Ted Budd: “I thank the chairman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Mr. Williams' legislation, H.R. 4324.…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Mr. Williams' legislation, H.R. 4324. I want to thank him for his leadership on this front. Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that much of the terror funding and the civil unrest that we see in the Middle East can be traced directly back to Iran. Since we have lifted sanctions on that regime--and, in particular, against state-owned entities like Iran Air--we have opened up ourselves to potentially financing Iran's destabilizing activity in the region. Congress has a right to know if banks are linked to financing or doing business with Iran, again, the world's largest state sponsor of terror. This bill is significant, considering what we have recently seen with Iran Air. As recently as 2011, Iran Air was transporting weapons and missiles on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and even this year--not 2011, but this year--we have seen Iran Air continue to fly well-known weapons resupply routes to pro-Assad-controlled areas of Syria. Iran will always continue to find new and creative ways to bypass sanctions and to fund their worldwide terror network. We have to be on constant alert. Mr. Williams' legislation gives us the tools to do exactly that. His bill gives the people's House, this House, more oversight on business that the Treasury Department authorizes with Iran.…”