Iran Sanctions Enabling Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Iran Sanctions Enabling Act Of 2009

* Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Iran Sanction Act.

* On September 25, we learned that Iran has been operating a secret uranium-enrichment plant in the city of Qom, capable of producing enriched uranium for bombs.

* The work at Qom has gone on for years in secret and despite five UN Security Council resolutions calling for Iran to cease all work on uranium.

* The Iranians continue to claim that their nuclear intentions are peaceful, but the recently discovered plant's ``size and configuration'' are ``inconsistent'' with peaceful purposes.

* If we had any doubt that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons, the discovery at Qom dashed that doubt.

* Now the U.S. must do its part to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

* The first step toward crippling Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon is to impose the sanctions proposed in the bill before us today.

* The Iran Sanctions Act calls on state and local governments to cease investing public funds in companies that support Iran's oil and gas sector.

* A nuclear armed Iran is a threat to the entire region, particularly our friends in Israel, and could incite nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and around the world.

* We must do everything in our power to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of the Iranians, and those efforts start today with this bill and these sanctions.

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