[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 179 (Tuesday, October 31, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5242-S5244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Nomination of Jacob J. Lew
Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, 3 weeks ago, Iranian-backed Hamas
terrorists murdered 33 Americans and 1,400 Israelis in the deadliest
terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. These depraved savages
killed more Jews in a single day than any time since the Holocaust.
Israel is now at war and on the verge of what could be its bloodiest
battle in a generation. And the struggle is real. It is not only
fighting Hamas and Gaza, it is fighting a confederation of Iranian-
trained, funded, and armed terrorist organizations. From the Houthis in
Yemen to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West
Bank, Iran is besieging Israel by proxy. At the same time, Iran is
conducting extensive attacks against Americans in the region.
Since Joe Biden took office, Iran and its proxies have attacked
American forces more than 100 times.
Let me say that again: 100 times.
That is why we need a person of strength as the U.S. Ambassador in
Israel. We need an ambassador who is a champion of the American-Israeli
relationship who can bridge the Democratic-driven divide in the
alliance. We need an ambassador who is clear-eyed about the Iranian
threat and prepared to confront it.
Instead, President Biden has nominated Jack Lew, who at times seems a
better friend to Tehran than Jerusalem. The U.S. Senate should reject
this nomination to be Ambassador to Israel. A vote for him is a vote to
subvert, not strengthen, our ally in its time of need.
As President Obama's Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew was the leading
proponent of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. The deal delivered more
than $100 billion to the ayatollahs. Mr. Lew called the agreement a
strong deal and said:
[I]t will make our country safer, it will make our allies
safer, and it will make the world safer.
He apparently didn't consult our allies, though, before making that
statement because our allies in Israel certainly didn't agree. In fact,
Prime Minister Netanyahu called the agreement ``a very bad deal.'' And
one poll found that 73 percent of Jewish Israelis believed that the
deal posed an existential threat to the Jewish State.
Prime Minister Netanyahu was so opposed to the Iran deal, which Mr.
Lew championed, that he traveled to the United States and addressed a
joint session of this Congress to urge our opposition.
Mr. Lew condemned Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech as ``beyond the
pale'' and ``a huge mistake.'' Apparently, Mr. Lew also did not consult
our own Democratic leader, the Senator from New York, who also voted
against the disastrous Iran deal.
Worse still, Mr. Lew stood with President Obama when he refused to
veto a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel.
This was nothing but an act of spite by Barack Obama against Israel's
leadership. Yet Mr. Lew stood by his boss, dismissively asserting that
``I don't think it's a great thing for Israel to always have only the
United States standing between it and condemnation.''
So, according to Mr. Lew, I guess it is better to have Israel
condemned than to have Israel's back. Mr. Lew, apparently, doesn't
understand that doing what is right is sometimes lonely business.
The next American Ambassador to Israel must be prepared for the hard
and lonely work of sometimes standing up against the rest of the region
and, indeed, the rest of the world in defense of American and Israeli
interests.
Mr. Lew's glib comments demonstrate that he lacks either the nerve or
the will to stand up for Israel when it really matters and the chips
are down, as they are today.
But Mr. Lew didn't just advocate on behalf of the Iran nuclear deal
or attack its Israeli critics; he lied to Congress to protect the
deal--indeed, to go beyond what the nuclear deal required. Mr. Lew told
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the summer of 2015 that Iran
would ``continue to be denied access to the [American] financial and
commercial market.''
Mr. Lew also testified that Iranian banks ``will continue to be
denied access to the world's largest financial and commercial market.''
But 7 months later, in early 2016, Jack Lew's Treasury Department
granted a license to convert almost $6 billion of Iranian assets into
American currency using our financial system. This was not required by
the Iran nuclear deal. This went over and above the dictates of that
deal. But apparently Barack Obama and Jack Lew felt bad for the
murderous ayatollahs because they weren't getting enough economic
benefit out of the deal.
He even pressured two American banks to complete the transaction, and
they, sanely and patriotically, said: No thanks. We don't want to touch
Iran's blood money.
If that is not lying to Congress, I don't really know what is. But in
addition to lying, Mr. Lew neglected to inform Congress that his
department was sending its representatives around the world to
encourage foreign countries and companies to do business with Iran.
According to a Senate committee report, authored by former Senator
Robert Portman, the Treasury and State Department conducted more the
200 so-called road shows in foreign cities to encourage economic
engagement with Tehran.
[[Page S5243]]
Again, this is not required by the nuclear deal with Iran. Nothing
said Jack Lew and his agents at Treasury had to act as the de facto
investment bankers and business agents for the murderous ayatollahs.
He apparently felt so much sympathy for the ayatollahs that he and
John Kerry, as Secretary of State, would send their agents all around
the world, hustling up business for Iran's terror regime.
And now this is the man who is going to represent American interests
in Jerusalem? The Senate should not confirm Jack Lew, a man who has
lied to Congress both by omission and overt dishonesty. The Senate
should likewise not confirm a man who has acted as the de facto
business investment banker and business agent for the blood-thirsty
ayatollahs.
Mr. Lew's supporters have claimed that although flawed, we need an
ambassador to Israel during this crisis, and Mr. Lew is the man in
offering. But the fact is, no one is better than Jack Lew. And the
sooner we defeat his nomination, the sooner we can find someone worthy
of this critical post.
I know my Democratic friends say we have to confirm Mr. Lew to show
our support for Israel. I would turn that around and say: We have to
defeat Mr. Lew's nomination to show that our Nation is finally serious
about confronting the ayatollahs in Iran. And there is no clearer or
immediate action that Senators could take to show a new direction for
U.S. policy on Iran than to reject the nomination of one of the
architects of the Iran nuclear deal.
Both the United States and Israel deserve a lot better than Jack Lew.
I urge my colleagues to oppose his nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted
to speak for up to 2 minutes and Senator Cardin be permitted to speak
for up to 5 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to this nomination,
and I rise in support of our strong support for Israel. I understand it
is important to move as quickly as we can to have an ambassador in
Jerusalem. We are at an important moment in history with the events in
Israel. This makes the stakes so much higher and important that we get
it right. I believe it means we should take the time to get it right.
This appointment that has been made is very disappointing. As my
colleague just mentioned, it really ignores the fact that the
underlying problem here is our policy and policies toward Iran.
Certainly, we all talk about Hamas. They have done horrible things. The
horrific attack on Israel, where they beheaded babies, killed innocent
men and women in their beds sometimes, really, really deserves a
response. But it also deserves for us to look at the underlying problem
here, which is Iran.
Hamas would not exist if it were not for Iran. Iran arms them, trains
them, finances them, and directs them. We all know that. So how does
that fit in with this particular appointment?
Well, Mr. Lew did some things which were very much contrary, I
believe, to what needs to be done in order for us to redo our policies
toward Iran. When it came to the JCPOA--which, as we all know, there
was a difference between our side of the aisle and the other side of
the aisle on whether we should do the JCPOA or not--Mr. Lew was heavily
involved in that. He promised us in the committee that he would not
allow Iran to have access to the U.S. financial system. We know, for a
fact, that after that, although he denied it, he did, in fact, attempt
his very best to have Iran have access to the U.S. financial system.
This is borne out by an official report of the U.S. Senate by the
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. They interviewed the banks
that Mr. Lew attempted to twist their arms to give Iran access to the
financial system. There was a very detailed investigation that was done
on the facts. The facts are contained in this report.
My good friends will say: Oh, but that wasn't a bipartisan report. It
is an official report by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
My friends on the other side of the aisle, though, will not deny the
facts that are in this report. And the facts are that Mr. Lew is
involved in this, as I have described.
I want to support Israel. I think everybody on this floor wants to
support Israel. The last thing we need is somebody who is very contrary
to our view on how Iran should be handled.
Mr. Lew's response to this was: Well, everybody knew what Obama's
policies were, and, therefore, everybody should have known that we
would do anything to blindly support the policies.
That is wrong. This is the wrong way to go about it. This is the
wrong person, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. We should vote no
and support Israel.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, a little over a week ago, I was in Israel
with 10 U.S. Senators meeting with the Israeli leadership. I must tell
you, they are very much looking forward to having a confirmed
ambassador from the United States in Jerusalem to help in regard to the
challenges they are now facing as a result of Hamas's terrorist attack
in Israel. And they are very much looking forward to Jack Lew being
that ambassador. We heard that directly.
His nomination has been welcomed by the Israelis, including Israel's
Foreign Minister, who said he looks forward to working with him. The
former Israeli Ambassador to the United States wrote that Lew is ``a
true statesman, a passionate Jew and a mensch in every sense of the
word.'' He has the support of the Jerusalem Post, the Orthodox Union
Advocacy Center, the Anti-Defamation League. The list goes on and on
and on. Why? Because he is so well qualified for this position. He has
been confirmed by the Senate as a former Secretary of Treasury, as a
Deputy Secretary of State, as an OMB Director. And the list goes on and
on and on. He was confirmed by an overwhelming majority. It gives us
the person as our representative to Israel who has the gravitas to
stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel as the United States partners in
the challenges that they are facing today.
So there is, to me, no question about his qualifications, no question
about his presence being welcomed by our Israeli friends, no question
about his knowledge and commitment to these issues. He has worked
almost his entire life, in part, to strengthen the U.S.-Israel
partnership. He knows the values. He testified to that during this
confirmation hearing. And he testified in regard to the issues that my
Republican friends are raising, the issues of whether he was forthright
with Congress--and he was.
He pointed out that in regard to opening up the banking for Iran, it
was to comply with the JCPOA that was negotiated by the Obama
administration and which the Republicans were opposed to. And I opposed
that agreement.
I helped work with Senator Corker, then chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee--I was ranking Democrat at the time--to
develop a process where we would not be surprised by these negotiations
and that we would have input into these negotiations. That process
passed the Senate by a near-unanimous vote.
As part of that process, we had indepth discussions with the Obama
administration, including Secretary Lew, including Secretary Moniz, and
others, who shared with us exactly what was being negotiated. We knew
that there was going to be a transfer of funds in regards to the JCPOA.
We recognized that the banking system would be open for that limited
purpose.
That is not misleading us. It is telling us exactly what we knew was
going to happen before we took it up under the review statute. It is
just not right to say he misled us. He did not. The report they are
referring to was a partisan report issued by the Republicans. There is
a reason why it was not bipartisan. They were just trying to double
down on their opposition to the JCPOA.
Israel needs a strong U.S. Ambassador who will represent America and
be their partner in taking on one of the greatest struggles in their
history--the terrorist attack by Hamas that they did on October 7. We
need a confirmed ambassador who is knowledgeable as to how they could
represent over half a
[[Page S5244]]
million Americans who are currently in Israel. We need Jack Lew's
expertise to help us get the hostages back safely on the ground in
Israel.
I want to thank Secretary Lew for being willing at this time, at this
critical moment, to serve his country in this critically important
position, and I would hope my colleagues would vote for his
confirmation, recognizing that we could not have a more qualified
individual to represent America as our Ambassador to Israel.
I yield the floor.