[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H6151-H6152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IS POWERFUL AGENT FOR FREEDOM, PEACE, AND DEMOCRACY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah 
(Mr. Moore) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, American leadership has always been 
the most influential, powerful agent for freedom, peace, and democracy.
  One month ago, the House stood up to protect our values and national 
interests by passing a bipartisan package to help Israel defend itself 
from Hamas.
  I recently attended a screening of the footage from Hamas that 
Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Meeks invited us all to, and I am so 
grateful for their leadership to have us do that. I knew it was footage 
that would be tough to see, but I knew it was footage I needed to see. 
I won't ever be the same after having seen that.
  As we support our ally, we must take a comprehensive look at the 
Biden administration's Middle East policy.
  Encapsulating all of my thoughts today in my remarks is a simple 
concept: With foreign policy, although it would be desired by all, you 
can't have it all. You have to make tough choices when it comes to 
foreign policy. You don't get to have everything that you would ever 
want. You cannot have it all with respect to foreign policy.
  I will share a little bit about how important it is to take a stand.
  While I am grateful for President Biden's clear support for Israel, 
his administration's attempts to placate Iran, the number one state 
sponsor of terrorism in the world, have been a critical misstep.
  For the past 3 years, the Biden administration has embarked on a 
deeply misguided and contradictory quest to resurrect the Iran nuclear 
deal while begrudgingly continuing one of the Trump and Pence 
administration's most successful efforts at peace in the Middle East, 
the Abraham Accords, and the recognition of Israel by its Arab 
neighbors in embracing diplomatic and economic ties through these 
accords.
  Rather than maintaining the maximum pressure campaign that sanctioned 
and starved Iran of foreign revenue, the Biden administration has 
balked at enforcing sanctions. They have allowed Iranian oil exports to 
surge back to levels higher than they were in 2018 and attempted to 
unfreeze billions of dollars in Iranian assets from foreign banks.
  The Iranian regime is flush with cash thanks to the global energy 
crisis and the administration's policy of appeasement. Iran uses this 
cash to fund, equip, and train a terrorist network across the region. 
This includes groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
  According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, 500 or so Hamas 
terrorists trained in Iran in the months leading up to the October 7 
attack on innocent Israelis. The Iranian regime has developed this 
terror network not just in Gaza and Lebanon but also in Syria, Iraq, 
and Yemen for one purpose: to cause just enough chaos to make the Arab 
world think twice about sustainable peace with Israel and the 
reliability of U.S. diplomacy.
  The Biden administration says its Iran appeasement is geared toward 
preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a goal I think we could 
all get behind, but it has obviously emboldened Iran and undermined 
regional security.
  We need our four main regional security partners--Israel, Saudi 
Arabia, Egypt, and Turkiye--to work together in unity, and we need 
America to lead on this front.
  President Biden's approach creates tremendous doubt that the United 
States is more committed to the security of our partners than to a 
delusional accommodation of Iran. What must Riyadh, Cairo, and Istanbul 
have thought these past 3 years while watching the U.S. respond meekly 
to Iranian proxy groups disrupting political order, trafficking illegal 
weapons, and lobbing rockets at American diplomats with impunity?

  Iran would love nothing more than for Saudi Arabia to think twice 
about normalizing relations with Israel, given the current crisis. Iran 
would love nothing more than for Egypt to decide that the opportunity 
costs for working with Israel on humanitarian corridors in Gaza, 
something that I have been calling for in a bipartisan fashion, is too 
high. Iran would love nothing more than for Turkiye to decide that it 
is more beneficial to work directly with Iran rather than through the 
United States.
  The Trump-Pence administration correctly understood that the Abraham

[[Page H6152]]

Accords were the best chance we have for sustainable peace in the 
Middle East. We are stronger together than we are apart.
  President Biden is undermining regional security and unity by 
appeasing the region's chief destabilizer: Iran. We must enforce 
sanctions, communicate clearly that we stand on the side of Israel and 
our partners, and line up our diplomatic and military commitments with 
our national interests that are also the national interests of Israel 
and the Arab world.

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