[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 27, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S2040]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             IRAN SANCTIONS

  Mr. REID. On another topic that is extremely important, Mr. 
President, I have talked about how obvious it is America needs to 
reduce its reliance on foreign oil. But if anyone needs another reason, 
just look at the regimes that benefit from the global addiction to oil.
  For example, Iran. Iran uses profits from global oil sales to support 
its terrorism around the world, its nuclear weapons program. So it is 
critical the Senate act now--and act quickly--to further tighten 
sanctions against Iran. These sanctions are a key tool as we work to 
stop them from obtaining nuclear weapons, threatening Israel, and 
ultimately jeopardizing U.S. national security.
  This country is so fortunate to have the person who is leading the 
Central Intelligence Agency: GEN David Petraeus. I had the good fortune 
yesterday to spend an hour with him. He is a good man. He understands 
what is going on in the world.
  We must be vigilant, as we are, about what is going on in Iran. I 
repeat, we must act now--and act quickly--to further tighten sanctions 
against Iran. These sanctions are a key tool as we work to stop them 
from obtaining nuclear weapons, threatening Israel and further 
terrorizing other parts of the world.
  The only way to get sanctions in place now is to take up a bipartisan 
bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate Banking Committee. I 
would like and I am going to move to this. My staff has alerted the 
Republican leader I am going to ask consent soon to move forward on 
this unanimously reported bill out of the Banking Committee.
  Unfortunately, I have been told my Republican colleagues will object 
to moving forward with these new sanctions because they want to offer 
additional amendments. I have Democrats who want to offer additional 
amendments also, but we do not have the time to slow down passage of 
this legislation.
  Let's move to the next step. When we put this away, we are not going 
to be finished with Iran. There are a number of Democrats, I repeat, 
who also wish to offer amendments to this bill, but in an effort to get 
sanctions in place now, Democrats have agreed to streamline the process 
and refrain from offering their amendments.
  We cannot afford to slow down the process. Passing this bill now will 
help prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And that is a goal 
on which we should all agree.

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