On the recordSeptember 22, 2016
The argument that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin) was making is based on the counter to this argument that the administration has made. What the administration has said is: Look, Iran says we owe them $400 million. We will impute the interest on that. The interest on the $400 million is $1.3 billion. Thus, we get to the $1.7 billion that the tribunal says we owe, and we will pay that in three tranches. The only way you get to that number, as Mr. Zeldin has pointed out, is if you ignore the fact that in 2000, pursuant to a law signed by President Clinton, American taxpayers provided $400 million, the same amount as in the FMS trust fund, to U.S. citizens who had won judgments against Iran for its support of terror. So the United States Government then took on their $400 million in claims against Iran. So, in fact, those two sums should have been netted out. In fact, according to this law, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, the President was required to attempt to recover that money, that $400 million from Iran, to the satisfaction of the United States. As part of this settlement, we are just finding out--get this--we are just finding out that the administration is letting Iran off the hook for the $400 million plus interest. These sums would have netted out to zero.…
