STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST ACT OF 2019--Motion to Proceed (Continued)

Floor Speech

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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President and fellow Senators, I rise today to present S. 1, the Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019.

It is really a compilation of three bills, addressing three different issues in the Middle East. It is left over from the last Congress, the 115th.

It is fitting that the first piece of legislation on the Senate floor in the 116th Congress is made up of bills that have previously enjoyed the support of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is a bipartisan piece of legislation--all three of them that are put together in this bill--with many Senators from both sides of the aisle having contributed to the construction of this bill.

We need to get this important work done now, not in a month or two. It is leftover business, as I said, and it is about as unanimous as anything around here gets.

Now, I understand that there is friction around here at the moment, as my good friend from Virginia just talked about. But, look, we are the U.S. Senate. We can walk and we can chew gum at the same time.

These issues that are in this bill desperately need our attention, and it is disheartening to see that there is going to be a vote against this simply because the parties want to focus on just one issue. That isn't the issue in front of us. If it were, of course, we could vote that way.

I don't think there is anybody on this floor that wants to see the government shut down. There are a lot of us that would like to see a smaller government, a less intrusive government, and a less regulatory government, but we were elected to govern. We were not elected to not govern, and it is important that we do resolve that.

But in the meantime, we have these important matters left over from the last Congress, and I hope we can move to them and get them done.

Israel and Jordan have been steadfast allies and friends of the United States. This legislation reaffirms our strong friendship with these countries and extends critical aid to these two allies. Israel and Jordan deserve the support and cooperation that this legislation would extend. We should not let them down.

Also included in this legislation is the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which very nearly passed in the full Senate by unanimous consent in the closing hours and minutes of the last Congress. There was only 1 objection to it, but 99 Senators agreed to this act.

The Caesar bill declares that it is U.S. policy to use all diplomatic and economic means to compel the government of Bashar al-Assad to stop the slaughter of the Syrian people and to work toward a democratic government.

Sanctions are an important tool of U.S. foreign policy. Carefully designed sanctions allow the United States to create the conditions to influence decision-making and serve U.S. national security interests without having to implement additional military measures and put U.S. troops in harm's way. The sanctions method has been particularly effective in some very important situations.

The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act includes strong financial sanctions to target those individuals responsible in the Assad regime for the terrible loss of life and destruction in Syria. Further, it extends sanctions to those who would support the Syrian regime's actions in the war in Syria, such as Iran and Russia.

In order for us to bring a permanent defeat of ISIS, which necessitates getting Iran out of Syria, we should encourage politically negotiated solutions that will bring major change to the current Syrian regime structure.

With nearly 500,000 killed in Syria, this legislation is deserved, and it is long overdue. We must exert maximum pressure in coordination with our allies and friends to bring the Syrian dictator, Assad, and his Iranian friends and their allies to account.

It is my hope that the Senate can move to this bill and take up this important legislation with its three-pronged approach that supports our important allies. Let's not let these allies down.

Again, I come back to I understand that there is some friction here on other issues that we should be addressing, but right now the vote is this: Do you or do you not support the allies and the civilian population of Syria, who are being slaughtered in the fashion that they have?

My fellow Senators, I urge an affirmative vote on this good piece of legislation.

Cloture Motion

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