Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the world has watched as Iran has oppressed its own people, violated United Nations resolutions, challenged America, and threatened Israel. The Senate is taking an important step forward today as we pass the conference report that will impose tough new sanctions on Iran. We are passing these sanctions because we believe we must stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon--a weapon that would surely threaten the national security of the United States and Israel. Our goal is to target Iran where it would hurt the regime the most. These new economic sanctions are related to Iran's refined petroleum sector and international financial institutions that do business with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Iranian banks. The Senate has worked hard to pass this legislation. I thank Senator Dodd, who worked tirelessly with Senator Kerry and the other conferees to get the final version of the bill completed. I also thank a man who came to the House of Representatives with me years ago, Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the effort on the other side of the Capitol. Once these sanctions become law, they will expand the multilateral sanctions passed by the United Nations and the new sanctions the European Union is discussing. The Senate has a critical role to play by taking clear and decisive action to get the Iranian regime to change its behavior, and we have done that with passage of this conference report.…”