Chuck Schumer: “I will be brief. First, I wish to thank our chairman, Senator Johnson of South Dakota, for being so steadfast in…”

“I will be brief. First, I wish to thank our chairman, Senator Johnson of South Dakota, for being so steadfast in bringing this bill to the floor. He worked in tandem with Senator Shelby, whom I thank as well. Senator Menendez has been a true leader on these issues and has been the lead sponsor of many of the pieces of legislation to tighten the economic noose on Iran. I wish to thank my friend and colleague Senator Graham from South Carolina as well for being so instructive on this issue. We have had a lot of divisions between Democrats and Republicans, but on the issue of making sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, we are united. The threat, the specter of an Iranian nuclear weapon, will continue to bring Democrats and Republicans together. I hope the Iranian Government recognizes that, because we are going to continue to tighten and tighten and tighten restrictions so that Iran realizes that not just the United States but just about all of the civilized world is against her gaining a nuclear weapon. The Iranians can't talk about why shouldn't have it when everyone else does. With the kind of saber rattling and verbiage that comes out of that regime about what they might do to Israel or other countries, it shows they are not a mature enough nation to be possessing this God-awful power. The point I wish to make here tonight is this is another step forward. We are further tightening the sanctions.…”