Political Quotes

“I rise to discuss the United States and coalition strategy to bring about a lasting defeat of the terrorist group ISIS, often known by different acronyms, such as ISIL, as well as Daesh. I will use the acronym ISIS. We know that ISIS proposes a direct threat to our partners in the Middle East and is exporting its distorted, hateful ideology to other nations, including here in the United States. Beginning in 2014, I have pressed the administration to take action against the financial and facilitation networks that support ISIS. The administration has done good work, but much more remains to be done. In mid-February, I traveled to a number of countries in the region, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey to conduct oversight of our strategy to cut off the financial networks that support terrorist groups like ISIS. I found that the events of the last 2 years have brought the issue of terrorism financing into sharper focus, and certainly into sharper focus for the countries in the region. ISIS attacks in places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar should be a wakeup call for gulf countries. Terrorist financiers not only support ISIS, but they present a direct threat to their own internal security and stability--the security and stability of these gulf countries--as well as other countries the world over. While coalition partners are taking steps in the right direction, much more work remains to be done.…”