Dear John,
We are writing to update you on an important debate that just played out in the House Foreign Affairs Committee concerning the proposal to ban U.S. travel to Iran [[link removed]] . While our efforts to remove the travel ban language in committee were blocked by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and others, we now have significant Congressional support against the ban, and we believe we have a very good chance to stop the ban from becoming law.
Jacobs Amendment to Remove Travel Ban Receives Strong Support from Democrats But Opposed by Republicans
As we reported earlier, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), noting the strong Iranian-American community in her district and their close ties to their loved ones in Iran, introduced an amendment to strip the travel ban language out of the bill. Jacobs noted “annually tens of thousands of Americans travel to Iran to reunite with relatives, celebrate milestones and maintain the familial bonds that distance and politics stretch, but never break…restricting the freedom of movement of ordinary families in the U.S. doesn’t make any sense, and it doesn’t enhance our national security.”
The Ranking Member of the Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), along with Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and even Brad Sherman (D-CA) spoke out against the proposed ban and in favor of the Jacobs amendment, noting the impacts this could have on the Iranian-American community. Connolly warned such a ban would be “paternalistic” and un-American, while undermining opportunities to build ties that can bring about change over time.
This was a critically important debate and, thanks to all who have taken action by writing and calling their Congressional offices, key lawmakers listened and are now working to slow down this ban and block it from moving forward.
Watch the Debate Here: [link removed]
[link removed] [[link removed]]
However, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) - the lead sponsor of the bill - doubled down and objected to the Jacobs amendment. He insisted the ban language must remain in place, saying it is a “critical” provision of the bill.
Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) held a voice vote on the Jacobs amendment and declared that the amendment was not adopted. We are still waiting on the committee to finish its work and hold a formal roll call vote, but it is likely - given Republicans stated their support for the ban and Democrats are in the minority - that the amendment is not adopted and the bill will move forward with the travel ban language.
What does this mean moving forward?
There is a silver lining. The underlying bill H.R. 5826 may now move forward for a vote in the House of Representatives. However, because senior Democrats are now on the record opposing a ban on travel to Iran we now have significant momentum to block the travel ban section, including in the Democratic-controlled Senate if necessary.
This means we can stop a travel ban from passing into law. But we must keep up the momentum.
We need to make sure all legislators in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratically-controlled Senate know that a ban on travel is unacceptable to our community. We have been enthused that thousands have already taken action, including many calls to Members of Congress, and now know we have many legislators on our side. We need to keep that momentum going if we are going to win and stop this ban from coming into force.
Please take action today.
Thank you,
- NIAC Action Teamsupport Our work [[link removed]]
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