Political Quotes

“Madam President, the provision in the underlying bill that Senator Cruz's motion argues for is a good one in that we should care about cooperation between China and Iran, but I would encourage my colleagues to oppose this MTI because of another extraneous provision in the motion. The motion argues that the United States should tie our Iran terrorism sanctions to our China policy, and that, frankly, is a bad idea. Terrorism-related sanctions are about punishing and deterring support for terrorism. If we want to use sanctions to deter cooperation between Iran and China, then we should craft those tailored sanctions; but to tie our Iran terrorism sanctions to our China policy would have the effect, really, of muddying the waters about the purpose of terrorism sanctions. Terrorism sanctions should be about stopping terrorism--period, stop. If we start applying terrorism sanctions for other purposes, it weakens our entire anti-terror strategy. For that reason, I would urge opposition to the motion. Vote on Motion The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.”