Scalise: House Republicans are Standing Up to Iran
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to discuss getting the House back on track, passing appropriations bills, and standing with our ally Israel. Leader Scalise highlighted how House Republicans are bringing forward a bill to ensure Israel has what they need in their fight to defend themselves. Leader Scalise also slammed President Biden for not taking strong action against Iran and emphasized the importance of reimposing sanctions on Iranian oil.
Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise's full remarks.
On getting the House back to work and passing appropriations bills:
“The House is off to another busy start. But if you just look at the first 24 hours under Speaker Mike Johnson, we started off passing a very strong, overwhelmingly bipartisan resolution supporting Israel. It was an important, I think, first statement that this is the focus of our new Speaker, getting the House open for business again. We followed that up just a few hours later passing an appropriations bill, getting that process back on track.
“Because now, if you look at last night's action – coming in, passing more pro-Israel resolutions as well as passing yet another appropriations bill yesterday, two more teed up this week – we will be at over 80 percent of government funding passing the House of Representatives. And yet, the Senate is finally starting to take action, because they realize that the House is serious about getting this appropriations process back on track. And our Speaker has made that very clear to our Senate colleagues, as well as to the President, about what's at stake and about what the focus of the House is on.”
On the Israel Supplemental Appropriations Act:
“If you look at today, really important pieces of legislation that we have – not just the appropriations process, but supporting Israel. Of course, we have a critical piece of the funding structure for Israel, bringing the bill to make sure that Israel has the tools it needs to fight and defeat Hamas, whether it's replenishing Iron Dome, [or] some of the other strategic weapons systems that their leadership has asked our administration for.
“These are things that have gone through a very strict vetting process. We've been working with the leadership of Israel, as well, to make sure that in a very targeted package, we're going to pass a bill – hopefully very bipartisan – that gives Israel the funding that they need to continue to make sure they can defend themselves from these vicious attacks that Whip Emmer described.
“We've all seen the horrid, horrid details. This is not a time to sit idly by. The House is going to take strong action today to send that message and send that bill over to the Senate as we continue other focuses.”
On reimposing sanctions on Iranian oil:
“This is something, an area where the Administration has been incredibly weak, and that is standing up to Iran. The House is not going to be weak in that regard today.
“You're going to see a strong bill come to the House Floor to say that we will put sanctions against Iranian oil to diminish the role that Iran has played in this, as we've seen from the Biden Administration over and over these last few weeks, when it's been well chronicled how closely Iran has worked with Hamas, not just for weeks or months, but even for over a year to plan these attacks. It's not just the planning and the coordination, but the funding primarily comes from Iran.
“And yet last year alone, Iran by most estimates made about $80 billion selling their oil on world markets because [President] Biden dropped sanctions that used to be in place – $80 billion going to Iran to sell oil at a time when he's blocking American oil, President Biden. How psychotic of a policy, when you're blocking American made oil which is the cleanest in the world, made by Americans, and allowing Iran to sell their oil on world markets, generating over $80 billion for their economy that they use to fund terrorism like Hamas.
“And so, the House will bring a bill to reimpose strong sanctions so Iran cannot sell their oil on world markets, sending a message all around the globe that you don't need to go buy Iranian oil. You don't need to put money into the hands of the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Get your oil from stable sources like America, but don't fund what is the largest source of revenue for Hamas and other groups all around the world – Hezbollah, so many other terrorist organizations. That will come to the floor, as well. We need to continue to send that strong message.”
On continuing to fight for American families in the House:
“We're not going to slow down in the House, because we've got a leader now who's gotten the House back on track, who’s gotten the House open for business and sent a strong message to our allies around the world and to this Administration that we're serious about conducting the people's business, fighting for those families who are struggling, and standing with our allies. And that is our speaker, Mike Johnson.”