Press Releases

Today, Congressmen Mike Lawler (R-NY-17) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) issued the following statement calling on the U.S. Senate to immediately vote and pass the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act. This bipartisan legislation, which passed the House of Representatives last November by a 342 to 69 margin, would weaken Iran’s ability to use its illegal oil sales to fund terrorist proxies across the Middle East. 

“For months, the U.S. Senate has sat on the SHIP Act and failed to pass it. After this weekend’s unprecedented attack from Iran on Israel, it’s clearer than ever that the U.S. must further sanction Iran and weaken their ability to promote terror across the Middle East. That's a message the Senate must get behind,” said Representatives Lawler and Moskowitz.

The SHIP Act was introduced last year and came to the forefront following the terrorist attack in Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas. It passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee last October on a 40-7 vote and was supported by an overwhelming majority on the House floor last November. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is now slated to mark up the SHIP Act's Senate companion bill tomorrow.

Key Background Information on the SHIP Act:

• Imposes sanctions on foreign ports and refineries that process petroleum exported from Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
• Extends primary and secondary U.S. sanctions to foreign ports that knowingly accept shipments of Iranian petroleum products.
• Extends primary and secondary U.S. sanctions to refineries that knowingly process petroleum originating from Iran.
• Extends primary and secondary U.S. sanctions to any entity that transports, offloads, or otherwise deals in petroleum originating in Iran, including vessels engaging in ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum. These sanctions include asset freezes and visa bans.

New York's 17th Congressional District is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.