[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5494-5495]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT REVIEW ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on the topic of committees getting back 
to work in the new Congress, we witnessed more evidence of that last 
week when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved 
the bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. It is a bipartisan 
bill with many Republican and Democratic cosponsors. It will ensure the 
American people are given a voice on one of the most important issues 
of our time.
  Chairman Corker worked closely with Members of both parties both to 
craft a compromise bill and to advance it. Many have admired not just 
his hard work on this issue but his determination as well. After all, 
who would have imagined that the White House, after trying to kill this 
bipartisan bill for months, would find itself forced to pull a near-
total about-face. It is no wonder, though, because the core principle 
that has always underlined the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act--that 
Congress and the American people deserve a say in any nuclear deal that 
the President tries to cut with Iran--is more than just common sense. 
It is really a no-brainer.
  After all, preventing the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism 
from gaining access to nuclear weapons should be the goal of every 
Senator and every American, regardless of party. It is not a partisan 
issue. It is one of the greatest challenges to regional stability, and 
the stakes are very high.
  Iran's support of Hezbollah, the Assad regime, Shia militias in Iraq, 
and the Houthi insurgents in Yemen, coupled with its determination to 
expand not just its nuclear capabilities but also its ballistic missile 
and conventional military capabilities, represents an aggressive effort 
to expand the Iranian sphere of influence throughout the greater Middle 
East.
  Iran's belligerent quest for nuclear weapons capabilities, its fierce 
determination to undermine America's standing in the region, and its 
violent pursuit of regional hegemony represent a grave, grave threat--
not just to nearby nations in the Middle East, not just to our own 
country, but for that matter to the entire world. So the stakes are 
indeed high. As we know, President Obama has been engaged in 
negotiations with the Iranians for some time now. Initially, we were 
led to believe that the point of these negotiations was to prevent--
prevent--Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
  But the administration's focus appears to have shifted from reaching 
an agreement that would end Iran's nuclear program to reaching an 
agreement for agreement's sake. That is the only way to interpret the 
interim agreement we saw recently. It would effectively bestow an 
international blessing for Iran to become a nuclear threshold state 
forever--forever on the edge of obtaining a nuclear weapon.
  The direction these negotiations have taken should be very worrying 
for Americans of every political stripe. What that simply underlines is 
the need for a measure such as the bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement 
Review Act.

[[Page 5495]]

  Here is what it would do. First, it would require that any final 
agreement reached with Iran be submitted to Congress for review. 
Second, it would require that Congress be given time to hold hearings 
and, ultimately, take a vote to approve or disapprove any Iran 
agreement before congressional sanctions are lifted.
  Third, if a final deal ultimately does go forward, it would require 
the President to certify back to Congress every 90 days that Iran 
remains in compliance with the agreement. And if the President is 
unable to do so, it would empower Congress to rapidly reimpose 
sanctions. In short, passing this bipartisan bill would give Congress 
and the American people important tools to assess any agreement reached 
by the administration before congressional sanctions can be lifted.
  Remember, it was due in no small measure to the congressional 
sanctions offered by Senator Mark Kirk, which passed this Chamber 100 
to 0, 4 years ago, that Iran was forced to the negotiating table in the 
first place. The Obama administration fiercely opposed those bipartisan 
sanctions back then, just as it opposed the bipartisan bill before us 
soon until very recently. But those sanctions have been so effective 
that even the administration has had to embrace them. Congress was 
right then, and Congress is right now.
  We should not be negotiating away the leverage previous sanctions 
have given our country for a bad deal especially agreed to for 
agreement's sake. Look, no piece of legislation is perfect. Senators 
who would like to see this bill strengthened, as I would, will have 
that chance during a robust amendment process that we will soon have 
right here on this floor. This bill will be open for amendment. Those 
who seek to improve it will have an opportunity to do that. But what we 
do know is that this bipartisan bill is underlined by a very solid 
principle and a lot of hard work. It represents a real opportunity to 
give the American people more of a say on this important issue. We look 
forward to a vigorous debate on it next week.

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