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Floor Speech
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Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, the No. 1 job of our Commander in Chief is to protect the homeland. The constitutional oath we all take as Members of Congress, similar to the one I swore when I joined the military, is to protect our citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
I want everyone in this Chamber, the American people, our allies, and our adversaries to all hear me today. Iran, the world's most deadly state sponsor of terrorism, announced its intentions to track, target, and kill American citizens here on our shores. The radical Islamists of Iran and their terrorist proxies across the Middle East are seeking to destroy America, and they are coming here to our soil.
As you can see, the Iranian regime promises to ``bring the orchestrators and perpetrators to justice.'' This is an undeniable death threat, one that they have already attempted to follow through on.
Iran isn't making this threat from Tehran, over 6,000 miles away. They made it here, for example, in New York City. Yesterday, at U.N. headquarters, the Butcher of Tehran, Ebrahim Raisi, was flanked by his personal security force, IRGC terrorists, tagged by our Justice Department as the entity responsible for attempting to kill Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Brian Hook, and others who ordered and executed the strike on Qassem Suleimani.
This President's obligation is to safeguard and protect the life, liberty, and prosperity of our people and to deter, defeat, and, when necessary, destroy our enemies.
The Biden administration's desire to bring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement back to life is delusional. Continued renegotiation with Russia as our proxy--no joke--ignores our men and women in uniform, the Iranian dissident community, our allies and partners in the Persian Gulf, and American citizens on the homeland who have bounties on their heads today.
Our Middle Eastern partners, in particular, are begging the Biden administration not to reenter this so-called nuclear agreement. They plead with us not to give Iran access to $1 trillion in capital by 2030. Don't fund their military support of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and don't fund their acts of terrorism against our own people, they ask.
I am demanding that America does not fund or support a regime trying to kill our own people. The President's ongoing negotiations pacify rather than hold Iran accountable for targeting American citizens. The Biden administration's foolish pursuit of peace through appeasement must be stopped, and we can start today. Yesterday, with 26 of my colleagues, I introduced the PUNISH Act, or the Preventing Underhanded and Nefarious Iranian Supported Homicides Act. My bill would enforce U.S. sanctions on Iran until the Secretary of State certifies to Congress that Iran has not supported any attempt or activity to kill a U.S. citizen, former or current U.S. official, or Iranian living within the United States. Specifically, it would codify the Trump administration's ``maximum pressure'' sanctions as well as preserve sanctions put in place by the Obama and Carter administrations.
It is hard to believe that, after countless attacks on Americans and multiple confirmed--confirmed--plots against U.S. officials, the Biden administration continues with these negotiations. President Biden should not provide a dime of sanctions relief to the largest state sponsor of terrorism which is actively trying to kill U.S. officials and citizens at home and abroad. I will remain committed to protecting the homeland, our troops, and officials abroad from the violent Islamic regime in Iran.
4924, which is at the desk. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, blocking the passage of the bill today, it is not just disappointing, but it is endangering. We do have to act now. I mean, you can read the tweet. It is right here. They are seeking justice. They are looking for retribution and revenge.
Again, it was sent from U.S. soil--this tweet was. If that doesn't constitute a clear and present danger demanding immediate attention, then I honestly don't know what does.
If a nuclear agreement is reached, folks, it is not going to change. Iran's aggression was not curbed by the Obama-Biden administration's failures. In fact, it invigorated Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Their mythical deal effectively financed the world's best organized, most capable terror group to rain down attacks on the United States, Israel, and even the Arab Gulf States.
After the deal was signed, Iran went on the offensive, and I can give you some statistics to actually show that activities increased. Attacks against the United States and our partners increased from roughly 8 incidents per every 100 days in 2015 to 28 incidents in 100 days during the 3.5 years that the JCPOA was in effect.
So arguing that the nuclear deal is a credible deterrent against Iranian terror doesn't actually hold water. Thousands of folks have died fighting the global war on terrorism, including 600 U.S. servicemembers. They have been killed at the hands of Iranian proxies in Iraq and in Syria.
I was there on the ground in 2003, in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The leader of that initial surge was a name whom we all know well, Gen. Jim Mattis. The men and women in uniform, then and today, know that Iran is an enemy. We have no common cause with the ayatollahs or anyone who chants ``Death to America.'' Jim Mattis told our enemies, and I will quote the good general:
I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I am pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you [screw] with me--
And he used a different word--
I'll kill you all.
Folks, Iran is killing our people overseas, and they are trying to kill our people right here, right here in the United States of America. We cannot appease, and we cannot back down.
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