Prepared Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Executive Business Meeting
September 8, 2016
Today we have a number of bills and judicial nominees on the agenda.
The nominees on the agenda are:
- Kathleen Sweet, Western District of New York
- Lucy Koh, 9th Circuit
- Florence Pan, District of Columbia
- Danny Reeves & Charles Breyer, Members of the Sentencing Commission
Nominees Koh and Pan are on the agenda for the first time so they’ll be held over. The other three nominees are ready for a vote, and we can do them by voice vote.
I’d note that the two nominees for the Sentencing Commission are paired together. One is a Republican from Kentucky. The other is a Democrat from California who Senator Feinstein strongly supports.
The bills will be held over today. The first bill, S. 2763, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR Act), will aid the recovery of artwork and other cultural items stolen by the Nazi regime to rightful owners and their families.
I know the Sponsors have been working in good faith with the various stakeholders, and are very close to final language that everyone can support. This is an important issue, and we need to address it.
S.3155, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act will also be held over. This legislation is critical for art museums across the country, including in Iowa, to be able to bring artwork from around the world here to the United States to be displayed in art exhibits. I look forward to supporting this legislation and moving it out of Committee soon.
The third bill on today’s agenda is S. 3270, the Elder Abuse Prevention and Response Act. Senator Blumenthal and I collaborated closely on its development. This important bill, which also will be held over a week, would improve the federal response to elder abuse, through training of FBI agents, improved collaboration at the federal level, and enhanced penalties for telemarketing fraud.
-30-