Approval of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, after much deliberation and soul searching, I am convinced that the P5+1 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action creates a viable path to reduce Iran's nuclear weapons capability.

For that reason, I believe this agreement is in the best interest of the United States. Of course, the agreement must also be in the best interest of our friends in the Middle East.

As someone who has lived in Israel and has returned many times since, I understand that, for Israelis and Americans with close ties to Israel, Iran threatening to wipe Israel off the map is not an abstract concern.

It has been less than a hundred years since the Jewish people nearly suffered such a fate. The threat of annihilation is very real to Israelis, and it is very real to me.

I would never take a vote that I thought could leave my grandchildren a world without a strong, safe Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I am under no illusions that this agreement will end Iran's hegemonic ambitions, but I can't allow their destabilizing behavior to have the protection of a nuclear umbrella.

I agree with the former head of the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force, the head of that intelligence agency, Amos Yadlin, that, if we walk away from this agreement, Iran will remain closer to a nuclear bomb in the coming years, and the chances of a collapse of the sanctions regime will increase.

Nobody in this Chamber, Mr. Speaker, trusts Iran. That is why we need and we must have and take the responsibility to come together after this vote to make sure that the United States is exercising all of its initiative to implement this agreement and to address what we know will come, those inevitable challenges.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source