Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator for his active involvement on our Foreign Relations Committee. He is a valuable member, and I appreciate his concern about this issue. I know he understands that this is an amendment that is likely not to pass. Let me tell you why. Four times since 2010, Congress has put in sanctions that most people believe is what brought Iran to the table--four different tranches. They began in 2010. In almost every one of these cases they have had huge bipartisan support. I know the Senator knows this. But what happened was when those were done--as a matter of fact, this Senator three of those four times voted to give the President a national security waiver on the congressionally mandated sanctions. I know the Senator knows this as well. We talked about it extensively. I know he has had conversations with the Secretary of State--former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as I have multiple times, and she agrees this is an executive agreement. Let me tell you why. The reason it is an executive agreement is right now the President has the ability to go straight to the U.N. Security Council, working with the other members, and alleviate the U.N. Security Council's sanctions. Obviously, he has the ability to do that with the Executive sanctions that he himself put in place. What Congress has done--and I know the Senator participated because he, too, wanted to make sure we sanctioned Iran to bring them to the table, as we have.…”