Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Republicans Blocking Critical Revisions Of ICC Sanctions Legislation

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor before voting against moving to proceed to the ICC sanctions bill, highlighting its flawed provisions and urging bipartisan revisions to prevent harm to American companies and U.S. allies. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

I have spent decades watching the International Criminal Court with a critical eye.

From the beginning, even when I was in Congress, I was certain that the ICC would display the same anti-Israel bias that permeated the U.N. and other international organizations.

Unfortunately, I believe subsequent years have proven me correct.

While the ICC has undeniably done some good work—including going after President Putin and addressing atrocities in Darfur—their anti-Israel bias has taken over and become too much to ignore.

Last May, seven months after Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel, the ICC made a shocking announcement.

Instead of going after the terrorist organization who ordered the murder, rape, and abduction of innocent Israelis, the ICC’s prosecutor chose to equate those ungodly actions with the justifiable response of the Israeli government. 

I know that is hard to comprehend, so I will say it again.

Last May, the ICC equated the Hamas terrorist organization with the Israeli government, betraying an anti-Israel bias that cannot be ignored.

A bias that is deeply-rooted, sinister, and which fuels the antisemitism resurging across the globe, including here in America, the country I love.

It is hard for me to comprehend even today.

And, that false equivalence, I believe, is the reason we are here on the Senate floor considering an ICC sanctions bill.

This ICC bill is one I largely support and would like to see become law.

However, as much as I oppose the ICC’s deep bias against Israel—and as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped—the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic. It will have many unintended consequences that undermine its primary goal.

The bill, as drafted, would enable sanctions against American companies who have contracts to support the ICC’s technology functions.

These American companies do not make investigative nor prosecutorial decisions.

These American companies’ employees do not recommend nor bring cases.

These American companies do not demonstrate the same antisemitic bias that the ICC does.

But the work of those companies does defend the ICC’s computer network against Russian hackers who would like to expose witnesses who have shared information about Russian atrocities.

A small fix – a small fix – could have been made to protect the work of those companies but the Republican Majority refused to make such a fix.

The bill, as drafted, would also allow President Trump to arbitrarily sanction the Heads of State of our allies. They all called and complained about that part, because their countries are members of the ICC. During this time of world tumult, that is an unnecessary burden to place on our allies.

By sanctioning our allies, this bill, as drafted, would hamstring the ICC’s ability to go after Putin for his war crimes, giving him the best gift possible.

Again, a small fix, what Senator Shaheen tried to get, would have easily addressed this concern.

These fixes could have been easily made – and Lord knows Senator Shaheen tried to fix them.

You see, once Leader Thune brought this to the floor, I asked Senator Shaheen, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to try to work with our Republican colleagues to address some of the drafting errors. Not changing, in any way, the way the ICC should be taken to task for the way they go after Israel, but these other changes unrelated to Israel.

She and her staff worked tirelessly to try to find a way forward.

But the Republican Majority, the Senator from Arkansas, refused to make these simple changes.

Therefore, because they have chosen this partisan, non-consultative path, I will oppose cloture on the Motion to Proceed, with the fervent hope that the other side will realize their error and their careless drafting, and resume real conversations with us.

A bipartisan agreement is still very possible, and we hope and urge our Republican colleagues to sit down with us, and come up with a bill that addresses the very real problems at the ICC, without adversely affecting American companies and our allies.

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