While it was nice of her to show up to work tonight after she skipped every single vote on Tuesday without explanation, Tammy Duckworth just recklessly tried to pave the way for future ransom payments to Iran.
After President Obama’s own administration revealed that his $1.7 billion cash payment was contingent on the release of prisoners, Mark Kirk – Iran’s least favorite Senator, took swift action by introducing a bill to prohibit future ransom payments to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Similar legislation that Duckworth just voted against in the House "makes clear that the Obama Administration violated longstanding U.S. policy by releasing prisoners and paying ransom for the return of Americans held hostage by Iran; prohibits cash payments to Iran—period; demands transparency on future settlements to ensure they are not used to pay ransom."
When Duckworth voted against the Prohibiting Future Ransom Payments to Iran Act tonight, she knew that in addition to putting a price tag on every American, $37 million of President Obama’s $1.7 billion ransom will fund global terrorism.
The people of Illinois therefore deserve to know: is there a limit to how much terrorism Iran can fund with our ransom payments before she is willing to stop them?