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Floor Speech

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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to this nomination, and I rise in support of our strong support for Israel. I understand it is important to move as quickly as we can to have an ambassador in Jerusalem. We are at an important moment in history with the events in Israel. This makes the stakes so much higher and important that we get it right. I believe it means we should take the time to get it right.

This appointment that has been made is very disappointing. As my colleague just mentioned, it really ignores the fact that the underlying problem here is our policy and policies toward Iran. Certainly, we all talk about Hamas. They have done horrible things. The horrific attack on Israel, where they beheaded babies, killed innocent men and women in their beds sometimes, really, really deserves a response. But it also deserves for us to look at the underlying problem here, which is Iran.

Hamas would not exist if it were not for Iran. Iran arms them, trains them, finances them, and directs them. We all know that. So how does that fit in with this particular appointment?

Well, Mr. Lew did some things which were very much contrary, I believe, to what needs to be done in order for us to redo our policies toward Iran. When it came to the JCPOA--which, as we all know, there was a difference between our side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle on whether we should do the JCPOA or not--Mr. Lew was heavily involved in that. He promised us in the committee that he would not allow Iran to have access to the U.S. financial system. We know, for a fact, that after that, although he denied it, he did, in fact, attempt his very best to have Iran have access to the U.S. financial system. This is borne out by an official report of the U.S. Senate by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. They interviewed the banks that Mr. Lew attempted to twist their arms to give Iran access to the financial system. There was a very detailed investigation that was done on the facts. The facts are contained in this report.

My good friends will say: Oh, but that wasn't a bipartisan report. It is an official report by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. My friends on the other side of the aisle, though, will not deny the facts that are in this report. And the facts are that Mr. Lew is involved in this, as I have described.

I want to support Israel. I think everybody on this floor wants to support Israel. The last thing we need is somebody who is very contrary to our view on how Iran should be handled.

Mr. Lew's response to this was: Well, everybody knew what Obama's policies were, and, therefore, everybody should have known that we would do anything to blindly support the policies.

That is wrong. This is the wrong way to go about it. This is the wrong person, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. We should vote no and support Israel.

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