Sponsor | Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana |
Date | August 1, 2012 (112th Congress, 2nd Session) |
Staff Contact | Jon Hiler |
On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 1905, the House Amendment to Senate Amendment to Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, under a suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage. The bill was introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on May 13, 2011, and was approved by the House on December 14, 2011, under a suspension of the rules, with a recorded vote of 410-11. The bill was passed in the Senate, with amendment, by voice vote on May 21, 2012.
H.R. 1905 would strengthen the Iran Sanctions Act to include:
The bill would also include financial sanctions aimed at further restricting Iran’s access to the international financial system, to include:
Additionally, the bill would include prohibitions on insurance and shipping that include:
The bill would also include specified sanctions targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to include the following:
Lastly, the bill would include sanctions targeting human rights violators in Iran, Syria, and their enablers to include:
According to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, this legislation, representing negotiated agreement between the House and Senate, strengthens the existing sanctions on Iran.
Specifically, the legislation “aims to prevent Iran from repatriating revenue it receives from the sale of its crude oil, depriving Iran of hard currency earnings and funds to run its state budget.
“It also prevents the purchasing of Iranian sovereign debt after the date of enactment, thereby further limiting the regime’s ability to finance its illicit activities.
“It also expands sanctions against Iranian and Syrian officials for human rights abuses facilitated by computer and network disruption, monitoring, and tracking by those governments.
“The sale of Iranian crude oil will be sharply limited to only countries that have agreed to significantly reduce their purchases of Iranian crude, toward a complete cessation of these activities.”
The committee also notes that tightened sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector “combine to effectively declare the Iranian energy sector off-limits and blacklist any related unauthorized dealings.”
The bill’s sponsor released the following statement:
“This bipartisan, bicameral Iran sanctions legislation strengthens current U.S. law by leaps and bounds. It updates and expands U.S. sanctions, and counters Iran’s efforts to evade them. The bill sends a clear message to the Iranian regime that the U.S. is committed, through the use of sanctions, to preventing Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold.
“The expanded energy sanctions contained in this critical legislation effectively blacklist the Iranian energy sector and anyone doing business with it. Further, new and expanded sanctions targeting financial institutions, shipping companies, and insurers doing business with Iran will close major loopholes that the regime was taking advantage of to avoid the sting of sanctions. The bill also blocks Iran’s ability to insulate itself from sanctions through oil-for-gold swaps, other trading and bartering schemes, and selling energy bonds and issuing government debt.
“This legislation incorporates great ideas and specific provisions from bills proposed by Members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle. If properly implemented, this bill will impose crippling economic pressure on the Iranian regime in order to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program and other dangerous policies. The House and Senate will be taking up the bill this week, and I urge President Obama to quickly sign it and vigorously enforce its provisions.”
There was no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate available for this bill as of press time.