[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8517]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  ESTABLISHING COHERENT FOREIGN POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Holding) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, suffice it to say, there is no shortage of 
challenges across the globe, all of which test our Nation's foreign 
policy and resolve and pose a threat to our national security.
  Lately, the world's attention has been focused on a myriad of issues 
that rightly deserve our attention: Russia's blatant violation of 
Ukraine's sovereignty, their continued meddling in the internal 
politics of our Eastern European allies, China's continued rhetoric and 
aggression in the East and South China Seas, the struggle for democracy 
in Venezuela, and the tragic events that continue to unfold in Nigeria 
and Syria, among other things.
  Establishing a coherent foreign policy and ensuring our national 
security require the United States to maintain a fixed leadership role 
in all of these challenges that we face.
  Mr. Speaker, while these and a host of other pressing issues test the 
United States and our friends around the globe, I am concerned that we 
have let what I consider to be the greatest threat to our national 
security fall out of the center of the discussion. That, of course, Mr. 
Speaker, is the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.
  The success or failure of these talks will undoubtedly have a far-
reaching impact on the safety and security of the Middle East and the 
international effort to prevent further nuclear proliferation. The 
ramifications can never be overstated.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not suggesting that our efforts and those of our 
international partners--for example, to strengthen our alliances in the 
Baltics or to bring Boko Haram to justice--should cease. What I am 
suggesting is that we must always continue to stand strongly, shoulder 
to shoulder, with our allies to combat tyranny and terrorism. Those 
missions will never cease.
  I firmly believe that Congress needs to, right now, continue the 
discussion and increase our oversight of the dealings with the regime 
in Tehran, especially as the July 20 deadline rapidly approaches.
  I know that Chairman Royce of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has 
always made these negotiations and the precise details regarding 
inspection and verification a priority, and I certainly welcome his 
commitment to increasing the committee's efforts to hold the 
administration accountable as they try and reach a final deal.
  What I fear is that the administration might accept and, worse, push 
for a final deal filled with concessions that endanger our national 
security just for the sake of getting a deal done.
  What might even be worse, Mr. Speaker, would be an extension of the 
talks that fail to do anything of real consequence to stop Iran's march 
to a bomb. Time has shown us, again and again, Tehran's frequent use of 
manipulative negotiation tactics and their history of deceit when it 
comes to concealing their nuclear program.
  Every day that passes during which concrete steps aren't put into 
place to prevent and to verify that Iran isn't maneuvering for the bomb 
is another day in which our security and the security of our allies is 
put in jeopardy.
  Mr. Speaker, we all know that the world is a complex place. There 
will always be a new and emerging crisis right around the corner that 
threatens the delicate balance of global stability, but if we and our 
international partners fail at the weighty task before us of ensuring 
Iran never has the breakout capacity to get the bomb in these 
negotiations, those emerging crises will always take the backseat to a 
threat created by a nuclear-armed Iran.

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