Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement during a National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Restricting Rogue-State Revenue: Strengthening Energy Sanctions on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.”

Thank you, Chairman Luetkemeyer and Ranking Member Beatty. We are here today to discuss how we can strengthen energy-related sanctions on Iran, Russia, and Venezuela in order to prevent them from funneling funds to terrorism and other harmful activities.

But Republicans have proposed to slash funding for the very agencies responsible for sanctions enforcement, by 30 percent. We cannot expect to have robust sanctions enforcement without robust funding for the agencies in charge of enforcement.

Moreover, we cannot expect to be tough on Russia if we walk away from Ukraine. Not only would that hand a major victory to Vladmir Putin, it would embolden China’s ambitions to invade Taiwan.

I urge my Republican colleagues to pass President Biden’s supplemental package and yield back.

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