I appreciate that the new Secretary General of the OAS, Mr. Almagro, has acknowledged as much and called for elections now instead of waiting until 2018.

This is a manmade calamity. Venezuela is a beautiful country, and the people should not be suffering the way they are suffering.

And while the Maduro regime may have sanctioned me and forbidden my entry into Venezuela, it will not stop me from pursuing this issue.

we need to engage, we do not need to isolate.

If Venezuela is not a place where the Democratic Charter is going to be invoked and actually pursued by the countries of the hemisphere, then the charter is really of no consequence whatsoever.

I hope we can work together to hold human rights violators and drug traffickers, send a clear message, if you are going to violate the rights of others inside of Venezuela, know that you are next.

I do not think any of us are against dialogue. We want to have conversations.

I think there need to be additional sanctions applied by the United States and other countries.

I think there needs to be action within the OAS, including a threat of suspension of Venezuela from the organization.

I want to go to the attention of the lesser known dams that we have in our State that are no longer performing the function for which they were constructed originally.

the worst thing we can do is use very, very limited taxpayers' dollars to fix a dam that doesn't actually serve the intended purpose.

We have no responsible party, I understand, that would pay to remove this dam.

There is a need to remove dams that no longer are useful for their intended purpose.

it is in our national security interests to make sure that Iraq becomes a stable country and does not become an Iranian client state

How are we able to be a partner if we are reducing our capacity to help in regards to development assistance and diplomacy?

We need to leave no opening for the Iranian-backed movement to cut us out.

If we create even an inch of daylight between us and the Iraqis, we will get thrown out again.

They are not going to give up their desire for independence. That is clear. They want an independent state.

The mission to destroy ISIS's military and terrorist capabilities in Iraq must continue under a strong U.S. lead.

We tell them that they are not welcome in our country.

Bringing the world's largest economies and largest security assistance partners together strengthens our hand as we try to get the Iraqi Government to undertake political reconciliation.

I think the big question is whether Iraq can unify behind their effort to rid the country of ISIS and finally move forward politically.

That is not a way that I think is conducive to setting up a partnership of trust that becomes critically important for defeating ISIS.

today I wish to shine a spotlight on the dire security and humanitarian situation in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad basin, precipitated by Boko Haram, and to urge the new administration to organize quickly to address it. Nigeria…

I yield the remaining time I have to Senator Schumer. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has that right. The Senator from Minnesota.