[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
IRGC TERRORIST SANCTIONS ACT OF 2015
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MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
H.R. 3693
__________
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
__________
Serial No. 114-226
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California
DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California
DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California
PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
RON DeSANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin
DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York
DANIEL DONOVAN, New York
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
TED POE, Texas, Chairman
JOE WILSON, South Carolina WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
DARRELL E. ISSA, California BRAD SHERMAN, California
PAUL COOK, California BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York
C O N T E N T S
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Page
MARKUP ON
H.R. 3693, To require a report on whether Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps is a terrorist entity, and for other
purpose........................................................ 2
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3693 offered by
the Honorable William Keating, a Representative in Congress
from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts....................... 5
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 10
Markup minutes................................................... 11
Markup summary................................................... 12
IRGC TERRORIST SANCTIONS ACT OF 2015
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., in
room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Paul Cook
presiding.
Mr. Cook. The subcommittee will come to order.
Pursuant to notice, we will meet today and mark up an
important piece of terrorist sanctions legislation.
I now call up the bill H.R. 3693, the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps Terrorist Sanctions Act of 2015. Without objection,
the bill is considered read and open for amendment at any point
and all members may have 5 days to submit statements and
materials for the record.
To expedite our consideration, I ask unanimous consent that
we consider the amendment in the nature of a substitute offered
by Ranking Member Keating, which is the product of an agreement
between the Chair and the ranking member and which all members
have in front of them as them as the base text.
Hearing no objection, so ordered.
[The information referred to follows:]
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Mr. Cook. I now recognize myself to speak on the bill and
in light of the fact that if called, votes--excuse me--I am
going to, if there is no objection, just submit that as part of
the record and dismiss with my reading.
And I now recognize the ranking member for his comments on
today's measures.
Mr. Keating. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll just try and be
very quick in my reading of this, given the rollcall that we
have in front of us.
I want to thank the chairman for putting forward this bill
and for highlighting our continued efforts to work together to
ensure our country is appropriately addressing nefarious
actors.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps continues to act as a
destabilizing force in the Middle East and beyond. Over the
years, branches of our Government have determined that portions
of the IRGC support terrorism such as the Quds Force and have
since designated sponsors--them as sponsors of terrorism.
H.R. 3693, the IRGC Terrorist Sanctions Act of 2015,
requires the Treasury Department to report on whether the
Revolutionary Guard meets requirements for designation of a
terrorist entity under the Executive order, Executive Order
13224, which targets global terrorist activity and whether the
IRGC's control of a company's board of directors should trigger
such designation.
Already the Corps has been sanctioned to various degrees.
For example, in 2007, the IRGC was designated by Executive
order for having engaged in proliferation-related activities.
Again, in June 2011, Treasury designated the IRGC for its
role in human rights abuses in Iran following the disputed June
2009 Presidential election.
Most recently in April 2012, Treasury designated the IRGC
for its activity in connection with human rights through the
use of information and communication technology.
While it remains unclear how additional designation would
impact IRGC's activities, there is no mistaking the nefarious
role the network has played in promoting instability.
To this end, it is imperative that we continue to hold Iran
accountable for its actions and be subject to secondary
sanctions.
Further, I believe it is important that we ensure Congress
has the complete picture when discussing additional sanctions
against another country.
This includes allowing individuals in the intelligence
community the opportunity to provide unfiltered analysis. My
amendment incorporates this amendment in the nature of a
substitute, ensuring that classified annex of materials may be
provided to the appropriate committees.
This will significantly aid our receipt of the full picture
as would be incorporated in the report authorizing this
legislation.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. Cook. Thank you very much, Congressman Keating.
Do any other members seek recognition to speak on the bill?
Yes, sir. The Congressman from California, Congressman
Sherman.
Mr. Sherman. Clearly, the IRGC is a terrorist organization.
It ought to be designated as such.
Congress has been, I think, too shy in failing to pass
legislation to simply designate entities. But in this case, I
am sure the review will end up where it should and in the
future we may simply designate these rather than go through a--
have the State Department go through a process that will lead
to that same designation.
I yield back.
Mr. Cook. Thank you.
Congressman Perry.
Seeing no other--I just want to make one final comment. I
didn't want to talk much on this but this is something very,
very significant because the organization we are talking about
had an incident a long time ago in 1983.
It was the Marine barracks in Beirut that was blown up.
That was my old battalion--1st Battalion 8th Marines--where we
lost over 260 Marines, sailors and soldiers.
So, obviously, I support this bill and hearing no further
amendments----
Mr. Keating. Mr. Chairman, I have one other thing.
Mr. Cook. Yes, sir.
Mr. Keating. Just--I did want to comment and thank you, Mr.
Chairman, and members of the committee, and in his absence I
wanted to thank Chairman Poe for his work and the work we put
together dealing with it.
We did it in a very cooperative and bipartisan manner and
although it is great to see you, Mr. Chairman, I know I speak
for the rest of the committee. We can't wait to see him back
here.
I yield back.
Mr. Cook. Well, thank you for your comments. Our thoughts
and prayers go with Chairman Poe and I know I am not chopped
liver and can never be.
But hearing no further amendments, I move that the bill as
amended be favorably reported to the full committee.
I have to have a teleprompter and what have you. Okay.
The vote itself--all those in favor say aye.
Those opposed say no.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The motion
is approved. The bill is reported favorably as amended.
So now we are going to go and--we are going to adjourn and
then come back for our hearing at 2:45. So everybody get on
their starting blocks and make votes.
[Whereupon, at 2:08 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Material Submitted for the Record
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