[House Hearing, 114 Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] IRGC TERRORIST SANCTIONS ACT OF 2015 ======================================================================= MARKUP BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 3693 __________ SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 __________ Serial No. 114-226 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ ______ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 21-675PDF WASHINGTON : 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402-0001 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida RON DeSANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan LEE M. ZELDIN, New York DANIEL DONOVAN, New York Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director ------ Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade TED POE, Texas, Chairman JOE WILSON, South Carolina WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts DARRELL E. ISSA, California BRAD SHERMAN, California PAUL COOK, California BRIAN HIGGINS, New York SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois LEE M. ZELDIN, New York C O N T E N T S ---------- Page MARKUP ON H.R. 3693, To require a report on whether Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a terrorist entity, and for other purpose........................................................ 2 Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3693 offered by the Honorable William Keating, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts....................... 5 APPENDIX Markup notice.................................................... 10 Markup minutes................................................... 11 Markup summary................................................... 12 IRGC TERRORIST SANCTIONS ACT OF 2015 ---------- TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., in room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Paul Cook presiding. Mr. Cook. The subcommittee will come to order. Pursuant to notice, we will meet today and mark up an important piece of terrorist sanctions legislation. I now call up the bill H.R. 3693, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Terrorist Sanctions Act of 2015. Without objection, the bill is considered read and open for amendment at any point and all members may have 5 days to submit statements and materials for the record. To expedite our consideration, I ask unanimous consent that we consider the amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Ranking Member Keating, which is the product of an agreement between the Chair and the ranking member and which all members have in front of them as them as the base text. Hearing no objection, so ordered. [The information referred to follows:] [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Mr. Cook. I now recognize myself to speak on the bill and in light of the fact that if called, votes--excuse me--I am going to, if there is no objection, just submit that as part of the record and dismiss with my reading. And I now recognize the ranking member for his comments on today's measures. Mr. Keating. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll just try and be very quick in my reading of this, given the rollcall that we have in front of us. I want to thank the chairman for putting forward this bill and for highlighting our continued efforts to work together to ensure our country is appropriately addressing nefarious actors. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps continues to act as a destabilizing force in the Middle East and beyond. Over the years, branches of our Government have determined that portions of the IRGC support terrorism such as the Quds Force and have since designated sponsors--them as sponsors of terrorism. H.R. 3693, the IRGC Terrorist Sanctions Act of 2015, requires the Treasury Department to report on whether the Revolutionary Guard meets requirements for designation of a terrorist entity under the Executive order, Executive Order 13224, which targets global terrorist activity and whether the IRGC's control of a company's board of directors should trigger such designation. Already the Corps has been sanctioned to various degrees. For example, in 2007, the IRGC was designated by Executive order for having engaged in proliferation-related activities. Again, in June 2011, Treasury designated the IRGC for its role in human rights abuses in Iran following the disputed June 2009 Presidential election. Most recently in April 2012, Treasury designated the IRGC for its activity in connection with human rights through the use of information and communication technology. While it remains unclear how additional designation would impact IRGC's activities, there is no mistaking the nefarious role the network has played in promoting instability. To this end, it is imperative that we continue to hold Iran accountable for its actions and be subject to secondary sanctions. Further, I believe it is important that we ensure Congress has the complete picture when discussing additional sanctions against another country. This includes allowing individuals in the intelligence community the opportunity to provide unfiltered analysis. My amendment incorporates this amendment in the nature of a substitute, ensuring that classified annex of materials may be provided to the appropriate committees. This will significantly aid our receipt of the full picture as would be incorporated in the report authorizing this legislation. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Cook. Thank you very much, Congressman Keating. Do any other members seek recognition to speak on the bill? Yes, sir. The Congressman from California, Congressman Sherman. Mr. Sherman. Clearly, the IRGC is a terrorist organization. It ought to be designated as such. Congress has been, I think, too shy in failing to pass legislation to simply designate entities. But in this case, I am sure the review will end up where it should and in the future we may simply designate these rather than go through a-- have the State Department go through a process that will lead to that same designation. I yield back. Mr. Cook. Thank you. Congressman Perry. Seeing no other--I just want to make one final comment. I didn't want to talk much on this but this is something very, very significant because the organization we are talking about had an incident a long time ago in 1983. It was the Marine barracks in Beirut that was blown up. That was my old battalion--1st Battalion 8th Marines--where we lost over 260 Marines, sailors and soldiers. So, obviously, I support this bill and hearing no further amendments---- Mr. Keating. Mr. Chairman, I have one other thing. Mr. Cook. Yes, sir. Mr. Keating. Just--I did want to comment and thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, and in his absence I wanted to thank Chairman Poe for his work and the work we put together dealing with it. We did it in a very cooperative and bipartisan manner and although it is great to see you, Mr. Chairman, I know I speak for the rest of the committee. We can't wait to see him back here. I yield back. Mr. Cook. Well, thank you for your comments. Our thoughts and prayers go with Chairman Poe and I know I am not chopped liver and can never be. But hearing no further amendments, I move that the bill as amended be favorably reported to the full committee. I have to have a teleprompter and what have you. Okay. The vote itself--all those in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The motion is approved. The bill is reported favorably as amended. So now we are going to go and--we are going to adjourn and then come back for our hearing at 2:45. So everybody get on their starting blocks and make votes. [Whereupon, at 2:08 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] A P P E N D I X ---------- Material Submitted for the Record [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] [all]