On the recordDecember 13, 2011
I yield myself 1 minute. I am quoting from an article in The Hill, which I cited earlier: Section 601 would prohibit U.S. Government employees in any official or unofficial capacity from contacting anyone who is affiliated with the Iranian Government who presents a threat to the United States or is affiliated with a terrorist organization. Look, if you want to stop war, you have to have communication with people. I mean, if you look back to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is one of the gravest crises of the 20th century, it was the fact that the United States and Russia were able to engage in a communication. So we have to be very careful that we don't pass any kind of a law that would restrict, not just First Amendment rights and not just freedom of association, but would restrict the basic kind of diplomacy that's used, because everyone here knows that diplomacy is not just leaders talking to leaders. All kinds of backdoor diplomacy goes on, and I think that that needs to be taken into consideration. I reserve the balance of my time.
