[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 9 (Friday, January 13, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE PRESIDENT SHOULD DESIGNATE THE IRGC AS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Iran is the world's leading state 
sponsor of terrorism. It funds and controls terrorists groups like 
Hezbollah. Its tentacles stretch all over the world, far beyond the 
Middle East.
  Many of its activities are done through the Iranian Revolutionary 
Guard Corps, which has funded, planned, and executed terrorist attacks 
in the United States and elsewhere for decades.
  The IRGC is the parent organization of the Quds Force and is directly 
responsible for its terrorist activities worldwide. But somehow this 
group has managed to escape repercussions, and the United States has 
never recognized it as a terrorist organization. I am working to change 
that.
  This week I introduced the IRGC Terrorist Sanctions Act. This bill 
will require the President to designate the IRGC for its terrorist 
activity and levy the relevant statutory sanctions against it.
  It is time to close loopholes like these that allow terrorist-
affiliated groups to continue their reign of terror. Designate and 
sanction these terrorist groups that are sponsored by the number one 
world state sponsor of terrorism, Iran.
  And that is just the way it is.

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