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Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I have had an opportunity to listen to the debate. Some of the things that are going on, yes, they are heated.
But as we look at this historic agreement--my good friend from New York just asked: Will you stand with your President? I have stood with the President before.
I think it is also important that we take a look at this agreement. This is a historic mistake. This is one that will jeopardize the safety and security of the United States.
And I want to echo that this is a bipartisan opposition. So this is not about left versus right. This is about right versus wrong.
Ultimately, when I tuck my children in bed at night, a 13-year-old, an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old, and I look into the faces of those that are here, these young Americans, and I wonder what type of country they will inherit with a nuclear-armed Iran, for me, that is unacceptable.
Our stated objectives, our goals, were to make sure that Iran never has the ability to achieve a nuclear weapon. And, yet, this agreement, according to Bob Menendez, all but preserves it, a nuclear-armed Iran, one that shouts ``death to America.'' They want to wipe Israel off the face of the map.
In this agreement, the ballistic missile embargo is lifted in 8 years, an arms embargo in 5 years.
My friends, what do you use a ballistic missile for? I would argue it is not to drop leaflets. It is not for humanitarian purposes. It is to have a reign of terror in the United States of America. For me, that is completely unacceptable.
Again, I don't care where you come from, what district you are in, this is about will we be safer. And the answer is simply no.
I believe that this agreement ultimately will be an arms race in the Middle East. We have talked about France. We have talked about the U.K. We have talked about Germany.
Has anybody asked the neighborhood? Has anybody asked Saudi Arabia or the UAE or Egypt or Israel? The answer is no because they are uniformly against this because they know Iran's ultimate goal is to not only devastate that region, but to devastate the United States of America.
This is one of the things that, again, must unite us. This is not about partisanship.
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Mr. DOLD. This is not about partisanship. Please hear me. We don't want to bring up 9/11 in the sense that we want to do it on this day, 9/11.
But I do think that it does smack of the idea that we never want to see that dirty bomb that comes into a container ship, that goes into New York, Miami, or Washington, D.C. Because you know what? No one wants to relive what happened on that day 14 years ago.
Yet, if we do not step up in a united front and stop this, my fear is that we will relive that day again. That, for me, is unacceptable. I implore you all, my colleagues, my friends, to stand up against this awful historic mistake.
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