User:Dra02012/sandbox

Legislative History
The Clean Diamond Trade Act took on many forms before a version of the bill was successfully passed by Congress, and signed into law by the President of the United States. The very first version of the Clean Diamond Trade Act, H.R 2722, was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Rep. Amo Houghton, a Republican from New York on September 2nd, 2001 to the 107th Congress. There were 112 cosponsors: 84 Democrats, 27 Republicans, 1 Independent. The bill was referred to the House Ways and Means, and then the Subcommittee on Trade. Eventually, the bill was debated on the House Floor. It successfully passed in the House with a vote of 408-6 on Nov.28th 2001. The bill was placed on the Senate Legislative calendar, but no further action was taken.

In the year of 2002, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois introduced a version of the bill in the Senate with 11 Co-sponsors: 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans, 1 Independent. The bill was read twice in the Senate and was ultimately referred to the Committee on Finance. The committee went no further with the bill. The bill never made it to the Senate Floor, and no vote was taken.

On March 25th, 2003 Rep. Amo Houghton reintroduced the Clean Diamond Trade Act as, H.R 1415, to the 108th Congress. The bill was co-sponsored by 60 members of the House of Representative: 42 Democrats, 17 Republicans, and 1 Independent. The bill was introduced in the House, and referred to the House International Relations, House Ways and Means, and finally to the Subcommittee on Trade. The bill failed to be put up for a vote, and went no further. In the same 108th Congressional Session, Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, introduced another version of the bill in the Senate. The bill was entitled S.760, and it was introduced on April 1st, 2003 with 20 Co-Sponsors: 13 Democrats, 7 Republicans. The bill was read, and then referred to the Committee on Finance. The Committee passed the bill and it was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar. However, once the bill reached the floor, the Senate indefinitely postponed it by unanimous consent. This resulted in the bill never being voted on. On April 3rd, 2003, Rep. Amo Houghton introduced a remarkably similar bill, H.R 1584, to the House of Representatives with 3 co-sponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrat. The bill passed with a vote of 419-2 vote. The bill was then sent to the Senate and passed with unanimous consent. The bill was presented to the president April 14th, 2003, and it was signed on April 25th, 2003, thus becoming law. Section 4 of the new law required President George W. Bush to “prohibit the importation into, or exportation from, the United States of any rough diamond, from whatever source, that has not been controlled through the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). criteria for waiver of such prohibition.” In order to adhere to this new law, President Bush signed Executive Order 13312.