Examiner. Com. NY Military Headlines Examiner, April 23, 2010 – The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly yesterday to instruct members of the conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions of Iranian sanctions legislation (HR 2194).
Staten Island/Brooklyn congressman Michael McMahon (D) has been a vocal advocate for sanctioning Iran and has spearheaded the effort to push this legislation through the House Foreign Affairs Committee toward an eventual vote on the House floor.
“As we debate placing sanctions on Iran in Washington, the Iranian government continues to enrich uranium in its quest to become nuclear capable,” said Rep. McMahon.
’Iran’s actions on this front are cause for great concern–not only for the safety on the United States, but also for the safety of Israel and any other democratic country in that region of the world.”
In a speech on Iran’s growing influence in the region on the House floor last week, Rep. McMahon implored his colleagues to move forward on the process to instruct conferees to reconcile HR 2194.
“As smaller Arab states in the Gulf witness the rise in Iranian power, a power that will be confirmed once it reaches the nuclear threshold, they too will follow that path and attempt to forge an alliance with this new regional superpower,” said Rep. McMahon.
“For this reason, it is crucial that Congress move swiftly toward curtailing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
’Decades of inaction have allowed Iran’s influence to sweep across the globe. We cannot allow Iran to move further as its influence creeps through our own hemisphere.
The time to act is now. I urge my colleagues to move swiftly into conference and pass the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act.”
Rep. McMahon has been fighting to pass the Iran Sanctions legislation in committee and then in the House.
He drafted a key provision in HR 2194 mandating a reporting requirement from the President to Congress.
The report would include information on any G-20 countries who have engaged in trade relations with Iran.
Rep. McMahon also introduced the Iran Human Rights Sanctions Act (HR 4647).
That bill is the House companion to the Lieberman/McCain bill and will impose financial sanctions and visa bans on those in the Iranian regime who are complicit in human rights abuses.