[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 170 (Wednesday, November 18, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           PROVIDING NEW SANCTIONS TOOLS TO TARGET HEZBOLLAH

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, we acted on a measure I cosponsored to 
provide new authorities to the President to extend the wide array of 
existing U.S. sanctions on Hezbollah to any international banks 
determined by the Treasury Department to facilitate its activities. I 
commend my colleagues Senators Shaheen and Rubio for introducing an 
earlier form of this measure and for pressing to ensure Senate action 
on it.
  The bill also requires that a range of new policymaking information 
be provided to Congress from the administration on Hezbollah's malign 
activities, including its narcotics trafficking and other criminal 
activity and its terrorism-related and propaganda activity throughout 
the Middle East.
  Especially in the wake of the Iran nuclear agreement, which I 
supported and which is now being implemented, it is critical that we 
continue to do everything we can to shut down Iran's terrorist proxies 
like Hezbollah, and to impose powerful financial and other sanctions on 
those who enable its operational or financial networks.
  Hezbollah clearly has the potential to continue to threaten Israel, 
and this must continue to be an important focus of our efforts to 
confront it directly and to confront those who would finance and 
support its efforts wherever they may be.
  In addition, with regional and international spillover effects of the 
civil war in Syria, we must also keep in mind the damage being done by 
Hezbollah's extensive support of the dictatorial Assad government.
  The Assad government's violent suppression of the Syrian people's 
courageous campaign in early 2011 to secure their universal rights 
resulted in the murder of countless innocent Syrians. The violent 
crackdown of peaceful protesters and the denial of their legitimate 
democratic aspirations directly led to fledgling armed opposition 
groups throughout Syria. Since then, Hezbollah has provided training, 
logistics, and direct personnel to the Government of Syria's ruthless 
and criminal efforts to violently crush the opposition, driving many 
into the arms of extremist groups like ISIL and the Nusra Front.
  For years, Iran has provided Hezbollah with training, weapons, and 
explosives as well as political, diplomatic, monetary, and 
organizational aid. However, Hezbollah has been enterprising in 
supplementing its revenue stream through criminal activities like drug 
trafficking, money laundering, and counterfeiting among others.
  The Iran nuclear agreement was necessarily focused exclusively on 
preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That is because a 
nuclear-armed Iran would pose an exponentially greater danger to the 
security of the United States, our ally Israel, and the entire world. 
In my view, the agreement was the only viable option to prevent such a 
disastrous scenario.
  But now we must do more to confront Hezbollah, as part of our broader 
efforts to strengthen regional security and antiterrorism efforts in 
the Middle East. Our goal here is simple: to shut down Hezbollah's 
funding networks which support its terrorist, narco-trafficking, and 
other criminal activities.
  This bill gives the administration new tools to more aggressively 
pursue foreign banks that finance Hezbollah and requires key reporting 
to Congress on whether current efforts by other countries to combat 
Hezbollah's activities are adequate so that we might reassess our 
policy on an ongoing basis. In addition, it requires the administration 
to provide regular briefings for Congress on Hezbollah's narco-
trafficking activities and other criminal activities, including 
prospects for explicit designation under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin 
Designation Act or as a transnational criminal organization.
  The bill imposes tough, targeted new sanctions measures on Hezbollah 
and its financiers, while minimizing unintended consequences against 
innocent third-party banks or countries that have worked hard to combat 
Hezbollah's reach. I am confident, for example, after consulting with 
State Department and Treasury officials, that the bill will be 
implemented to avoid overcompliance by U.S., European, and other 
financial institutions that could otherwise inadvertently damage 
Lebanon's banking sector, a key bulwark of its economy. That is 
especially important as Lebanon's economy is already under pressure, 
burdened with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.
  I commend this bipartisan legislation to my colleagues. I thank 
Senators Shaheen and Rubio and Chairman Shelby for working with me to 
ensure its passage.

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