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Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce with my colleague Senator Murphy, a bill that extends the sunset of the Iran Sanctions Act, ISA, of 1996 until the President certifies to Congress that the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency has reached a broader conclusion that all nuclear material in Iran remains in peaceful activities.
Currently, ISA expires on December 31st, 2016. Tying ISA's extension to Iran's compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, will provide the administration additional leverage to ensure that a ``snap back'' of sanctions would have significant effect on Iran's economy. Since its enactment in 1996, ISA has been a pivotal component of U.S. sanctions against Iran's energy sector and other industries and remains a critical foundation of our overall sanctions architecture.
Administration officials have indicated that extending ISA, with its current waiver authorities, would not violate the JCPOA, as it imposes no new sanctions. Additionally, ISA is about more than Iran's nuclear program, but also its support for international terrorism, which endangers the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and those countries with which the United States shares common strategic and foreign policy objectives. ISA addresses this issue by denying Iran money to finance international terrorism.
By specifying in the bill that the extension of ISA ``effectuates the JCPOA,'' the intent is to support Congressional actions in line with the deal negotiated by the P5+1 and Iran, particularly following Congress's comprehensive review of the deal and decision to move forward under the Iran Nuclear Review Agreement Act of 2015.
I am proud to introduce this bill with Senator Murphy to make sure that ISA is in place during the JCPOA to signal to the commitment of Congress to vigorously enforce Iran's compliance and to make clear that should Iran break the terms of the agreement, there will be clear consequences, including the re-imposition of sanctions. ______
By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. King):
S. 2990. A bill to prohibit the President from preventing foreign air carriers traveling to or from Cuba from making transit stops in the United States for refueling and other technical services based on the Cuban Assets Control Regulations; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
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