Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I introduced this bill earlier this year with Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida. It has over 230 bipartisan cosponsors because Congress recognizes the need to sanction Iranian petroleum even further. Since President Biden took office, relaxed enforcement of oil sanctions has contributed to increased Iranian oil revenues worth approximately $25.9 billion. In 2019, Iran's oil exports fell below 500,000 barrels per day as a result of the prior administration's oil sanctions pressure. As of September 2023, Iranian oil exports had increased to nearly 1.5 million barrels per day. Most of these increased sales have gone to Chinese buyers. Exports are up 59 percent since January of 2021. The administration's refusal to list entities enabling the trade for secondary sanctions--in other words, imposing sanctions on the buyers--has contributed to this. I wish we didn't need to do this, but we have to. HSI and OFAC should be enforcing these sanctions. On October 11, 2023, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, responded to a question about the weak enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil by stating, quote, ``The President has been concerned about making sure we have a viable global market for oil, working hard to keep the prices of gasoline down here in the United States. Part of that is making sure you remove some of the volatility in that global supply and demand.'' Are you kidding me? First of all, the United States doesn't get Iranian petroleum.…”