[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13938-13939]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, as we have heard so far during debate 
on the Iran Joint Plan of Action, there are dozens of shortcomings and 
concerns when it comes to this administration's nuclear deal--the so-
called P5+1. No doubt, we will hear dozens more before all is said and 
done.
  The more we study this agreement--Republican or Democrat--the clearer 
it is to see that it does not measure up to its ultimate goal: to 
prevent a nuclear Iran.
  The essential restrictions on Iran's key bomb-making technology 
sunset in as soon as 10 years, leaving an internationally recognized, 
industrial-scale nuclear program with breakout times shrinking down to 
nearly zero--and that is if Iran doesn't cheat--but we will have a 
tough time knowing because what was ``anytime, anywhere'' inspections 
of Iranian nuclear sites has now become ``managed access,'' leaving 
Iran as long as 24 days to scrub sites, enough time to nearly 
completely remove incriminating evidence of wrongdoing or the option of 
self-reporting compliance in places like their military base at 
Parchin.
  However, what this deal does accomplish is to precipitate a nuclear 
arms race in the Middle East--a reality we are already seeing as 
nations like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have already begun 
building up their nuclear infrastructure in response.
  Any of those details should be enough to reject this deal, but that 
would not even mention the most objectionable portion: that this good-
faith agreement with the world's largest state sponsor of terror frees 
up hundreds of billions of dollars in economic sanctions and frozen 
assets seemingly without any regard for what that money will be used 
for.
  Mr. Speaker, for the last 6 months, I have had the opportunity to 
chair the Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing, which is a 
bipartisan group that was established by both parties of the Financial 
Services Committee, to look into the increasing ability for terror 
groups to fund and finance their
actions and to evaluate the United States' response to these 
challenges.
  Specifically, the task force examined the impact of this nuclear 
agreement on Tehran's state sponsorship of terror proxies across the 
region.
  What became abundantly clear was that the influx of hundreds of 
billions of dollars to Iran that have been authorized in this deal will 
increase that nation's ability to continue regional destabilization 
through the support of groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite 
militias, the Houthis in Yemen, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's 
regime in Damascus.
  This deal goes about rolling back sanctions while expert witnesses 
have testified before our task force, even as recently as yesterday, 
advocating for increased sanctions. There is a real disconnect here 
between what the experts

[[Page 13939]]

tell us and what the administration is doing.
  Iran's budget already features a nine-figure line item to support 
terrorism, and there is no doubt that the activities it funds will 
expand Iran's radical efforts--a fact even acknowledged by the 
administration following negotiations.
  Mr. Speaker, what we have today is a bad deal, one that clears the 
way for a nuclear Iran, that gravely endangers allies like Israel, and, 
with our blessing, that makes an already volatile, unstable Middle East 
less safe by giving Tehran more power to fund its terror syndicates.
  What is so troubling to me is that a number of my colleagues, after 2 
years of negotiations that have been predicated on no deal being better 
than a bad deal, have begrudgingly accepted a self-admitted bad deal 
solely because it is better than no deal.
  A better deal would include, truly, ``anytime, anywhere'' inspections 
of Iran's entire nuclear program, a plan of action to oversee and 
manage any funds returning to Iran through sanctions relief or a return 
to the international banking community, the release of American 
prisoners improperly held by the regime, and a payment of the $22 
billion in compensation owed by Iran to families of September 11 
victims, including Bucks County residents. The court judgments should 
be paid before Iran receives any funds under this agreement.
  I urge them to reconsider what the reality of this bad deal means for 
the safety of the world and the future of our Nation's foreign policy.
  I urge my colleagues to reject this deal because it is one that will 
have decades-long consequences to our national security.

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