[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 117 (Friday, July 12, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020

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                               speech of

                          HON. DAVID E. PRICE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 11, 2019

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2500) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense and for military 
     construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for 
     such fiscal year, and for other purposes:

  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I rise in support of the en 
bloc amendment, which includes my proposal to require the 
Administration to report to Congress on the status of United States 
military-to-military and diplomatic deconfliction channels with Iran.
  This amendment is cosponsored by my colleagues Jan Schakowsky, Gerry 
Connolly, John Yarmuth, Lloyd Doggett, Barbara Lee, Peter Welch, and 
Earl Blumenauer. I thank them for their support, and I thank Chairman 
Smith for his consideration.
  Last month, President Trump came dangerously close to conducting a 
military strike on Iran in retaliation for the downing of an American 
surveillance drone.
  During that week in June, officials from the U.S. and Iran traded 
public accusations before any investigation into the downing of the 
drone was complete.
  Meanwhile, oil tankers have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, 
the Iranian regime is beginning to increasingly enrich uranium, and 
U.S. troops are being moved around the region.
  These events demonstrate the extraordinary need for established 
military-to-military and diplomatic channels of communication and 
deconfliction to prevent miscalculation, define ambiguities, and 
correct misunderstandings that could otherwise lead to unintended and 
possibly devastating consequences.
  In January 2016, such diplomatic lines of communication saved U.S. 
sailors on two Navy riverine command boats that were seized by Iran's 
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after entering Iranian territorial 
waters. Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign Minister 
Zarif. Within 15 hours, the sailors were released unharmed.
  Since withdrawing from the JCPOA, the Trump administration has 
eliminated those channels of communication. Can you imagine what would 
happen now should U.S. forces be captured by Iranian forces? Can you 
imagine the cost and consequences of military action provoked by a 
misunderstanding or miscalculation?
  Even Department of Defense officials caution that spiraling 
escalations put our troops in the region at risk, and that we cannot be 
pulled into an unnecessary armed conflict with Iran.
  This amendment would assert Congressional oversight to ensure that we 
have information about the status of vital military and diplomatic 
channels of communication that must be in place to prevent 
miscalculation.
  I urge the adoption of this En Bloc amendment.

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