Prohibiting the Secretary of the Treasury From Authorizing Certain Transactions Relating to Commercial Passenger Aircraft to Iran
Floor Speech
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Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
When our fellow Americans deposit their earnings in a U.S. bank or entrust the government with their tax dollars, they do so assuming that their money will not be used in ways which undermine the security of our very Nation and, frankly, of the world. The legislation we are debating tonight is a package of bills that is designed to prevent the Obama administration from further undermining the trust of the American people and the security of our Nation, as well as the security of our allies.
Under President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA, the administration agreed to authorize the export of civilian aircraft to Iran. What the JCPOA did not include was authorization for the U.S. financing of those sales. As Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in April in a Council on Foreign Relations speech: ``Iran, complied with the nuclear agreement.
Therefore, the nuclear sanctions are lifted. I think that that is a process that is becoming more and more clear. And we'll keep our part of the bargain there. But the U.S. financial system is not open to Iran and that is not something that is going to change.''
Again, that was Secretary Jack Lew in April of this past year.
Mr. Speaker, something changed. In September, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued licenses to Airbus and to Boeing that permitted the sale of up to 97 airplanes to Iran Air, the country's flagship, state-owned carrier. These licenses didn't stop there, however. By going beyond the scope of the JCPOA, they also authorized U.S. financial institutions to ``engage in all transactions necessary to provide financing or other financial services'' related to the Iran Air orders.
My bill, H.R. 5711, would prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from authorizing U.S. financing through American banks in connection with the export of commercial aircraft to Iran just as the administration claimed was U.S. policy to begin with.
This bill would keep Americans' deposits away from a country that the President's own State Department calls ``the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism'' and which the Treasury has designated as ``a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern.'' Let me repeat that.
The State Department, itself, says this is the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism, and the Treasury Department has designated a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern.
How many more red flags need to go up? Under this bill, Americans would not have to fear that their savings are being channeled to Iran Air, which was sanctioned by the Treasury in 2011 for ferrying soldiers and weapons of war to Syria--the site of a 5-year conflict that has claimed a half a million lives and has displaced millions more.
This is the same Iran Air that a U.N. report concluded had shared ballistic military technology with North Korea and is the same Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps whose deputy commander called for an end to Israel, making note of more than 100,000 missiles that were ready ``for the annihilation--the wiping out--and the collapse of the Zionist regime.'' Additionally, research by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies shows that Iran Air's support of the Assad regime continues to this very day.
Why should U.S. banks and their customers be implicated in Iranian atrocities?
I would submit that there is no reasonable answer to this, which is why this commonsense prohibition, when offered as an amendment to this year's Financial Services appropriations bill, was passed by this very body--the House of Representatives--by a voice vote.
However, this bill goes even further, Mr. Speaker. Not only will H.R. 5711 protect Americans' bank accounts, it will prevent their tax dollars from being used through the Export-Import Bank to subsidize aircraft sales to Iran. It would be through direct transactions or third-party leasing, which is becoming more and more common.
This codifies and strengthens an existing Ex-Im prohibition that is renewed in annual appropriations bills. For that reason, this measure enjoyed the support of Ex-Im supporters and critics alike when it came before the Financial Services Committee.
H.R. 5711 combines the text of two bills that were reported by the Committee on Financial Services; one of them sponsored by me and the other by Congressman Roskam of Illinois. Both pieces of legislation were cosponsored by our Democrat colleague, Congressman Sherman of California, who has devoted years to Iran policy, both as a member of the Financial Services Committee and of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
I thank Representative Sherman and Representative Roskam for working with me on this very important legislation package; and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, to quote the great American President, Ronald Reagan: ``There you go again.'' Attack the President-elect, and try to throw out red herrings.
The bill that we have before us has two simple titles, the Iran Financing Prohibition--and I will read section 101: ``The Secretary of the Treasury may not authorize a transaction by a U.S. financial institution.''
Section 102, Revocation of Prior Authorizations: ``If the Secretary of the Treasury authorized any transaction described under section 101 before the date of the enactment of this title, such authorization is hereby revoked.''
We are halfway through. Section 2, Title II, No Ex-Im Assistance for Terrorism. It simply says that there is a prohibition--on section 202: ``Prohibition on Export-Import Bank Financing that would Benefit Iran.'' That means direct financing. That would be subhead A.
Indirect Financing, meaning you can't have a third party get that lending from the Export-Import Bank, by the way, a U.S. taxpayer-funded bank. So that is subhead B.
And C is Cancellation of Approved Financing, if they have done that already.
This bill is not that complicated, and this bill does not cite any particular company. It does not limit any company from selling aircraft to Iran, no matter how big of a mistake that might be.
It simply says--as I might add, Secretary Jack Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, said in April of this year: There will be no U.S. financial institution financing this deal. And we have added that second section, that second title that says: There will be no use of the U.S. taxpayer- financed Export-Import Bank. That is all this bill says.
So you have heard attacks on the President-elect. You have heard attacks on the Export-Import Bank and whether this is going to be good or bad for U.S. employers and employees.
The simple fact is, Mr. Speaker, that this bill, H.R. 5711, says: We are not going to allow U.S. financial institutions, and U.S. financial institutions only, to be used to finance these deals; and we are not going to allow the Export-Import Bank of the United States to be used, either directly or indirectly, to finance that deal.
Iran can go put this deal together with other banks in Asia, Europe, anywhere else in the world that they can find it, but not here in the United States and not using taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, at this point my amendment adds a short title and clarifies the nature of prohibited Iranian transactions. The amendment also provides for a sunset of the bill's provision upon presidential certification that Iran has ceased support of international terrorism.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Washington, who has been a big proponent of the Export-Import Bank and a particular company that he was alluding to and talking about, knows, though, that this bill would apply to any aircraft that the Treasury authorizes for Iran. That includes the 17 Airbus planes for Iran Air. And he brought up, actually, offshore profits.
Well, according to Bloomberg, Boeing has $800 million--$800 million in profits stashed offshore; and the reports are that Boeing is pursuing these deals with the Japanese bank already, not a U.S. bank.
And apparently the company is less worried about this bill and that financing than my friend from Washington is.
So this is simply about saying that Iran does not have direct access to the U.S. financial system. I don't understand why my friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle are so freaked out by that.
This is simply about making sure that our banking system is not going to finance this deal indirectly or directly and that the use of the Export-Import Bank would be prohibited.
This amendment says it is a sunset to this bill upon Presidential certification that Iran has ceased support of international terrorism-- a goal we all have. So if the President can support that and certify that, then this falls away. So we do not say that this deal is not allowed. We simply say that U.S. financial institutions cannot be used for this and that we cannot and will not use the Export-Import Bank--a U.S. taxpayer-funded entity--to do this.
At the end of the day, in April of this past year, Secretary Jack Lew told us that there will be no access; and either he misled the United States citizens and this body at that time or they changed their mind.
They haven't told us which, but neither one is acceptable.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Well, America, you just heard a ridiculous straw-man choice laid out in front of you.
Mr. Speaker, this is not about anything other than selling and financing aircraft sales to Iran. That is what this bill is about. This is what this bill should be about.
I will point out to my colleague that there are some pretty major kinetic activities--I believe they are called at this point, which means shooting war--happening in Mosul and other places where our troops are involved.
But at the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this motion to recommit. I look forward to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address concerns that we may have with other foreign governments in the future, and I would request that they vote for the underlying bill, H.R. 5711.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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