The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill originally pushed by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that will prohibit any country from appointing a known terrorist to be an ambassador from that country to the United Nations. Sen. Cruz and House sponsor Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) called on President Obama to sign the bill into law.
In a rare showing of bi-partisan support, the bill received unanimous support in both the House and the Senate.
“Congress has voted unanimously in support of a bill to reject Iran’s deliberately insulting nomination of a known terrorist – one of the 1979 hostage-takers – to be their ambassador to the United Nations,” said Sen. Cruz in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting it, and urge the President to act quickly. We, as a country, can send an unequivocal message to rogue nations like Iran that the United States will not tolerate this kind of provocative and hostile behavior.”
A previous Breitbart Texas article reported, “Iran recently appointed Hamid Aboutalebi to be their next ambassador to the UN–once an active participant in the group of terrorists who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.” This prompted Sen. Cruz to submit the bill which has moved with blinding speed through both houses of Congress.
“I have been working hard with House Leadership to move this bill even before it passed the Senate,” said Congressman Lamborn. “I appreciate House Leadership’s rapid response to my request to quickly bring the Cruz/Lamborn bill to the House Floor for a vote. It will give the President the power to prevent an Iranian terrorist from entering our country with diplomatic immunity. This is a great example of leadership in action by both Houses of Congress. After Senator Cruz worked to ensure Senate passage earlier in the week, I felt that it was extremely important that the House respond in-kind by considering the Cruz/Lamborn bill in an expedited manner. It is great to see Congress send a strong, bipartisan message that Iranian evildoers will be treated like terrorists, not tourists. Terrorists, from Iran or elsewhere, should not be allowed to walk the streets of Manhattan with diplomatic immunity.”
The bill now is headed to President Obama’s desk for signature. President Obama is speaking today at the Civil Rights Summit in Austin, Texas marking the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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