[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 42 (Monday, March 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S643-S645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            The Middle East

  Now, Madam President, on an entirely different matter, a number of 
Senate Republican colleagues and I recently met with America's allies 
and partners across Europe and the Middle East. I spoke last week about 
our message to NATO and our friends in Europe. How the West confronts 
Russia's invasion of Ukraine today will shape the future with respect 
to, not just Russia, but China and Iran as well.

[[Page S644]]

  Of course, these same adversaries are aggressively working to counter 
American influence in the Middle East. We met with top leaders in 
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE; and a great deal of what we saw was 
very encouraging. America has many friends in the Middle East.
  The Abraham Accords are uniting Arabs and Israelis to a degree that 
would have been literally unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago--and uniting 
them around shared interests with our own. Our partners want even 
stronger relations with the United States, but the problem is that, 
just like in Europe, our friends are questioning America's reliability 
and America's commitment.
  Our partners are not asking us to take care of their security for 
them. They want a confident and engaged America to coordinate more 
closely with them and help them upgrade their own defenses.
  If America disengages from the Middle East, some of our partners 
will, of course, turn to other major powers. A world in which China and 
Russia exert more influence in this pivotal region is not good for 
America.
  Yet too often, this administration has turned to the Obama-era 
playbook of flirting with our adversaries rather siding with our 
friends. President Biden began his administration trying to dismantle 
the successful maximum pressure campaign on Iran that he inherited. 
Less than 2 weeks into the job, he made Iran's day by removing the 
official terrorist designation of the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. 
Iran is the world's most active state sponsor of terror. It was 
continuing its shameless years-long targeting of America's partners and 
our own U.S. personnel in the region. But right from the jump, 
President Biden took pressure off Tehran.
  Then the Biden administration tried desperately to reassemble the 
wreckage of the failed Obama-era Iran deal, which was, of course, all 
carrots and no sticks. Then the President ignored the concerns of both 
our commanders and partners in ordering the disastrous retreat from 
Afghanistan. At crucial moments, President Biden has made decisions 
that have undermined confidence in America.
  For example, when an Iran-sponsored attack struck the capital of the 
UAE, it didn't occur to the Biden administration to send anybody to 
stand in solidarity with our friends. Our friends didn't expect an 
American military response, but they certainly deserved at least a 
phone call.
  Our friends from Saudi Arabia to Qatar to the UAE have made major 
investments in their military facilities to facilitate America's 
military presence and access, which contributes to deterrence of common 
adversaries. The botched retreat from Afghanistan has made these basing 
agreements even more vital, if we wish to maintain any remotely 
effective way to conduct counterterrorism in the region.
  And the Abraham Accords pointed to a new and enormously beneficial 
chapter for American involvement in the Middle East where we could stay 
engaged and keep promoting our interests in the region, without 
shouldering an outsized burden. But on President Biden's watch, we have 
squandered much of the momentum.
  Democrats have sought to keep shrinking our influence and credibility 
in the Middle East. They have objected to arms transfers that would let 
our friends better prepare to defend themselves against common enemies. 
So, look, protecting America and our interests takes power, it takes 
presence, and, most importantly, it takes partners.
  It is true in Europe. It is true in the Indo-Pacific. And it is true 
in the Middle East. Power, presence, and partners.
  But President Biden's attempts to underfund our Armed Forces with 
inadequate budgets would reduce our power. His clumsy attempts to cut 
and run from the Middle East have reduced our presence, and letting key 
friendships languish erodes our partnerships. It is a recipe--a recipe 
for less American influence, less national security, and a vacuum--a 
vacuum--that Russia and China would, of course, be delighted to fill.
  The Biden administration needs to get more serious toward Iran. The 
President says he won't allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Does 
anyone believe that? Iran inches closer and closer to a bomb while the 
administration dithers. After 2 years of squandered leverage, the 
administration finally admits their foolish negotiations with Iran are 
``on life support''--on life support. Well, it is past time to pull the 
plug.
  We need to rally American allies in a campaign of coordinated 
sanctions. Maximum pressure on Tehran, for real. We need to closely 
coordinate with our Middle East friends, not keep them in the dark. We 
need to help Israel acquire the capabilities it needs to put Iran's 
nuclear program at credible risk. We need to clear roadblocks that 
prevent our partners from acquiring the superior American weapons and 
technologies that they need to defend themselves. That means reforming 
our broken, bureaucratic, and convoluted foreign military sales 
process.
  Right now, it takes our partners an average of 18 months--listen to 
this--18 months just to put American weapons under contract. Our 
friends are literally trying to buy American, but we are making it more 
difficult. We need to streamline the process and ensure we do not drive 
our friends to buy weapons faster, cheaper, and easier from the 
Chinese. And the next time Iran's proxies attack American outposts in 
Syria or Iraq, we need to hit back hard and restore the deterrence that 
has eroded.
  So, Madam President, some people seem to have a mistaken impression 
that America can project more strength in one region by protecting 
weakness in other regions. The notion is that an America in retreat 
from Europe and/or the Middle East will somehow--somehow--magically 
have a stronger hand to play in Asia. That is not the way the world 
works.
  If America were to roll over and let Putin eat our strategic lunch in 
Europe, if we were to abandon our friends in the Middle East and let 
China and Russia strategically dominate this important region, none of 
this--none of it--would put America in a stronger position to assemble 
and lead the international effort that it will take to confront the 
long-term expansion of China and others. It would only weaken us.
  America has strong friends who want to continue to take our side over 
China's and Russia's. The administration needs to stop making it harder 
for them and start making it easier.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I have a few statements I would like to 
make this morning, but I would like to respond to the Republican 
leader's statement that he just completed.
  I am not naive when it comes to Iran. I know what is happening there 
from press reports. Their treatment of women is abominable. There is no 
excuse for it. And the protests in the streets of Tehran and all across 
that country really are an expression of human dignity which the United 
States--at least I as a Senator in the United States--supports 
publicly.
  Secondly, there are no excuses for the assistance Iran is giving to 
Vladimir Putin and his ruthless attack on the people of Ukraine. I 
won't make excuses for that or any other terrorist conduct by Iran.
  But for the record--for the record--it was President Obama who moved 
forward with the notion that we ought to stop Iran from developing 
nuclear weapons. They are guilty of bad conduct in many quarters, but 
we didn't want them to have a nuclear weapon. We didn't think it made 
America any safer, the Middle East safer, or our allies like Israel any 
safer either.
  So President Obama pushed for an arms control when it came to the 
development of nuclear weapons, and Iran had put together a coalition 
which sounds amazing today. To think that he could gather at one table 
in this effort--Russia, China, Great Britain, France, the European 
Union, and the United States in this effort to stop the Iranians from 
developing a nuclear weapon was nothing short of a political miracle.
  It was resisted every step of the way by the Republicans. They didn't 
want to have this. We did it anyway. And with this nuclear effort was 
an inspection team--an international inspection team--on the ground in 
Iran to make sure they didn't violate it. We were safer--not by much, 
but we were safer then. And then who came along but President Donald 
Trump who said his approach would be just the opposite.

[[Page S645]]

We are going to eliminate the whole program to stop Iran from 
developing a nuclear program, and he did.
  So for the Republicans to come before us today and argue that we are 
not being tough enough on Iran, I would like to tell them that I am not 
going to make excuses for Iran and its foreign policy. But there are 
nuclear weapons we had a chance to do something about, and some of us 
voted for it, some of us voted against it. I think that ought to be a 
matter of public record.