Tina Smith: “I join the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in wishing a happy birthday to Senator Boxer. I also thank…”

“I join the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in wishing a happy birthday to Senator Boxer. I also thank Senator Boxer and Senator Santorum for their tenaciousness in advancing this bill. It is long overdue and it is to be celebrated by all of us. Senator Lugar, Senator Biden, and the Foreign Relations Committee have worked this bill into a condition where we can bring it to the floor, giving the President sufficient discretion, and make clear that we will continue to engage in diplomacy with the Syrians but we are going to do it on a more realistic basis, a basis that has consequences, a basis that deals with facts, not fantasy, and truly makes progress in the Middle East. It is a matter of historical record that for a long time, several decades now, the Syrians have occupied the nation of Lebanon, their smaller neighbor to their west. In the course of that, whatever their motives were for going in, they have stayed there for gain. They have denied democracy to the Lebanese people, they have denied them self-determination, and they have been responsible for keeping the breach and the wound alive in Lebanon. But as it relates to this bill, I also have to take note of the fact it is Veterans Day. We thank our veterans. We celebrate our veterans. We owe them a great debt.”