On the recordSeptember 21, 2016
Let me see. Let's look at this bill. H.R. 5461 would require the Secretary of the Treasury to submit a report to Congress on the estimated total assets under the direct or indirect control by Iranian leaders and certain senior political and other figures regardless of whether such individuals are subject to U.S. sanctions. So what will that do? By creating this report, it would place a substantial time and human resource burden on the Treasury and, in fact, divert critical energy and resources away from targeting sanctionable conduct and compliance over existing sanctions tied to human rights, terrorism, and ballistic missiles. Moreover, since the report would not be tied to any prohibition or legal action, it would have little use as a compliance tool and, in fact, would likely confuse the Office of Foreign Assets Control's regulated publicly. Finally, such a report would undoubtedly be seized upon by Iran--and quite possibly by all of our P5 allies--as an intended effort to discourage international investment in Iran, which, in turn, could be viewed as a violation of the expressed U.S. commitment under the JCPOA to prevent interference with the realization of the full benefit by Iran of the JCPOA and, therefore, undermine the continued support for the JCPOA with Iran. So I know some people on the other side of the aisle don't believe that this is the right thing, but it is clear JCPOA prevents an armed nuclear Iran. We should vote against H.R. 5461.
