U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has once again teamed up with U.S. Sen Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, to take aim at Hezbollah.
Rubio and Shaheen, both of whom serve on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, crafted the “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act” in 2015 and, last year, brought out a resolution urging the EU to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
On Thursday, they showcased their latest proposal which would strengthen the earlier sanctions.
“Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, and continue to pose grave threats to the United States and our allies, including the democratic state of Israel,” said Rubio. “The president and Congress should build on the successes of our 2015 law that targets Hezbollah, its proxies and its enablers, and enact this new bill to strengthen international efforts to combat the financing and expansion of Hezbollah’s terrorist and missile threats, as well as its narcotics trafficking and other transnational criminal activities.”
“In the time since the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act was signed into law in 2015, Hezbollah has continued to do Iran’s bidding in the region by threatening Israel’s security and fighting in Syria in support of the murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad,” said Shaheen. “The U.S. must continue to do all it can to cut off Hezbollah’s sources of financing, and I am glad to join again with Senator Rubio on bipartisan legislation to increase pressure on Hezbollah. Lebanon is an important ally of the United States, and I am hopeful that our governments can continue to work together to combat terrorism and bring further stability to their country.”
The bill was sent to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on Thursday.
Over on the House side, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-NY, the ranking Democrat on that committee, have a similar bill which was sent to the House Foreign Affairs, Financial Services and Judiciary committees on Thursday. Royce and Engel worked with Rubio and Shaheen to craft the 2015 sanctions legislation.
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