SCHMITT LEADING EFFORT TO ENSURE TAXPAYER DOLLARS DO NOT SUPPORT TERRORISM

JEFFERSON CITY – State Senator Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, introduced “Defund Iran” legislation to protect taxpayer money from being funneled to state sponsors of terror. Schmitt said we need to be vigilant to prevent our enemies from accessing the resources and funding they seek to attack America and its allies.

The Obama administration and other nations agreed to the Iran nuclear deal this summer, and part of the deal requires the Obama administration to lift sanctions and facilitate investment with Iran. In fact, the deal orders nations to do everything they can to ensure that investment happens.

Senator Schmitt’s legislation is specifically crafted to address Paragraph 25 of the Iran nuclear agreement:

“If a law at the state or local level in the United States is preventing the implementation of the sanctions lifting as specified in this JCPOA, the United States will take appropriate steps, taking into account all available authorities, with a view to achieving such implementation. The United States will actively encourage officials at the state or local level to take into account the changes in the U.S. policy reflected in the lifting of sanctions under this JCPOA and to refrain from actions inconsistent with this change in policy.”

“With this initiative, we are going to make clear to Washington that Missouri taxpayer dollars will not be invested with companies that do business with any state sponsor of terror, including Iran,” Schmitt said. “In the nuclear agreement, the Obama administration approved a special deal that would preempt state laws and policies that prevent tax dollars from being invested with international entities that fund terror states. Missourians deserve the opportunity to send Washington a message that their tax dollars should not be funneled to any country that chants ‘death to America’ and seeks to harm and kill our people and the men and women of our Armed Forces.”

The Iran agreement would empower the federal government to rescind statutes in the 30 states that currently have Terrorism Divestiture laws. These bipartisan laws prevent taxpayer dollars from being invested in and spent with corporations doing business with state sponsors of terrorism.

Schmitt firmly believes the taxpayers of Missouri should not be forced into complying with an overly generous deal for Iran – and that taxpayer dollars should be protected from investments with state sponsors of terror like Iran.