for those reasons, i'm proud to have joined my colleague, sam brownback, in introducing the iran sanctions enabling act. this legislation authorizes state and local governments as they see appropriate to direct investment from and prevent future investment in companies that hold investments of $20 million or more in iran's energy sector. mr. president, there is growing, there is a growing divestment movement across the country in response to iran's accelerating nuclear program. it's support of hamas and hezbollah, and hateful statements against israel perpetrated by its president and others in iran's senior leadership. unfortunately, the federal courts have ruled divestment actions undertaken against a single nation may contra detect the president's -- contradict the president's authority to enjoy exclusive authority over diplomatic relations so state and local governments undertake these measures with some legal jeopardy. the justice department in the past has taken legal action against -- against -- state and local governments in cases involving other nations. this action, thive ran sanc

i, first of all, want to thank my friend, senator sam brownback, for all of his hard work and over the last couple of years working together to get this finally to this point. i can't thank him enough. he wouldn't give up and stuck in there all the time working to make sure that this day would come. and i thank him profusely for his help in this effort. i also want to publicly thank congressman steve cohen on the house side, who is the leader of this resolution that they will be passing soon over there. john quincy adams once remarked our country began existence by the universal emancipation of man from the thralldom of man. america's purpose can be summed up in that one powerful sentence. we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal endowed with inalienable rights that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. as we all know, for too long many in this country were not free. many lived in bondage. many americans were denied their basic human rights and liberty. from 1619 to 1865, over 4 million africans and their descendents were enslaved in t