Congress is very close to expanding sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad government and its supporters after three years of struggling to pass the legislation.

Lawmakers have put the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act in the annual defense authorization bill that the Senate is voting on this week, marking a significant victory for Syrian American advocacy groups that have lobbied Congress to pass the long-stalled bill.

“My family and I have suffered personally at the hands of the Assad regime,” said Ismael Basha, the president of Americans for a Free Syria. “I have waited my whole life for this. President Assad and his cronies will be held accountable for their countless crimes against the Syrian people.”

Lobbying filing disclosures reviewed by Al-Monitor indicate that Americans for a Free Syria has spent roughly $50,000 since 2017 lobbying Congress to pass the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act and other legislation. Citizens for a Secure and Safe America, another Syrian American advocacy group that supports the bill, paid Ballard Partners — the firm led by President Donald Trump’s former lobbyist Brian Ballard — $330,000 to lobby Congress from September 2018 until September this year.