Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. MENG. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be a lead cosponsor of the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act. This legislation will broaden financial sector sanctions against Hezbollah, compel other critical designations against it, and target Hezbollah's media outlet Al-Manar.

A lot of work has gone into this bill over two Congresses, and we have worked hard, especially with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutch), to ensure the inclusion of language that would disrupt Hezbollah's global logistics networks and its fundraising and money-laundering activities.

This section requires the Obama administration to shed light on those countries that either covertly or overtly enable any sort of Hezbollah activities within their borders. The 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.

This legislation is also timely because it sends a strong message to Iran that no matter what happens in relation to nuclear negotiations, the United States will aggressively counter its promotion of terror in the Middle East.

In the last decade, our sanctions policy has led the way in crippling rogue regimes and terrorist groups, and today we take a big step forward in crippling, among the worst of them all, Hezbollah.

I want to thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, Mr. Meadows, and Mr. Deutch for their hard work, and my cosponsors, Mr. Zeldin and Mr. Tom Price of Georgia.

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