Date: 01 Mar 2000
Time: 13:13:26
Remote Name: 156.29.145.175
By Jim Abrams Associated Press Writer Wednesday, March 1, 2000; 3:33 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON –– Congress passed an Iran sanctions bill Wednesday that specifically focuses on Russia's aid to Iran's weapons programs and links U.S. aid for Russia's space program to better non-proliferation efforts.
The House voted 420-0 to accept the Senate version of the bill, which also passed by a unanimous 98-0 vote last week. Those overwhelming votes put pressure on President Clinton to sign it into law, despite administration assertions that the measure is unneeded and only complicates international non-proliferation efforts.
The president vetoed a slightly stronger bill in 1998, but then took administrative action against 10 Russian companies and groups alleged to be aiding Iran's nuclear weapons program. There was no immediate White House comment on the bill the House passed Wednesday.
Unlike the 1998 bill, the legislation gives the president the authority to impose sanctions on groups from Russia and other countries that offer Iran weapons material or technology, but does not require him to do so.
It does require him to report to Congress twice a year on foreign persons or groups identified as supplying Iran with weapons materials. The president has the power to prohibit U.S. purchases from that person or country, or bar the sale of items on the U.S. Munitions List.
In addition, the bill states that the government can only make payments to the Russian Space Agency, which is working with the United States and others on the international space station project, when Russia is determined to be cooperating in preventing proliferation to Iran.
Lawmakers in both the Senate and House debates said they were heartened by the success of reformers in the recent Iranian elections, but stressed that Iran was still a dangerous, terrorist-supporting state.
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., noted that conservatives still control key institutions in the Iranian government and better relations with Tehran "depend on them giving up on gaining nuclear weapons."
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the United States had already paid the Russians $800 million for work on the space station and "the administration's reliance on Russia has put the American taxpayer in the unacceptable position of possibly subsidizing the varied Russian aerospace enterprises that are helping Iran develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles."
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The bill number is H.R. 1883.
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press