Description:
As reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 7, 2012
H.R. 2106 would impose new sanctions and extend existing sanctions against entities engaging in certain transactions with Syria. CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have a discretionary cost of $4 million over the 2013-2017 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting provisions in the bill affecting visa issuances and criminal and civil penalties would affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that those effects would be insignificant in each year.
H.R. 2106 would impose intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by eliminating existing rights of action, expanding the list of transactions associated with Syria for which entities may be sanctioned, and by increasing the number of public and private-sector entities responsible for complying with those prohibited transactions. The bill would impose an additional private-sector mandate by limiting an existing right to travel within the United States. Because the cost of most of the mandates would depend on how the sanctions would be implemented, CBO cannot determine whether the aggregate cost of the mandates would exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($146 million in 2012, adjusted annually for inflation). However, CBO expects few public entities would be affected by the legislation and therefore estimates that the aggregate cost of intergovernmental mandates would probably fall below the annual threshold established in UMRA ($73 million in 2012, adjusted annually for inflation).
