The House Foreign Affairs Committee has advanced a bipartisan bill to make the 1996 sanctions against Iran permanent.

The Solidifying Iran Sanctions Act (SISA) is being spearheaded by Representatives Michelle Steel, R-Calif., Susie Lee, D-Nev., and committee chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

The bill seeks to make permanent the 1996 economic sanctions against Iran, which are credited with stunting the country's research and development of nuclear and biological weapons and preventing terroristic actions against the U.S. and its Arab allies and partners. The measure passed out of committee unanimously by voice vote and will be headed to the entire House floor for a vote.