The next item on the agenda is S. 1796, the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.

Yesterday I received calls from Secretary of State Albright and from Deputy Treasury Secretary Eizenstat on this bill. This was the first time the administration had talked to me about this bill – and we really had to reach out before getting any response.

That being said, the last thing I want to do is pass a bill that will not be supported by the President.

Now I understand that there are proposals being discussed that could bring the various parties together on this bill, and I pledge to work with Senators Mack, Lautenberg, Biden – and everyone else – to see if we can put something together that works for everyone.

I think everyone agrees with the principle behind this bill: to allow American citizens who are injured by state-sponsored terrorism to seek and obtain redress for their injuries.

The bill was inspired in part by families who have obtained judgments against Cuba and Iran after proving that agents of those countries killed their family members.

Alissa Flatow was a 20-year-old college student from New Jersey when she was killed by Iranian-backed terrorist on the Gaza strip on April 9, 1995. Less than a year later, on February 24, 1996, four members of the “Brothers to the Rescue” humanitarian organization were killed by Cuba.

These were deliberate, calculated and malicious actions of rogue governments intent on committing violence against innocent civilians as a means of communicating political messages.

Immediately after these tragedies, the Clinton Administration seemed to be sympathetic to the victims, as you can see on this video tape.

The President initially made good on this statement by supporting and signing the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), which amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to permit lawsuits by United States nationals against designated state sponsors of terrorism.

Encouraged by the Clinton Administration, both the father of Alisa Flatow and the families of the “Brothers to the Rescue” victims brought actions in federal court to hold Iran and Cuba accountable, respectively.

But things changed. After those families obtained judgments, the Administration reversed course and began fighting attempts to satisfy those judgments.

In 1988, Congress passed another bill clarifying that aggrieved parties should be able to attach frozen assets of terrorist states. Although President Clinton signed the law, he immediately acted to avoid its effect by issuing Presidential Determination 99-1 that very day. That determination would completely emasculate Congress’s intent to amend FSIA.

S. 1796 restores the due process rights of American citizens harmed by terrorist states, ensures that the President will not nullify the effect of laws which he later finds to be disagreeable, and deters terrorist attacks against Americans.

At the same time, S. 1796 maintains the appropriate presidential latitude in the conduct of foreign policy. It preserves the Administration’s right to determine when to allow attachment of diplomatic property, a sensitive area in which the President should rightly be given discretion.

Congress should make it absolutely clear, once again, what we intended when we passed the amendments to FSIA in the AEDPA legislation: American victims of state-sponsored terrorism must have legal redress.

I urge all of you to join the host of Senators on both sides of the aisle in voting for this bipartisan legislation.