WASHINGTON — The GOP-led House approved legislation late Thursday to prohibit the United States from making cash payments to Iran and require that Congress be notified before any future claims settlements with Tehran are conducted. The bill passed by a wide margin, 254-163.
Arkansas’ four representatives, all Republicans, voted for the bill.
The measure won ample support from Republicans aiming to rebuke President Barack Obama’s administration for paying Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year to settle a decades-old arbitration claim.
The initial payment was made the same day Iran agreed to release four American prisoners; GOP lawmakers decried the payments as ransom, an accusation the White House has rejected.
Although the bill targets Iran, lawmakers also passed an amendment that would bar the U.S. from paying cash to other designated sponsors of terrorism and North Korea.
“Cash does not leave a paper trail,” said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the bill’s sponsor. “Cash is the currency of terror.”
The Obama administration has threatened a veto of the bill.