No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, what my amendment does is allow a 45-day waiting period between certification and removal of sanctions.

I heard my good friend, Mr. Gottheimer, mention how this administration is the best friend Israel has. If that is the case, why is he wanting to give $6 billion to Iran which is the sponsor of terror? If he is so interested in protecting Americans, why does he have our border wide open for people to come illegally from every country around the world?

This amendment is in response to an administration that has done anything but be on the side of Israel.

Mr. Chair, I applaud the work of Chairman McCaul and the Foreign Affairs Committee for this commonsense legislation that effectively freezes the $6 billion of Iranian funds by imposing immediate and mandatory sanctions on financial institutions attempting to engage in transactions with these funds.

Despite claims by the administration to the contrary, the $6 billion handed over to Iran by the Biden administration--to the country that is the leading sponsor of terror that has taken all of the hostages in that he shows pictures of--this money is fungible and Iran is complicit in the attacks launched on October 7 that killed close to 1,500 innocent people, some of which were at a music festival.

I wholeheartedly support this legislation. However, I have one concern. Section 3 of this legislation contains language that allows President Biden to terminate sanctions if the President simply certifies in writing that Iran no longer provides support for terrorism and has ceased the development of nuclear weapons.

This President simply will not do that. That is why he is letting the money go.

As currently written, this legislation provides no opportunity for Congress to exercise oversight. The President can simply terminate sanctions if he thinks Iran meets certain requirements.

In September 2023, the Biden administration waived sanctions to allow the $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korean banks to be transferred to banks in Qatar in exchange for the release of five hostages.

No matter what the Biden administration says, money is fungible. This deal gave Iran access to more money to fund its terrorist activities, including support for regional proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Just 1 month after this deal, Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel, killing innocent civilians and taking dozens of hostages. We have seen what happens when we give too much authority to this executive branch. Their actions speak louder than their words. I don't want this to happen again.

This is why my amendment would require a 45-day waiting period between Presidential certification and removal of sanctions to provide an opportunity for congressional oversight. The President shouldn't be doing this anyway. To not have a 45-day waiting period to try to correct and let Congress deal with what his actions are is incomprehensible to me.

Mr. Chair, in closing, let me say I named some things that this President is doing. The purpose of my amendment is because of the $6 billion that is going to the leading sponsor of terror that the Biden administration is okaying.

I will add another thing that has not been widely publicized. We have a sitting Member of Congress, Cory Mills, from Florida, who had to charter his own airplane to rescue hostages. When he contacted the Biden administration for support, they gave him no support. The Biden administration gave no support to rescue the hostages. The pictures were shown by my good friend, Josh Gottheimer. This is a wayward administration that is lawless.

This amendment simply builds in additional time for Congress to conduct proper oversight of executive branch certifications. We should not continue to further delegate legislative authority derived from Article I of the Constitution to the executive branch.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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