[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 118 (Friday, August 3, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        IRAN THREAT REDUCTION AND SYRIA HUMAN RIGHTS ACT OF 2012

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2012

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, Today, a time of heightened tensions in 
U.S.-Iran relations, I voted for the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria 
Human Rights Act of 2012, H.R. 1905, a balanced and serious approach 
towards ensuring Iran will never have nuclear weapons.
  Throughout my time in Congress, I have firmly opposed the use of 
indiscriminate sanctions as a blunt tool of foreign policy, one often 
more successful as political fodder than as leverage to effect positive 
change.
  The timing of previous Iran sanctions legislation was damaging, 
undermining the administration in the midst of complex, delicate 
discussions with Iran. Today, the circumstances have changed. 
Negotiations are stalled, and this legislation has been focused and 
toned-down, making it an asset, not a liability, for the administration 
as it works to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.
  A coherent and unified U.S. policy towards Iran is the best way to 
strengthen diplomacy, which remains the best, some say the only, way to 
prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. This revised legislation--
based on input from a broad coalition, including the White House--
brings coherence and focused pressure to the negotiating table.
  I commend Chairwoman Ros Lehtinen and Ranking Member Berman of the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee for producing a bill that is based on 
policy, not politics. There were extreme voices pushing to include some 
very harsh language that, for example, would have made the few 
currently permitted humanitarian transactions with Iranian financial 
institutions illegal. To the benefit of the U.S. and innocent Iranian 
civilians, these provisions were left out.
  Another critical change to this legislation is language that 
clarifies in the Act is not an authorization of the use of force 
against Iran or Syria.
  The resolution would provide the administration with additional 
leverage for their broader diplomatic effort. Sanctions are effective 
when it is clear that if concessions are made, the other side has the 
ability to reciprocate by easing elements of the sanctions regime. This 
bill provides the administration with such flexibility.
  In the midst of negotiations yet to yield progress, focused sanctions 
that unite both Congress and the executive provides leverage that 
increases the likelihood of success, and an alternative to military 
action, which our nation can ill-afford and which I oppose.

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