[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 131 (Friday, September 11, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H5972-H5973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. MacArthur). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Franks) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, coincidental to the message or 
the speech that I am about to give, I am reminded, as so many of you 
are, that this is September the 11th and 14 years ago terrorists, in an 
evil, devastating act against our country designed to destroy us as a 
people, attacked the very fabric of the Nation and killed almost 3,000 
innocent Americans.
  I pray for their families, and I pray for those who loved those 
people and still feel the loss within their souls today.
  Mr. Speaker, I also believe that one of the best ways we can honor 
the people who lost their lives that infamous day is to remember that 
the price of freedom has always been eternal vigilance.
  We still face a world where jihad has designs on destroying this, the 
greatest and freest republic in the history of the world.
  And in the name of those we have lost, in the name of those 
generations still to come, God help us to be vigilant people, as 
Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, the blood, sacrifice, and noble principles of millions 
of gallant souls across America's history have made this Nation the 
unipolar superpower of the entire world. Our international policies now 
significantly impact the peace and security of the entire human family.
  The very first responsibility of this Nation's government and 
especially its Commander in Chief is to protect America's national 
security. The only two ways we have to do that is to prevent any enemy 
or potential enemy from having the intent and capacity to do us harm. 
We must make sure that, if there is an enemy with the intent to do us 
harm, that they do not have the capacity to proceed.
  The intent of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been crystal clear 
since they took and held 52 American hostages 444 days at the beginning 
of their radical revolution those 36 years now ago. They have ever 
since been waging war on America and their own neighbors.
  But the only way the Iranian leaders can ever truly achieve their 
ultimate goal is to become a nuclear-armed nation.
  Consequently, they have proceeded inexorably in that direction both 
secretly and openly and obviously for decades until America and the 
Western world came together with resolutions, sanctions, and warnings 
of military intervention to halt and dismantle this unspeakably 
dangerous threat. This pressure finally brought Iran to the negotiating 
table.
  But now, instead of increasing and using that pressure, President 
Barack Obama has completely ignored the original commitment that the 
sanctions would only be dismantled when Iran's nuclear weapons program 
was dismantled.
  The President blindly accepted whatever deal Iran put on the table 
and completely forgot who was at the other end of that table.
  Mr. Obama then proceeded to capitulate on every redline and minimum 
requirement that both he and the United Nations had previously 
required.
  The President has now squandered away every form of leverage we had 
against this theocratic radical regime, which has broken every promise 
it has ever made to us.
  And what did we get in return, Mr. Speaker? We got an insane rope-a-
dope, duplicitous, unverifiable, astonishingly unenforceable deal. We 
got a deal that legitimizes and empowers the most prolific state 
sponsor of terrorism in the world.
  It obligates America to lift all sanctions, lift bans on Iran's 
imports of weapons and ballistic missile programs. It allows Iran a 
protected protocol to enrich uranium and research even more advanced 
centrifuges.
  It gives them tens of billions of dollars with which they can 
continue to spread their terror and destabilizing expansionism 
throughout the word.
  It allows them to continue their human rights abuses, including 
illegally holding American citizens hostage. And it allows them to keep 
their entire nuclear infrastructure.
  All the while, the Supreme Leader and ultimate authority in Iran is 
publicly reaffirming his hatred toward the United States and publicly 
leading throngs of his supporters in shouting ``Death to America'' and 
``Death to Israel.'' Unbelievable.
  Mr. Speaker, Bill Clinton made a far better deal than that, and the 
result was that the police state of North Korea proceeded to develop 
nuclear weapons only a few years later.
  Some of our most loyal allies live under that nuclear threat to this 
day. Now this deal will place America and our vital ally, Israel, under 
that same nuclear threat tomorrow.

  Mr. Speaker, the Iranian mullahs were intently listening when Barack 
Obama proclaimed before the United Nations that no nation has the right 
to pick and choose what nations have nuclear weapons. But I remind him 
that Iran is a nation that has threatened to destroy America and 
destroy Israel.
  These same mullahs were watching as Barack Obama knowingly stood by 
and idly watched as thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq were either 
butchered, tortured, raped, beheaded, crucified, or burned alive by 
ISIS. They then knew they had nothing to fear from Barack Obama.
  So the jihadist leaders of Iran came to the nuclear negotiating table 
with nothing and walked away with everything.
  These are the same Iranian mullahs that openly bragged how their 
bounties and weapons have killed hundreds of American Marines and 
soldiers on the battlefield, shattering their families in an 
unbelievable way.
  What will these leaders do if they have nuclear weapons? 
Inexplicably, instead of making sure they never get a nuclear weapon, 
Barack Obama's politically motivated peace-in-our-time capitulation 
empowers the most dangerous sponsor of terrorism on this Earth and 
places them on the path to obtain an entire nuclear arsenal.

[[Page H5973]]

  Mr. Speaker, unless this Congress or the next President is able to 
stop this madness, Barack Obama will be on trajectory to be remembered 
as the father of the Iranian atomic bomb and the one who ultimately 
nuclearized the entire Middle East, and our children will start down a 
path that leads through the shadow of nuclear terrorism.
  And whatever the costs there might have been to prevent Iran from 
gaining nuclear weapons will pale in comparison to the costs of dealing 
with a nuclear-armed Iran. We must not let that happen, Mr. Speaker.
  Astonishingly, Democrat Senators are now arrogantly filibustering any 
attempt for the Senate to reject this inexpressibly dangerous deal.
  It is time for the majority leader of the Senate to use the nuclear 
option in the Senate rules to bring this inexpressibly dangerous 
nuclear deal with Iran to the Senate floor and vote on and reject it as 
the treaty that it actually embodies under the Constitution of the 
United States. If Republicans do not use the nuclear option in our 
rules, Iran may some day use their nuclear option against our Nation.
  It is September 11, Mr. Speaker. God help us to remember. For the 
sake of our children and future generations, God help this Congress to 
reject this treacherous deal and God help us all to focus on the 
unspeakable importance of the coming elections in America.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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