OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 03, 2008

CONTACT: Stacey Farnen Bernards (202) 225 - 3130

Hoyer Responds to Senate's Failure to Pass Critical Iran Legislation

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WASHINGTON, DC - House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement on the Senate's failure to pass the Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act:
 
“I was disappointed by the Senate’s failure to pass H.R.7112, the Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2008, due to Republican opposition.  The House approved this critical legislation just days ago and we had hoped the Senate would follow suit.  However, Majority Leader Reid’s effort to pass the measure failed due to opposition from the Republican side.
 
“It is clear that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a great threat to our national security, to our allies, and to the entire Middle East. Those concerns are heightened by the frequent inflammatory statements of Iran’s president and the world’s leading anti-Semite, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who calls the Holocaust a myth and expresses his desire ‘to wipe Israel off the map.’ Ahmadinejad’s appearance at the United Nations last week demonstrates that he remains a skilled propagandist; but his regime’s record of belligerence and deceit is unmistakable.  It is not difficult to imagine the threat posed by nuclear weapons in the hands of such a regime.
 
“That is why we have worked so hard to show that Congress is committed to prevent the threat from becoming reality.  This legislation would have brought strong economic pressure to bear on Tehran, by expanding sanctions on commercial dealings with Iran and supporting divestment from Iranian enterprises.  It is shameful that Senate Republicans stood in the way of this measure – because America ought to be using its full economic strength to curb Iran’s destructive ambitions.  This was a vote for our national security, for Israel’s security, and for the security of the entire free world.  I regret that the Congress will not be sending this bill to the President.”

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