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Politics

Marco Rubio's Bill Sanctioning Hezbollah Headed to Trump's Desk

October 15, 2018 - 6:00pm
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., scored a win towards the end of last week as his proposal adding more sanctions on Hezbollah headed to President Donald Trump’s desk. 

Back in July 2017, Rubio and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, both of whom serve on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, unveiled the “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act.” The bill, which was also championed by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Id., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, would expand sanctions created by the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act" which Rubio and Shaheen brought out back in 2015, targeting companies that provide financial, technological and other help to Hezbollah or help with its fundraising and recruiting. The proposal also requires the White House to report to Congress whether financial institutes in Iran and other state sponsors of terrorism are helping Hezbollah. The Senate passed Rubio’s bill without opposition last October. 

Over on the House side, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee,  and U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-NY, the ranking Democrat on the committee, brought a similar bill through the House last month. Last week, the two chambers reconciled some minor differences between the legislation. Most members of the Florida delegation--Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Carlos Curbelo, Neal Dunn. Matt Gaetz, Bill Posey, Francis Rooney, Tom Rooney, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Dennis Ross and Democrats U.S. Reps. Val Demings, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Alcee Hastings, Darren Soto and Debbie Wasserman Schultz--cosponsored the bill. Royce and Engel worked with Rubio and Shaheen to craft the 2015 sanctions legislation.

“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,” Rubio said on Friday. “This legislation will 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, and build upon the successes of our 2015 law that targets Hezbollah , its proxies and its enablers. I thank my colleagues in the Senate and House for their support of this important bill, and I look forward to seeing the president sign it into law soon.”

“Hezbollah has American blood on its hands and remains an ever-present threat to our national security and that of our allies, especially Israel," said Shaheen. "This bipartisan legislation helps further close the space in which Hezbollah operates and ensures that our government is comprehensively targeting Hezbollah ’s networks of support and holding its backers accountable. I look forward to the president signing this legislation into law so that these enhanced measures can go into effect as soon as possible.”

Rubio and Shaheen have worked against Hezbollah before. Their 2015 legislation imposed sanctions on businesses and banks that knowingly work with Hezbollah and its affiliates including the al-Manar Hezbollah television station. That legislation also directed the president to report to Congress on Hezbollah’s efforts and what the U.S. government is doing to fight that terrorist group. The bill was sponsored in the House by Royce, with Deutch, the ranking Democrat on the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, as a key co-sponsor. In 2014, Rubio and Shaheen brought out a resolution urging the EU to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. 

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