Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, with the limited time, first, I am concerned now that we have gone away from President after President saying that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon, to the words of: Well, Iran shouldn't be able to have one at least for 10 years. Or, if they do get one before 10 years, we will know about it a year in advance. That is a fundamental change in the direction of negotiations with this hostile regime.
That is the other thing in my limited time that I wish to point out. I think those of us who are voting for this bill today are voting in large part because of a distrust we have for the Supreme Leader and the regime in Iran. This is not about the Iranian people. There are tens of millions of Iranians that I believe are concerned with this deal as well. They are concerned that this is going to enable the Iranian government to continue to fund terror throughout the world through the Iran terror network. They are funding even Hamas, a natural enemy, to destabilize the region.
We need to worry about what the Prime Minister of Israel said just a few months ago here in this Chamber: This represents a dire threat. Does anyone think that Israel can stand by on their own and allow Iran to continue to be unfettered and potentially move forward with a nuclear program? I don't think so.
But I also want to make sure that the Iranian people know we are also concerned that we have a President who is willing to negotiate with a regime that is guilty of human rights violations, that is guilty of spreading terror through the world, that is guilty of meddling in the affairs of other Middle Eastern nations. And we are sitting along the sidelines and saying maybe we can still move this deal through, because at least knowing when Iran gets a nuclear weapon is better than the current state.
I think the current state is working. Sanctions are working. Pressure on Iran to respect human rights, to get out of the terror business is very important.
The last slide I wanted to show and that I wanted to spend more time on--how on Earth does anyone think that a nation that is not intent on launching a nuclear missile at some time would invest in this sort of infrastructure to reach different parts of the globe? It is only a matter of time. Now, we have heard that maybe it will only be 10 years or maybe a year from when we find out about it. But make no mistake about it. If Iran is left alone, they are going to have the ability to deliver this sort of terror anywhere in the world.
That is why I will be supporting the bill, and hopefully, we can defeat any bad deal that comes from the administration.
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