The Republican Study Committee (RSC), largest caucus of GOP lawmakers in Congress, is planning to release on Wednesday a massive legislative proposal targeting Russia, China, and Iran, with more than 140 new initiatives, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Monday.
The RSC is likely to face pushback from Mike Pompeo’s State Department on calling for the cancellation of a sanctions waiver allowing Iran to sell electricity to Iraq as part of a US-approved, two-year $800 million electricity deal. The RSC bill compels the US government not to lift that and similar sanctions without the consent of the House and Senate.
Another area of a potential clash between Congressional Republicans and Mike Pompeo is US aid to Lebanon, which many GOP lawmakers believe supports Hezbollah, thus financing Iranian proxy control of the country. The RSC will be calling for a complete halt of US aid in Lebanon, according to WFB.
According to the RSC’s chairman Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the initiative includes “the toughest sanctions that have ever been proposed by Congress on Iran,” expanding the Trump administration’s campaign against the Islamic Republic and forcing the removal of several policies the Republicans believe are keeping the Obama ear nuclear accord on life support.
The RSC expect some Congressional Democrats to support many of their 140 initiatives, including Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla), and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY).
“Many of these things we would expect and should be bipartisan because this is one of these issues that every person who looks at the situation objectively should agree to,” Johnson told the WFB.