2007年VOA标准英语-US Senators Introduce Legislation to Close Loop

By Deborah Tate
Capitol Hill
28 March 2007

Two U.S. Senate Democrats² have introduced legislation that would close a loophole in U.S. sanctions law. The measure would deny federal contracts to U.S. companies that do business - through foreign subsidiaries - with countries that the United States has designated state sponsors of terrorism. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

U.S. law prohibits American companies from trading directly with Iran and other countries designated by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism.

But foreign subsidiaries of U.S. firms can operate there, as long as they are run separately from their American operations and do not hire U.S. citizens as managers, directors or employees.

However, critics say foreign subsidiaries offer a convenient way for U.S. companies to circumvent³ sanctions.

Byron Dorgan

"It undermines the very function of the sanctions that we have established as a country," said Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat¹.

"Part of our public policy is to try to impose these economic sanctions on countries like Iran, and yet we now see in this country that we have corporations that have very substantial contracts with our federal government. They benefit from having substantial contracts from our federal government," he added.

Echoing Dorgan's comments is Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, who notes that among those U.S. companies that have foreign subsidiaries operating in Iran is the oil-field service giant, Halliburton, which is the Pentagon's largest contractor⁴ in Iraq.

"The current administration gives billions of dollars in government contracts to companies that do business with state sponsors of terrorism," he said. "The most immediate⁵ example, of course, is Halliburton, which received more than $20 billion in government contracts, despite the fact that a subsidiary company engaged in business dealings with Iran."

At a news conference Wednesday, Brown announced that he and Dorgan have introduced legislation that would bar foreign subsidiaries of U.S. firms that trade with state sponsors of terrorism from getting federal contracts.

"This legislation will stop the current practice of rewarding expatriate corporations and companies that do business with state sponsors of terrorism from profiting through government contracts," said Brown. "It will help restore integrity within our government contracting process and encourage good corporate⁶ citizenship⁷."

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 circumvent   

vt.环绕，包围；对…用计取胜，智胜

参考例句：

• Military planners tried to circumvent the treaty.军事策略家们企图绕开这一条约。
• Any action I took to circumvent his scheme was justified.我为斗赢他的如意算盘而采取的任何行动都是正当的。

4 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。