Rep. Heck: Iran deal, Washington jobs threatened in Congress
Nov 17, 2016, 3:12 PM | Updated: 3:15 pm
A Boeing 747 of Iran's national airline is seen at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran. Boeing Co. signed an agreement with Iran Air “expressing the airline's intent” to buy its aircraft. Boeing said it signed the agreement “under authorizations from the U.S. government following a determination that Iran had met its obligations under the nuclear accord reached in 2015. (AP)
(AP)
The United States House of Representatives voted in favor of tanking a Boeing contract that could have serious international consequences — violating the Iran deal.
“It will hurt our economy and make us less safe,” said Congressman Denny Heck. “And I fear that this is a preview of what will come in winter and spring if this trend continues.”
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Heck, a Democrat, represents the 10th Congressional District in Washington state. He argues that the contract between Boeing and Iran was in compliance with the well-known Iran deal, or Iran agreement. He said it is “scandal free.” But the passing of recent legislation, he says, will put Iran back on track to develop a nuclear weapon and threaten local jobs.
Despite its passing in the House, the Senate still has to consider it, and President Barack Obama has said he will veto any such legislation.
Boeing jobs and the Iran deal
The 2015 Iran deal opened trade with Iran between United States companies and other countries, lessening certain sanctions. In exchange, Iran altered its nuclear ambitions, specifically the development of nuclear weapons. Airbus and Boeing were allowed to sell jets to Iran and update its aging fleet. It would be the first such sale in 40 years, according to Bloomberg News.
But in a 243-174 vote in the House Wednesday, a bill was approved that would essentially halt the transaction. It stops sales of jets to Iran using US Banks, and is enforced by the US Treasury Department. Upon its passing, Boeing’s shares fell by 1.8 percent.
The vote was mostly along party lines. Republicans have argued that Iran is too dangerous to make deals with.
Bloomberg quoted Republican Bob Dold of Illinois on the House floor Wednesday:
The world’s greatest state sponsor of terror should not be aided by the U.S. taxpayer, by our banking system, in order to finance planes that we really don’t know they’re going to do with them.
Heck also previously spoke to this argument, saying that Republicans have argued that the jets from America could be converted for military purposes and weaponry. But Heck argues that if Boeing isn’t involved, the United States won’t have eyes on Iran’s fleet at all. With Boeing in the mix, it will be the American company, and American eyes, tending to the airplanes for maintenance and repairs, and in turn, watching what Iran does.
Heck further argues that going around the Iran deal in this way opens up other threats to the local economy and beyond to nuclear concerns.
“This sale is in absolute complete compliance with the JCPOA, which most people refer to as the ‘Iran agreement,'” Heck said. “It will cost us jobs and render us less safe.”
“The bill is a straight-forward, black and white violation of the Iran agreement,” he said. “It would probably cause it to implode. It would make us unsafe because it would start Iran back on a track to make nuclear weapons, and in the meantime, it would cost American jobs — $17 billion in airplane sales works out to over 100,000 jobs throughout the Boeing company and its supply chain.”
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