Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – 7/17/25… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and House Financial Services Committee member, introduced the Syria Sanctions Accountability Act, legislation to modernize U.S. sanctions policy for a post-Assad Syria.

“This bill modernizes the existing sanctions regime on Syria, requires assessments on existing sanctions relief provisions, and sets out goals for the Syrian government to meet anti-money laundering and anti-corruption standards. As the Trump Administration is already reviewing sanctions policy, we must ensure they have the tools to do so that reflect the current security environment,” said Chairman Lawler. 

The Syria Sanctions Accountability Act:

• Directs the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to provide a briefing to Congress on the exceptive relief for the Commercial Bank of Syria.
• Instructs U.S. representatives to the IMF and World Bank to support regular economic monitoring in Syria, processes to improve financial connectivity in Syria, and priorities related to anti-money laundering, weapons non-proliferation, and anti-corruption policies in Syria.
• Requires a formal assessment from the Export-Import Bank on the appropriateness of current country limitations concerning Syria.
• Updates the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act by updating conditions to lift sanctions. This includes requiring the Syrian government to take verifiable steps to combat illicit proliferation of Captagon, ensuring the Syrian government is not engaged in the targeting or extrajudicial detention of religious minorities, and removing references to Russia and Iran that were originally placed in the law due to Assad’s relationship with these adversarial regimes.

“The al-Sharaa Administration certainly has a lot of work to do to reintegrate Syria with the U.S. and our allies. While this job should be difficult given the circumstances, it shouldn’t be impossible,” concluded Chairman Lawler. 

Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

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Full text of the bill can be found HERE.