or conference report that—

19 (A) is introduced, reported to, or laid be20 fore a House of Congress on or after the date

21 of enactment of this Act; and

22 (B) if enacted into law, would authorize or

23 require, under specified circumstances, the im24 plementation by the United States of a unilat25 eral economic sanction.
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1 (3) UNILATERAL ECONOMIC SANCTION.—The

2 term ‘‘unilateral economic sanction’’ means—

3 (A) any measure taken by the United

4 States that is designed to advance United

5 States foreign policy or national security inter6 ests and that constrains—

7 (i) the economic activities of United

8 States or foreign persons, entities, or coun9 tries;

10 (ii) United States Government pro11 grams or benefits that would otherwise be

12 available; or

13 (iii) the policy advanced by the execu14 tive branch in an international financial in15 stitution; and

16 (B) does not include any obligation or re17 sponsibility of the United States under an inter18 national agreement or other international re19 gime.

20 SEC. 4. GUIDELINES FOR NEW UNILATERAL ECONOMIC

21 SANCTIONS LEGISLATION.

22 Any new unilateral economic sanctions legislation

23 should—
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1 (1) contain a statement of the foreign policy or

2 national security objective of the United States that

3 the legislation is intended to achieve;

4 (2) provide authority for the President to re5 frain from imposing, or taking any action that would

6 result in the imposition of, or to suspend or termi7 nate, any sanction provided for in the legislation, if

8 the President determines that such a course of ac9 tion is in the national interest of the United States;

10 (3) provide for contract sanctity, unless the

11 President determines, in the context of imposing any

12 particular sanction provided for in the legislation,

13 that contract sanctity would detract from the effec14 tiveness of the sanction;

15 (4) authorize the President to take into account

16 the effect of any sanction provided for in the legisla17 tion on persons and entities that are not responsible

18 for the conduct that the sanctions seek to address

19 and to target any such sanction as narrowly as ap20 propriate;

21 (5) not restrict—

22 (A) humanitarian or human rights assist23 ance;
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1 (B) the export of any agricultural com2 modity or product or medicine, or any program

3 facilitating such an export; or

4 (C) assistance for any activity undertaken

5 to change the conduct the sanction is intended

6 to target,

7 unless the President determines that doing so in the

8 context of imposing any particular sanction provided

9 for in the legislation would be in the national inter10 est of the United States; and

11 (6) provide that not later than the anniversary

12 of the date of initial imposition of any sanction pro13 vided for in the legislation, and annually thereafter,

14 the President shall review the sanction and submit

15 a report to Congress setting forth—

16 (A) an evaluation of the effectiveness to

17 date of the sanction as an instrument of United

18 States foreign policy or national security;

19 (B) an evaluation of the likely effectiveness

20 of the continued imposition of the sanction;

21 (C) the objectives of the continued imposi22 tion of the sanction;

23 (D) the extent of multilateral support for

24 the continued imposition of the sanction and
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1 the extent to which such support has been

2 sought;

3 (E) the costs and gains to the United

4 States of continued imposition of the sanction,

5 taking into consideration the factors described

6 in section 5(b) of this Act; and

7 (F) any determination that may have been

8 made to exercise the authorities of section 8 of

9 this Act.

10 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDER11 ATION OF NEW UNILATERAL ECONOMIC

12 SANCTIONS LEGISLATION.

13 (a) In considering new unilateral economic sanctions

14 legislation, Congress should—

15 (1) ensure that there is available complete in16 formation about the projected costs and gains to the

17 United States national interests of taking any deci18 sion under the legislation and of imposing any uni19 lateral economic sanction provided for in the legisla20 tion through appropriate mechanisms, including pro21 viding an opportunity for the President to submit a

22 report assessing such costs and gains;

23 (2) take into account the extent to which the

24 United States has international legal obligations

25 with which the proposed legislation may conflict;
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1 (3) take into account the extent to which the

2 sanction provided for in the proposed legislation are

3 consistent with other sanctions provisions already in

4 force or under consideration by Congress; and

5 (4) take into account the administrative costs of

6 implementing the proposed legislation.

7 (b) COSTS AND GAINS.—The cost and gains referred

8 to in subsection (a)(1) include the following:

9 (1) The likelihood that each sanction provided

10 for in the legislation will achieve its stated objective

11 within a reasonable period of time.

12 (2) The importance to United States national

13 interests of achieving the stated objective of each

14 sanction.

15 (3) The likely impact of each sanction provided

16 for in the legislation on—

17 (A) humanitarian conditions, including the

18 impact on conditions in any specific country on

19 which the sanction provided for in the legisla20 tion could be imposed;

21 (B) humanitarian activities of nongovern22 mental organizations;

23 (C) relations with United States allies;

24 (D) other United States national security

25 or foreign policy interests; and
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1 (E) any country or entity other than that

2 on which the sanction provided for in the legis3 lation could be imposed.

4 (4) Diplomatic and other steps the United

5 States has taken to accomplish the intended objec6 tives of the proposed legislation.

7 (5) The likelihood of multilateral adoption of

8 measures comparable to those provided for in the

9 proposed legislation.

10 (6) The extent to which—

11 (A) alternative measures exist to promote

12 the same objectives;

13 (B) imposition of each sanction provided

14 for in the proposed legislation is likely to lead

15 to retaliation against United States interests;

16 and

17 (C) imposition of each sanction provided

18 for in the legislation could harm the interests of

19 United States business, agriculture, and con20 sumers, as well as the international reputation

21 of the United States as a reliable supplier of

22 products, technology, agricultural commodities,

23 financial institutions, and services, including fi24 nancial services.
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1 SEC. 6. CONGRESSIONAL RULES OF PROCEDURE.

2 (a) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP3 RESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE.—It shall not be in

4 order in either the House of Representatives or the Senate

5 to consider any new unilateral economic sanctions legisla6 tion unless that legislation contains the matters described

7 in sections 4.

8 (b) FEDERAL PRIVATE SECTOR MANDATE.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any new unilateral economic

10 sanctions legislation shall be considered to be a Fed11 eral private sector mandate for purposes of section

12 421(7) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2

13 U.S.C. 658(7)).

14 (2) REPORT BY THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET

15 OFFICE.—The report by the Congressional Budget

16 Office pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include an

17 assessment of the likely short-term and long-term

18 costs of the proposed sanctions legislation to the

19 United States economy, including—

20 (A) the potential impact on United States

21 trade performance, employment, and growth;

22 (B) the international reputation of the

23 United States as a reliable supplier of products,

24 agricultural commodities, technology, and serv25 ices; and
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1 (C) the economic well-being and inter2 national competitive position of United States

3 industries, firms, workers, and communities.

4 (c) RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

5 AND THE SENATE.—This section is enacted by

6 Congress—

7 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

8 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re9 spectively, and as such these rules are deemed a part

10 of the rule of each House, respectively, and they su11 persede other rules only to the extent that they are

12 inconsistent therewith; and

13 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

14 right of either House to change the rules (so far as

15 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time,

16 in the same manner and to the same extent as in

17 the case of any other rule of that House.

18 SEC. 7. EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACTION.

19 (a) ADOPTION OF GUIDELINES FOR IMPOSITION OF

20 SANCTIONS.—The President should, through issuance of

21 Executive orders or other comparable means, adopt guide22 lines, comparable to those described in sections 4 and 5

23 of this Act, that would apply to executive branch imposi24 tion of any unilateral economic sanction pursuant to the
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1 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50

2 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).

3 (b) PROCEDURES FOR PUBLIC OUTREACH.—The

4 President should establish procedures for informing the

5 United States public of significant developments in the

6 formulation of United States policy with respect to sanc7 tions, and for obtaining appropriate input with respect to

8 such matters.

9 SEC. 8. RULES REGARDING SANCTIONS IMPOSED BY THE

10 EXECUTIVE BRANCH OR BY STATUTORY EN11 ACTMENTS.

12 (a) AUTHORITY TO SUSPEND, TERMINATE, OR NOT

13 IMPOSE SANCTIONS.—Whenever the President determines

14 and reports to Congress that the gains for the United

15 States national interests expected to be derived from impo16 sition or continued application of any sanction imposed

17 pursuant to a unilateral economic sanctions law would fail

18 to outweigh the costs to those interests from such imposi19 tion or application, the President is authorized to—

20 (1) refrain from imposing, or taking any action

21 that would result in the imposition of, any such

22 sanction; or

23 (2) suspend or terminate the application of any

24 sanction.
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1 (b) AUTHORITY TO REIMPOSE SANCTIONS.—In the

2 case of any sanction that the President refrains from im3 posing or suspends, pursuant to a determination under

4 subsection (a), the President is authorized to subsequently

5 impose or resume the application of the sanction if the

6 President notifies the appropriate congressional committee

7 15 days in advance.

8 (c) DISAPPROVAL OF PROPOSED PRESIDENTIAL AC9 TION.—

10 (1) DETERMINATIONS NOT TO IMPOSE SANC11 TIONS.—In the case of any Presidential determina12 tion under subsection (a)(1), the decision to refrain

13 from imposing or taking any action that would re14 sult in the imposition of any sanction shall take ef15 fect immediately following the submission of a report

16 to Congress under that subsection, unless Congress

17 enacts a joint resolution disapproving the determina18 tion not later than 30 days after the date the report

19 was submitted to Congress.

20 (2) DETERMINATIONS TO SUSPEND OR TERMI21 NATE SANCTIONS.—In the case of a suspension or

22 termination of a sanction under subsection (a)(2),

23 the suspension or termination shall take effect 30

24 days after the President has submitted a report to

25 Congress under that subsection, unless before that
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1 time Congress has enacted a joint resolution dis2 approving the determination.

3 (d) CONGRESSIONAL PRIORITY PROCEDURES.—

4 (1) IN THE SENATE.—Any joint resolution

5 under subsection (c) shall be considered in the Sen6 ate in accordance with the provisions of section

7 601(b) of the International Security Assistance and

8 Arms Export Control Act of 1976.

9 (2) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—

10 For the purpose of expediting consideration and en11 actment of any joint resolution under subsection (c),

12 a motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint

13 resolution after it has been reported by the appro14 priate committee shall be treated as highly privileged

15 in the House of Representatives.

16 (e) SUPERSEDES OTHER PROVISIONS OF LAW.—The

17 provisions of this section supersede any other provision of

18 law.

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