Foreign Relations
Ensign on the Issues
Senator Ensign understands that policies made in the United States deeply affect people and relationships all over the world. While the Global War on Terror has dramatically altered the international landscape, there are several specific areas in which Senator Ensign has focused on making a difference.
United Nations Reform
One priority for Senator Ensign is to reform the United Nations
and hold the organization accountable for the tremendous injustices it has committed. The United Nations is clearly broken. There are three glaring examples of why the United Nations is in need of reform:
It is now been three years since we first learned of the Oil-for-Food scandal in which Saddam Hussein, corrupt U.N. officials, and corrupt well-connected countries cheated the Oil-for-Food humanitarian program and stole millions of dollars intended for starving and ill Iraqi citizens. Senator Ensign led the effort for a United States government investigation into the scandal and called for withholding a portion of America's dues to the United Nations until the organization provides full cooperation with the investigation into the Oil-for-Food scandal.
The United Nations coddles human rights abusers. At its inception the U.N. Human Rights Council promised to deliver more robust action against true human rights abusers than its predecessor, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. However, its first act was to allow countries complicit in human rights abuses, namely Iran, to be eligible for membership. Following this announcement the United States rightly stood firm on its principles and declined to participate. During this debate last year, Senator Ensign offered an amendment to deny funding to the Council if human rights violators remained eligible for membership. Unfortunately, the amendment failed on a 50-50 vote.
It is now the second year of the Council and, given its record, the United States again stood firm and announced its decision not to participate and lend legitimacy to a body that failed to target the true systematic abusers of human rights. The Council plans to make Israel the only country on its permanent investigation of human rights abuses agenda. During the debate of the Senate Budget Resolution, Senator Ensign again offered an amendment that would have denied funding to the Council; however, it was blocked from receiving a vote.
The United Nations fails to maintain budget discipline. Senator Ensign introduced amendments to withhold portions of our U.N. dues until the Secretary of the Senate certified that the United Nations had maintained a no-growth budget and had an independent Inspector General.
The United Nations fails to give the United States credit for all that we do to support U.N. mission in addition to contributing through dues. That is why in 2005, the Senate passed Senator Ensign's amendment to require an annual report on the costs incurred by the Department of Defense in implementing or supporting resolutions of the U.N. Security Council.
Israel
For more than 50 years, Israel has been a loyal ally and beacon of democracy in a volatile region where such friendships are rare. Senator Ensign understands the strength and value of that relationship. Israel and the United States are bound together by shared values, such as democracy and freedom. We are also joined by shared threats including terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by rogue regimes, and the spread of Islamic radicalism. It is in the vital interest of America to support 
a free and prosperous Israel. No other country in that region supports our nation's interests as consistently as Israel, and we are safer because of this ally and friend.
Senator Ensign has been a strong supporter of Israel throughout his time in public office. He has consistently voted to ensure that Israel receives the financial aid necessary to advance economic development and military security. He believes Israel is the best judge of its security needs and should be able to respond as it sees fit without pressure from the United States. Israel should be able to take steps such as building a security fence and unilateral withdrawal to ensure its homeland security and prevent future attacks. He also endorses Israel's right to respond to attacks against its citizens by going after the terrorists where they hide - as the United States itself has done.
Senator Ensign has taken the lead on important measures which promote the vital interests of the United States and Israel:
Coauthored a letter with Sentor Bill Nelson (D-NE) to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urging the Secretary to continue to hold firm and insist on the three basic obligations outlined by the Quartet that the Palestinian Authority must meet before receiving direct aid: recognition of Israel's right to exist; a renunciation of violence and terror; and acceptance of previous Israeli - Palestinian agreements. This letter had the support of 79 senators.
Cosponsor of the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007. The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act outlines Iran's long pursuit of a secret nuclear weapons program and its continued defiance of U.N. Security Council mandates. This legislation urges the Administration to pursue measures in the international financial sector to restrict financing in Iran and encourages foreign state-owned entities to cease investment in Iran's Energy Sector. Also, it forbids any action that would extend preferential trade treatment to Iran or that would lead to Iranian accession to the WTO.
Sponsored the bipartisan Israeli-Palestinian Enhancement Act which codifies President Bush's June 24, 2002, Rose Garden speech. It expresses the Senate's expectation that the Palestinian Authority must meet certain conditions before a Palestinian state is recognized, including a leadership not compromised by terrorism, a firm commitment to peace with Israel, the dismantling of terrorist infrastructures in the West Bank and Gaza, sustained security cooperation with Israel, and an end to anti-Israel incitement. It provides concrete, positive incentives for Palestinians to achieve the reforms and a negotiated peace with Israel by authorizing significant U.S. assistance to build the new state when it comes into being and has been recognized by the United States and Israel - conditions that can only occur in the absence of terrorism.
Sponsored a Senate resolution which passed to condemn Syria's interference in the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of Lebanon.
Authored a bipartisan letter to President Bush to press for the adoption fo a common G-8 strategy to confront Iran's nuclear threat, including the use of multilateral economic sanctions. Undersecretary of the State John Bolton distributed the letter at the 2004 G-8 Summit.
Responsible for the removal of a provision in the NASA Authorization Act that would have undermined ILSA.
Original cosigner of a letter expressing concern over Hamas participation in the Palestinian legislative elections.
Cosponsor of a resolution urging the EU to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Cuba
Senator Ensign believes that it is a travesty that, more than a decade
after the Cold War ended, a brutal communist dictator is still oppressing people 90 miles from our shores. Cuba is one of the five remaining countries certified by the Department of State as not cooperating fully with the efforts of the United States to combat terrorism - a situation that represents significant human and security concerns. He understands that our challenge, our mission, is to help the Cuban people to join the 21st Century as a free nation.
it is for these reasons that Senator Ensign is a strong supporter of the trade embargo. He recognizes that in Cuba you cannot do business with individual Cubans - you can only do business with Castro. Under these conditions, American travel, trade, and investment would do nothing to promote democracy and entrepreneurship. It would only help Castro prop up Cuba's teetering the economy and perpetuate his dictatorship, directly subsidizing the oppression of the Cuban people.
Senator Ensign is also a strong supporter of the travel regulations. Under Cuba's totalitarian regime, a system of tourist apartheid has been implemented whereby ordinary Cubans are denied equal access to hotels, beaches, restaurants, clinics, and hospitals set aside for tourists. Meanwhile, tourists are put in hotels and enclaves that are literally walled off from the rest of Cuba, and every employee of those hotels must be hired through the Cuban government. Thus, the money spent at these hotels goes directly to feed Castro's government.
During Senator Ensign's time in the Senate, he has pursued a three-pronged strategy to aid the Cuban people and undermine Castro. First, he has higlighted the plight of the pro-democracy opposition and political prisoners in Cuba in order to stress moral clarity and assure them that the United States stands by their side. Second, he has worked to strengthen civil society in Cuba in order to provide a counterbalance to the Castro regime and prepare for an eventual transition to democracy. Finally, he has prevented and defeated, at times single-handedly, efforts to undermine the travel and trade embargo.
His legislative record speaks and will continue to speak for itself:
Sponsor of the bipartisan Cuba Transition Act of 2006 to support multilateral efforts to plan for a Cuba transition; to provide funds to assist the Cuban people and independent nongovernmental organizations in Cuba to build civil society; and to establish a fund, called the Fund for Free Cuba, to provide assistance to a future transition government in Cuba (as defined by Helms-Burton).
Sponsor of a successful Senate resolution that called upon the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, and human rights activists throughout the world to take certain actions in regard to the violations of human rights in Cuba.
Sponsor of a successful Senate amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act of 2004, which increased financial and infrastructure aid to the Cuban people and support for democracy-building efforts.
Architect of the Senate strategy to block amendments seeking to lift the travel ban to Cuba.
Architect of the Senate strategy to block amendments seeking to provide direct and indirect financing mechanisms to the Castro regime for agricultural sales.
Helped in the defection of the Havana Nights Dance Troupe to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2004.
Related Records:
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