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APN Legislative Round-Up - December 8, 2006

I. House Passes Senate Version of PATA (S. 2370); II. APN on House Passage of S. 2370; III. New Bills and Resolutions

APN Legislative Round-Up for the week ending December 8, 2006

I. House Passes Senate Version of PATA (S. 2370)
II. APN on House Passage of S. 2370
III. New Bills and Resolutions


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I. HOUSE PASSES SENATE VERSION OF PATA (S. 2370) ===============================

In a development that surprised most people, the final House Whip Notice of the day on December 6th, circulated at 10:30pm, notified members that S. 2370, the Senate version of the "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006" would be on the suspension calendar the following day.

The bill was duly raised around noon on December 7th (with no special warning to Members that it was coming up) and passed by a voice vote. This is itself unusual; normally a recorded, roll call vote is demanded (usually be Rep. Lantos, D-CA) for every Israel- or Middle East-related measure that is brought to the floor, forcing all members to place themselves on the record with respect to the measure under consideration. For some reasons, Rep. Lantos chose not to demand such a vote in this case.

In addition, given the manner in which the bill was raised - with little notice of fanfare - the only members to take the floor to talk about the bill were the two chief sponsors of the House version of the measure (HR 4681, passed by the House on May 23rd) - Reps. Lantos and Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) - and Rep. Weiner (D- NY). All three expressed their disappointment and dissatisfaction with the fact that it was S. 2370 and not HR 4681 that would be sent to the President, arguing that the Senate bill "does not go far enough" and leaves too many "loopholes".

Ros-Lehtinen, also made clear that she does not consider passage of S. 2370 to be the final word on new Palestinian sanctions - a view that is especially notable given that only a couple of hours after she spoke on the House floor about S. 2370, it was announced that Ros-Lehtinen would become the Ranking Minority Member of the House International Relations Committee in the 110th Congress. Noting her dissatisfaction with some of the provisions of the bill, she commented, "the Senate authors are committed to working with us in the next Congress to address these other components and make such changes as necessary to reflect the changing conditions on the ground. The bill sends a strong message about the direction of the United States policy and provides a strong foundation form which to build on..."

APN did send talking points to all House offices the morning of December 7th, making sure they knew the bill was on the schedule and noting, among other things, that "It should be clear by now that additional Palestinian sanctions legislation is in no way necessary...However, if Congress is determined to pass Palestinian sanctions legislation before the end of the 109th Congress, Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes S. 2370 as a much more reasonable alternative to the House version of the bill, HR 4681."

S. 2370, it should be recalled, is the Senate version of HR 4681. HR 4681 passed the House on May 23rd, and was fiercely opposed not only by APN but also by the Administration. S. 2370, on the other hand, from the outset represented a more measured approach, and by the time it was passed on June 23rd, the bill had been further improved to the point where APN welcomed its passage. In the nearly six months since then there has been no movement on either bill, with periodic rumors of a "stealth conference" between House and Senate staff to try to find a compromise position to bridge the two measures, and with periodic statements from the key sponsors of HR 4681 that they expected to pass their version of the bill soon.

S. 2370 now goes to the President, who has three options: sign it into law within the next 10 days, veto it, or decline to sign it into law and, since Congress will adjourn before the 10-day clock expires, allow the measure to simply fail to become law (called a "pocked veto").


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II. APN ON HOUSE PASSAGE OF S. 2370 =================================

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 7, 2006 (202) 728-1893

APN to Bush: Don't Sign S. 2370

Washington, D.C.- Americans for Peace Now (APN) today urged President Bush to decline to sign into law S. 2370, the Senate version of the "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006," noting that passage of this legislation at this late stage is both unnecessary and potentially counterproductive to U.S. and Israeli interests. The bill was passed today by the House of Representatives by a voice vote. The bill now goes to the President, who has the option of signing it into law, vetoing it, or exercising a "pocket veto" whereby, since Congress will be adjourning within the 10-day period the President has to sign the bill, it automatically fails to be law.

APN is a Jewish, Zionist organization dedicated to enhancing Israel's security through peace and to supporting the Israeli Peace Now movement. APN led the fight against the House version of the bill, HR 4681, regarding it as an exercise in overreaching that, if signed into law, would have undercut American national security needs, hurt Israeli interests, and undermined hope for the Palestinian people. APN denounced the May 23, 2006 House passage of the measure. APN subsequently welcomed the June 23, 2006 passage of S. 2370 by the Senate, noting that the bill included significant improvements over the House version - improvements APN worked hard to achieve.

Commenting on the House move to pass S. 2370 today, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee noted: "It is a shame that extreme voices prevailed in the House for so long, preventing Congress from sending to the President a responsible piece of legislation in a timely manner. It has been almost a year since elections brought Hamas to power and nearly six months since the Senate finished with this bill. In that time, a great deal has changed. A fragile ceasefire is now in place in the Gaza Strip - worked out directly between Israel and the Palestinians - and there are ongoing efforts to establish a Hamas-free Palestinian national unity government."

"Six months ago it might have been possible to argue that additional sanctions were necessary. Today it is clear that they are not. Existing U.S. law has already prevented any U.S. taxpayer funds from supporting Hamas and the PA, and the Administration has gone even further and used other legal tools to block money that might flow to the PA from other sources. As a result, the PA today is starved of funds and isolated."

"Six months ago it might also have been possible to argue that this legislation was needed to send an important message to the Palestinians about our unhappiness with the outcome of the elections. Today it is clear that message has been sent and received, loud and clear. The Palestinian population is under extreme pressure, and a serious humanitarian crisis is growing in the Gaza Strip."

"Signing this bill into law now achieves nothing, except possibly sending a message to the Palestinian people that the U.S. Congress is responding to the ceasefire - and efforts to ease Hamas out of the government - with new sanctions. We hope that, for the sake of U.S. and Israeli interests, the President will refrain from sending this very unhelpful message."

A table comparing HR 4681 and S. 2370 can be downloaded HERE.


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III. NEW BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
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(Lebanon) H. Res. 1088: Introduced December 5th by Reps. Dreier (R-CA) and Price (D-NC), "Expressing support for Lebanon's democratic institutions and condemning the recent terrorist assassination of Lebanese parliamentarian and Industry Minister Pierre Amin Gemayel." Brought to the floor under suspension of the rules December 7th, with vote on the measure rolled to December 8th (not taken place as of this writing).

(IRAN) H. Res. 1091: Introduced December 5th by Rep. Hastings (D-FL) and 15 cosponsors, "Condemning in the strongest terms Iran's commitment to hold an international Holocaust denial conference on December 11-12, 2006." Brought to the floor under suspension of the rules December 6th, with vote on the measure rolled to December 8th (not taken place as of this writing).

(JORDAN) H. Res. 1095: Introduced December 6th by Rep. Boozman (R-AR) and 26 cosponsors, "Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the November 9, 2005, terrorist attacks in Amman, Jordan." Referred to the Committee on International Relations.

(JORDAN) S. Res. 627: Introduced December 7th by Senators Lugar (R-IN), Biden (D-DE) and Reid (D-NV), "Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the November 9, 2005, terrorist attacks in Amman, Jordan." Passed by Unanimous Consent December 7th.


For more information, contact Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations, at 202/728-1893, or at lfriedman@peacenow.org.