Benjamin Gilman: “the bill before us, H.R. 2709, the Iran Missile Proliferation Sanctions Act, will make the world a safer place. It…”

“the bill before us, H.R. 2709, the Iran Missile Proliferation Sanctions Act, will make the world a safer place. It closes loopholes in our counterproliferation laws to address a matter of critical concern to our national security, the risk that Iran may soon obtain from firms in Russia and elsewhere the capability to produce its own medium- and long-range ballistic missiles. Mr. Speaker, I introduced this legislation on October 23 of last year. Before we passed it by voice vote on November 12, it had over 240 House cosponsors, including both the Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrich), and the Democratic leader, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt). The urgency of this legislation is apparent from recent press reports. As a result of critical assistance from Russian firms, Iran is making steady progress in developing medium- and long-range ballistic missiles. Unless something happens soon, Iran will be able to produce its own medium-range missiles within less than a year. If the assistance from Russia continues, Iran is soon going to be able to produce long-range ballistic missiles as well, which will threaten not only the stability of the Middle East region, but the entire European continent as well. For more than a year, our government has been in constant dialogue with Russia about stopping their assistance.…”