Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor very briefly to make what, I hope, is a reasonable recommendation to my colleagues on both sides. We are due to vote later today on moving forward on a piece of legislation that I support. Last week, we voted out of the Foreign Relations Committee a new sanctions bill against the Iranian regime for its continued movement toward a ballistic missile program that, ultimately, could threaten the security of the Middle East and could threaten the security of our sacred ally in the region, Israel. It also speaks to Iran's continued problematic human rights record and its support for terrorism in the region. We should move forward on this piece of legislation, but I would recommend that we not do so today. There is reason to have this debate, but given the terrorist attack that occurred in Iran, given the fact that today we know that there are 12 dead and 40 wounded in 2 very coordinated attacks, my worry is that, literally, at the moment of grieving in Iran, this resolution would look as directed not at the regime, as it is, but at the Iranian people. It would seem intemperate and, ultimately, do more damage than good. This is an important resolution to debate. We can find the time to get this done, but given the unfortunate timing--obviously, not intentional in our moving this forward this week--given the attacks that just occurred and for which ISIS has claimed responsibility, I would hope that we could find a way to move this to another time.…”