December 15, 2009
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House Iran petroleum sanctions bill passes (UPDATED)
Debate in the House on Howard Berman's Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act has just gotten underway.
The legislation would sanction foreign companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran, or help Iran with its own domestic refining capacity, by depriving those companies of access to the US market.
(Bill passed at 5:10pm with 412 for, 12 against, 4 present.)
After Rep. Denis Kucinich requested additional time for members to speak in opposition to the legislation, the amount of time allowed to debate the bill was bumped up from 40 to 60 minutes.
The bill, with 343 co-sponsors, is widely expected to pass by a large margin.
A hotlined Senate version of the bill did not pass last week, and modifications are being worked on between various Senators and the administration.
Some sources indicated that reconciliation of the two bills is not expected to come before the end of the year.
At issue are two things: one whether the final bill will require the president to seek a waiver from Congress on national security grounds each time he doesn't sanction foreign companies accused of being in violation of the legislation. Alternatively, the administration would prefer that the president have that discretion without needing to seek a waiver in each case.
More broadly, many advocate trying to pursue international sanctions at the UN Security Council first -- or a coalition of the willing sanctions if those can't be obtained -- before moving to US unilateral sanctions that some fear could fracture the international coalition trying to pressure Iran on its nuclear program. In fact, Berman said he would prefer UN Security Council sanctions when he introduced his bill last month.
The Obama administration has set an end of the year deadline before seeking to get a new round of UN Security Council sanctions on Iran.
Meantime, the State Department said yesterday that a meeting of members of the P5+1 planned for next week would not take place this year. China could not apparently schedule the meeting. The political directors from the US, France, Germany, UK, China, and Russia may convene by phone. The meeting was to have been the one where the countries planned their next steps on preparing for possible Iran sanctions after the end of the year.
UPDATE: Debate finished. Will go up for roll call vote at about 450pm. Another staffer said it will be rolled for a voice vote after the next vote, then yeas and neas.
UPDATE II: Roll call vote under way. Currently 342-9. Expected to be done by about 5:10pm.
Passed: Final tally 411 yeas, 11 neas, 4 present.
UPDATE III: Two late votes. Really final tally: 412 for, 12 against, 4 present.
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