Profile | Rep. Ed Royce
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House Moves (Slowly) on Iran Sanctions
By Rep. Ed Royce | 10/29/09 | 12:37 AM EDT | 2 Comments
On Wednesday morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee I sit on finally passed the "Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act." It sailed through, but faces a long and winding road to becoming law.
From day one I backed this legislation, which shoots at Iran's Achilles' heel - its reliance on gas imports. Despite sitting on some of the world's largest energy reserves, Iran must import 40 percent of its refined petroleum, having too few domestic refineries. The legislation sanctions companies that are exporting gasoline to Iran.
Today's step has been a long time coming. Introduced back in April, this bill has sat for 6 months. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime stole an election and a secret uranium enrichment facility has been exposed. There are probably more. The delay wasn't for a lack of support. These sanctions are backed by over 330 House members.
Why the wait? The Speaker has been under strong White House pressure to slow walk this legislation to give time to President Obama's outreach to Iran. Also, the Executive Branch almost never welcomes meaningful sanctions legislation. Some Democrat members spoke out against the legislation today, stating that it "undercuts the President." One even said that "in ten months of President Obama, we have seen more progress with Iran than in the previous eight years." The Nobel Peace Prize Committee agrees! A couple of members expressed concern that unilateral sanctions would get ahead of our allies. That point might have had merit... 5 years ago.
Yet we may have to wait for this bill if the White House and Democrat leadership get their way. The legislation still has to be worked through other committees, get off the House floor and to the Senate, where traps lie. This bill isn't being fast-tracked.
Get this bill done now. Iran is racing toward nuclear weapons. The vast majority of Congress is ready to push this through. The time for nuance in pressuring Iran is long past, if it ever existed.
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2 Comments | Related Topics »National | Orange County (CA)
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Rep. Royce is to be commended on his actions with regard to this Bill. The problem as usual, revolves around the nonsense going on in our Congress. My concern is this: Even if sanctions were to become law, the typical Washington gridlock means none of it will come to fruition for decades, and then - no one will want to be the person responsible for enforcing it. I really wish our Congress would pay more attention to our foreclosures, homeless families, jobless rate, our USA economy, outsourcing, and more. The American people feel forgotten by this Administration. With all that bailout money going to FOO (Friends of Obama) and none to save our homes, what are Americans supposed to think.
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|Congressman Royce,
My name is Gary H. Johnson, Jr. After reading this post, I thought you could use a little feedback from the trenches. Below you will find three article links - when read in order, they should clarify your concerns into a more realistic perspective on the issue of gasoline sanctions on Iran...
September 29, 2009
http://www.redcounty.com/obamas-acceptance-iranian-hegemony
October 2, 2009
http://theafpakreader.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/oped-on-iran-regime-change-is-off-the-table/#more-372
October 26, 2009
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/preparing_for_iranian_hegemony_1.html
When taken as a whole, this line of thought may help you and your fellow Republican lawmakers in both houses properly grapple with the new foreign affairs realities between now and Clinton's 2010 QDDR release.
Ed, man to man, if I had one piece of advice to offer you, it would be to read the Ross/Makovsky book Myths, Illusions & Peace, and when you get to the middle of page 84, pick up Dore Gold's book Rise of a Nuclear Iran - when you complete that book, finish the Ross/Makovsky book - only then will you know what to do. The grand illusion of the Ross/Makovsky effort is the decision to leave out the Reagan, H.W. Bush, and Clinton years on page 84 and only talk about the crucial quarter of a century - piecemeal - here and there. Remember, Zakaria is a CFR member - when Ross' book was going to press - check out what Zakaria wrote on May 23rd ( http://www.newsweek.com/id/199147 ). "Everything you know about Iran is wrong..."
On Nov.1 & 2 - Makovsky will be in San Francisco at a book festival - he will be heading over to Stanford as well - it may be a good idea to have a chat with him...as a California Rep, it seems only logical that you would strike up a dialogue.
Please contact me if you need help on your staff.
Gary H. Johnson, Jr.
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