Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 107th Congress, First Session, Volume 147, Part 12 Page: 16,524
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE
September 6, 2001
discussed and we will be able to agree
upon which will improve the bill. As a
part of our understanding, there will be
two letters from both advocates and
opponents of this legislation to the
White House on a couple matters that
we believe are very important but that
should first be addressed by the White
House, such as the deemed export rule,
which is a very complex matter that
we believe should properly be handled
by Executive order. So with those two
amendments and those two letters, I
think we are in a state of agreement
with regard thereto.
The only other matter, as Senator
SARBANES indicated, is the question of
the commission. I anticipate that we
will certainly know by 12 o'clock what
the situation on that will be. We will
either have a vote on that or not. But
if we do, I would anticipate that would
be the only rollcall vote that we would
have, and we would be able to proceed
Mr. EFNZI. Wil th Seator yield.
Mr. SARBANES. Certainly.
Mr. ENZI. I would add my thanks and
appreciation for all the hard work, par-
ticularly of Senator THOMPSON and
Senator KYL and their staffs and Sen-
ator GRAMM and his staff. The meet-
ings and the work on this did go late
into the evening last night and began
this morning so we could have as little
interruption and expedition of the busi-
ness that needs to be done by the Sen-
ate. Their cooperation, their attention
to detail, and their willingness to dis-
cuss throughout the whole process the
last 3 years we have been working on it
is very much appreciated, particularly
the hours they and their staff put in
last evening and early this morning.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I
yield the floor.
CONCLUSION OF MORNING
BUSINESS
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Morning business is closed.
JOINT MEETING OF THE TWO
HOUSES-ADDRESS BY THE
PRESIDENT OF MEXICO
RECESS
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Under the previous order, the
hour of 10:40 a.m. having arrived, the
Senate will now stand in recess until
the hour of 12 noon.
Thereupon, the Senate at 10:40 a.m.,
preceded by the Secretary of the Sen-
ate, Jeri Thomson, and the Vice Presi-
dent, RICHARD B. CHENEY, proceeded to
the Hall of the House of Representa-
tives to hear the address by the Presi-
dent of Mexico, Vincente Fox.
(The address is printed in the Pro-
ceedings of the House of Representa-
tives in today's RECORD.)
At 12 noon, the Senate, having re-
turned to its Chamber, reassembledwhen called to order by the Presiding
Officer (Mr. REID).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. In my
capacity as a Senator from the State of
Nevada, I suggest the absence of a
quorum.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk pro-
ceeded to call the roll.
Mr. MCCAIN. Madam President, I ask
unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs.
CLINTON). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
EXPORT ADMINISTRATION ACT OF
2001
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under
the previous order, the Senate will now
resume consideration of 5. 149, which
the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read
as follows:
A bill (S. 149) to provide authority to con-
trol exports, and for other purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
ator from Arizona. -
Mr. MCCAIN. Madam President, as
we debate our system of export con-
trols in this new era, we hear an array
of arguments that reflect America's
preeminent role in the world, our mili-
tary and economic power, and the ab-
sence of the threat of major war that
has prevailed since the demise of the
Soviet Union a decade ago. We hear
proud claims that trade is the new cur-
rency of international politics; that
the strength of our economy, now more
than ever, underpins our national
power and global influence; and that in
the brave new world of the Information
Age, most technological flows are un-
controllable, or controls are meaning-
less due to the availability of the same
technology from foreign competitors.
The business of America is business,
we are told, and those of us who believe
national security controls exist to pro-
tect national security, rather than
simply expedite American exports, are
accused of old thinking, of living in a
dangerous past rather than a pros-
perous and peaceful present. For many,
the new definition of national secu-
rity-in a haunting echo of the think-
ing that inaugurated the last century-
predicates the safety and well-being of
the American people upon the free
flows of trade and finance that make
our economy the envy of the world, and
our business leaders a dominant force
in our time.
I am an ardent free trader, and I be-
lieve economic dynamism is indeed a
central pillar of national strength. But
I do not believe our prosperity requires
us to forego very limited and appro-
priate controls on goods and tech-
nologies that, in the wrong hands,
could be used to attack our civilian
population here at home, or against
American troops serving overseas. Ex-perts agree that both rogue regimes
and hostile terrorist organizations are
actively seeking components for weap-
ons of mass destruction, many of which
are included in the list of goods we con-
trol under our current export licensing
system.
Unlike in the Cold War era, when we
created our export control regime to
keep sensitive technologies out of the
hands of the Soviet Union, this era is
characterized by an array of diverse
threats emanating from both hostile
nations and non-state actors. Hostile
nations like Iran and North Korea are
disturbingly close to developing mul-
tiple-stage ballistic missiles with the
capability to target the United States.
These and other nations, including
Syria and Iraq, receive significant and
continuing technical assistance and
material support for their weapons de-
velopment efforts from China and Rus-
sia, with whom much of our trade in
dual-use items is conducted. The intel-
ligence community has made star-
tlingly clear the proliferation record of
China and Russia, as well as North
Korea, and the adverse consequences of
their weapons development and tech-
n1ology transfers to American security
Intdostnot believe that 5. 149 ade-
quately addresses these threats. Unfor-
tunately, the Senate yesterday re-
jected a reasonable amendment offered
by Senator THOMPSON allowing the rel-
evant national security agencies to re-
ceive a 60-day time extension to review
particularly complex license applica-
tions. This reform, proposed by the Cox
Commission, and a number of amend-
ments adopted by the House Inter-
national Relations Committee in its
markup of the Export Administration
Act, properly addressed some of the de-
ficiencies in the current version of S.
149.
5. 149 has the strong support of the
business community and the Bush Ad-
ministration. In the short term, pro-
ponents of this legislation are correct:
loosening our export controls will as-
sist American businesses in selling ad-
vanced products overseas. In another
age, proponents of free trade in sen-
sitive goods with potentially hostile
nations were also correct in asserting
the commercial value of such enter-
prise: Britain's pre-World War I steel
trade with Germany earned British
plants substantial profits even as it al-
lowed Germany to construct a world-
class navy. Western sales of oil to Im-
perial Japan in the years preceding
World War II similarly earned peaceful
nations commercial revenues. In both
cases, friendly powers caught on to the
destructive potential of such sales and
embargoed them, but it was too late.
Such trade inflicted an immeasurable
cost on friendly nations blinded by
pure faith in the market, and in the
power of commerce to overcome the
ambitions of hostile powers that did
not share their values.16524
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United States. Congress. Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 107th Congress, First Session, Volume 147, Part 12, book, 2001; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31045/m1/53/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.