Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, there is probably no more critical issue on our national agenda today than this matter with Iran. 151 Members of the House have joined together to encourage the President to ``exhaust every avenue toward a verifiable, enforceable, diplomatic solution in order to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.''
Mr. Speaker, I would ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record this communication.

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,

Washington DC, May 7, 2015.
The President,
The White House,
Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: As negotiations over Iran's nuclear program continue, we urge you to stay on course, building on the recently announced political framework and continuing to work toward a strong and verifiable agreement between the P5+1 countries and Iran that will prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. We commend you and your negotiating team, as well as our coalition partners, for the significant progress made thus far.

This issue is above politics. The stakes are too great, and the alternatives are too dire. We must exhaust every avenue toward a verifiable, enforceable, diplomatic solution in order to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. If the United States were to abandon negotiations or cause their collapse, not only would we fail to peacefully prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, we would make that outcome more likely. The multilateral sanctions regime that brought Iran to the table would likely collapse, and the Iranian regime would likely decide to accelerate its nuclear program, unrestricted and unmonitored. Such developments could lead us to war.

War itself will not make us safe. A U.S. or Israeli military strike may set back Iranian nuclear development by two or three years at best--a significantly shorter timespan than that covered by a P5+1 negotiated agreement. We must pursue diplomatic means to their fullest and allow the negotiations to run their course--especially now that the parties have announced a strong framework--and continue working to craft a robust and verifiable Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by June 30.

We must allow our negotiating team the space and time necessary to build on the progress made in the political framework and turn it into a long-term, verifiable agreement. If we do not succeed, Congress will remain at-the-ready to act and present you with additional options to ensure that Iran is prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Thank you for your resolve in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. We look forward to continuing our shared work on this important matter.

Sincerely,

JAN SCHAKOWSKY,

Member of Congress.

LLOYD DOGGETT,

Member of Congress.

DAVID E. PRICE,

Member of Congress.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DOGGETT. While not signing this particular call for diplomacy, additional colleagues have made clear that they intend to prevent any attempted congressional veto of a strong, verifiable agreement. An agreement not based on trust, not based on liking Iran, but an agreement based on strong verification and intrusive verification.

Unfortunately, others here in this body who have embraced the wrongheaded advice of former President Bush's U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who said that, ``To stop Iran's bomb, bomb Iran.'' These are some of the same Members who rejected the interim nuclear Joint Plan of Action before they had even read it. They are some of the same Members who were so eager to launch an unnecessary war in Iraq that only strengthened Iran and who seem to have learned very little from their previous failure, and they forget that Iran is bigger than Afghanistan and Iraq put together.

Another war will not make us safe. Bombing may set back Iranian nuclear development by two or three years at best--a significantly shorter time than that covered by a P5+1 negotiated agreement--but it will make an Iranian nuclear weapon more likely. Bombing will enflame sectarian and regional tensions. It will threaten the security of Israel and of our other allies and ultimately, it will jeopardize the safety of every American family.

That does not mean that any agreement with Iran is an acceptable agreement. Iranian hard-liners, like hard-liners elsewhere, may, ultimately, prevent an adequate verification in this agreement, but we must use every diplomatic means available, especially now with the announcement of this strong framework, and continue to work and craft a robust Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. To do otherwise--to withdraw, to fail to support such an agreement--would likely collapse the multilateral sanctions among our allies and some that are not our allies but have joined with us in this regime that brought Iran to the table in the first place and would only accelerate an Iranian nuclear program that would then be unrestricted and unmonitored. Final sanctions--certainly sanctions which I have personally voted on a number of occasions in favor of--cannot be lifted without a vote of Congress, but that would not occur until we have conclusive evidence of Iranian compliance.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DOGGETT. All of us who do not trust war as the answer must continue working together to support a peaceful resolution and overcome the bellicose voices whose only alternative is the perilous course of war. We want a strong, verifiable arms accord. I favor and will vote for oversight and review today, but President Obama should know that he has the support in this House to fulfill our obligations under a verifiable agreement for a safer world and to avoid war.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source