Nov 10, 2016

Congress is rushing to block President Barack Obama's administration from allowing Boeing aircraft sales to Iran following Donald Trump’s election.

The House Rules Committee has made action on the legislation its very first priority when Congress returns from recess on Nov. 14. The full House could then vote on the bill from Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., as early as Nov. 16.

“The Obama administration's nuclear agreement with Iran … opened the door for the sale of American-made aircraft to the world's leading state sponsor of terror,” Huizenga, who chairs the committee’s trade panel, said in a statement ahead of a July hearing on the bills. “I am extremely concerned that by relaxing the rules, the Obama administration has allowed US companies to be complicit in weaponizing the Iranian regime."

The Treasury Department granted Boeing a license to export 80 planes to Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air, back in September. The bill under consideration, however, would prohibit the agency from issuing the licenses that US banks would need to finance the transactions; the Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Rules Committee further seeks to merge the measure with another bill from Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., that would prohibit the Export-Import Bank from helping to finance deals involving Iran. Both measures cleared the House Financial Services Committee in July and are expected to easily pass the full House, although prompt Senate action remains uncertain.