MAHSA Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 589) to impose sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran and the President of Iran and their respective offices for human rights abuses and support for terrorism, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that Iran has committed brutal human rights violations. This regime silences dissent and suppresses the truth, and those who dare speak out face severe consequences, including death.

Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was murdered by the Iranian regime, the so-called morality police, while in police custody. Iran's morality police had detained her for a false crime unthinkable to most of us here in this Chamber.

What was the crime?

It was failing to properly cover her hair.

The people of Iran were outraged by her brutal murder and by the range of injustices that the Ayatollah subjects Iranians to day in and day out. This outrage led the great people of Iran to rise up in peaceful protest, demanding change.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the regime responded with a violent crackdown against the protesters. They detained tens of thousands of their own citizens and killed hundreds more. The regime choked off access to the outside world by blocking the internet. Disturbingly, violence and isolation are how they deny their own people their freedom and their voice.

The international community has failed the people of Iran by failing to compel their oppressors to stop this abuse. We have many sanctions laws designed to address the Iranian regime's human rights violations. However, it is clear that many officials and institutions in Iran have not yet been sanctioned for their role in these abuses. That is why it is so important that we pass this bipartisan bill that was authored and introduced by Representative Banks from Indiana.

We must require the President to formally determine whether specific high-ranking regime officials and institutions meet the criteria for imposition of our sanctions and then act based on those determinations.

The Biden administration has its own political agenda when it comes to Iran. This administration wants to broker a bad nuclear agreement with Iran and has made it clear that it is willing to sacrifice leverage in the form of sanctions enforcement to do so.

My longstanding concerns only grew when we learned that the administration's chief negotiator, Rob Malley, was being investigated for problems with his security clearance. This administration must be transparent about these allegations and how they have impacted the last 2 years of Iran's policy.

To the administration, I say this: We must not sell out the Iranian people to reach a bad nuclear deal with Iran.

A nuclear Iran is simply not acceptable. We must fully enforce the laws on the books that we have in order to stop the grotesque human rights violations taking place in Iran.

That is why as we approach the 1-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini's tragic death--it is so fitting that we do it here in this Chamber this week--Congress must show the world that we have not forgotten Mahsa or the millions of Iranians who have experienced violence, oppression, and even death at the hands of the regime.

Mr. Speaker, I urge unanimous support for this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Ways and Means,

Washington, DC, June 22, 2023.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman McCaul, I am writing with respect to H.R.

589, the ``Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security

Accountability Act.'' As a result of your having consulted

with us on provisions on which the Committee on Ways and

Means has a jurisdictional interest, I will not request a

sequential referral on this measure.

The Committee on Ways and Means takes this action with the

mutual understanding that we do not waive any jurisdiction

over the subject matter contained in this or similar

legislation, and the Committee will be appropriately

consulted and involved as the bill or similar legislation

moves forward so that we may address any remaining issues

that fall within our jurisdiction. The Committee also

reserves the right to seek appointment of an appropriate

number of conferees to any House-Senate conference involving

this or similar legislation, and requests your support for

such request.

Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter

confirming this understanding and would ask that a copy of

our exchange of letters on this matter be included in the

Congressional Record during floor consideration of H.R. 589.

Sincerely,

Jason Smith,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), who is the author of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Ranking Member Meeks, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, and Congressman Lloyd Doggett for their work on this bill. I also thank Representative Banks for leading this important bipartisan measure to ensure the United States upholds its moral responsibility as a beacon of freedom in human rights.

This bill does not create any new sanctions programs. The tools we are discussing here today already exist. We are simply asking the administration to enforce them. We must do everything we can to stand with the people of Iran and prevent more violence and suffering.

I feel for Mahsa's family, seeing her being beaten, tortured, and put to death for the so-called crime of merely not wearing her hijab correctly is really unfathomable to Americans and our way of life in a free society, and it cannot stand.

I look forward to a day when the Ayatollah is out of power and the people of Iran can be free to express themselves without this kind of oppression and tyranny. I know it will happen one day, and I hope it happens in my lifetime.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, there is no debate in Congress about the nature of the Iranian Government. The Supreme Leader of Iran murders, tortures, and abuses his own people. He denies Iranian citizens freedom and democracy. He guides proxy forces meant to destabilize numerous regional countries. He has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and he is developing a nuclear program that has stockpiled enough highly enriched uranium for several nuclear warheads. I believe there must be costs associated with this behavior, and the United States is delivering those costs.

The Mahsa Amini Human Rights and Security Accountability Act, or the MAHSA Act, is a bill that would require the President of the United States to determine whether high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran should be listed under existing U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses and support of terrorism. If an Iranian person or entity is found to meet these criteria, the legislation strongly encourages the executive branch to sanction that person or entity to the fullest extent of the law.

Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats understand the despicable nature of Iran's Supreme Leader and his regime and the need to hold them accountable. The Supreme Leader is currently sanctioned under executive order 13876 which blocks the property of the Supreme Leader and his office, as well as persons determined to have provided material support to the Supreme Leader or his office.

As of April 20, 2023, 112 persons have been designated for sanctions pursuant to this order--75 entities, 36 individuals, and one vessel.

Some of these designations were made by the Trump administration, and some have been made by the Biden administration. The Supreme Leader is fully cut off from the American financial system and is not allowed to travel to the United States.

Mr. Speaker, it is worth noting that other prominent Iranian leaders currently under strict American sanctions include President Raisi, two of Iran's vice presidents, and seven cabinet ministers, including the Ministers of Communication, Culture, Defense, Intelligence, Interior, and Petroleum. Companies and subsidiaries tied to the Supreme Leader in the sectors of energy, textiles, mining, chemicals, and financial services are all under strict sanctions.

Let me be clear: there are more sanctions on the Supreme Leader and his cronies today than there were 1\1/2\ years ago. Applying maximum pressure on the Supreme Leader is an entirely bipartisan priority. We must always do more. Enforcement can be tighter. Legislation with transparency mechanisms such as the MAHSA Act provide value to the Congress and our Iran policy oversight efforts.

During committee consideration of the MAHSA Act, I voted to move the bill to the floor despite having reservations that the text as currently drafted could damage national security waivers found in the underlying statute. Though the bill improved throughout the negotiations process with the majority, an amendment was offered, which was adopted over the committee Democrats' objections, that undermines some of the progress we achieved before markup.

During a future conference process with the Senate, we want to assure this legislative text will not harm any President's ability to adjust any potential national security event vis-a-vis Iran, including addressing the nuclear issue. We also hope to streamline the reporting requirements to make them feasible for OFAC and the Treasury Department to deliver to Congress.

We look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan manner on crafting a final bill that continues to put pressure on the Supreme Leader of Iran and those who support his nefarious efforts. In the meantime, I will vote to advance the current draft from the House in order to prepare for negotiations with the Senate.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.

Mr. Speaker, I will vote in support of this measure as it is crucial that we continue to pressure the Supreme Leader of Iran and his cronies and enablers, but I look forward to further refining the text with our Senate colleagues to make this the best bill possible.

Mr. Speaker, I also note that I join Chairman McCaul and Representative Doggett in acknowledging that it has been nearly 1 year since the tragic death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. We will always remember her global impact not just for the girls and women of Iran, but for girls and women all over the world.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it has been 1 year since the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in Iran, and it has been 1 year during which revulsion to repression has given birth to so many courageous Iranians expressing their defiance of arbitrary restrictions on their freedom.

Nevertheless, it has also been another year of torture and murder at the hands of a fanatical tyranny. With approval of this legislation named for Mahsa, we say to Iranians: ``Your voices are heard, your voices are important, and you are not forgotten.''

While the type of military action against Iran urged by fanatics outside

of Iran would be disastrous and counterproductive, through this act we seek to use all other available means to hold accountable the cruel repressors in Tehran.

Those of us who are progressives, opposing any war against Iran, are equally opposed to the Iran war that the government is currently carrying out against its own children. We share the battle cry of peaceful Iranian protesters: Woman, life, freedom.

This bill has little to do with the Iran nuclear agreement, which was wisely negotiated by President Obama's administration and our European allies. The world is less safe today not because of that agreement but because of President Trump's unilateral cancellation of the agreement presenting us today with an Iran that is nearer the development of a nuclear weapon than it was prior to the agreement.

We need to be seeking to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon short of war; but our desire for a safer world should not impair our willingness to do more to make Iran safer for its own citizens.

As Amnesty International reported just this past month, Iranian authorities have been subjecting victims' families to arbitrary arrest and detention, imposing restrictions on peaceful gatherings at gravesites, and even destroying victims' grave markers, and now within the last few days, detaining Mahsa's uncle so that he cannot speak out this Saturday on the anniversary of her murder.

Already this year, the Iranian Government has executed 320 people, doubling the rate prior to Mahsa's death, and giving Iran the wretched distinction of the highest number of executions per capita in the entire world.

Building upon current, existing executive orders, this bill proposes to codify existing sanctions targeting those at the top of the Iranian regime for their human rights abuses and for this egregious action over the last year.

Nevertheless, the attacks on President Biden really are misplaced if this is to be a truly bipartisan initiative. I believe that passage of the MAHSA Act sends a message to Iranians not about this administration, but of the fact that we, the elected Members of the people of the United States, oppose these abuses.

Mr. Speaker, passage of this act is not about what this administration has or has not done, but that it reflects the broad determination of this body, the Congress, the Representatives of the people of the United States, to speak out against a brutal theocracy. We stand with Iranians who seek a brighter future where the rule of law and freedom are respected, and hopefully one day there will be an end to the terrible division between our two countries.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership on this issue and so many other issues related to our foreign policy and national security.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak today in support of the passage of my bill, the MAHSA Act. As the chairman said, this bill is named in honor of Mahsa Amini, a young woman in Iran who was killed by the Iranian regime nearly almost exactly 1 year ago this week.

Mahsa died after being snatched off the street and brutally beaten by a patrol of the regime's so-called morality police all because she was not wearing her headscarf correctly in public.

Mahsa's murder triggered months of the largest prodemocracy and anti- regime protests in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Iranians called for freedom and chanted ``death to the dictator.'' Iranian women cast off their hijabs and burnt them in protest. They shook the regime to its core and showed the world that the Iranian people despise the Iranian regime. They will no longer tolerate its human rights abuses, corruption, and squandering of their wealth on terrorism.

Nevertheless, the Biden administration refused to take real action in support of the protesters last year and has been looking the other way ever since.

This administration is too afraid to jeopardize their dream of a new nuclear deal with Iran, so it is up to Congress to act instead. That is what we are doing here today.

The MAHSA Act will hold the most malicious elements of Iran's regime accountable while avoiding collateral damage on ordinary Iranians. My bill will require the administration to actually enforce sanctions on the books and to go after Mahsa's killers and funders of terrorism, including the Supreme Leader of Iran and senior regime officials and their money laundering organizations.

I thank all of those from both parties who made this bipartisan legislation possible and to become a reality today. More importantly, I thank all those Iranian-American groups here at home who showed their Representatives how important it is to stand in support of the Iranian people and to finally take action to hold this brutal regime accountable.

I call upon the Senate to immediately take up and pass the MAHSA Act, and I call upon President Biden to stop dragging his feet, listen to the Iranian people, and confront the Iranian regime once and for all.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on H.R. 589, the Mahsa Amini Human Rights Security Accountability (MAHSA) Act.

This bill would require the President of the United States to impose property- and visa- blocking sanctions on certain individuals and entities affiliated with Iran.

Additionally, this bill would impose requirements that the President periodically make determinations about whether certain existing sanctions apply to specified persons and impose the applicable sanctions, including determinations concerning:

(1) the Supreme Leader of Iran and any official in the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran;

(2) the President of Iran and any official in the Office of the President of Iran; and

(3) any entity overseen by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran which is complicit in supporting human rights abuses or terrorism.

Iran currently faces widespread unrest because of various human rights violations.

In 2022, security forces killed more than 500 persons, including at least 69 children, and arrested more than 19,000 protesters, including children, according to the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Some of those arrested faced the death penalty, including children.

The government also routinely disrupted access to the internet and communications applications to prevent the free flow of information and to attempt to interrupt or diminish participation in protests.

Although the human rights violations in Iran are unacceptable and certainly condemnable and actionable in response, to address this matter in the manner set forth by this bill is concerning.

First, this bill and its text targets the Iran government itself, not individuals in the government.

Because of this, this bill would essentially remain in effect indefinitely, regardless of a change in leadership and political or social agenda.