mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume ; and , as i indicated , this amendment is offered by myself and my colleague , the gentleman from texas ( mr. poe ) xz4006520 . 
i thank the distinguished gentleman from wisconsin for his cooperation in working to have this amendment be included in the final legislation as it is a sense of congress amendment that i think makes a very important statement . 
the proposal relates to the civil forfeiture provision of 18 u.s.c . 
981 , and would add a section that would allow civil plaintiffs to attach judgments to collect compensatory damages for which a terrorist organization has been adjudged liable and from the pool of assets that have been forfeited under section 981 . 
this is distinctive , mr. chairman , because this pertains to circumstances of terrorism but not necessarily in circumstances when we are at war . 
my amendment seeks to allow victims of terrorism who obtain civil judgments for damages caused in connection with the acts to attach foreign or domestic assets held by the united states government under 18 u.s.c . 
section 981 ( g ) calls for the forfeiture of all assets , foreign or domestic , of any individual entity or organization that is engaged in planning or perpetrating any act of domestic or international terrorism . 
as we look at h.r. 3199 , the patriot act , it misses the opportunity to in fact allow victims to satisfy judgments . 
that is the key . 
for example , the sobero case , where the gentleman from riverside , california , was beheaded by abu sayyaf , leaving his children fatherless . 
the administration responded to this incident by sending a thousand special forces officers to track down the perpetrators , yet the family of this decreased could not claim any compensation for the tragedy that occurred . 
the same thing occurred with the iran hostages , which many of us are familiar with , but are my colleagues aware of the situation with our american servicemen who were harmed in the libyan-sponsored bombing of the la belle disco in germany ? 
they were obstructed from being able to enforce judgments that they received against the terrorist-sponsored attack and the attack that was sponsored by libya . 
in addition , a group of american prisoners tortured in iraq during the persian gulf war were barred from collecting their judgment from the iraqi government . 
i do believe in conference we will have the opportunity to vet this and to work with all the parties concerned to finally bring some relief on this issue . 
many members have attempted to bring about relief in special claims for their particular individual constituents in their particular jurisdictions . 
fortunately , in the opportunity we have today , by including this sense of congress in the patriot act we will finally get both our debate and we will get action . 
mr. chairman , i bring attention as well to the world trade center bombing victims who were barred from obtaining judgments against the iraqi government . 
in their claim against the iraqi government , the victims were awarded $ 64 million against iraq in connection with the september 20 , 2001 , attack . 
however , they were rebuffed in their efforts to attach the vested iraqi assets . 
while the judgment rendered was sound , the second circuit court of appeals affirmed the lower court 's finding that the iraqi assets , now transferred to the u.s. treasury , were protected by u.s. sovereign immunity and were unavailable for judicial attachment . 
one major problem that frustrates the objective of my amendment is the fact that information is not publicly available regarding the amount and or kind of civil forfeitures made to date . 
so this amendment will allow the full discussion by a sense of congress of what would be the right process to proceed , balancing the needs of the government , balancing the needs of the victims of terrorism , balancing the question of justice , and , yes , balancing the responsible actions under the patriot act , protecting us against terrorism but then , when we are victims of terrorism , to give us the opportunity for relief . 
i would hope my colleagues would support this amendment so we can carry this forward into conference and be able to provide the kind of leadership necessary for the throngs of victims , those who have already suffered , and we hope not , but for those who may suffer in the future . 
i would say that absent this public disclosure of this very substantial information ; that is ; about the assets , it is very difficult for compensation even to be requested . 
so i think that we will have an opportunity to address these concerns , balance the needs of the government in its need to protect certain information , and give relief to many americans . 
mr. chairman , i have an amendment at the desk that has been made in order by the committee on rules , jackson-lee no . 
42 . 
this proposal relates to the civil forfeiture provision of 18 u.s.c . 
981 and would add a section that would allow civil plaintiffs to attach judgments to collect compensory damages for which a terrorist organization has been adjudged liable and from the pool of assets that have been forfeited under section 981 . 
my amendment seeks to allow victims of terrorism who obtain civil judgment for damages caused in connection with the acts to attach foreign or domestic assets held by the united states government under 18 u.s.c . 
981 ( g ) . 
section 981 ( g ) calls for the forfeiture of all assets , foreign or domestic , of any individual , entity , or organization that has engaged in planning or perpetrating any act of domestic or international terrorism against the united states , citizens or residents of the united states . 
the legislation , h.r. 3199 , as drafted , fails to deal with the current limitation on the ability to enforce civil judgments by victims and family members of victims of terrorist offenses . 
there are several examples of how the current administration has sought to bar victims from satisfying judgments obtained against the government of iran , for example . 
in the sobero case , a u.s. national , guillermo sobero of riverside county , ca , was beheaded by abu sayyaf , an al-qaeda affiliate , leaving his children fatherless . 
the administration responded to this incident by sending 1 , 000 special forces officers to track down the perpetrators , and the eldest child of the victim was invited to the state of the union address . 
abu sayyaf 's funds have been seized and are held by the u.s. treasury at this time . 
the family of the victim should have access to those funds , at the very least , at the president 's discretion . 
similarly , the administration barred the iran hostages that were held from 1979-1981 from satisfying their judgment against iran . 
in 2000 , the party filed a suit against iran under the terrorist state exception to the foreign sovereign immunity act . 
while a federal district court held iran to be liable , the u.s. government intervened and argued that the case should be dismissed because iran had not been designated a terrorist state at the time of the hostage incident and because of the algiers accords -- that led to the release of the hostages , which required the u.s. to bar the adjudication of suits arising from that incident . 
as a result , those hostages received no compensation for their suffering . 
similarly , american servicemen who were harmed in a libyan sponsored bombing of the la belle disco in germany were obstructed from obtaining justice for the terrorist acts they suffered . 
while victims of the attack pursued settlement of their claims against the libyan government , the administration lifted sanctions against libya without requiring as a condition the determination of all claims of american victims of terrorism . 
as a result of this action , libya abandoned all talks with the claimants . 
furthermore , because libya was no longer considered a state sponsor of terrorism , the american servicemen and women and their families were left without recourse to obtain justice . 
the la belle victims received no compensation for their suffering . 
in addition , a group of american prisoners who were tortured in iraq during the persian gulf war were barred from collecting their judgment from the iraqi government . 
although the 17 veterans won their case in the district court of the district of columbia , the administration argued that the iraqi assets should remain frozen in a u.s. bank account to aid in the reconstruction of iraq . 
claiming that the judgment should be overturned , the administration deemed that the reconstruction effort was more important than recompensing the suffering of fighter pilots who , during their 12 year imprisonment , suffered beatings , burns , and threats of dismemberment . 
finally , the world trade center bombing victims were barred from obtaining judgment against the iraqi government . 
in their claim against the iraqi government , the victims were awarded $ 64 million against iraq in connection with the september 2001 attacks . 
however , they were rebuffed in their efforts to attach the vested iraqi assets . 
while the judgment rendered was sound , the second circuit court of appeals affirmed the lower court 's finding that the iraqi assets , now transferred to the u.s. treasury , were protected by u.s. sovereign immunity and were unavailable for judicial attachment . 
one major problem that frustrates the objective of my amendment is the fact that information is not publicly available regarding the amount and/or kind of civil forfeitures made to date . 
the executive branch of our government has suggested that it has no duty to disclose either the identity of the parties who own civilly forfeited property or the amounts forfeited to date . 
absent public disclosure of this very substantive information , it is very difficult for compensation to even be requested -- let alone expected for victims of horrific acts of terrorism . 
right now , h.r. 3199 is the most appropriate and timely vehicle in which to address this issue and allow u.s. victims of terrorism to obtain justice from terrorist-supporting or terrorist-housing nations . 
the jackson-lee amendment protects terror victims ' rights . 
domestic and international terrorism should not be facilitated by barring successful plaintiff-victims from enforcing valid judgments . 
in closing , mr. chairman , let me thank the chairman of the full committee and the ranking member and the ranking member of the subcommittee for their leadership on this whole entire issue of protecting americans against terrorism and including in that protection of their civil liberties . 
this amendment will not only protect americans against the dangers of life and limb and the loss of life , but give them relief in our courts . 
i ask my colleagues to support this amendment sponsored by myself and my colleague , the gentleman from texas ( mr. poe ) xz4006520 , a sense of congress amendment to provide relief to americans victimized by terrorism . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
