Iran Accountability Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5631 to hold Iran accountable for its state sponsorship of terrorism and for its human rights abuses.

As a Member of Congress, I believe one of our most important duties is to ensure that Americans continue to remain secure from other countries that wish to harm us.

Last year, President Obama entered into an agreement with Iran, which now allows Iran to advance their nuclear energy program. In turn, the President has allowed sanctions against Iran to be removed even though entities of the Iranian Government continue to conduct human rights violations. In addition, Iran continues to refine their ballistic missile program and support terrorism, which represents a serious threat to the United States and our allies.

It should be the clear intent of this body that the continued use of economic sanctions against the country of Iran is necessary to ensure Iran does not have the resources necessary to harm or even eliminate our country or its allies. H.R. 5631 does this. It ensures that the policy of this country is to continue to take aggressive action against Iran to prevent the development of weapons that could harm our country or our allies.

We must also continue to ensure that it is the policy of this country that efforts be taken to prevent human rights violations by any country.

I would like to thank my colleague, Majority Leader McCarthy, for bringing this bill to the floor, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this measure.

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