No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. PORTER. Mr. Chair, the Iranian regime is a danger to international security and democratic order everywhere.

The regime has funded terrorism across the Middle East for years, enabling groups like Hamas to attack Israel and commit other atrocities. The Iranian regime doesn't stop with supporting regional terrorism. It commits its own atrocities, consistently and brutally cracking down on its own citizens fighting for basic freedoms.

If all that weren't enough, the Iran regime further refuses to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, putting the world at risk.

Challenges like these require Congress to make policy that meets the moment, but we can only do that if Members of Congress and the people we represent can do oversight and fully understand our administration's policy toward Iran.

Americans will benefit from more information on how our Nation is approaching preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and ending Iran's support for terrorist networks. Congress will also benefit from this information so that we can better legislate on Iran, consistent with the security interests and values of the United States.

Under President Obama's administration, the United States Government issued periodic reports on its evolving policy in Syria. This set a model for the executive branch sharing information with lawmakers and the public regarding United States foreign policy toward countries of concern.

In Congress, we know that the details of our Nation's Iran policy are complex and fluid, but precedent exists for our administration to provide a more complete window into its foreign policy objectives in specific countries.

This bipartisan amendment would commission a detailed report on United States policy with regard to Iran with regard to human rights, nuclear proliferation, the ballistic missile program, and regional terrorism.

We don't need talking heads force-feeding us conclusions about this administration's Iran policy. Let's get an oversight report about what that policy is and let everyone draw their own conclusions. Then, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle can better make policy that addresses the challenges we face operating from a shared platform of information.

Mr. Chair, let's trust the American people and each other with information. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. PORTER. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
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Ms. PORTER. Mr. Chair, in Iran, we see a familiar pattern. Iranians are standing up, demanding change for themselves, their families, and their country. Then, the Iranian regime cracks down, arresting protesters and journalists and unleashing violence against its own people. Instead of giving its people the freedoms they seek, the regime limits freedoms, including restricting internet access.

For authoritarian governments like the Iranian regime, restricting internet access couldn't be more crucial as a tool in repressing their own citizens. The internet is a portal to information about human rights, democratic order, economic prosperity, and thriving civil society. These things support freedom, and freedom is exactly the opposite of what the Iranian regime wants.

To give Iranians a better future, we need to support them in having real access to the internet, and that means the internet without censorship, without digital surveillance, and without online repression. My amendment will help us do that.

First, the amendment will require an assessment of the ways the Iranian Government shuts down, censors, and weaponizes the internet. Then, it will commission an assessment of whether United States policy is currently best supporting the flow of communication tools to the Iranian people.

Finally, it will require the United States to develop strategies to counter Iran's online repression and prevent the Iranian regime from using tools of digital repression.

Iranians have struggled for decades against threats to their basic freedoms. The more the Iranian people have tools like real internet access, the better position they will be in to fight the repression of the Iranian regime. That is why Members on both sides of the aisle who care deeply about creating a better future for the Iranian people have supported and collaborated with me on this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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