WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – released the following statement on the passage of S.1595, the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017. As ranking member, Brown helped to usher S.1595 by unanimous consent through the Banking Committee in October 2017, and then worked with Chairman Crapo to negotiate the final version with the House. Building on 2015 legislation, it requires imposition of sanctions on entities supporting Hezbollah directly or indirectly -- including by providing financing or recruiting support. It also requires sanctions on agents of foreign governments, like Russia and Iran, that continue to support Hezbollah, and on its criminal affiliates, and requires new reporting to Congress on Hezbollah’s terrorism and transnational criminal activities.
Headquartered in Lebanon, Hezbollah continues to threaten communities throughout the Middle East, and has been responsible for brutal terror attacks against civilians. In Syria, it has allied itself with the murderous Assad regime, and partnered with Russia to further destabilize the country and displace millions of refugees.
“I’m pleased the Senate has approved and the President is expected to sign bipartisan legislation to provide the administration with important new tools to combat the terrorist group Hezbollah,” said Brown. “Congress must continue to press efforts to disrupt Hezbollah’s financing while strongly supporting our allies, including Israel, through closer security cooperation. This bill makes clear we must confront this threat by deploying a broad range of tools -- sanctions, law enforcement, financial, regulatory and others -- to combat Hezbollah, its affiliates and supporters throughout the region.”
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