Hezbollah International FInancing Prevention Act of 2014

Floor Speech

Ms. MENG. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support of the Hezbollah Financing Prevention Act of 2014. Hezbollah has killed more Americans than any terrorist group other than Al-Qaeda, and it threatens Israel and America daily. Hezbollah has a far larger and more sophisticated rocket arsenal than Hamas, and it is now offering to support Hamas in its current, ongoing terrorist actions against Israel. This great threat of rockets is the reason the House increased iron dome funding for FY15 at the request of me and Mr. Roskam of Illinois.

But it's sanctions that have emerged as America's most powerful deterrent against bad actors in the world. And as we draw down militarily from the Middle East, we must aggressively pursue sanctions against sponsors of terrorism. That's what the bill before us today does. This legislation will help us cut off Hezbollah from the international financial system and cripple Hezbollah's media operations.

The bill also contains an amendment drafted by Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Deutch and me that will enable the disruption of Hezbollah's global logistics networks and its fundraising and money-laundering activities. Our amendment also requires the Obama administration to shed light on those countries that either overtly or covertly enable any sort of Hezbollah activities within their borders. This provision is particularly important in the Hezbollah context, because there are far too many countries that outwardly condemn Hezbollah's military and terrorist activities while privately fostering environments where Hezbollah can operate politically and financially. Well no more, not if you want to do business with the United States.

I thank Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Deutch for their leadership and partnership, the sponsors of the bill--Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. ROYCE, and Mr. ENGEL--for crafting such important legislation, and committee staff for all their hard work in putting it all together.

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