[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5193-H5197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STOP HARBORING IRANIAN PETROLEUM ACT
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3774) to impose additional sanctions with respect to the
importation or facilitation of the importation of petroleum products
from Iran, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3774
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Harboring Iranian
Petroleum Act'' or the ``SHIP Act''.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to deny Iran the ability, by limiting Iran's export of
petroleum and petroleum products, to--
[[Page H5194]]
(A) engage in destabilizing activities;
(B) support international terrorism; or
(C) fund the development and acquisition of weapons of mass
destruction and weapons delivery systems;
(2) to deny Iran funds to oppress and commit human rights
violations against the Iranian people assembling to
peacefully redress the Iranian regime;
(3) to fully enforce sanctions against those entities which
provide support to the Iranian energy sector; and
(4) to counter Iran's actions to finance and facilitate the
participation of foreign terrorist organizations in ongoing
conflicts and illicit activities due to the threat such
actions pose to the vital national interests of the United
States.
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO IRANIAN
PETROLEUM.
(a) In General.--On and after the date that is 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and except as
provided in subsection (e)(2), the President shall impose the
sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to each
foreign person that the President determines, on or after
such date of enactment, engages in an activity described in
subsection (b).
(b) Activities Described.--A foreign person engages in an
activity described in this subsection if the foreign person--
(1) owns or operates a foreign port and has knowingly
facilitated or accommodated at least 1 designated vessel in
landing at such port on or after the date of enactment of
this Act for the purpose of transporting Iranian crude oil;
(2) knowingly transports, offloads, or otherwise engages in
transactions involving petroleum or petroleum products,
including petrochemicals, originating from Iran;
(3) knowingly owns or operates a vessel used to conduct
ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum or petroleum products,
including petrochemicals, originating from Iran;
(4) owns or operates a refinery that knowingly processes,
refines, or otherwise engages in transactions involving
petroleum or petroleum products, including petrochemicals,
originating from Iran;
(5) is an adult family member of a foreign person described
in any of paragraphs (1) through (4), unless the President
determines there is clear and convincing evidence that such
adult family member has disassociated themselves from the
foreign person described in such paragraph and has not
assisted such foreign person in concealing assets; or
(6) is owned, as such term is defined by section 510.411 of
title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, by a foreign person
described in any of paragraphs (1) through (5) that has been
designated for such conduct.
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this
subsection with respect to a foreign person described in
subsection (a) are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President shall exercise all
of the powers granted to the President under the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701
et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all
transactions in property and interests in property of the
foreign person if such property and interests in property are
in the United States, come within the United States, or are
or come within the possession or control of a United States
person.
(2) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--
(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien described in
subsection (a) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to
enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into
the United States or to receive any other benefit under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--An alien described in subsection (a) is
subject to revocation of any visa or other entry
documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry
documentation is or was issued.
(ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) shall
take effect immediately and automatically cancel any other
valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien's
possession.
(C) Exceptions.--Sanctions under this paragraph shall not
apply with respect to an alien if admitting or paroling the
alien into the United States is necessary--
(i) to permit the United States to comply with the
Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force
November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
States, or other applicable international obligations; or
(ii) to carry out or assist law enforcement activity in the
United States.
(3) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person
that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or
causes a violation of this section or any regulations
promulgated to carry out this section to the same extent that
such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act
described in section 206(a) of that Act.
(d) Rule of Construction.--For purposes of determinations
under subsection (a) that a foreign person engaged in
activities described in subsection (b), a foreign person
shall not be determined to know that petroleum or petroleum
products originated from Iran if such person relied on a
certificate of origin or other documentation confirming that
the origin of the petroleum or petroleum products was a
country other than Iran, unless such person knew or had
reason to know that such documentation was falsified.
(e) Implementation; Regulations.--
(1) In general.--The President may exercise all authorities
under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) for purposes of
carrying out this section.
(2) Deadline for regulations.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President
shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary for the
implementation of this Act.
(3) Notification to congress.--Not later than 10 days
before the prescription of regulations under paragraph (2),
the President shall brief and provide written notification to
the appropriate congressional committees regarding--
(A) the proposed regulations; and
(B) the specific provisions of this Act that the
regulations are implementing.
(f) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--The President may, on a case-by-case basis
and for periods not to exceed 180 days each, waive the
application of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign
person under this section if the President certifies to the
appropriate congressional committees, not later than 15 days
before such waiver is to take effect, that the waiver is
vital to the national interests of the United States.
(2) Special rule.--The President shall not be required to
impose sanctions under this section with respect to a foreign
person described in subsection (a) if the President certifies
in writing to the appropriate congressional committees that
the foreign person--
(A) is no longer engaging in activities described in
subsection (b); or
(B) has taken and is continuing to take significant,
verifiable steps toward permanently terminating such
activities.
(f) Termination.--The authorities provided by this section
shall cease to have effect on and after the date that is 30
days after the date on which the President certifies to the
appropriate congressional committees that--
(1) the Government of Iran no longer repeatedly provides
support for international terrorism as determined by the
Secretary of State pursuant to--
(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Control Reform Act
of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A));
(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2371);
(C) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C.
2780); or
(D) any other provision of law; and
(2) Iran has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and
development of, and verifiably dismantled, its nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons, ballistic missiles, and
ballistic missile launch technology.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON IRANIAN PETROLEUM AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
EXPORTS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until the date
described in subsection (d), the Administrator of the Energy
Information Administration shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report describing Iran's growing
exports of petroleum and petroleum products, that includes
the following:
(1) An analysis of Iran's exports and sale of petroleum and
petroleum products, including--
(A) an estimate of Iran's petroleum export and sale revenue
per year since 2018;
(B) an estimate of Iran's petroleum export and sale revenue
to China per year since 2018;
(C) the amount of petroleum and crude oil barrels exported
per year since 2018;
(D) the amount of petroleum and crude oil barrels exported
to China per year since 2018;
(E) the amount of petroleum and crude oil barrels exported
to countries other than China per year since 2018;
(F) the average price per petroleum and crude oil barrel
exported per year since 2018; and
(G) the average price per petroleum and crude oil barrel
exported to China per year since 2018.
(2) An analysis of Iran's labeling practices of exported
petroleum and petroleum products.
(3) A description of companies involved in the exporting
and sale of Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.
(4) A description of ships involved in the exporting and
sale of Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.
(5) A description of ports involved in the exporting and
sale of Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified
annex.
(c) Publication.--The unclassified portion of the report
required by subsection (a) shall be posted on a publicly
available website of the Energy Information Administration.
(d) Termination.--The requirement to submit reports under
this section shall be terminated on the date on which the
President makes the certification described in section 3(f).
SEC. 5. EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF GOODS.
(a) In General.--The authorities and requirements to impose
sanctions authorized under this Act shall not include the
authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the
importation of goods.
[[Page H5195]]
(b) Good Defined.--In this section, the term ``good'' means
any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply
or manufactured product, including inspection and test
equipment, and excluding technical data.
SEC. 6. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional
committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the
Judiciary, and the Committee on Financial Services of the
House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on
the Judiciary, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs of the Senate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Lawler) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be here today as we gather to pass the
Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act, or the SHIP Act, which I
introduced earlier this year with my colleague from Florida,
Congressman Jared Moskowitz.
In the wake of the appalling terrorist attacks against Israel on
October 7, it is clear that we must work to confront Iran and its
proxies in the region with a strong sanctions regime. Iran is the
largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world and, unfortunately, has
the coffers to back this up. Iran spends its money on terror, on
developing nuclear capabilities, on taking hostages to use for
bargaining purposes, and on funding the criminal IRGC.
We must cut off Iran's funding and stop these illicit activities at
their source, and that is where Iranian oil comes in.
Iran currently engages in a massive global oil trade, exporting its
blood-stained petroleum in exchange for money and influence abroad. In
the past year alone, Iran has made tens of billions off of their
illicit oil trade, and this August, China imported a staggering 1.5
million barrels per day.
China is the largest importer of Iranian oil and, in doing so, has
become complicit in the nefarious acts carried out with that funding.
While the U.S. already sanctions Iranian petroleum, it is absolutely
critical that we expand our sanctions regime to not only target Iran
but Iran's enablers that are complicit in the nefarious acts committed
with that money.
The SHIP Act specifically expands these sanctions to cover foreign
ports and refineries that process Iranian oil. Individuals and entities
that knowingly accept shipments of Iranian oil, refine Iranian oil,
transport or offload Iranian oil, or otherwise transact with Iranian
oil should be held accountable for their actions, for their willingness
to pay for Iranian-backed terrorism.
The SHIP Act has been bipartisan from the start and continues to show
a united front between Republicans and Democrats to limit Iran's global
influence and protect those the Iranian regime seeks to harm, such as
our Jewish and Israeli friends.
The SHIP Act sends a message to those who trade in Iranian oil that
they will have the United States to deal with if they continue to do
so. They can't pretend they don't know where the money is going. They
can't pretend to separate Iranian oil from the very terrorism it
supports. Now, we are putting it in writing that they are going to be
held accountable if they keep enabling Iran.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 3774, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, October 26, 2023.
Hon. Michael McCaul,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of
Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman McCaul: I write regarding H.R. 3774, the Stop
Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act. Provisions of this bill fall
within the Judiciary Committee's Rule X jurisdiction, and I
appreciate that you consulted with us on those provisions.
The Judiciary Committee agrees that it shall be discharged
from further consideration of the bill so that it may proceed
expeditiously to the House floor.
The Committee takes this action with the understanding that
forgoing further consideration of this measure does not in
any way alter the Committee's jurisdiction or waive any
future jurisdictional claim over these provisions or their
subject matter. We also reserve the right to seek appointment
of an appropriate number of conferees in the event of a
conference with the Senate involving this measure or similar
legislation.
I ask that you please include this letter in your
committee's report to accompany this legislation or insert
this letter in the Congressional Record during consideration
of H.R. 3774 on the House floor. I appreciate the cooperative
manner in which our committees have worked on this matter,
and I look forward to working collaboratively in the future
on matters of shared jurisdiction. Thank you for your
attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jim Jordan,
Chairman.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On November 1, 2023, page H5195, in the second column, the
following appeared: Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely, Jim Joredan, Chairman.
The online version has been corrected to read: Thank you for
your attention to this matter. Sincerely, Jim Jordan, Chairman.
========================= END NOTE =========================
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, October 31, 2023.
Hon. Jim Jordan,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Jordan: Thank you for consulting with the
Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to be discharged from
further consideration of H.R. 3774, the ``Stop Harboring
Iranian Petroleum Act,'' so that the measure may proceed
expeditiously to the House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this measure or similar legislation in the future. I would
support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate
number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate
conference on this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on this bill into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration. I appreciate
your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward
to continuing to work together as this measure moves through
the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Michael T. McCaul,
Chairman.
Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3774.
The goal of this legislation is simple: to prevent Iran from
profiting off of its petroleum reserves.
The tyrannical Iranian regime uses these profits to fund its
terrorism and proxy activities, as well as to make advancements in its
nuclear program.
The SHIP Act aims to apply unilateral, mandatory sanctions on anyone
who does any of the following with Iranian oil: operate a port that
accepts or transfers the oil; operate a refinery that possesses Iranian
oil; run a business that purchases, sells, or finances Iranian oil;
ships Iranian oil; or knowingly works at any facility that handles
Iranian oil.
Without a doubt, the target of these sanctions is China, the largest
purchaser of Iranian oil. If China stopped buying oil from Iran, Iran
would be starved of the funds it uses to destabilize its region and the
world.
This is not something we can achieve overnight without impacting the
global energy and shipping economy. In today's interconnected world,
where China is a major player and a trading partner of the United
States, we cannot be shielded from the economic impacts these sanctions
might cause. That is why if this legislation is signed into law, we
must be both smart and forceful during its implementation, and we must
be honest with the American people about why we are willing and why we
must take this risk.
Sanctions are a diplomatic tool. They are not an end in themselves.
The bold petroleum and financial sanctions that drove Iran to the table
to negotiate JCPOA were multilateral, and we did the hard work of
uniting the world behind the policy before the implementation of those
sanctions.
As it stands today, we would be going at this policy alone. That is
why Congress should work with this and any future administration to do
the hard diplomatic work of bringing allies and partners into the plan.
That is what will ultimately increase our chances of succeeding.
{time} 1500
While I am a proud cosponsor of this bill, I am also concerned by the
very
[[Page H5196]]
limited flexibility the administration would have with the waiver in
this bill. It is one of the strictest standards that can be found in
law. I am open to addressing that aspect of the bill if this measure
goes to conference with the Senate to ensure that the waiver provision
isn't virtually unusable.
Due to the clear and present threat posed by Iran to the United
States and our allies, I believe we must use every tool at our disposal
to address the challenge. The new sanctions offered by the SHIP Act
provide important tools in our toolbox that could end Chinese purchases
of oil.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Hill), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from New York for managing
the time and my friend from Illinois on this very important bill.
I am so glad to see that it is a bipartisan effort on H.R. 3774, the
SHIP Act, because this bill is critical to countering the long record
of continued mistakes by President Biden of appeasing the regime in
Iran.
The Biden administration continues a foreign policy offering carrots
to the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism and getting
nothing to show for it in return. Due to this administration's
appeasement through sanctions relief, Iran's oil production is now
backed up at a 5-year high and is estimated to be producing 1.5 million
barrels a day, and that is worth, Mr. Speaker, $40 billion annualized.
Now, nearly all of that is being sold to China, completely as a
counter to the rest of the world's effort to cut off money going to
Russia directly through Russian oil and indirectly through Iran backing
Russia--these are leaked; Iran backing Hezbollah in Lebanon; Iran
backing Syria and Assad; Iran backing Hamas in the Gaza.
Are you getting the picture?
Iran is the problem here, Mr. Speaker--a partner to Russia fighting
Ukraine, a partner in defeating Israel through Gaza. It is because they
are selling oil on the market against global sanctions.
This bill is important. It goes far beyond the administration's $6
billion of sanction relief to return Americans.
Secondary sanctions are essential, and America's diplomacy, as Mr.
Schneider from Illinois said, to get Europe on board with secondary
sanctions is important too, because it is about defeating this global
network of evil: Russia, Iran, and China.
I encourage all of my colleagues to support this important bill.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I do want to reflect on the comments of
my friend, Mr. Hill, because he brings up a really important point.
It is vitally important to understand that Iran connects a lot of
dots:
Iran is funding Hamas that attacked Israel and massacred 1,400 people
and took 240 hostages, including Americans.
Iran is providing weapons to Russia in their attack on Ukraine.
Iran is selling oil to China.
The war in Gaza and the war in Ukraine have a lot of common
denominators. Both are wars against democracies with the intent of
wiping out those democracies, but no intent, either with Putin in
Russia or Hamas against Israel, in stopping there.
The United States has an important role in leading and bringing
together the world to support our allies in Ukraine and Israel. That is
why it is so important that, as we stand here in a most perilous time,
we unite as a body in this Congress to support our allies, not to
divide, not to use political gamesmanship to use Israel as a partisan
wedge, but to say we will stand together and support our allies. That
is why I call our folks to come to this body and support the
President's supplemental request.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAWLER. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Mast), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and
Accountability.
Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to rise in support and say thank
you for the great work on this piece of legislation.
It is very important, as both sides have spoken about, the idea if
you were to make a comparison, such as if a farmer had to be sanctioned
but we were thinking about sanctioning the farmer without sanctioning
their crops, or the truck that they would use to transport them, or the
dock workers, or the market that they would bring the crops to, it
would be nonsensical. This is essentially the situation that we have
going on between Iran, China, Russia, an entire axis of evil, that they
are getting their crops to market.
In my opinion, it is one of the most important things that we can
work to prevent in order to have the greatest impact on Iran and their
ability to finance terror across the globe.
In that, I thank the gentleman for his work and for yielding me the
time.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3774 is an important effort to cut
funding off from the Iranian regime. I strongly urge my colleagues to
support this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I introduced this bill earlier this year
with Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida. It has over 230 bipartisan
cosponsors because Congress recognizes the need to sanction Iranian
petroleum even further.
Since President Biden took office, relaxed enforcement of oil
sanctions has contributed to increased Iranian oil revenues worth
approximately $25.9 billion.
In 2019, Iran's oil exports fell below 500,000 barrels per day as a
result of the prior administration's oil sanctions pressure.
As of September 2023, Iranian oil exports had increased to nearly 1.5
million barrels per day. Most of these increased sales have gone to
Chinese buyers.
Exports are up 59 percent since January of 2021. The administration's
refusal to list entities enabling the trade for secondary sanctions--in
other words, imposing sanctions on the buyers--has contributed to this.
I wish we didn't need to do this, but we have to. HSI and OFAC should
be enforcing these sanctions.
On October 11, 2023, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications,
John Kirby, responded to a question about the weak enforcement of
sanctions on Iranian oil by stating, quote, ``The President has been
concerned about making sure we have a viable global market for oil,
working hard to keep the prices of gasoline down here in the United
States. Part of that is making sure you remove some of the volatility
in that global supply and demand.''
Are you kidding me? First of all, the United States doesn't get
Iranian petroleum. Our refineries aren't able to process it, and we
already have sanctions in place against it. This administration has
prohibited U.S. oil and gas development more strenuously than it has
Iranian. It is absurd.
Macquarie, a leading financial services advisory firm, recently
advised its clients that: ``In our assessment, the Biden
administration's policy approach has been to limit oil supply
disruptions, regardless of the situation. Given that policy objectives
did not target Russian oil flows even at the height of the Russian-
Ukraine conflict, we do not expect Iranian oil exports to be
constrained either.''
Now, there are Members of this body that are going to oppose this
legislation because it is too strenuous, doesn't give enough wiggle
room to the administration. There is a reason we are not giving wiggle
room to the administration. It is because they have been incapable of
enforcing the sanctions against Iran and Iranian petroleum, which has
been used as the funding source for the greatest state sponsor of
terrorism in the world.
Lest anyone think otherwise, the attacks by Hamas, by Hezbollah over
the course of time have been funded by Iran. We must be stringent in
enforcing these sanctions. It is critically important.
When you look at what is happening in the world and the unholy
alliance that has been brought about by Iran, North Korea, China, and
Russia to undermine and destabilize the free world,
[[Page H5197]]
to undermine the United States and our allies, we must enforce these
sanctions, which is why it is critically important that we pass H.R.
3774 so that we can enact sanctions on the buyer.
China has been the largest buyer of Iranian petroleum. Their
refineries are built to refine that oil. Our allies around the world
must recognize and understand the threats that are emanating from this
unholy alliance.
I urge all of my colleagues in both parties to support this
bipartisan, commonsense legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3774, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
____________________