No 2H2O From Iran Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, one year ago, our country made the correct decision. We all agreed that Iran should not have a nuclear weapons program, but we decided the better way to achieve that was through diplomacy rather than war.

Today, we deal with yet another challenge to that agreement. The material involved is heavy water. For those who thought that war and military action was the only way to prevent nuclear weapons development in Iran, heavy water is the issue today, but it is just another way to sink a successful agreement.

When you look at the facts, how can it possibly be in our national interest to take away our own authority to take away from Iran a material that could be used in the development of nuclear weapons?

I don't think this is just about heavy water. When you consider the facts and all that is represented here, it is a heavy lift, or a heavy stretch, to believe that limiting ourselves somehow will protect our families.

There are a number of nonmilitary uses for heavy water. The water we are getting from Iran can be used by U.S. industry and research labs. Heavy water is a critical material for biomedical and diagnostic research, such as MRIs and pharmaceutical development, as well as a variety of chemical and environmental analysis.

By purchasing this material, we make our families and allies safer and boost American research and development. Exposed to light, objections to our procuring this heavy water really do evaporate.

In World War II, many lives were lost to keep heavy water developed by a Norwegian utility from being used by Nazi Germany for development of a nuclear weapon. Here, we are using dollars instead of the lives of young Americans and others to ensure there is no nuclear weapons development within Iran and that there is less of this dual-use material in Iran, and more of it in America.

I realize the strong desire here on the eve of the Republican National Convention to undermine any success this Administration has. But I believe this is a bipartisan success. That is one of the reasons that a large number of experts on security policy--and former Members of this body in the United States Senate, both Republicans and Democrats--have joined together in bipartisan support of an agreement that is working and that is making our families safer.

Don't vote to undermine the efforts of this international agreement. Don't drown diplomacy by adopting this heavy water bill.

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