The Biden administration has once again failed to live up to its January 2021 promise to be the "most transparent" in U.S. history, this time by withholding a mandated report on Iranian sanctions — along with any waivers on Iranian sanctions — from Congress.
The report is required from the Treasury Department through a provision in the national security supplemental legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this year. Included by Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC), the report must identify all Iranian and Iran-linked assets worth $5 million or more held outside Iran and was due within 30 days of the president signing the legislation.
According to the provision, the unclassified report and briefing for lawmakers must identify all Iranian or Iran-linked assets worth more than $5 million held outside of Iran and include information on the country and financial institution where the asset is held as well as all licenses, action letters, and other sanctions exemptions related to Iran. In April, Sen. Scott said the requirement — part of his Revoke Iranian Funding Act — "holds the Biden administration accountable for their appeasement of Iran."
The report is required by law as part of a provision from the Revoke Iranian Funding Act authored by @SenatorTimScott that was included in the national security supplemental signed into law in April.
— U.S. Senate Banking Committee GOP (@BankingGOP) June 14, 2024
Well, the 30-day deadline passed on May 24, according to Sen. Scott, but Treasury still has not produced the report as mandated. Now, the South Carolina Republican wants answers from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
In a June 13 letter to Yellen, Sen. Scott reiterated that "Congress needs this report to better inform legislation responding to the Iran regime's financing of its terror activities" but the Biden administration has run the clock "well past the deadline" required in the law signed by the president.
"It is my understanding that a fulsome report has been drafted; however, staff level conversations have not resulted in even an estimate of when this report can be expected," Sen. Scott explained in his letter. "This should be a priority for the Department," he emphasized. "Please provide a date by which I can expect the Treasury Department to comply with the law's reporting requirement."
"If you do not anticipate providing the report to Congress in the next 7 days, please explain why the report is delayed," he added. "Countering the terror activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies through use of our economic and national security tools has been one of my top priorities as the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee," Sen. Scott reiterated. "That is why it was critically important that the portion of my Revoke Iranian Funding Act that required a study of high-value Iranian assets currently blocked by U.S. sanctions was included in the national security supplemental signed into law in April."
"As Iran and its proxies remain active in attacking our own servicemembers and our allies, Israel in particular, this information is even more critical," wrote Sen. Scott.