(Wall Street Journal) Sarah Steelman - In 2006, as treasurer of Missouri, I decided to divest state funds - including in employee pensions - from any bank, company or financial institution doing business with a terrorist-sponsoring state. At that time the list included Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan. At least 30 other states have undertaken similar initiatives. Paragraph 25 of the Iran agreement reads: "The United States will actively encourage officials at the state or local level to take into account the changes in the U.S. policy reflected in the lifting of sanctions under this JCPOA and to refrain from actions inconsistent with this change in policy." Federal law of course pre-empts state law, but does this agreement? No taxpayer wants his tax dollars to help those who have killed our soldiers, as Iran has. This agreement undermines the will of the people in the states that adopted these policies and will allow billions of dollars of taxpayer money to flow to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. The writer is an assistant professor of economics at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
2015-08-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive