Cotton, Colleagues to Biden: Hosting Iraqi Prime Minister is Inappropriate, Undermines Israel

Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and 7 of his congressional colleagues today sent a letter to President Joe Biden to express their deep concern with the White House’s plan to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in April.

The letter notes that President Biden’s decision to meet with Prime Minister al-Sudani at this time sends the message that the Biden administration is more interested in appeasing Iran than supporting Israel defeat Hamas. The planned visit will occur even as Iraq continues to fund numerous terror groups and remains under significant Iranian influence.

Co-signing the letter were Senator Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida), Congressman Jake Ellzey (Texas-06), Congressman French Hill (Arkansas-02), Congressman Mike Turner (Ohio-10), and Congressman Mike Waltz (Florida-06). 

Text of the letter may be found here and below.

March 28, 2024

President Joseph R. Biden
The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20502

Dear President Biden,

We write to express our deep concern with your invitation to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to the White House in April. 

Hosting the Iraqi Prime Minister, especially while failing to meet with leaders of some of our most trusted partners in the region, amplifies the message of your ongoing campaign to undermine Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: The Biden administration is interested in appeasing Iran, not supporting our allies. 

The Iraqi government remains under significant Iranian influence, and the Iraqi government provides some $3 billion per year to the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces militias, including four U.S.-designated terrorist groups. These militias have attacked Americans and Kurdistan over 180 times just since October 7, 2023, resulting in three American servicemember deaths and over 100 casualties. Yet you continue granting sanctions waivers to the Iraqi government to import Iranian electricity and natural gas, all while using U.S. dollars transferred to Iraq from the Federal Reserve. And while you invite the Iraqi Prime Minister to visit Washington, you have refused to meet with Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, a critical partner and the host of the most U.S. forces in the region. 

The Iraqi government is actively working with Tehran against our Kurdish allies, including cutting off government funds and closing the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, which represents most of Kurdistan’s economy. You should focus on reducing Iranian influence in Iraq and shoring up support for our partners in Kurdistan. As a precondition of any visit by Prime Minister al-Sudani, you should require the immediate reopening of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline so that the Kurdistan Region is able to export oil and U.S. public and private financing are no longer threatened by Tehran’s influence in Baghdad. You should also require that the Iraqi government resume funding for the Kurdistan Region, the immediate sale of Kurdistan crude already at the Ceyhan port, and a full cycle of oil sales and payments to Kurdistan and its oil investors. Finally, you should not allow further U.S. dollar transfers to Iraq until the Treasury Department certifies that such transfers do not benefit the Iranian regime or its proxies.

Your appeasement of Iran has endangered American national security and weakened our relationship with our allies. While the corrective actions outlined here will not undo the damage you’ve caused, they represent an important first step.  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Release: Representative Hill Statement on Completing FY2024 funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) today released the following statement after the House passed the remaining six appropriations bills and finished FY2024 appropriations.

“Two weeks ago, House Republicans locked in the first overall cut to non-defense spending in almost a decade, keeping the first group of appropriations bills in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) – saving hardworking Americans $2.6 trillion over the next ten years. Today, we passed the second group of bills which cut wasteful spending while strongly funding our national defense. 

“We secured increased defense spending and a 5.2% pay raise for our troops, which will directly benefit our brave service members at Little Rock Air Force Base. Further, this year’s budget includes nearly $300 million to formally establish the F-35 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pilot Training Center in Fort Smith, which is projected to have up to a $1 billion annual economic impact for Arkansas. 

“We also secured other wins, including $3.3 billion in support for Israel, defunding United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for a number of its employees being involved in Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attack in Israel, clawing back $4.3 billion in unneeded COVID-19 funding, providing funding for 22,000 Border Patrol agents which is in line with H.R. 2, and increasing overtime pay for Border Patrol agents. 

“The bills we passed today reflect crucial cuts that will lead to a decrease in the budget deficit, which were negotiated almost one year ago. Before the FRA, our budget deficits were projected to be $20.3 trillion over the next ten years. Now that we’ve secured FRA spending levels, deficit projections declined to $18.9 trillion over the next ten years. While there is still much work to be done to address our debt and deficit, the win we achieved today amidst divided government is a step in the right direction. 

“As we begin FY25 funding, I urge Speaker Johnson and House leadership to build on this momentum and move our appropriations process along so we can complete our work in a timely manner that reflects how our process is intended to be.”

Further Background:

H. Res. - Further Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY24: This funding includes the following appropriations bills:

• Defense

• Financial Services and General Government

• Legislative Branch

• Homeland Security

• Labor, Health and Human Services, Education

• State and Foreign Operations

Cong. French Hill: Avoiding government shutdown ‘a very big challenge’

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, will be heading back to Washington D.C. this week as Congress reconvenes, but his working hours may be brief in less than a month.

There are two pending government shutdown deadlines looming – Jan. 19 and Feb. 2. Hill, who appeared on this week’s Capitol View and Talk Business & Politics programs, said only Congress would pick Groundhog Day for a potential shutdown, a brinksmanship move the public has seen play out repeatedly in the last decade.

“This is really frustrating to me. In 2023, there was so much wasted time. We had a debt ceiling deal between House Republicans led by then Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House and President Joe Biden that would’ve allowed us to get our appropriations work done in time. And we squandered that and then we made it worse by throwing Kevin McCarthy out of office,” Hill said of the early October vote to boot McCarthy as Speaker. House Republicans spent weeks trying to select a replacement.

Seven of 12 appropriations bills have cleared the House and are awaiting action in the Senate, where political dynamics differ from the House.

Cong. French Hill: Avoiding government shutdown ‘a very big challenge’