Like identical bill S. 386 of 2/15/17, this bill would require the Treasury to publicize the details of any payments made from the Judgment Fund, from which the U.S. makes payments in obligation of legal judgments against it. Lankford and his cosponsors introduced it in response to former U.S. president Obama’s use of the Judgment Fund to pay $1.7 b. to the Iranian government in 1/2016. That payment happened to coincide with the Iranian government’s release of 4 U.S. hostages, prompting speculation about a possible diplomatic agreement from Obama’s rivals in Congress. The Obama administration, for its part, contended that the transfer was a reimbursement from a broken agreement dating back to 1979, prior to the Iranian revolution (The Iranian government purchased military equipment from the U.S. in 1979, but the U.S. never delivered).
H.R.1096
Introduced:
February 15, 2017
115
First
October 16, 2017
Placed on House calendar