Remember this date: January 16, 2016. That is when President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and the rest of this Administration compromised our national security by lifting upwards of $100 billion in sanctions against the Iranian regime, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, with implementation of their dangerous “Iran Deal.”
Now that this nuclear agreement has been set in motion, Administration officials like Secretary Kerry are finally telling the truth about its real consequences and admitting what we’ve warned all along: that the money the United States has provided Iran through this deal will inevitably be funneled into the hands of terrorists (read his remarks here). We cannot allow this to stand.
I first announced my opposition to the Iran Nuclear Agreement last August, and since that time the House has voted with my support to:
-
Express the sense of the House that, by failing to send Congress the text of the so-called “side deals” attached to the nuclear agreement, President Obama did not comply with the law and, therefore, had no authority to lift sanctions. This passed with bipartisan support on September 10, 2015.
-
Vote down a resolution of approval that would have given Congress’s consent for the deal to move forward. This was defeated with bipartisan opposition on September 10, 2015.
-
Pass a measure to prohibit the easing of any sanctions against Iran until it pays back the $43 billion it owes to victims of its state sponsored terrorism. This passed with bipartisan support on October 1, 2015.
While the House continues to use every tool at its disposal to stop, slow, and delay this dangerous agreement, the Senate has, thus far, lacked a filibuster proof majority to block further implementation of the deal. But we cannot relent. That is why, this week, the House voted with my support to once again thwart the Iran Deal with passage of the Iran Terror Financing Transparency Act.
This bill would block the Obama Administration from offering sanctions relief to any individual or bank until they can certify that the recipient has not done business with terrorist organizations. The bill takes it a step further by naming names. Under this legislation, no money from sanctions relief could fall into the hands of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to name a few. Now the bill awaits action in the U.S. Senate.
I urge Mitch McConnell and Senate Republican leaders to take up this bill and put members on record. If Senate Democrats are so committed to this disastrous agreement that they would be willing to block a bill preventing sanctions relief from falling into the hands of terrorists, then they should be forced to cast that vote and defend it to their constituents.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Iran Deal isn’t much of a “deal” at all. It is a gift to the Ayatollah bought at the price of our national security and the security of our allies, such as Israel. We will continue to fight this disastrous agreement on every front.