[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                           STOP FUNDING IRAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, as the country deals with distractions, 
the truth of which is very difficult to get out of the White House or 
other sources, such as the missing Titanic submarine--when did it 
actually implode? We couldn't get the truth on that.
  Where is the packet of cocaine that came in the White House? Who is 
responsible for that? Why can't they track that with their massive 
security systems?
  Also, it is silly that males compete in women's sports and are being 
allowed in women's places like their locker rooms. These are important 
issues in and of themselves, but they distract from some really 
important issues that don't get a lot of press or coverage these days.
  Madam Speaker, look at the situation with Iran and its development of 
nuclear weapons. Iran is a very unstable country and one that is a very 
well-known sponsor of terror around the world in many areas. Let's 
hearken back a little ways here.
  Under the Obama administration, everybody remembers that first pallet 
of cash that was flown into Iran of about $400 million, basically of 
other currencies because there were still sanctions at the time that we 
couldn't send U.S. dollars in there. It was mainly Swiss francs and 
euros that were sent in for a total of about $1.7 billion to help 
sponsor terror that Iran is so good at.
  How are we supposed to ask our partners around the world to continue 
sanctions against Iran--whatever is left in place after the JCPOA was 
put in in 2015--to help stop the major sponsor of terror in the world? 
How are we supposed to continue that?
  Indeed, the Biden administration has a plan or an idea of sending $17 
billion more over there to help prop up their treasury. What in the 
world are we doing that for?
  With all the things we need to spend money on in our own country 
here, why would we want to help prop up the treasury of the major state 
sponsor of terror that Iran is?
  JCPOA, agreed to under the Obama administration, has been a complete 
failure in trying to limit the amount of uranium that they would be 
refining through their centrifuges. Our understanding is that they have 
23 times the stockpiles of these uranium materials provided for in the 
2015 JCPOA. We are really adhering to that agreement and enforcing that 
agreement it sounds like. Yet, we are talking about this administration 
sending $17 billion more to help prop up their economy and help them do 
more terror activity.
  At the point that Iran reaches 90 percent enrichment on its uranium, 
Israel is going to have some very important decisions to make because 
Israel is already surrounded by a lot of people that don't like them in 
the Middle East, including Iran.
  If they get the weapons they need and the ability to deliver them, 
Israel is going to have some very, very tough decisions to make on 
preserving themselves. Israel is not getting much of a good signal 
coming from the current administration in the White House that the 
United States is going to be there to back them up like they need to 
be. What will that force them to do?
  Who knows? It will probably force them to do some very extreme 
things. I don't blame them. The International Atomic Energy Agency can 
verify that they have reached already 83.7 percent of enrichment levels 
of a certain amount of stockpile that Iran has. They are not far from 
having nuclear-weapon capable materials. When they reach that 90 
percent point, that is generally accepted as nuclear bomb ready.
  Is Iran a stable enough country that we can trust them with nuclear 
bombs?
  That was what supposedly the whole JCPOA was about--to keep them from 
getting nuclear weapons. This isn't the Iran of old where the United 
States at least used to have a relationship with them, and they had a 
lot more of a westernized culture with free movement, free activities 
for women or for many Iranians. This was pre-1979 when the Ayatollah 
was taking over there. It is still a very unstable country and causes 
much instability in the world.
  The idea of them gaining nuclear weapons very soon, when they reach 
that 90 percent mark, puts us all in a pretty perilous position. We are 
across an entire ocean from the situation. We are across the Atlantic 
and such. Our great ally, Israel, as well as part of Europe, what are 
they going to be facing with a nuclear Iran?
  We better get serious on not sending them $17 billion or more, but 
putting the sanctions back in place that will bring Iran to its knees 
and stop this nuclear proliferation and their ability to sponsor 
terror.

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