Approval of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

Floor Speech

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Mr. CONAWAY. I thank Chairman Royce for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the approval process that is going on and the underlying deal with Iran. It is one of the most consequential foreign policy issues that we will confront, certainly since I have been here and, I expect, for the next several decades.

This is a terrible deal. I can't state it any more forcefully.

We have seen this movie before. In 1994, President Bill Clinton made a deal with North Korea. His deal with North Korea would rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons and would usher North Korea onto the stage as a responsible citizen of the world's nations. That didn't happen. This is the exact same verbiage we heard on this floor then that is being said tonight, and this is the exact same outcome we will get with Iran and their nuclear program.

Look at their current record. Chief sponsor of state terrorism around the world. As their economy improves with the dropping of the sanctions and the resources they will get, do you realistically think that this ayatollah will, in fact, become a moderate voice within his country?

Do you not think he will take those resources and expand the mischief and terror that he has conducted around the world already under the sanctions that were in place?

The other side has already given up on the snapback provisions. They have argued very eloquently that those won't happen because we can't reinforce the sanctions that were the heart of what got Iran at the table today.

Mr. Speaker, this deal ushers in a world that is less safe, less stable, and less secure.

Trust must be earned. I trust Iran's word when they say that Israel must go away. I trust Iran when they say ``death to America.'' I do not trust Iran when they say they will abide by this agreement.

I wouldn't play golf with these people because golf is one of those events where you have to self-assess your penalties. They will not do that in playing golf, and they are not about to do it with respect to this nuclear program that is going on.

We have no way of knowing what their covert activities might be over the next several years. They will cheat. They have cheated, and they will continue to cheat. We cannot trust these people with a deal.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the motion of approval and reject this deal. Tell the world where we stand. Whether our partners around the world can see the clear-eyed threat that these folks represent to the world for the next several decades, we can see it, and we must vote ``no.''

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