The Iraqis are very eager, under our strategic framework agreement, for U.S. assistance to be the backbone of their response.

Prime Minister Maliki has not been the kind of Prime Minister to create any kind of sense that a central government can resolve the ethnic and civil issues that exist there.

in order to set the context, I am going to say a few words on the opening, and then enter into a discussion with Senator Graham, Senator Rubio, and Senator McCain. But let me say that all of us--I know certainly myself--want to start by…

Obviously, just the way the Senator asks the question-- and obviously nobody in this Senate has spent more time on these issues than the Senator from Arizona--and I thank the Senator so much for his leadership on the Armed Services…

Iraq seems to be disintegrating as the terrorist organization ISIS now controls Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, Fallujah, and much of Ramadi.

If I could, since the Senator and I have worked together on the committee, the administration came to us when they didn't have to. They came to us on the authorization for the use of force in Syria. We came together over a very short…

I know that those of us who have visited recently know that before this all occurred U.S. influence was at an all-time low and really almost not present.

Since 2009, Maliki has systematically shredded and politicized the entire structure of the Iraqi Security Forces.

I have now gotten to the point where I question--I hate to say it--how effective that is going to be at this point.

I ask unanimous consent to enter into a presentation and colloquy with my fellow Republican colleagues for up to 25 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The remarks of Mr. Corker, Mr. Graham, Mr. Rubio, and…

I thank the leader for her comments and her ability to build consensus around the reauthorization as she did in the committee. This is the fifth time since 2008--I have been here since January of 2007--that we have done a temporary…

I thank the Senator again for his tremendous contributions to this body and every foreign policy debate that we have. The President did seek congressional approval on the authorization of the use of military force in Syria. It was not…

So when you think about the possibilities of their being able to create, as the Senator mentioned, a dirty bomb--which would create tremendous terror wherever it might have been implemented--that is something I think is frightening--more…

One of the ways that Iran has destabilized the region has been through proxies that it funds. Let's face it. Until they became involved in Syria--as the Senator has talked about on the floor--through their proxy, Hezbollah, actually the…

I think, based on past behavior, that would be one's expectation. Again, we know there are facilities that are operating, and we haven't been able to get into those facilities. When you look at the facts, one of the things that is not even…

The Senator is exactly right. I was in the region this year, and there is tremendous concern about, obviously, Iran breaking out in this regard. Candidly, there are many conversations about ways for them to compensate for that because they…

First of all, no one has taken a more important role in our foreign policy and security issues than the Senator from South Carolina. I thank him for that. I know on my last trip to Afghanistan, he was there serving his Reserve duty. I…

I know the Senator from Kentucky tried to have this bill heard this week in a business meeting. I know the Senator knows I supported that effort to cause this bill to be marked up in the Foreign Relations Committee, which is where it…

I was glad to join you in the Senate-passed immigration bill.

I will tell you this, it does not give me a lot of faith in the public officials who are dealing with this issue if they do not have some kind of gut instinct as to the number of people who are coming into this country that might actually…

this is a humanitarian crisis, and I think everybody here--all of--most of us have children, have--I mean, we--you know, to see what is happening with so many children from other countries, you know, it breaks our heart.

I really do believe that the type of thing we are dealing with on the border now cries out for us, as a Congress, to deal with immigration reform.

I would like to join our distinguished leader Mitch McConnell in seconding the comments about the presentation the senior Senator from Tennessee made at the Howard Baker funeral. It is a great privilege for us to serve in this body. While…

I want to say that I appreciate so much the point of view the Senator from Kentucky brings to the committee and his focus on foreign aid. No doubt there are issues relative to aid to many countries around the world that we need to be…

China's doing this because they can.