House Backs Funding for New Iran Oil Sanctions Law

July 1, 2024 by Marc Selinger|Congress

The House last week approved an amendment to the FY 2025 State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Bill that would direct $1 million to implementing the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act, a new law for sanctioning Iranian oil.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., offered the amendment to ensure there is funding for the SHIP Act, a spokesperson told Export Compliance Daily. The House went on to pass the overall State-Foreign Operations bill by a party-line 212-200 vote.

The SHIP Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in April as part of a broader national security bill, requires sanctions on foreign ports and refineries that knowingly process Iranian oil (see 2404240043). A bipartisan group of House members, including Lawler, recently urged the Biden administration to quickly implement the SHIP Act to reduce Iran’s oil revenue (see 2406200008).

Also as part of the State-Foreign Operations bill, the House approved an amendment by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., that would block implementation of National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), which requires the State Department to obtain written assurances that recipients of U.S. foreign military aid will use those weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law. NSM-20 critics say the policy duplicates human rights safeguards in existing law and was designed to placate critics of Israel (see 2405010082).

As part of the FY 2025 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, the House last week approved an Ogles amendment that would prevent DOD from removing firms from its 1260H list of Chinese military companies in the coming fiscal year.

Ogles said the administration has been too quick to remove Chinese entities from Commerce Department lists because it prefers to “placate rather than punish China.” Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., opposed the amendment, saying it would prevent the defense secretary from making “necessary judgments” about the 1260H list.

The House passed the overall DOD bill by a 217-198 vote.