On the recordJune 15, 2015
I thank our distinguished chairman and thank both he and Eliot Engel for the leadership that they have both shown. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for keeping that focus on all issues related to Iran and for doing it so effectively, including and especially the human rights abuses that are occurring there each and every day. Mr. Speaker, the most important duty of the President of the United States is to keep Americans safe from harm, whether they are at home or abroad. Three innocent Americans continue to be brutalized in Iran prisons and trapped in a system of sham trials. A fourth American, another innocent man, has been missing from Iran for more than 8 years and presumed to also be imprisoned in that country. When Americans have been hostages in foreign lands or on foreign seas, Presidents from both parties have prioritized their rescue, sometimes even asking the finest from our fighting forces to risk their lives to save them. It is an important question why the President has failed to make the release of our fellow Americans his top priority with the Iranian regime. How often have we heard the administration speak out, pressure being put to bear on the Iranian regime, even as the talks continue on the nuclear issue? It seems to me I will never forget when Nagameh Abedini came and testified at one of Frank Wolf's hearings. She said they told her there was nothing they could do for her husband at the U.S. Department of State.…
