Crapo, Brown Applaud Passage of Hezbollah Sanctions Bill

Press Release

The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act (S. 1595), backed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-California) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-New York). The bill now heads to the President to be signed into law.

As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Banking Committee, Crapo and Brown helped to usher the original Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, co-authored by Rubio and Shaheen, through the Committee by unanimous consent. The final bill, which was negotiated with House counterparts, strengthens and expands the scope of economic and financial sanctions imposed by the original bill.

"Hezbollah, its agents and Iranian financial backers are experts in the art of concealing their nefarious dealings," said Crapo. "This legislation, spearheaded by Senators Rubio, Shaheen and our House colleagues, builds on the legislation passed in 2015, imposes additional sanctions on Hezbollah, and targets those foreign nations, government agencies and foreign companies or individuals who would support its terrorist activities by knowingly providing arms, recruitment services and combat or financial support to its terrorist activities. It is long overdue, and constant vigilance must be maintained if we are ever to see an end to the evil this terrorist group brings."

"I'm pleased the Senate has approved and the President is expected to sign bipartisan legislation to provide the administration with important new tools to combat the terrorist group Hezbollah," said Brown. "Congress must continue to press efforts to disrupt Hezbollah's financing while strongly supporting our allies, including Israel, through closer security cooperation. This bill makes clear we must confront this threat by deploying a broad range of tools -- sanctions, law enforcement, financial, regulatory and others -- to combat Hezbollah, its affiliates and supporters throughout the region."

"Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, and continue to pose grave threats to the United States and our allies, including the democratic state of Israel," Rubio said. "This legislation will strengthen international efforts to combat the financing and expansion of Hezbollah's terrorist and missile threats, as well as its narcotics trafficking and other transnational criminal activities, and build upon the successes of our 2015 law that targets Hezbollah, its proxies and its enablers. I thank my colleagues in the Senate and House for their support of this important bill, and I look forward to seeing the president sign it into law soon."

"Hezbollah has American blood on its hands and remains an ever-present threat to our national security and that of our allies, especially Israel," said Shaheen. "This bipartisan legislation helps further close the space in which Hezbollah operates and ensures that our government is comprehensively targeting Hezbollah's networks of support and holding its backers accountable. I look forward to the President signing this legislation into law so that these enhanced measures can go into effect as soon as possible."