Menendez-Schumer Statement on Negotiations with Trump Administration on Legislation to Restore Sudan’s Sovereign Immunity

WASHINGTON – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued the following statement on their ongoing negotiations with the Trump administration over legislation to restore Sudan’s immunity, as appropriate, from terror-related lawsuits:

“After months of delay, the State Department provided Congress with the key portions of the claims agreement with Sudan on November 6. Since then, our offices, in consultation with others, drafted not one, but two legislative options for restoring Sudan’s sovereign immunity, preserving and protecting the claims of 9/11 families, and resolving the embassy bombing and other international terrorism-related claims against Sudan. We offered two versions in the spirit of cooperation and compromise, both of which overcome severe problems with the deal the State Department cut with Sudan that have tragically pitted different groups of victims of terrorism against one another.

“Key House and Senate Democrats support both versions of the Menendez-Schumer bill, and we are prepared to pass either one before the end of the year. We strongly support a successful transition to democracy in Sudan; making this deal work for victims of terrorism should not be in conflict with that goal. As negotiations with the Trump administration continue, we call on Senate Republicans and the State Department to step up to the plate and work with us to make it a reality.”

A copy of the legislative proposals put forth by Senators Menendez and Schumer can be found HERE and HERE.