[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 17, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5029-S5031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3041

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, 10 days ago, as Israeli families 
celebrated the Sabbath and the Jewish holiday, Iran's terrorist Hamas 
launched a barbaric surprise attack against Israel, killing at least 
1,400 Israelis and 30 Americans. Hamas fired thousands of rockets at 
Israeli cities and infiltrated communities to massacre mothers, 
fathers, children, and grandparents. It was the deadliest day for the 
Jewish people since American GIs liberated the final

[[Page S5030]]

concentration camp of the Third Reich. Hamas terrorists raped women, 
paraded corpses through the streets, and posted their crimes on social 
media. They burned families alive, and they murdered babies.
  In this time of horror and grief, my prayers are with the people of 
Israel, and I know I am not alone. Upon hearing the dark news last 
Saturday, God-fearing Americans across the country knelt in prayer for 
the people of Israel. I believe all of Israel is uplifted by the 
prayers of our people for theirs that day.
  But like Israelis, Americans don't remain on bended knee for long. 
And let me remind you again that Hamas also massacred 30 Americans and 
may hold as many as 13 hostage, making it one of the worst terror 
attacks against America in recent times. We have to avenge those deaths 
and do everything possible to bring those missing Americans home. We 
stand squarely with Israel and its objective to destroy Hamas, not only 
as a terror group but as a governing entity and a social movement.
  But Hamas did not act alone, and it shouldn't pay the price alone. 
Hamas wouldn't exist at its scale and savagery that it does without 
Iran. Iran funds Hamas's political organization in Gaza. Iran assisted 
Hamas in the manufacturing of rockets and drones it used on the October 
7 attacks. And Iran trained many of the Hamas terrorists who organized 
and executed these attacks.
  Most damning, according to the Wall Street Journal, Iran's Islamic 
Revolutionary Guard Corps helped plot the attack against Israel, and 
Iran's Foreign Minister even attended meetings with Hamas and the IRGC 
to discuss the attacks. Yet President Biden could soon hand the 
terrorist regime in Tehran another $6 billion in cash.
  Joe Biden has already given the ayatollahs $90 billion through his 
lax enforcement of oil sanctions and his unfreezing of Iranian assets. 
Tehran has predictably used this Biden bonus to strengthen its military 
and arm its proxies. Just last year, Iran doubled the budget of the 
Revolutionary Guard Corps, the shock troops of its terror regime, and 
it more than tripled its support for Hamas's military brigades.
  Worse, since President Biden took office, Iran and its proxies have 
attacked American troops more than 83 times, it has armed Russia in its 
war in Ukraine, and it has helped orchestrate the worst terrorist 
attack since September 11. The last thing we should do is give Iran 
another $6 billion in a dangerous ransom payment for American hostages.
  Under public and congressional pressure, the Biden administration 
purported to delay the release of the $6 billion in concert with Qatar, 
where the money is now located. But color me skeptical of a ``quiet 
understanding'' between a soft-on-Iran Joe Biden and a soft-on-Hamas 
Government of Qatar, especially since the administration refuses to 
freeze the funds and reserves the right to release the $6 billion at 
any time without notifying Congress or the public, and, even more 
especially, since the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister stood 
on a stage last week with the Secretary of State and said in Arabic 
that there were no changes to the agreement under which Iran could 
access the $6 billion.
  That is why Senator McConnell and I have introduced a simple bill to 
prevent President Biden from making this $6 billion payment to Iran. It 
rescinds the sanctions waiver issued by Joe Biden and Tony Blinken, 
locking down those funds and preventing the Iranian regime from 
withdrawing them.
  Like Barack Obama before him, President Biden simply can't be trusted 
when it comes to Iran. Appeasement and accommodation are instinctual 
for them. Whether it takes days, weeks, or months, Joe Biden will 
revert to form. In fact, he already seems to be doing so.
  This legislation would stop such a predictable reversal.
  I am pleased to report that many of my Democratic colleagues have 
joined Senator McConnell and me to call for the freezing of this $6 
billion--understandably so, since it means Iran will have an extra $6 
billion to support Hamas, to expand the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and 
to accelerate its nuclear program.
  So will they allow this bill to pass today or are they all talk on 
the campaign trail and no action here in the Senate? Let's find out.
  Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged 
from further consideration of S. 3041 and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read 
a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I want to 
make a few comments.
  First of all, the Senator from Arkansas speaks for 100 Members of the 
Senate when he expresses his outrage at the horrendous killings and 
terrorist acts by Hamas against innocent people in Israel--the worst 
attack and suffering in Israel since the Holocaust. So the Senator from 
Arkansas speaks for every single one of us. Second, in his 
characterization of Iran as a malign actor, their association with 
Hamas, Hezbollah, the attacks they had on our soldiers when they were 
in Iraq, I believe the Senator from Arkansas speaks for all 100 of us. 
He certainly speaks for me. I want to salute the Senator for the time 
he has spent during his service in the Senate alerting America to the 
threat that Iran poses. But I object for the following reasons:
  First of all, this President, President Biden, made a tough decision 
that Presidents before him had to make--including President Trump--
about using the power of the office to bring back hostages who were 
viciously detained, cruelly detained, in this case by Iran. He made 
that decision, and, with the help of Qatar, we were able to bring five 
American hostages home.
  That is a tough decision, but I would disagree with my colleague when 
he says that decision in any way indicates weakness or lack of resolve 
on behalf of President Biden towards what is happening and has happened 
in Israel. There is no better friend to Israel than President Joe 
Biden. He has been an ally and supporter of Israel throughout his time 
of service in the U.S. Senate, as Vice President, and as President of 
the United States.
  I do disagree, but this is not the time to get into a debate about 
the Senator from Arkansas's characterization of some of the 
intelligence about what was the role of Iran in what just happened. 
That is a debate for a separate time.
  I also want to disagree with the characterization that this is more 
money that is going to go to Iran. When this was being negotiated, 
there was great care given to the fact that this money had to be fenced 
off so that it could only be used essentially for humanitarian 
purposes. I am talking about medicine, medical devices, food, and 
agricultural products.
  Let's keep in mind that, yes, we have an adversary in Iran with the 
ayatollahs, with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but there are Iranians who 
are suffering and who do need medicine. And our beef is not with the 
people; it is with that government.
  How are these funds limited? No bank can approve any one of the 
transactions. This money is not in the hands of Iran. For any money to 
be released, we have the backup of Qatar, where the funds are 
deposited. The money cannot be approved for any expenditure to any 
vendor unless it gets approval from the U.S. Government first. There is 
constant--constant--monitoring to make certain that the purpose--that 
it be for humanitarian use only--is met. The United States completely 
controls the valve of these funds, with the backup of Qatar.
  Finally, this would be somewhat insulting to the confidence we placed 
in Qatar. What diplomatic efforts they may be involved in now for other 
hostages, I don't know, but we want to express confidence in Qatar, 
which has assisted us in bringing five Americans home.
  Finally, there is the basic proposition--the United States made an 
agreement here. We got the benefit of that agreement with five 
Americans back home with their families. Mr. President, we keep our 
word. We keep our word.
  For these reasons, I object to the unanimous consent request.

[[Page S5031]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I just want to respond briefly to my 
friend from Vermont, and he is my friend from Vermont. I don't mean 
that in the way that Senators usually say that when they say ``friend 
from another State'' but they are not actually friends and they 
oftentimes can't stand each other. He is my friend from Vermont, and he 
has been so since we served together in the House some time ago.
  First, I will note, as I said, that nine Democratic Senators have 
joined my call to freeze this money. Those would be Senator Rosen, 
Senator Manchin, Senator Baldwin, Senator Casey, Senator Sinema, 
Senator Cortez Masto, Senator Brown, Senator Kelly, and Senator Tester.
  I will observe from that list that seven of those nine are up for 
reelection in difficult campaigns next year, unlike my friend from 
Vermont, who just won his election in one of the most Democratic States 
in the country. So I wonder why these seven Democratic Senators who are 
at risk on the campaign trail next year weren't willing to join my 
bill. We offered them all an opportunity to join the bill, but it was 
radio silence. Could it be that they want to say one thing on the 
campaign trail and do another thing here in the Senate?
  A few points that the Senator from Vermont made--that this was a 
tough decision to free hostages and that we have to keep our word. It 
is always tough decisions when we face hostage situations overseas; 
however, paying $6 billion for five American hostages--$1.2 billion per 
hostage--simply encourages more hostage taking. We saw this the last 
time we paid ransom to Iran under the Obama administration. They 
immediately took more of the hostages whom we just freed by paying 
ransom. Just to note, just a few weeks after we paid that ransom, Hamas 
perpetrated this attack and took over 200 hostages. Maybe they took a 
lesson from what President Biden did with the hostages held by Iran.

  Really, we can't be so naive as to think that, well, we made this 
deal, we got the hostages back, so we have to give Iran the benefit of 
the bargain, as if you can deal in good faith with a terror regime like 
Iran.
  Second, the Senator from Vermont said there has been no better friend 
than President Biden to Israel over his long, long career in public 
office. I have to say, I find it hard to believe that Israel can have 
no better friend than a man who has spent decades, including 11 years 
as Vice President and President, empowering Iran--the worst enemy of 
Israel; a regime that still chants ``Death to America'' and ``Death to 
Israel''--by giving them hundreds of billions of dollars of sanction 
relief; by putting them on the path to get a nuclear weapon; by, for 
instance, not insisting that we continue the multilateral sanctions on 
Iran's missile program that expire under the nuclear deal tomorrow--
that is right, tomorrow, October 18, the 8-year anniversary of the part 
of the nuclear deal with Iran that says that multilateral sanctions on 
their missile and drones will expire--at a time when Iran is providing 
missiles and drones to Russia to kill Ukrainians.
  Joe Biden also, when he came to office, didn't just empower Iran; he 
empowered the exact terror proxies we are talking about. U.S. law 
prohibits the payment of aid to Palestinians that engage in so-called 
martyr payments--the grotesque practice of paying the families of 
suicide bombers and murderers of Jews or paying them if they survive. 
Congress stopped that practice with something called the Taylor Force 
Act. The administration has refused to enforce that law. To my 
knowledge, they continue to say they will make aid payments to 
Palestinian entities, which, in the end, inevitably free up more 
resources to attack Israel.
  Which gets to another point the Senator from Vermont made--that this 
$6 billion is sitting in Qatar in kind of an escrow account and is only 
going to be used for humanitarian purposes, things like food, medicine, 
and so forth. I understand that is the argument. I get that. But, of 
course, money is fungible. Iran now has $6 billion free to do other 
things.
  If a family in Arkansas is struggling to pay the bill for the 
groceries and they don't know if they can buy Christmas presents for 
their kids and they win a $500 gift card to a grocery store at a Friday 
Night Football Booster Club event, guess what--it may not pay for the 
Christmas gifts, but they now have $500 freed up to buy Christmas 
gifts. The exact same principle applies here.
  I know the Iranian Government doesn't care for its people. That is 
why they oppress them and murder them. I grant you that. But they also 
need some kind of social stability to maintain their grip on power.
  So, yes, it is a direct benefit to the terror regime in Tehran. If 
they get $6 billion for things like food and medicine, that frees up 
their finances for other activities, like supporting Hamas and 
supporting Hezbollah and supporting the proxies in Syria and Iraq that 
have attacked Americans more than 83 times.
  The Senator from Vermont also mentioned the suffering Iranians. They 
are indeed suffering. They have for more than 40 years under the yoke 
of the ayatollahs.
  They have occasionally risen up in opposition--in 2009, during the 
green revolution, when Barack Obama stood idly by and did nothing to 
support these brave Iranians, with Joe Biden sitting by his side. Where 
was he? Was he caught flat-footed? Was he naive? Was he an 
inexperienced President his fifth month in office? No. He didn't 
support the Iranian people when they were rising up against the 
ayatollahs in the summer of 2009 because he prioritized, above all 
else, atoning for America's sins against Iran in his mind and procuring 
a nuclear deal that would elevate Iran to a regional power that would 
balance off against our friends in Israel and the Arab nations so we 
could exit the region. That is the exact policy that Joe Biden has 
pursued in his nearly 3 years in office as well. There have been 
uprisings in Iran for over a year. Where has the administration been to 
support them?
  I would just say finally on the point about the intelligence on 
whether Iran had foreknowledge of these attacks, was involved at all in 
planning them, I think there are disputes about that. I find it very 
skeptical that an organization that gets more than 90 percent of its 
funding from Tehran would launch an attack like this against Israel 
without Iran at least tacitly blessing it. But I also say as a point of 
analogy that you cannot breed pit bulls, feed them, house them, train 
them to attack and kill, and then let them off the leash and claim no 
responsibility when they maul your neighbors. That is exactly what Iran 
has done with terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and militias in 
Syria and Iraq.
  So I regret that my friend from Vermont drew the short straw to come 
down here and object on behalf of his vulnerable Democratic colleagues. 
I will continue to work with my colleagues--hopefully, some of those 
Democrats who claim they want to stop the $6 billion from being 
released because the last thing we should be doing, after these 
atrocious attacks on Israel and on America, I remind you, is enriching 
the Ayatollah any further.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Welch). The Senator from Tennessee.