Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise today in support of Chairman McCaul's bill to ensure no funding for Iranian terrorism. While I am stunned by what I heard from my colleague across the aisle, I will try to bring clarity to this. In August, President Biden surrendered access to $6 billion to Iran-- make no mistake about it--for five hostages. Once again, he demonstrated weakness to our adversaries. In doing so, he signaled to Hamas that his administration is willing to reward hostage taking. The policy of the United States for years was no negotiations with terrorists or with hostage takers. We knew at that time that precedent was powerful. Now, weak precedent is dangerous. In October, Hamas official Ali Baraka said of the $6 billion deal: ``The U.S. conducts prisoner swaps. Only recently, it did one with Iran. Why wouldn't it conduct a prisoner swap with us?'' Now, Hamas is holding the West hostage, the entire West hostage, as they fortify their defenses while Israeli hostages are traded for Palestinian prisoners, including terrorists. There is only one language that is understood by our adversaries, and that is strength. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this bill and send a message that we will not fund the radical jihadist agenda.”