Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I emphasize how important I think the role is of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As many present know, my predecessor, now Vice President Biden, is a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As my good friend and colleague from the State of Vermont just reminded us, there is a long and important history on the Senate Judiciary Committee that I think bears repeating; that since its formation a century ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee has provided a hearing, a vote or both for every single Supreme Court nominee. The only exceptions being those that went straight to the floor because their confirmations were supported so broadly.

I also think there is a second important point, if I could briefly touch on it; that even in those instances where a nominee did not enjoy majority support on the committee, even in those instances just cited by the Senator from Vermont, where a majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against a nomination, that nomination proceeded to the floor of the Senate to ensure that advice and consent--our constitutional duty--could be carried forward.

If I might ask for the forbearance of the Senator from Vermont for one moment, I also want to set the record straight about what my friend and predecessor then-Senator, now-Vice President Biden actually said in a floor speech back in 1992, a floor speech that has been widely cited as evidence of some new set of so-called Biden rules that are somehow a basis for the obstructionism we now see--a refusal to even meet with a Supreme Court nominee, let alone give them a fair hearing.

I want to take this moment because then-Senator Biden has been quoted out of context. He gave--I am sure this will not surprise some in the Chamber--a somewhat long and winding speech. There was no Supreme Court vacancy at the time. He was simply observing what might happen if there were to be a vacancy. While he did, early in the speech, give some comments that have been now used, he also gave at the end of his speech a section I want to read. To quote directly:

I believe that so long as the public continues to split its confidence between the branches, compromise is the responsible course both for the White House and for the Senate. Therefore I stand by my position, Mr. President, if the President [then President George H.W. Bush] consults and cooperates with the Senate or moderates his selections absent consultation, then his nominees may enjoy my support, as did Justices Kennedy and Souter.

In conclusion, let me remark that what then-Chairman Biden did speaks more loudly even than what he said. I believe his record as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is unmistakable. In case after case, he convened and held timely hearings, even in the election year of 1988. It means he considered and confirmed 64 judicial nominees, as late as September in a Presidential election year. It means he voted in favor of Justice Kennedy and Justice Souter, nominated by Republican Presidents, and it means that in his speech, in the section I quoted, I think he sent a clear request to then-President George H.W. Bush to work with the Senate, send us a moderate nominee, and I will consider supporting them.

I urge the chairman and ranking member, all of us who are members of this important and august committee, to follow the actual Biden rules by working across the aisle, by consulting, and by offering a fair, open, and timely hearing for any nominee who should be proffered by our President.
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Mr. COONS. Mr. President, earlier this week, I joined a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues, including Senator Graham, Senator Ayotte, and Senator Blumenthal--Republicans and Democrats alike--to send a letter to the United States Department of the Treasury. In our letter, we urged Secretary Jack Lew to continue the Obama administration's necessary and vital efforts to crack down on Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline that provides support for Iran's terrorist proxies and funnels weapons to Hezbollah and the murderous Assad regime in Syria.

Mahan Air is only the latest example of a pattern of behavior we have come to expect from Iran: Supporting terrorism and conducting destabilizing activities in the Middle East, conducting illegal ballistic missile tests in violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1929, and committing ongoing, major human rights violations.

Indeed, as we wrote in the letter to the Secretary of the Treasury: ``Strong and swift sanctions enforcement is vital to hold Iran to account for its ongoing support of terrorism, ballistic missile development, and human rights violations.''

Today I would like to dive further into Mahan Air activities and explain why it is important that America work with our allies to continue to push back on Iran's bad behavior and to hold Tehran to the terms of the agreement reached last summer with regard to Iran's nuclear agreement.

I will also explain why it is critical that the Senate confirm Adam Szubin, Treasury's now-Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, who plays a key role in pressuring our allies to push back on Iran and who, in the absence of confirmation, is weakened in that vital role. If we are serious about our shared intentions to hold Iran accountable, then this Senate must confirm Adam Szubin, and our European allies must work with us to sanction Mahan Air.

Although Mahan Air is technically a private Iranian airline, it supports the operations of the IRGC--the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps--the hard-line military force committed to the preservation of the revolutionary and extremist Iranian regime. Mahan Air also provides services to the Quds Force, an elite IRGC military force that is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department under Executive Order 13224.

Through its ties to the IRGC and the Quds Force, Mahan Air directly and indirectly provides men and materiel to Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based in Lebanon, and to the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Yet, despite these known ties, Mahan Air is still flying into 24 airports in countries around the region and world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy, and it is successfully procuring aircraft and equipment using front companies--an evasive approach that mirrors Iran's strategy in a number of industries, not just in airlines.

Since October of 2011, the Treasury Department has taken key steps to sanction Mahan Air. In that month--October of 2011--Mahan Air provided travel for members of the Quds Force, who flew to and from Iran and Syria for military training, and other suspected officers who flew covertly in and out of Iran.

Less than a year later, in September of 2012, Treasury further cracked down on Mahan Air and two other airlines for a series of bad actions, including sending military and crowd control equipment to the Assad regime in Syria in coordination with Hezbollah, often under the cover of being humanitarian aid. Later, in both February of 2014 and May of 2015, our Department of the Treasury took further action against two front companies that helped Mahan Air procure equipment and parts. The 2014 action penalized personnel and companies in the United Arab Emirates who helped Mahan Air transfer money and procure aircraft and other parts.

This ongoing, long-term pattern of behavior by Iran and its IRGC makes clear why the United States and our other vital allies must work together to cut off Mahan Air's access to international markets and airports, and I commend our Department of Treasury for taking these important steps to designate Mahan and its employees.

These actions alone are important--but not sufficient. Both the United States and our European allies must do more. To start, I urge governments across the European Union to also designate Mahan Air and its many front companies for their support for terrorism.

By continuing to support Syria's violent and discredited President, Bashar al-Assad, Iran has directly contributed to the slow and grinding collapse of Syria, to the enormous humanitarian crisis that has resulted, and to the destabilization of the region. There is a direct correlation between Iran's destabilizing actions in Syria, but also in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq, and the migrant crisis now facing all of Western Europe. The more that Iran uses Mahan Airlines to transport the very goods that supply Hezbollah, the longer the instability inside Syria will persist and the more refugees and migrants will flee Syria toward our allies in Western Europe.

Without the support of companies such as Mahan Air and the many front companies that it depends on, Iran and the IRGC would find supporting the Assad regime substantially more difficult and expensive. We must work together to keep Mahan Air from purchasing engines, aircraft, and other equipment for these maligning purposes.

The second step our allies can and should take is simple: to stop allowing Mahan Air to land at their airports. A company like Mahan Air, which supports terrorism in defiance of international norms, should not have easy access to international airports.

More broadly, combating Iran's destabilizing actions in the Middle East and successfully and rigorously enforcing the terms of the nuclear deal with Iran will require meaningful international coordination.

As I recently wrote in an editorial that ran in the Guardian, while I understand that many European companies will seek to do business with Iran, now that certain economic sanctions have been lifted in compliance with the terms of the nuclear agreement, I urge our allies to remember three simple things.

First, the United States and the U.N. continue to maintain and enforce economic sanctions against Iran. The United States' designation of Mahan Air is one of many unilateral sanctions examples, and many that we continue to keep in place.

Second, stopping Iran's quest for a nuclear weapon must always remain a top priority. We are counting on our European allies to continue to share this view and to act in accordance with it--a view that they stated they shared during our negotiations that led up to the nuclear deal.

Third, as Iran's relationship with Mahan Air shows, the Iranian Government remains a revolutionary regime with a long history of pursuing nuclear weapons and a long track record of supporting terrorism and destabilization in the Middle East.

Iran's use of Mahan Air to evade international scrutiny is yet another reminder that we must remain vigilant in our oversight of Iran. Here in the United States, we appreciate the partnership of our European allies. In fact, the strength of this allegiance and our ability to act as one were key factors that led Iran to agree to the strict terms of the nuclear agreement. We must continue to advocate for and keep front of mind the idea that the most important contract with Iran is the one we have already signed in the nuclear agreement. We must pursue every possible means of enforcing it, and that means cracking down on front companies that facilitate Mahan Air, and companies that are playing a direct role in fomenting instability in the Middle East.

Just as importantly, I urge my colleagues today to put politics aside and confirm Adam Szubin, who oversees the implementation of sanctions in the Treasury Department. With experience in both the Bush and Obama administrations, Adam Szubin is the definition of an outstanding career public servant: nonpartisan, dedicated to his job, and committed to his country. He has been widely praised by Senators of both parties, but his confirmation has been blocked for nearly a year for reasons utterly unrelated to his capabilities or his performance of the job.

The cause of this hold is and has been raw politics, but the consequences of the hold go far beyond that.

When Acting Under Secretary Szubin sits down at the negotiating table, the individuals on the other side, whether from the private sector or a foreign government, friend or foe, should know that he speaks for the American people and has the weight of the Senate and the whole Government of the United States behind him. When Adam Szubin travels around the world to ask senior officials from foreign governments to sanction Mahan Air and its front companies or to prevent Mahan from flying into their airports, he is trying to convince foreign governments to do something difficult, but necessary. Those foreign officials should know that he speaks not just for the Obama administration but for the executive and legislative branches of our whole government and that we as a people stand united against Iranian aggression.

Let's demonstrate to our allies and to Iran that Congress takes these issues as seriously as we proclaim. Let's confirm Adam Szubin and other nominees who are vital to this effort and whose confirmations have been stalled for too long. Let's work together to crack down on Mahan Air and other Iranian avenues for sowing terror throughout the Middle East. And, in the same spirit of collaboration that led to the nuclear agreement, let's come together to rigorously enforce the terms of the deal.

Thank you, Mr. President.
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Mr. COONS. Mr. President, on a day that was sadly often marked by partisan differences, I thought I would take a moment near the end of this legislative day and simply remark on something where there has recently been some bipartisan progress, and I think it is worthy of some brief comment.

Today is the third annual World Wildlife Day. This day was declared by the United Nations and will soon be celebrated in another place on this Capitol complex by a wide range of organizations from all over the United States and the world that are dedicated to preserving wildlife in places in the world where it is under distinct pressure.

As I said, this is the third annual celebration of World Wildlife Day. It was first declared by the United Nations, and I want to briefly remark that a bipartisan delegation of this Senate recently went to Southern Africa. It was led by Senator Flake of Arizona, and he and Senator Cardin, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cochran, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I had an opportunity to meet with leaders from four different countries. They are working tirelessly to try and contain an epidemic of poaching that has reached nearly catastrophic levels.

Nearly 100 elephants are killed every day now so their ivory tusks can be sold on the black market at prices higher than heroin or gold. In 2014 alone, more than 1,000 rhinoceroses were illegally killed in South Africa, which is a 9,000-percent increase in the poaching of rhinos since 2007.

I think this is of concern to all of us, not just because of the loss of these remarkable and iconic wildlife species but because it is also funding and fueling a multibillion-dollar industry of organized crime that also traffics in drugs, people, and weapons and destabilizes critical parts of the world.

We have a chance to make real progress. There is a bipartisan bill, the END Wildlife Trafficking Act, that Senator Flake and I have introduced, and that I am hopeful Senator Corker and Senator Cardin, as the chair and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, will take up, consider, and markup in our next business meeting. I do think this legislation offers us a real opportunity to show that we can come together to support the President's plan for combating wildlife trafficking and can make a modest and responsible investment in helping countries on the other side of the world that are facing the same sort of scourge of lawlessness and violence that marks those places in America where drug trafficking is at its peak, but instead of trafficking illegal drugs, the actions they are carrying out is the slaughter and the export of the pieces of killed animals, whether elephant tusks or rhino horns.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, ``Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.'' It is my hope that with patience, persistence, and bipartisanship, we can celebrate this World Wildlife Day by doing something together to make progress in combating the scourge of illegal wildlife trafficking.

I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.

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