[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3460]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             FOREIGN POLICY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, McClatchy News has a story that I think is 
worth talking about, a part of it at least, this morning. It says:

       Newspaper editorial pages around the country have not been 
     kind to Senate Republicans this week. A collective 
     ``Seriously?'' has emerged in reaction to the open letter 
     that 47 Republicans penned to the Iranian leadership, which 
     seemed designed to undercut nuclear talks with the Obama 
     administration.

  Here are some of the things they said:
  ``A blot on 114th U.S. Senate,'' from the Detroit Free Press.
  ``The Senators who signed the letter should be ashamed,'' said the 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  Some sounded embarrassed.
  ``Cringe-worthy buffoonery on the global stage,'' says the Salt Lake 
Tribune.
  Others seemed just weary of Capitol Hill's continuing dysfunction.
  ``Has Congress gone crazy?'' wondered the Courier-Journal in 
Louisville, KY.
  Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois ``has not been among the crazies in 
Congress, particularly on foreign policy matters. But he joined them 
here,'' wrote the Peoria Journal Star.
  Noting her signature endorsing the letter, the Concord Monitor said 
of New Hampshire Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte:
  ``It's not every day that a United States senator attempts to 
undermine U.S. foreign policy and weaken the nation in one cursive 
swoop.''
  In Phoenix, AZ, the Arizona Republic editorial board concluded that 
the Republican Senators ``are effectively declaring a congressional 
right to conduct subversive foreign policy proxy wars with the 
president, with threats to blow up agreement negotiations as their 
weapon of choice.''

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