The American Coalition for Syria (ACS) announced the US House of Representatives’ passage of the package that includes the “Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act ” (Captagon 2), on Sunday, April 20.
The bill received the support of 360 members from both parties (Democratic and Republican) in the House of Representatives, against the opposition of 58 others.
The political planning official in the ACS, Mohammed Ghanem, stated via “X” that this package is on its way to the US Senate, where it will be voted on very soon.
Once the Senate passes the bill, it continues its journey to be signed by the US president, meaning it becomes enforceable law.
This legislative package comes as part of the “Peace Through Strength in the 21st Century” law, including three pieces of legislation: the law for rebuilding economic prosperity and opportunities for Ukrainians, the law for holding Iranian leaders accountable, and the Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act.
The American Coalition for Syria had announced on April 18 the acceleration of steps to pass the bill after adding it to a package of previous projects that the Congress (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) is looking to pass very urgently.
This came after the House of Representatives approved on April 16, by an overwhelming majority, the bill that gives the US government extended authority to punish the Syrian regime and its partners benefiting from illegal funding through the Captagon trade, as the bill was approved by a bipartisan vote, with 410 supporting votes against the opposition of only 13 votes.
This legislation is set to issue new and direct sanctions against “offenders” who produce and traffic Captagon illicitly, according to a statement issued on April 16 by the official website of the Republican Congressman, French Hill, the sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives.
French Hill also stated in his statement, “The required strategy that the US government has initiated to fight Assad’s production and smuggling of Captagon is still in its early stages, and we need new sanctions that directly target the individuals and networks associated with the Captagon trade,” emphasizing the importance of passing the bill he introduced, which would impose new sanctions related to illicit trafficking of Captagon in Syria, linked to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to the statement.
In November 2023, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the “Captagon 2” bill without any objection, where at that time, 44 members from both parties voted in favor of the bill.