Release: SCHMITT LEGISLATION TO ENSURE TAXPAYER DOLLARS DO NOT SUPPORT TERRORISM CLEARS SENATE

JEFFERSON CITY – Legislation sponsored by State Senator Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale to “Defund Iran” passed the Senate, 30-1 today advancing his initiative to protect taxpayer money from being funneled to state sponsors of terror. Following passage, Schmitt said we need to be vigilant to prevent America’s enemies from accessing Missourians’ resources to fund attacks on our country and its allies.
Schmitt noted that the initiative is necessary because the Obama Administration and other nations agreed to a misguided Iran nuclear deal that requires the Obama Administration to lift sanctions and facilitate investment with Iran. Moreover, 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, which states:
“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.”
Schmitt, who strongly opposes President Obama’s Iran deal, said this is another opportunity for Missouri to send a message to Washington, D.C.
“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.