United States Financial System Protection Act of 2016

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, this week Republicans have made it a top priority to bypass regular order and rush a number of measures to the floor as part of their reckless and politically driven Iran week agenda that would put the United States in breach of our commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.

Concluded a year ago, the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA, will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb for the foreseeable future. The agreement imposed tough restrictions on and heavy monitoring of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for nuclear-related sanctions relief. To date, Iran has upheld its end of the deal, and I believe we have a responsibility to uphold our commitments as well.

The bill before us today, H.R. 4992, is just one of the measures under consideration this week that is aimed squarely at prohibiting Iran from experiencing the sanctions relief promised under the agreement that is the JCPOA.

As part of the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. committed to lift secondary sanctions to allow Iran to conduct banking transactions outside of the United States in return for Iran meeting its nuclear- related commitments, which was verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

H.R. 4992, this bill, would put the United States in direct violation of the JCPOA by reapplying these secondary sanctions that had been lifted as part of the agreement. Moreover, the bill would undermine the good faith commitment made by all parties under the JCPOA to uphold the letter, the spirit, and intent of the agreement, and to refrain from action that would undermine its successful implementation. By denying the relief we committed to provide under the deal, we throw the continued viability of the JCPOA into question, thereby abandoning the best chance we have at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

In addition to violating our commitments under the JCPOA, this bill does nothing to provide additional protection for the United States financial system. The bill's proponents ignore the fact that our primary embargo on Iran remains in effect and that the administration is already taking robust measures to protect the United States financial system from access by Iran.

To the extent this bill is motivated by rumors that the administration is preparing to grant Iran new access to the U.S. financial system beyond the scope of JCPOA, I would point out that the administration has said that these rumors are entirely unfounded. The administration has also made clear that it has no intention of reinstating the U-turn authorization, which permits foreign firms to use the U.S. as a pass-through for facilitating transactions with Iran, or give Iran access to the United States financial system.

The President has officially stated that he will veto this bill and any other legislation that prevents the successful implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

We must ask ourselves, if we undermine this deal that we made, what comes next, more sanctions?

It is important to remember that the harsh nuclear-related sanctions that were previously in place did not prevent Iran from continuing to pursue a nuclear capability. A United States-led attack on Iran--I sincerely hope that we would work diligently to avoid this option.

Lastly, I am opposed to this bill being brought directly to the floor without going through regular order. We did not hold a hearing. We did not hold a markup in the Financial Services Committee on this legislation, denying Members the opportunity to fully consider its implications.

We cannot renege on our commitment to uphold the JCPOA, a significant effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Violating the agreement would not only undermine U.S. national security, but also our ability to lead on any international negotiations aimed at peace in the future. So I would urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 4992.

You have heard very clearly from this side of the aisle as to why it is so important for us to be true to our commitments that were made under the agreement. You have heard very clearly what this bill is all about.

Part of that agreement which is being denied by the opposite side of the aisle has to do with non-U.S. financial institutions. We maintain our sanctions as they relate to the United States financial institutions. Our institutions are not in any way violating those sanctions, and we do not allow our financial institutions to do business with Iran; but we do support non-U.S. financial institutions' ability to do business with Iran.

What is this bill all about?

We keep hearing about rumors. We keep hearing about suspicions. We keep hearing about what we think they may do. We keep hearing about what someone else said they are going to do. The fact of the matter is this agreement is extremely clear. They--that is the Iranians--have not violated this agreement at all. As a matter of fact, there is something in the agreement called dispute resolution. If you believe that they have violated the agreement in some way, why don't you insist on a dispute resolution to deal with the issue? But you cannot do that. You cannot point to anything that the Iranians have done that is in disagreement with the agreement that has been made.

Why are you coming to the floor of the House of Representatives 1 day before we are to take a break and putting this bill and other bills on the floor? Is this politically motivated? What are you trying to do? Who are you trying to send a message to?

Instead of using your power and your ability to deal with this agreement in an honest and credible way, what you should be doing is supporting the President of the United States of America and respecting this country and our commitments.

We have five other countries in this deal. What happens if we renege on our agreements? What are they to think of us? What do you think about your country? Why would you have the President of the United States on the international stage looking as if the rug has been pulled out from under him by his own legislators? I don't get it. I do not understand it.

As a matter of fact, one of the things we should all be very clear about is our support for Israel. That side of the aisle does not support our relationship and our friendship any more than we do. If that is the message you are trying to send, it doesn't work. It doesn't hold water. As a matter of fact, any Member of Congress who looks at this agreement, who reads the agreement, who understands the agreement knows that you don't have any issues with what is happening in our financial system. You have not been able, in this debate, to talk about the fact that U.S. financial systems are not involved in any way.

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Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I will address these remarks to you so they can hear them, and that is that they have not been able to identify in this debate how the United States financial institutions are involved in any shape, form, or fashion in doing business with Iran. They have not been able, in the debate, to indicate that, somehow, we have not agreed that non-U.S. financial institutions can be involved in financial deals with Iran.

I am simply asking that they deal with the facts. I am simply asking them not to undermine the agreement that we have made. I am simply asking them to admit that Iran has in no way violated this agreement. I am asking them to simply support this country and this President and to make sure that we don't separate ourselves from the other five countries that we have a deal with. I am asking them not to put us in the position in which the other five countries say: ``We cannot trust America. We cannot trust America because they are reneging on the deal.''

We have done a tremendous service not only to Israel but to the United States in working out this deal to ensure that Iran does not continue to develop its nuclear capability. Why did we do that? It is because we are on the path toward peace and not war. We do not want Iran to attack Israel, and we do not want Israel to attack Iran. We do not want the United States to be thrown into this war--a war that could be created by either of them--because we believe that we can provide credible leadership for peace. That is what this is all about.

In closing, I would just like to say that we are all in agreement that Iran should not be a nuclear state, which would pose a direct threat to both the United States and international security.

The Iran nuclear deal is the best option we have for keeping nuclear weapons out of the Iranian Government's hands. It would be reckless to abandon our commitments under the deal which deny Iran a credible opportunity to produce weapons-grade nuclear material for use in a bomb for at least a generation. To date, Iran, again, has upheld its end of the deal, and we have a responsibility to do the same.

The President's Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 4992 and the other harmful Iran-related bills on the floor this week state that undermining the JCPOA would ``remove the unprecedented constraints on and monitoring of Iran's nuclear program, lead to the unraveling of the international sanctions regime against Iran, and deal a devastating blow to the credibility of America's leadership and our commitments to our closest allies.''

H.R. 4992 is being framed as protecting the U.S. financial system; yet our financial system is already protected by our primary sanctions on Iran. In other words, this bill does nothing to protect the U.S. financial system or to promote our national security. In fact, it does the opposite.

We have said all of this, which I have just reiterated, but let me make my final and closing statement.

Why are you wasting your time? Even if, by some stroke of magic, you could get this through the Senate and send it to the President of the United States, he is going to veto it. They know it. Everyone knows it. Why are we doing this?

I yield back the balance of my time.

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