Bob Menendez: “reserving the right to object, let me, first, praise Senator Wyden for his continuing effort on behalf of the Baha'is.…”

“reserving the right to object, let me, first, praise Senator Wyden for his continuing effort on behalf of the Baha'is. As he has mentioned, we have worked together on this in the past. I am strongly supportive. I am in complete agreement with what Senator Wyden wants to do in terms of shining a spotlight on the abuses that the Baha'is face at the hands of the Iranian regime and taking steps to protect that community. I believe that religious freedom and support for religious minorities is a fundamental right, one we have to defend both at home and abroad. For decades, Iran has persecuted religious minorities, ethnic minorities, women--as we have seen most pointedly of late--and anyone who does not toe the regime's line. Senator Wyden's resolution addresses an important issue. My challenge here is that we have a flood of requests to release the committee both of resolutions and legislation, including of members of the committee, and we have said no in order to preserve the opportunity to have the imprint of the committee's process on any given resolution or piece of legislation. In order to preserve that, we ultimately have a challenge. If we were to allow this to happen at this point, there would be an enormous number. So what I can commit to the Senator is that at the very beginning of this new session, the committee will take up your resolution.…”