Relating to A National Emergency Declared By the President on May 2004

Floor Speech

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this is indeed a resolution to roll back sanctions and then hope that maybe we will reimpose them on some other basis not detailed by the gentleman from Florida. This is not some meaningless resolution to feel good about or to message about. It has practical consequences.

How many more people would Assad have been able to kill if he had the chance to cooperate economically with businesses here in the United States? How many other dictators would feel free to develop chemical weapons, would feel free to murder their own people and feel that they would face no economic consequences from the United States?

Our policy has not turned Syria into a garden spot.

What would the world be like if America turned its back on the crimes of Assad? Assad has killed more than half a million of his own people and forced 12 million people to flee.

These particular sanctions are imposed on the Assad regime specifically because of his support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Think of that. We are having the President of Israel come here tomorrow, and what would we greet him with but nothing but a rollback of sanctions against two terrorists organizations who are trying to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible every day of the week.

I think for us to be considering a pro-Israel resolution on this very floor in a few hours, for us to be welcoming the President of Israel tomorrow, and to have a resolution on this floor that would say it is okay, support Hamas, support Hezbollah, watch them try to kill as many Israelis as possible--they are not always successful, but they are trying--I can't think of a more effective way to insult the President of Israel when he stands on that podium and addresses us tomorrow.

Let us continue to do what we can and remember that these sanctions do not expose a single American serviceman to risk of death or risk of injury. We should at least be willing to use the economic power of the United States to do what we can to rein in Syria and to make it clear to other dictators that chemical weapons, mass murder, and support for terrorism is not something that we will ignore.

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