[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Global Hostage Act

  Mr. COTTON. Mr President, this week marks the 40th anniversary of the 
Iran hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized by an armed mob 
fueled by the anti-American ravings of Iran's revolution clerics. 
Fifty-two of those Americans were held captive for 444 days, during 
which time they were paraded on television and used as pawns by Iran's 
theocratic dictators.
  Those Americans would finally come home safely, thanks to a pressure 
campaign of financial sanctions and trade embargoes by the United 
States and their partners, but not everyone came home safely from Iran. 
Before the crisis ended, five American airmen and three marines lay 
dead, killed in an ill-fated rescue mission necessitated by Iran's 
lawless deeds.
  This week's anniversary is a useful reminder of the true nature of 
the regime in Tehran. Behind Iran's smooth talking, Western-educated 
diplomats are a band of radical clerics that act more like a criminal 
gang than the rulers of a sovereign nation.
  Consider how the regime commemorated the 40th anniversary of their 
crime--not with apologies, like a civilized nation might. No, with 
anti-American rallies where uniformed soldiers--uniformed soldiers, not 
clerics, not activists--uniformed soldiers led chants of ``Death to 
America'' and ``Death to Israel.''
  In other words, Iran is unreformed and unrepentant. It still takes 
and holds hostages to this very day--businessmen, professors, 
engineers, fathers, and mothers, all just bargaining chips to the 
Ayatollahs. That is why I have a bill to impose new and substantial 
costs on these kidnappers. The Global Hostage Act would require the 
President to sanction foreign officials who take Americans as their 
hostages.
  The goal of our bill is clear: If you take Americans hostage, we will 
make your life miserable. You will not be able to travel here. You will 
not be able to bank here. You will not be able to send your kids to 
fancy schools here. You will be treated like the pariah you are, which 
is precisely what the Ayatollahs remain 40 years after they took their 
first American hostages.
  Mr. President, I ask consent that the following remarks be entered in 
a separate part of the journal.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection.