Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. DeSantis), I offer amendment No. 51.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, earlier this year, the Treasury Department transferred $1.7 billion to Iran's Central Bank to resolve a long-running financial dispute regarding Iran's arms purchases before the revolution of 1979.

The agreement involved the return of $400 million in Iranian funds that the United States seized after the revolution plus an additional $1.3 billion in interest. This financial transaction was carried out through the Department of the Treasury Judgment Fund, a permanent, indefinite appropriation that was created by Congress in 1956 to pay judgments entered against the United States.

While the U.S. Department of the Treasury claims that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, remains sanctioned under our current sanctions regime, an associate fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Saeed Ghasseminejad, recently noted that Iran's Guardian Council approved the government's 2017 budget that instructed Iran's Central Bank to transfer that $1.7 billion to Iran's military establishment, which includes the IRGC.

According to administration officials, outstanding legal claims against the United States by Iran remain, meaning that future payments could be made as a result of any resulting settlement.

It is unacceptable for additional U.S. taxpayer dollars to flow into the hands of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and that is why this amendment is needed. It prohibits funds from being used to pay final judgments, awards, compromise settlements, or interests and costs specified in the judgments to Iran using amounts appropriated under section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, or interest from amounts appropriated under such section.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment offered by Mr. DeSantis of Florida, which has been part of a very effective effort on behalf of Mr. DeSantis advocating for a more effective foreign policy, especially in light of a deal entered into approximately 1 year ago with Iran that is not in our best interests.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. DeSantis), I offer amendment No. 52.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Chairman, I present this amendment on behalf of Mr. DeSantis of Florida.

Section 401 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 requires the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations to prohibit, or impose strict conditions on, the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that the Secretary finds knowingly engages in Iran's illicit activities.

Under section 401(f), the Secretary of the Treasury may waive these prohibitions or conditions if the Secretary determines that such a waiver is necessary to the national interest of the United States, and submits to the appropriate congressional committees a report describing the reasons for the determination.

However, as noted in a recent Congressional Research Service report, section 401 was not waived to implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, while many entities with which transactions would have triggered sanctions under section 401 were delisted in accordance with the deal.

This delisting is unacceptable, given that the U.S. Department of the Treasury claims to be more than aware of the ``concerns that remain'' regarding Iran, ``such as transparency issues, corruption, and regulatory obstacles,'' as reported in a recent Free Beacon article.

Given that the U.S. Department of the Treasury is circumventing the law, this amendment was introduced to prohibit funds from being used by the Secretary of the Treasury to modify regulations that prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that the Secretary finds knowingly engages in any activity described in section 401(c)(2) of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010.

I would encourage my colleagues in this Chamber to support this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Chair, I thank Mr. DeSantis for bringing this important amendment as we strive to hold Iran accountable.

There are many other bad activities Iran has been involved in directly impacting the United States, our allies in the Middle East, and around the rest of the world. So I do commend the gentleman from Florida for bringing this amendment. I would ask all of my colleagues to vote for it this evening.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source