[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5610]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT REVIEW ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 2 weeks ago, every Republican and every 
Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve the Iran 
Nuclear Agreement Review Act. That 19-to-0 vote cleared the way for its 
consideration on the floor today.
  This is an important debate in our country. At its heart, it turns on 
a central proposition: Do the American people, through the Members of 
Congress they elect, deserve a say in one of the most important issues 
of our time? For a long time, the answer from the White House seemed to 
be no. We have since seen a softening of that hard line, but that 
doesn't mean the fight for this bipartisan legislation has been won. I 
still expect to see a vigorous debate this week. I still expect to see 
a robust amendment process. And then, at the end of the day, the 
American people are right to expect their Senators--regardless of 
party--to stand for them by supporting a bill that is as sensible as it 
is bipartisan.
  Preventing the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism from 
getting access to nuclear weapons should be the goal of our Senators no 
matter what party they belong to. The price of a bad agreement with 
Iran could be catastrophic.
  Iran's nuclear program is only one aspect of its efforts to confront 
the West across the full spectrum of warfare: through public diplomacy, 
through its support for terrorism and proxies, through its missile 
capabilities, and through a modernization of its conventional forces. 
Iran is on the move in all of those areas. Any sanctions relief from a 
nuclear agreement would give Iran, actually, more funds to conduct 
these and other activities, so Congress needs to have a say.
  Let's not forget that the American people were led to believe that 
the point of the White House negotiations with Iran were to end Iran's 
nuclear program and to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. 
Congress and the American people were not told that this would be an 
exercise in granting Iran international permission to become a nuclear 
threshold state--just steps away from a nuclear weapon.
  If that truly is how things have developed since, then the Members of 
this body and the people we represent need to be heard. The American 
people, through the representatives they elected, have a right to 
review, analyze, and pass their judgment on any agreement reached to 
ensure Americans are getting the kind of agreement they actually 
deserve.
  Giving the American people a real voice on a topic of such vital 
importance should not be a partisan issue, and by passing the 
bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, we can help ensure that 
it isn't.
  Among other things, this bipartisan bill would require that any 
agreement reached with Iran be submitted for congressional review and 
for public examination. It would also provide the Congress elected by 
the people with the ability to approve or disapprove of any Iran deal 
before congressional sanctions are removed.
  In short, the point of this bill is to give the elected 
representatives of the American people the tools to assess any 
agreement reached by the administration before congressional sanctions 
are lifted. Those crippling sanctions--which include bipartisan 
sanctions authored by Senator Kirk that passed 100 to 0, over the White 
House's objections--are one of the most important reasons we even got 
Iran to the table in the first place. So the United States should not 
give up that leverage now if it means bringing home an agreement that 
does not meet American national security interests or one that simply 
passes on dealing with the Iranian nuclear program to the next 
administration.
  The point of these negotiations should be to secure an agreement 
strong enough on its own merits to pass muster with Congress and with 
the American people.
  Congress had the correct judgment to impose bipartisan sanctions over 
White House objections a few years back. Congress would now have the 
correct judgment to insist that its Members and the Americans each of 
us represent be considered in this critically important conversation. 
Passing the bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act is key to 
ensuring that happens, and in the process of doing so, we will ensure 
that the voices of all Americans are heard with the kind of robust 
amendment process I mentioned on the floor last week.
  In that vein, we appreciate the Democratic leader's comments about an 
open amendment process where, no matter how a person feels about this 
bill, they will have an opportunity to offer amendments. I appreciate 
his supportive comments, and we encourage Senators to come to the floor 
today and to offer their amendments.

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