[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 64 (Monday, April 15, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2376-H2378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NO U.S. FINANCING FOR IRAN ACT OF 2023

  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5921) to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from 
authorizing certain transactions by a United States financial 
institution in connection with Iran, to prevent the International 
Monetary Fund from providing financial assistance to Iran, to codify 
prohibitions on Export-Import Bank financing for the Government of 
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. 5921

       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 ``No U.S. Financing for Iran 
     Act of 2023''.

     SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AUTHORIZATIONS FOR UNITED STATES 
                   FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

       The Secretary of the Treasury may not authorize a 
     transaction by a U.S. financial institution (as defined in 
     section 561.309 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations) in 
     connection with the importation from or exportation to the 
     Islamic Republic of Iran of any goods, services, or 
     technology, other than the sale of agricultural commodities, 
     food, medicine, medical devices, or humanitarian assistance 
     benefitting the civilian population of Iran.

     SEC. 3. OPPOSITION TO IMF ASSISTANCE.

       The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United 
     States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund 
     to--
       (1) oppose the provision of financial assistance by the 
     Fund to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the allocation to 
     the Government of Iran of Special Drawing Rights; and
       (2) seek to ensure that member countries of the Fund 
     prohibit the exchange of Special Drawing Rights held by the 
     Government of Iran.

     SEC. 4. CODIFICATION OF EXPORT-IMPORT BANK PROHIBITION WITH 
                   RESPECT TO IRAN.

       Section 2(b) of the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 (12 
     U.S.C. 635(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(14) Prohibition on financing for iran.--The Bank may not 
     guarantee, insure, or extend (or participate in an extension 
     of) credit in connection with any transaction, with respect 
     to which credit assistance from the Bank is first sought 
     after the effective date of this paragraph, for which a 
     lender or obligor is the Government of Iran or an entity 
     owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.''.

     SEC. 5. SUNSET.

       This Act and the amendment made by this Act are hereby 
     repealed effective on the earliest of--
       (1) the date that is 30 days after the date the President 
     of the United States certifies to the Congress that the 
     Government of Iran--
       (A) has ceased providing support for acts of international 
     terrorism; and
       (B) is not a jurisdiction of primary money laundering 
     concern, as described under section 5318A of title 31, United 
     States Code; or
       (2) 10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Cleaver) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McHENRY. 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 bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, the No U.S. Financing 
for Iran Act, sponsored by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga). 
Mr. Huizenga is the subcommittee chair on the Oversight Subcommittee of 
the House Financial Services Committee, an important leader on the 
committee and an important voice in this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga), to explain the bill.
  Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, our friend and ally was just attacked by Iran, the 
world's leading state sponsor of terror.
  When the Committee on Financial Services held a hearing on my bill 
last November following the atrocities of October 7, I remarked at that 
time that it was timely.
  Well, today, it is timely as well. We are at yet another inflection 
point. Iran's direct attack on Israel this weekend demonstrates that 
the U.S. must hold Iran accountable. One significant way to do this is 
by cutting off Iran's access to the funding it uses to finance 
terrorism.
  H.R. 5921 does exactly what it says. It stops Iran from being able to 
use the U.S. financial system, while ensuring that institutions under 
our committee's jurisdiction keep their distance from the government in 
Tehran.
  As we all know, Iran remains one of the most heavily sanctioned 
countries in the world. However, many of those sanctions that are put 
in place are imposed through executive order. It is time that we codify 
them in law.
  H.R. 5921 does three main things:
  First, it prohibits Treasury from issuing licenses that allow U.S. 
financial institutions to enable trade with Iran. That is what is 
happening right now, Mr. Speaker. Treasury is issuing licenses for that 
business activity.
  It is clear that we must take all necessary steps to protect the 
integrity of the U.S. financial institutions by prohibiting these 
licenses that allow Tehran to trade oil and gas and other goods and 
facilitate, therefore, its support of terrorism.
  Second, this bill further cuts off financing for Iran from the 
world's lender of last resort, the International Monetary Fund, the 
IMF. While Iran is not currently seeking assistance from the Fund, it 
certainly could as an IMF member country. My bill makes clear that the 
United States, as the IMF's largest shareholder, would oppose any such 
request.

                              {time}  1730

  This prohibition would actually further extend to the IMF Special 
Drawing Rights program, which in 2021 Iran utilized--just 3 years ago--
to access approximately $5 billion, so we have seen the IMF already be 
used by the ayatollahs in Iran to finance terrorists.
  Lastly, my bill extends an existing prohibition against the Export-
Import Bank financing projects in Iran and that benefit Iran's leaders.
  Mr. Speaker, I will note one exception that we have included in this 
bill before us today, and it is a very important one. I know it is an 
important one to some of my colleagues, and I think my friend from 
Missouri is one of those folks.
  U.S. law has long exempted humanitarian assistance from sanctions so 
as not to punish innocent civilians but to go after the leaders of the 
country. My bill is targeted. It tightens our grip on the ayatollahs 
and the Iranian leaders

[[Page H2377]]

while permitting licenses to allow for humanitarian aid to continue to 
flow to the Iranian people. This is as clear as day in the text of the 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, let's not forget that, in January, an Iranian-backed 
proxy militia group conducted a lethal drone attack on a U.S. base in 
Jordan. The attack resulted in the deaths of 3 American servicemembers 
and injured over 40 others. This was a direct attack on our troops.
  This occurred as the administration continues to ignore calls from 
our committee to provide transparency surrounding the most recent 
sanction waivers granted over the last year.
  By allowing sanction waivers to continue, the administration is 
maintaining a financial lifeline to the Iranian regime, even as it 
continues to support terrorist organizations around the world, and now 
Iran directly attacked our ally, Israel.
  Mr. Speaker, when our fellow Americans deposit their earnings in a 
U.S. bank or entrust the government with their tax dollars, they do so 
assuming that the money will not be used in ways that undermine the 
security of our Nation. We cannot say today that is, in fact, the case.
  These are commonsense but long-overdue prohibitions in my bill here 
today.
  Let's hold this Iranian regime accountable with this bipartisan bill. 
It will make sure that our U.S. financial system is safe, and it will 
prohibit the World Bank and the IMF from being able to finance anything 
dealing with Iran.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge swift passage of the No U.S. Financing for Iran 
Act.
  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me preface my comments by saying, in harmony with 
Mr. Huizenga, that I, too, find what happened over the weekend with 
Iran sending over 300 missiles into Israel obscene, just as what Hamas 
did on October 7 in Israel was brutal and inhumane.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise now in opposition to H.R. 5921, sponsored by 
Congressman Huizenga.
  This bill would cause, I believe, significant harm to our national 
security and harm America's small businesses trying to sell their 
products overseas.
  In what is clearly a very rushed attempt to give the impression that 
House Republicans know how to govern, they have brought this bill to 
the floor 5 months after Democrats overwhelmingly rejected it. Rather 
than actually taking action to respond to Iran's attack on Israel, 
House Republicans would rather deny assistance to every developing 
country in the world and halt financing for small businesses at the 
Export-Import Bank.
  First, this bill would prevent the Treasury Secretary from agreeing 
to an increase in the International Monetary Fund Special Drawing 
Rights, which are essentially the currency of the IMF. The last 
increase, approved by Secretary Yellen in 2021, successfully was used 
by countries around the world to respond to the pandemic by bolstering 
their balance sheets. Sub-Saharan African countries were able to 
exchange their SDRs for U.S. dollars at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.
  Republicans claim that Iran would be able to use its allocation of 
SDRs for terrorist financing, but the U.S. has effectively blocked Iran 
from doing that. Iran cannot convert SDRs to dollars because no country 
would want to be sanctioned for doing so.
  You don't have to believe what I am saying. Iran's SDRs remain 
untouched decades after first receiving them. It has not used one 
single dollar in this century.
  Rather than offer legislation like Ranking Member Waters' bill that 
would target the ghost fleet that Iran uses to evade U.S. oil sanctions 
and which passed the committee by a wide bipartisan vote, House 
Republicans are using Iran's attack to target a source of funding for 
developing countries that they have long loathed.
  What is more, by undermining the ability of the IMF to increase its 
SDRs, we are only handing a victory to China, which longs to see the 
IMF, the World Bank, and the other U.S.-led international institutions 
fail.
  The second significant concern is that H.R. 5921 would halt all Ex-Im 
financing, including for small businesses in the U.S., because it would 
require Ex-Im to go back and reevaluate every single transaction to 
look for terrorist financing. Ex-Im already has done this, but the 
Republicans want to make it look as if they are doing something by 
making Ex-Im do it again at great cost to our economy.
  I don't need to remind this House that the last time Republicans were 
in charge, they shuttered the Ex-Im Bank for 5 months, and it was only 
after Democrats successfully used a discharge petition that it was 
reopened. Later, in 2019, Democrats passed the longest reauthorization 
of the Export-Import Bank. Nevertheless, Republicans are using this 
crisis to once again undermine an agency that they want to cut.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5921 will do nothing to deter or punish Iran for 
its first direct assault on Israel but instead will harm our national 
standing at the IMF, the livelihood of countless small businesses that 
rely on Ex-Im financing to sell their products overseas, and 
our national security.

  Mr. Speaker, by offering H.R. 5921 today and in this fashion, House 
Republicans are trying to hide the fact that they are not capable of 
governing this Chamber. Rather than offer legislation that would 
respond to Iran's attack on Israel, the ongoing humanitarian disaster 
in Gaza, or the devastating war waged by Russia's Putin on the people 
of Ukraine, House Republicans are instead trying to undermine the 
International Monetary Fund and the Export-Import Bank.
  This bill will only harm U.S. businesses, our friends and allies 
around the world, and our international standing, but I am afraid that 
seems to be the point.
  I will also note that Republicans are bringing this bill up under a 
process that is reserved for bills that are actually bipartisan. Most 
Democrats in the committee rejected this bill, and I expect the same 
will happen today.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to please vote ``no'' on H.R. 5921, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, let me first start by expressing that this was a 
bipartisan bill reported out of committee. All Republicans on the 
committee voted for it, and seven Democrats voted for this bill coming 
out of committee. It is a bipartisan bill.
  Now, the standards of bipartisanship--I don't know what the judgment 
is now for a Democrat who voted against the bill in committee to say 
that his fellow Democrats aren't Democrats for voting for this bill. I 
don't think that is what the gentleman was indicating, but the standard 
of bipartisanship, we have met it here. We have seven Democrats who 
voted for this bill out of committee.
  When we reported it out of committee, it was a different time. We 
reported this out of committee before Thanksgiving, November 14. In 
light of what just happened over the weekend, we think that some of our 
committee members, and likewise some Democrats on the floor, might see 
this bill a little differently than maybe they voted in November.
  After this massive attack by the Iranian regime against Israel, we 
thought maybe they would look differently at this. It is a sad thing 
that a bipartisan bill like this doesn't get support from Democratic 
leadership or some on the other side of the aisle.
  What this bill does is narrow down what Iran can get from 
international support. We still allow for important humanitarian 
exemptions for us to provide the people of Iran--not the regime, the 
people of Iran--humanitarian assistance.
  What Mr. Huizenga's bill does is require the Treasury Secretary to 
oppose with their voting power at the IMF, and their statements and 
their words, saying to the IMF: Do not support the Iranian regime and 
don't allow any unconditional opportunity for Iran to access the IMF. 
That is simply what we are doing here.
  That doesn't end the Iranian regime's ability to get international 
dollars and international funds to support their war-making capacity or 
their terrorism activity, but it is an important statement that we 
should make as a Congress, in light of what happened over the weekend, 
that times are different.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend Mr. Huizenga for the important work that

[[Page H2378]]

the gentleman from Michigan has done to craft this bill. It was a good 
bill in November that achieved bipartisan support out of committee. It 
is an even better bill now that my colleagues can see the malevolence 
of this Iranian regime and their commitment for war-making and terror.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bill, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5921, 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. McHENRY. 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.

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