A bill introduced by Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, is heading to President Donald Trump’s desk as part of a package of legislation that passed the Senate on Monday.
H.R. 2790, also known as the Our Obligation to Recognize American Heroes Act, or OORAH Act, was included in the package of legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act, which has passed the House and the Senate.
The OORAH Act seeks to allow the families of the 241 U.S. service personnel who died in a 1983 terrorist attack on a Marine barracks in Lebanon to access compensatory damages from a portion of $1.68 billion in frozen Iranian assets overseas, according to Pence’s office.
In 2003, a federal judge ruled that the terrorist group Hezbollah carried out the attack with “funding, weapons and training provided by senior Iranian officials,” according to wire reports.
It is unclear how many families of veterans in Indiana would be helped by the measure.
“The NDAA is on its way to President Trump’s desk in a huge victory for our nation’s men and women in uniform. I am honored my OORAH bill was included. We are on our way to the president’s desk, and one step closer to helping our Gold Star families,” Pence said in a statement. “I applaud President Trump’s work to fight for this legislation and his support of our military, and I look forward to seeing the NDAA and the OORAH Act signed into law.”
