Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, very shortly, the Senate will vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to accompany H.R. 1865, Further Consolidated Appropriations Act. As part of this appropriations package. a version of my bill, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019, is included in section 903. This bipartisan bill seeks to restore U.S. court jurisdiction over the Palestinian Authority, PA/Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, while promoting U.S. foreign policy interests in the Middle East through the resumption of U.S. security assistance to PA security forces. It is a testament to the hard work of my Democratic and Republican colleagues in this Chamber that we are about to take up this important legislation.

In 1992, Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, ATA. This law, as well as future amending legislation, sought to deter and defeat international terrorism by giving American citizens who are victims of terrorism overseas the power to sue perpetrators in U.S. court. I was privileged to work with the original ATA's author, Senator Grassley, in drafting the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019.

What our bill--also sponsored by Senators Duckworth, Coons, Blumenthal, and Rubio--does is strike a balance between Congress's desire to provide a path forward for American victims of terror to have their day in court and the toleration by the Members of this body to allow the PA/PLO to conduct a very narrow scope of activities on U.S. soil--such as activities pertaining to official business at the United Nations, engagements with U.S. officials necessary to our national interest, and legal expenses related to adjudicating or resolving claims filed in U.S. courts--without consenting to personal jurisdiction in civil ATA cases. This delicate balance is supported by a bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress, the executive branch, and American victims of international terrorism and their families.

For 25 years, the Federal courts struck this balance by holding that the PLO's and PA's presence and activities in the United States subject them to jurisdiction in our courts unless they can demonstrate that their offices in the United States deal exclusively with the official business of the United Nations and that their activities in this country are commensurate with their special diplomatic need for being present here.

The courts correctly held that the PLO's and PA's fundraising and public relations activities such as press releases and public appearances, whether characterized as diplomatic public speaking or proselytizing, are not essential to their diplomatic functions at the United Nations Headquarters. The bill codifies the distinction recognized in these cases while giving the PLO and PA a clear choice. Unless they limit their presence to official business with the United Nations and their U.S. activities commensurate with their special diplomatic need to be in the United States, they will be consenting to personal jurisdiction in ATA cases.

In this regard, the exception in the language for ``ancillary'' activities is intended to permit only essential support or services that are absolutely necessary to facilitate the conduct of diplomatic activities expressly exempted in the bill.

By applying the bill to any case pending on or after August 30, 2016, we are making clear Congress's intent that courts have the power to restore jurisdiction in cases previously dismissed for lack of jurisdiction after years of litigation. It is to be liberally construed to carry out the purposes of Congress to provide relief for victims of terrorism, and it specifies Congress's intent to enable victims to pursue justice without being subjected to repetitive, unnecessary, or protracted litigation, which would just reopen the pain that many Americans have already suffered through.

As the Congress finishes its final week of the first session of the 116th Congress, I look forward to voting in favor of this important legislation and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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