Robert Smith: “I compliment the ranking member and the chairman of the Banking Committee for bringing this legislation to the floor. It…”

“I compliment the ranking member and the chairman of the Banking Committee for bringing this legislation to the floor. It has been my privilege to introduce it to their committee with Senator Schumer, the Senator from New York--a Republican and a Democrat. Senator Schumer and I came together on this bill in the belief that, as America pursues its national interests abroad, we should not forget our national values at home. One of the national values that I believe we have is our commitment to the State of Israel to defend it in its existence. This is a commitment that continues today in some very troubled waters. But the truth is, if you examine the globe and try to evaluate where America could be drawn into a conflict, surely the Middle East is one of those. Some of the actors in the Middle East, it seems to me, have made it clear in recent days that their intention is not to make peace with Israel but to eliminate Israel from the map. To that end, we see in Iran a nation that is pursuing its petroleum business in order to buy its munitions, its weapons business, to build weapons of mass destruction and the rocketry to deliver them, to engage in this deadly trade--all aimed at the State of Israel.”