[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1351]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1245
                OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S HANDLING OF IRAN

  (Mr. BABIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I feel compelled to give voice to the 
millions of Americans who continue to be dumbfounded and frustrated by 
this administration's handling of Iran.
  Shortly before President Obama's final State of the Union address, 
news broke that 10 U.S. sailors had been captured by Iran's Islamic 
Revolutionary Guard.
  Remarkably, the President did not even mention our sailors in his 
speech while TVs across the world became littered with pictures of our 
sailors on their knees at gunpoint.
  Even worse, Iran's Supreme Leader celebrated this incident last week 
by awarding medals to those Iranians who captured the intruding 
Americans.
  Once the situation was resolved, Secretary Kerry had the audacity to 
actually thank the Iranians, and Mr. Obama then released billions of 
dollars in sanctions to the Iranians.
  This is yet another embarrassing episode of weakness and capitulation 
that only serves to embolden our enemies and increase the likelihood of 
further conflict.
  It is time that this administration set aside what I would 
characterize as disdain for our military and, instead, defend our 
servicemembers with the passion and respect that they have earned and 
deserve.

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