Hire More Heroes Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Madam President, earlier this week I announced that I will reluctantly support the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action and oppose the resolution of disapproval, despite some very serious reservations.

I did not reach this position easily or quickly. Although there are many positive aspects to this deal, this agreement also has flaws that I believe need to be addressed in the months and years ahead.

The congressional review period has served a very useful purpose. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle have raised very important points about this deal as we were briefed by experts and administration negotiators. I commend Senators CARDIN and CORKER for their bipartisan efforts to establish this review and for affirming Congress's role in shaping our Nation's foreign policy.

After this debate is over, it is my hope that moving forward the Senate will forge bipartisan consensus and act with unity of purpose. We must work together and take action against Iran if they fail to live up to their obligations under this agreement, and we must work on legislation and multinational and lateral efforts to combat Iran's sponsorship of terrorist activities, arms smuggling, and hegemonic ambitions.

We need to look no further than the humanitarian crisis emanating from Syria to see the havoc and chaos that Iran and its proxies are wreaking on an already troubled region.

We need to provide robust oversight and work together to stem the proliferation of nuclear material, especially from nascent nuclear states and from Iran in particular. Nearly 20 countries produce safe nuclear power without domestic enrichment. America's longstanding policy is that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty does not provide the right to enrich uranium.

While in the short term this agreement helps reduce Iran's capacity to enrich and eliminates the vast majority of their Iranian stockpile, I am concerned that in the long term other nations will view this agreement as a precedent that will lead to increased proliferation of nuclear enrichment and the potential for other nations to emerge as threshold nuclear states.

Just a few years ago, the United States signed and ratified a 123 Agreement with the United Arab Emirates that would help them build nuclear power capabilities while explicitly preventing them from enriching uranium on their soil.

The United States must take a leadership role in setting a threshold of acceptable levels of enrichment of uranium for the safe production of nuclear energy. As more nations look to meet growing energy needs while minimizing carbon output, a comprehensive policy to ensure only safe levels of uranium enrichment with strong international safeguards is critical to global security.

No nation faces a more severe threat than Iran's nuclear ambitions than the State of Israel. For decades, the Iranian regime has made it their mandate to eliminate the Jewish State. We must be united in ensuring that this never happens. We must always be ready to act to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and smuggling arms to its proxies in the region.

As the Middle East falls deeper into chaos, our alliance with Israel, a nation that shares so many of our values, has never been more important. America must reaffirm our longstanding commitment to Israel's security by renewing our memorandum of understanding, providing Israel with defense capabilities in order to cement its qualitative military edge in the region, and bolstering Israel's ability to initiate deterrence against Iran.

The JCPOA is not the end of our multilateral efforts against Iran and its illicit behavior. America must work with our allies to initiate multilateral sanctions against Iran for its terrorist activities, especially its funding of Hezbollah and Hamas.

We also need to set clear understandings of how Iran will be sanctioned for minor violations of this agreement that will not initiate the snapback of full sanctions. We must continue working in a coordinated fashion to ensure unity in purpose against Iran's nuclear ambitions, terrorist activities, and efforts to destabilize the region. We must also continue pressing for the release of all U.S. hostages currently imprisoned in Iran, including Amir Hekmati. Congress must address these issues.

In 2009 Congress debated whether to pursue sanctions or diplomacy with Iran first, with military force always being the last resort but a necessary final deterrent. I was proud to cosponsor the effort to pass sanctions in 2009 and help pass additional sanctions in the years since. As a new Member of the Senate, I joined a group of bipartisan Senators ready to pass additional sanctions against Iran as they continued to drag out negotiations. Iran needed to know that the patience of the United States was not limitless.

The JCPOA is a product of complex negotiations and painstaking compromises. But let's be clear. Either rejecting or accepting this deal comes with a set of distinct risks. However, those who oppose this deal have been accused of supporting war over diplomacy, and those who support this deal have been likewise portrayed as supporting containment and capitulation. Foreign policy is rarely so simple, and it is certainly not so simple in this case.

As leaders of this great Nation, we owe it to our citizens and the men and women in uniform to never let ourselves become so fractured by partisan politics on issues of such importance to national security. I look forward to working with Senators on both sides of the aisle to protect the interests of our allies and the safety and security of this great Nation and to ensure that the United States of America remains both united in our goals and indivisible in our purpose.

I yield the floor.

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