Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I rise to speak about S. Res. 154. S. Res. 154 is a resolution I submitted last month with Senator Blumenthal. It calls for fair and free elections in Iran and points out that the Iranian regime is fundamentally illegitimate.

Americans believe in the power of elections. We believe voting means something. The rest of the world also understands and respects that elections are powerful events. Most countries that hold elections want to channel the will of their people into the governing of their country.

The Supreme Leader of Iran believes in the power of elections too, but he does not respect them. He himself has never been elected, and he knows a free election might threaten his power base. So he ensures that a truly free election is impossible for the Iranian people.

In past elections fraud has been rampant. The government has cracked down on public dissent and moved against media sources that are not officially sanctioned.

But most of all, Iran's Supreme Leader has developed the unfortunate habit of selecting which candidates may be permitted to run for office.

Hundreds of candidates were prohibited from running for Parliament last year and hundreds more were denied the right to run for President this year. Apparently, the Supreme Leader believes there is too much at stake to risk anyone other than a handpicked candidate to prevail at the voting booth.

The restrictions on candidates are so strict it almost seems it would be easier for the Supreme Leader to cancel the elections altogether and just appoint a President. But the Supreme Leader wants the legitimacy conferred by elections as badly as he wants to retain full control of the Iranian regime.

There are lots of analysts in the United States and elsewhere who attempt to understand which way Iran is going based on which candidates stand for election and which ones prevail. Some candidates are judged to be reformers, others conservatives, and so forth.

But this analysis gives the Iranian regime more legitimacy than it deserves. Because dissent is stifled, because candidates are blocked for political reasons, and, most of all, because the Supreme Leader holds all of the levers of power, Iran's regime cannot be seen to have legitimacy.

Consider that the current Supreme Leader came to power in 1989. He has never been held accountable to the people of Iran, but he is in full control of the country. He controls the defense and foreign policy outright.

He has the power to veto anything that comes from Parliament. He vets candidates for Parliament, and he helps choose the members of the Assembly of Experts and the Guardian Council--the very governing bodies that formally oversee the Supreme Leader. Simply put, power in Iran begins and ends with the Supreme Leader.

On June 14, Iran will elect a new President. While much will be said about who wins that election, we already know what the outcome will be. The Supreme Leader will continue to dominate Iran, run roughshod over the rights of the people of Iran, and deny the Iranian people the ability to chart their own future.

For this reason I urge my colleagues to join Senator Blumenthal and myself in supporting S. Res. 154. Our resolution points out, first, that Iran has a terrible track record of fraudulent and illegitimate elections; two, that Iran crushes the right to free speech and to a free press; and, three, that true power in Iran remains firmly in the grip of the Supreme Leader.

Our resolution calls on Iran to correct these injustices. It makes clear that the United States will not view Iran's regime as a legitimate expression of the will of its people unless and until its elections are free and truly fair, until those at the highest level of power are made accountable.

Holding autocracy responsible is important not only to the Iranian people but to the people of the world at large.

We face an enormous challenge in trying to get Iran to abandon its nuclear program, and we would be dangerously mistaken if we believed that the winner of the June 14 election will somehow represent the Iranian people.

We must remember--and remind the world--that if Iran continues to work toward a nuclear weapon, it will be because that is the course plotted and pursued by the Supreme Leader. The June 14 elections, unfortunately, will not change that reality.

I hope my colleagues will join us in standing with the Iranian people and against an unelected and illegitimate regime bent on a dangerous course of action.

I hope we can adopt this resolution to demonstrate that we are not fooled by elections that give voters false choices and install leaders determined to threaten the security of other nations.

Only true and fair elections that hold Iran's leaders accountable to the Iranian people will produce a government that deserves to be seen by the world as legitimate. I call on my Senate colleagues to send that message loud and clear to Tehran.

I now yield the floor to my esteemed colleague from the State of Connecticut who is joining me in this resolution, Senator Blumenthal. I wish to thank him for his support of this resolution and for his willingness to not only speak up but to stand up for the people of Iran.

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