Suspension of Authority to Waive, Suspend, Reduce, Provide Relief From, Or Otherwise Limit the Application of Sanctions Pursuant to an Agreement Related to the Nuclear Program of Iran

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. I thank the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, let me just pause to say that I remember the events of 9/11/2001. I want to thank the first responders and those men and women in uniform who have served, our veterans, for what they do to protect us every day.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran. I strongly oppose giving the President the ability to unilaterally lift congressional sanctions. Our allies don't trust us, and our enemies don't fear us. I think we ought to take Iran at its word. Here are some quotes.

During the negotiations, the Ayatollah said this:

``The enemies are talking about the options they have on the table. They should know that the first option on our table is the annihilation of Israel.''

The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this:

The Iranian people and leadership, with God's help, will increase their defensive capability each day.

Through the Iran deal, we are getting ready to give Iran $150 billion. They can do a lot of damage with that.

They are the largest state sponsor of terrorism. They are responsible for killing people in Indonesia, in India, and all across the globe.

I chair the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee. They are directly responsible for the AMIA bombings in Buenos Aires in 1994, again in 1996 through their proxy, Hezbollah.

The Ayatollah has said: We will not stop supporting our allies. That is Hamas, that is Hezbollah, and that is other terrorist groups.

They have said in their own words--take them at their word--they will continue to support materially and financially the terrorism groups like in Yemen. There is nothing we can do to stop it.

They have also said that we, Western powers, will not have access to secret military sites or secret nuclear sites, but, yet, we are going to give them 24 days in this agreement. America, I didn't say 24 hours. I said 24 days' advance notice.

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Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. Twenty-four days' advance notice before we are going to inspect a site. Are you kidding me?

We are going to allow them to self-regulate. That means they can go out in the desert and get clean dirt and clean air and provide that.

That is like telling a regular drug user that you can bring somebody else's urine and somebody else's hair sample to a drug test.

This is crazy, that we are giving Iran $150 billion and an opportunity to get a nuclear weapon in 10 years or less, assuming they are going to adhere to every line of the agreement, which nobody that I talk to believes Iran is going to adhere to the agreement. They will have a nuclear weapon.

The immediate concern is $150 billion in lifted sanctions, money we are giving to Iran so they can continue to fund terrorism around the globe. People will die as a result of this agreement.

$150 billion can buy a lot of weapons, financial support for terrorist groups to continue attacking our allies and Americans anywhere they are in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose that. As everyone can tell by my passion today, it is time for us to really talk in real terms about what that agreement is.

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