[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 18, 2012

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, May 17, I 
was unavoidably detained during several rollcall votes, numbers 259, 
260, 261, and 262.
  Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall 259 and 
rollcall 260. The rule providing for consideration of H.R. 4310 denied 
the House the opportunity to consider a number of key issues of 
interest to members of the House and our constituents. In particular, 
the rule denied a vote on my amendment to restore important health and 
safety protections for workers and residents who live near nuclear 
weapons facilities that will be undermined by the underlying bill. The 
rule also did not allow for a vote on the amendment offered by Mr. 
McGovern to accelerate the redeployment of our troops from Afghanistan 
that was supported by Armed Services Committee Ranking Democrat Adam 
Smith, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Republican Representative Walter 
Jones, and others.
  Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 261. I 
support H. Res. 568's goal of preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear 
weapons capacity and am on record on numerous occasions supporting 
legislation to this effect. Yet I do not believe that this resolution 
is a sensible way to pursue that goal. President Obama has effectively 
utilized aggressive sanctions and has united the international 
community diplomatically, which has substantially increased pressure on 
Iran to agree to a deal to prevent continued uranium enrichment and 
allow international inspectors to verify that Iran's nuclear program is 
not being used for military purposes. Congress should encourage that 
progress to continue but I am concerned that H. Res. 568 could disrupt 
the progress that is being made through negotiations and could bring 
the U.S. closer to war unnecessarily.
  In addition, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on 
rollcall No. 262.

                          ____________________