RELEASE: REP. HILL’S BILL TO IMPOSE NEW SANCTIONS ON ASSAD’S PROLIFERATION OF CAPTAGON PASSES THE HOUSE
WASHINGTON, D.C.,
April 16, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Rep. French Hill’s (AR-02) bill, H.R. 4681, the Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act, passed the House Floor with a bipartisan vote of 410-13. This legislation would issue new, direct sanctions against the perpetrators who illicitly produce and traffic captagon. “Iran is the primary financer of Hamas and Hezbollah which further fuels their terror partnership with President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Assad’s murderous regime is propped up by his captagon drug that generates billions in illegal funding and devastates families in the region. “After multiple visits with U.S. government officials and partners in the Middle East last year, it is my view that my required U.S. government-initiated strategy to fight Assad’s production and trafficking of captagon is only in its early stages. We need to have specific sanctions directly targeting individuals and networks associated with the trade of captagon, which is exactly why it is crucial that my bill, the Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act, passed the House Floor today. The U.S. government and our partners in the region and in Europe must put significant pressure on stopping the proliferation of this dangerous drug which is key to ensuring stability in the region – the passage of my bill is an important next step in our decisive actions to do so.” Further Background: H.R. 4681 - Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act: Rep. Hill's bill would impose new sanctions with respect to illicit captagon trafficking in Syria linked to the Bashar al-Assad regime. This bill was signed into law on April 24, 2024. H.R. 6265 – Countering Assad’s Proliferation Trafficking And Garnering Of Narcotics (CAPTAGON) Act: Rep. Hill's legislation requires the U.S. government to develop an interagency strategy to disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking and affiliated networks linked to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. This bill passed in Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and was signed into law in December 2022. On June 29, 2023, the Biden Administration released their strategy in their report to Congress, which can be found HERE. |
