Transcripts For CSPAN Senators Rubio And Cardin On Iran Nuclear Framework Agreement 20150503

Country could see whats at stake. The First Amendment that im going to offer up today and hope that we can overcome objections to is pretty straightforward. Heres what the amendment says. It says that the president that no deal can go forward unless the president certifies that the iranian leadership has accepted israels right to exist as a jewish state. Why is that important . Because youre going to hear an argument that this has nothing to do with Nuclear Weapons that this has nothing to do with the Nuclear Capacity of iran. Im going to make the argument that thats not true. The first reason is we have to understand why its important for israel to exist as a jewish state. Israels not just a country, it is a homeland for the jewish people created in the aftermath of the holocaust. With the belief that never again would there not be a place for the jewish people to go and seek refuge and be able to live if they faced persecution as they have for thousands of years as they do even now. But especially in the aftermath of the holocaust. So israels not just a country it has a special and unique purpose that sets it apart from any other nation on earth. It was created as a homeland for a persecuted people who survived despite the death of 6 million human beings in the holocaust maybe more, and now has a homeland where they will be safe. Its also important to remember that beyond that, it is in the National Security interest of the United States because what is israel . His israel is a proamerican Free Enterprise democracy. I promise you that if there were month proamerican Free Enterprise democracies in the middle east, our lives would be a lot simpler and the world would be a lot safer and a lot better. But there is one and this country must always be firmly on the side of that one country. Thats Free Enterprise, proamerican democracy in the midst of a region in chaos and in uncertainty. So why is that relevant to this deal . Heres why its relevant. Because this is not just a deal about what iran is allowed to do in their Nuclear Program. This is a deal that would lift billions of dollars worth of sanctions off of the iranian government. So what is the iranian government going to do when they get access to these billions of dollars . Are they going to donate it to charity around the world to feed the hungry and house the homeless . No. Are they going to use it to substantially improve the rights of their people in their own country . No. Theyre going to use those billions of dollars to do what they are doing now with less money to export terrorism in every corner of the globe. Today iran is an active sponsor of terrorism in lebanon in syria, in iraq in yemen in bahrain in latin america and in europe. This is the same government that tried to assassinate the saudi ambassador here in washington d. C. This is the same iranian government that blew up a Jewish Center in buenos aires. This is the same iranian government that tried to detonate a bomb in uruguay. They use terrorism the way normal countries use diplomacy and now were going to turn over billions of dollars to them . And the reason why it has something to do with israel is, what do you think they are going to do when they have even more money to carry this out . Theyre going to invest it not just in their Nuclear Program theyre going to invest it in their sponsorship of terrorism and theyre going to invest it in their longrange rockets. And what have they told us they want to do with this increased capacity . What have they told us is the chief goal of this government in iran . Why do they need this terrorism . Why do they need these weapons . Why do they need these longrange rockets . Well lets take them at their word. Heres why they need it. They need it because according to the ayatollah in july of 2014 2014 this was a tweet this barbaric wolflike and infanticidal regime of israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated. In november of 2014 the Supreme Leader on his twitter account he posted a chart. It had nine key questions about the elimination of israel. Im holding it here but you can find it online. Why should the zionist regime be eliminated . What does elimination of israel mean in the viewpoint of the immam . Meaning him. What is the proper way of eliminating israel . Who will the proposed referendum hes talking about a referendum hes actually calling for a referendum in israel. But the jews cant participate in the referendum, according to him. Why do we oppose compromise proposals . The point is, this is a country led by a leader that has made it very clear repeatedly time and again that one of their main objectives is the destruction of israel and ending israels existence as a jewish state. And you know, when someone says that over and over again, we should believe them. This is not for domestic consumption to make him look good in iran the way some in the administration would argue. I believe they mean it. Do you know why i believe they mean it . Because they sponsor terrorism in an effort to kill jews and israelis. In january of 2015 a suitcase full of explosives were found near the Israeli Embassy in uruguay. The day after an individual left a suitcase bomb near the embassy. A Senior Iranian diplomat by the name of imad sabadgol left the country. Authorities clarified a report that he had been expelled from the country. They said, no, they suggested that, in fact, he was a person of high interest with whom they would like to speak but that he left the country on his own. And so the reason why the existence of israel as a jewish state is directly tied to this deal is simple we are about to turn over billions of dollars into their hands and we have every reason to believe that they will spend a significant portion of that money to destroy our strongest and most important ally in the region and one of our most important allies in the world. And so the First Amendment i have offered is pretty straightforward. It calls for any deal to require that iran recognize israels right to exist as a jewish state. The Second Amendment i will propose is even more straightforward even more on point. Heres what it requires. It requires that this final deal be the deal the president says it is. Heres what i mean by that. I filed an amendment that basically took the white houses own fact sheet. And, by the way, i have problems with that fact sheet. The deal as the president describes it is not a deal that i believe will work. Its not a deal that i believe will prevent iran from acquiring a Nuclear Weapon. But just to take them at their word just to improve this point and to ensure that we are building safeguards into what we are doing here i took the white houses own fact sheet what they said the deal was about and i say from this amendment that the final deal must be about those points that the white house already says it is. For the life of me, i dont understand why that would be controversial. My amendment is basically this. It says the deal has to be what you say it is. Thats all my amendment says. And yet somehow ive been told that this is going to box the white house in. If it does, it boxes them in with their own words. But heres the reason im doing this. Because iran apparently negotiated a very different deal than the one the white house thinks we have. For example the white house says that this deal will impose permanent inspections on iran. The state Department Fact sheet quote irans adherence to the Additional Protocol of the iaea is permanent including its significant access and transparency obligations. But the iranian fact sheet says, iran will implement the Additional Protocol on a voluntary and temporary basis for the sake of transparency and confidence building. Doesnt sound like the same deal to me. How about the inspection of military sites . The deputy National Security council, ben rhodes, on an interview on cnn said quote if we see a site that we need to inspect on a military facility we can get access to that site and inspect it. An iranian Brigadier General hussein degan on april 9 said, visiting military centers are among the red lines and no visits to these centers will be allowed. How about the scope of the sanctions relief . The state Department Fact sheet says and i quote the United States and the European Union Nuclear Related sanctions will be suspended. All past u. N. Security Council Resolutions on the iran Nuclear Issues will be lifted simultaneously with the completion by iran of Nuclear Related actions addressing all concerns. But iran says according to their Reach Solutions after the implementation of the comprehensive plan of joint action, all the u. N. Resolutions will be revoked and all the multilateral economic and financial sanctions by the e. U. And the unilateral ones by the u. S. Will be annulled. So are the sanctions limited or total . We say theyre limited. Iran says theyre total. And finally are the sanctions phased well, theres two more let me point three more differences. On the timing of the relief. The United States in the president s News Conference on april 2 this is a quote from the president in return for irans actions the International Community has agreed to provide iran with relief from certain sanctions our own angsz sanctions and sanctions and the International Sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. This relief will be phased as iran takes steps to adhere to the deal. The president s basically saying every time iran complies with a portion of the deal an additional sanction will be phased out. It will be in steps. They do something sanctions come off. Slowly. Trust but verify. Thats what the American Government says. Thats what the president said in his own words. But iran says we will not sign any deal unless on the very first day of its implementation all economic sanctions against iran are lifted all at once. How about restrictions on enrichment . Are they restricted for 10 years or for 15 years . The United States and the state Department Fact sheet says iran has agreed not to enrich youre uranium over 6. 37 for at least 15 years. They have agreed not to build any new facilities for the purpose of enriching uranium for 15 years. Iran has agreed to not enrich at certain facilities for 14 years. They have not agreed to enrich uranium at fordhal for 15 years. Thats a lot of 15 years. What does iran say . Well its foreign minister, on an Iranian State df channel on april tv channel on april 4 said the limitations are for 10 years and then enrichment will continue its own scientific progress. We have accepted 10 years of limitations. Last but not least research and development. Is it limited or not limited . 6 the United States the United States in our fact sheet says its limited. Iran will not use ir2, ir4, ir5 i rf6, or ir8 modeled to produce enriched uranium for at least 10 years. Iran will engage limited research and development with advanced centrifuges according to a schedule and parameters which have been agreed to by the p5plus 1 the group that negotiated all of this. Thats what the United States fact sheet says. But what does iran say . Iran says no, iran will continue its research and development on advanced machines and will continue the initiation and completion phases of the research and Development Process of ir4, ir5, ir6, and ir8 during the 10year period of the comprehensive joint plan for action. So these are at least one two, three four, five, six major points of difference where iran is saying, the deal says one thing and the United States says the deal is saying another. And what my amendment does is it takes what we say the deal is and puts it in the bill and says any final deal must be what you told us it is. Not what iran says it is. And yet somehow parntsly thats controversial and yet somehow apparently those controversial. This is not a game. This is a very serious matter. Because this is a country and i mean its people, not its leaders, that have shown the willingness to do atrocious things all over the world. When you read in the up newspaper being gassed and killed in syria, you know why assad is able to do that . Because of the help he gets from iran. When you read about those rockets that flood into televeef tel aviv and jerusalem as hezbollah launches attacks hiding behind human shields while theyre trying to kill israelis, you know what theyre able to do that . Because of the help they get from iran. When you read in the newspaper that yesterday the Iranian Military hijacked a vessel in international waters, when you read that they tried to kill the saudi ambassador in washington d. C. When you read that they tried to set sov off a bomb in uruguay, when you read that in 1994 they did set off a bomb in argentina, this is who were dealing with here, and now they are on the verge of being able to enrich weaponsgrade uranium and reprocess weaponsgrade plutonium, and now they are headed towards building a longrange rocket capable of reaching not just israel but europe and the United States let meal at the you, that is very let me tell you, this is a very significant moment because this president is about to sign a deal that will place in their hands billions and billions of additional dollars and if this is the terrorism and the Nuclear Activity that theyre pursuing now with sanctions on them, imagine how much more they will be able to afford to do once the sanctions are lifted . And thats why it is so relevant on both this point of israel but also on the details of this deal. And, by the way as i said and ill repeat it the state Department Fact sheet what the president says the deal is i am not comfortable with that either. I dont think that will work. Its not like im celebrating what they say the deal s all im asking though, is at a minimum before you bring and sign a deal, at least be what you say it is. Dont come back here in six months and surprise us and say by the way, it was the iranian fact sheet that had it right and not amplest ours. I think these amendments are relevant to the debate ware having. I think they are relevant to the decision were being asked to make. And it is about time that this body takes this up. Congress has an Important Role to play. The people of florida that i represent speak on these issues on this floor through me and the senior senator from florida. We have a right to have these issues debated. But this is not some minor issue that were talking about. This is the security not just of our strongest apply in the rooj in the region, but of our very own country. So i hope we can have an opportunity to have debate on these amendments. What you hear people say is, well if these amendments pass, were going to lose the support of the bill, the president might veto it. Well you know what . If you want to make that argument make that argument. But lets have a vote on it. Whats wrong with having a vote on the amendment . If you disagree with me, stand up and say you disagree and you vote no. If you agree with the amendment but youre going to vote against it because you think it unravels this agreement put in place say that. If you dont want to vote on things dont run for the senate. If you dont want to vote on things dont run for office. Be a come a columnist get a talk show. Everyone who runs for office knows that what we are called to do here is rote on vote on issues that sometimes were uncomfortable on. There is a microphone here on your desk. Come here and explain to the world why you are voting against a deal that requires israel to have a right to exist. If you say that you believe that israel has a right to exist but you are voting gunshot it because you dont want to unravel the deal, people will respect it. You can make your argument, but vote. But dont tell me we cant have votes on these things. You can argue that we shouldnt pass them, and ill argue against you but dont tell me that we cant even vote on it, because then what youre sag is, you want to be protected from taking a position on it. You dont want to take a position that you think is tough. And that i find to be unseineable. Unacceptable. And so mr. President i ask for unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment in order call up the two amendments i just described amendment 1141 and amendment 1148 en bloc. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Cardin mr. President reserving the right to object and let me just explain to my friend from florida a very valued member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, we have two pending amendments. We have also been working to get a vote on senator barrassos amendment dealing with terrorism. We are trying to work through senator corker and i many amendments that we can clear that members have brought forward. Theyre, working with us where we can consider them. For an orderly process so many amendments have been filed. I might say theyve all been filed by republican members of the senate. We need to make sure we have an orderly way to consider these amendments and vote on these amendments and for those reasons, mr. President i do object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Mr. Rubio well, mr. President , just for a point of clarification, i am a member of the committee that heard these amendments, particularly the one are israels right to exist. They were able to me at the time. I chose not to offer them, in consultation with the senators that had worked tow hard to put this together. I could have offered my amendment in the committee. I did not, in order to work in a cooperative way to move it from the committee and on to the floor. I will admit that i did not speak to senator cardin about this in particular, but i was told by multiple members that the right place for me to offer this amendment would be on the floor, not in the committee because the hope was to get it to the floor as quickly as possible. So in an effort to move this to the floor i held back on filing this particular amendment with regard to israels right to exist on the assurances and on the conversations that we had that in fact when we get to the floor these amendments will be heard. Now, if in fact it turns out that today is not going to be the day we vote on the amendment, i understand that. I know there are a lot of other people with ideas they want voted on. Mind something that there are my understanding is that there is potentially the three or four amendments. I am note saying thats what the senator from maryland is arguing. I hope that at some point as the sord established i will continue to make this motion, in the hope that this amendment not just will be pending but will be part of the debate. I respect the views of my colleagues some which will come to the floored and say they agree with me on the substance but they dont want to vote because they think it endangers the agreement we have in place or the bill thats in plasms but i do think it deserves a vote and i do think it deserves that debate. I hope in this orderly process as its established that in fact these two amendments i have filed seven that these two will get the consideration that i believe it deserves fnlt deserves. Mr. Cardin mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Cardin as senator rubio pointed out we had no discussions about this, so i dont know what senators hes referring to. But let me just talk briefly about some of the points that senator rubio mentioned because i think theyre important that we respond to. First, the bill we are considering, s. 615, is a bill that doesnt deal with the merits after potential deal. It deals with the right way for congress to review a potential deal that is reached between the United States and our trading partners and iran considering its Nuclear Weapon program. That is what this bill does. It doesnt say whether the president s agreement is a good one, a bad one, et cetera. Its a process for us to review it and take it appropriate action because we are the ones that imposed the sanctions. Only the congress can permanently change or eliminate the sanctions. Therefore, it is important that we have an orderly way to review the potential deal. Thats what it does, nothing more nothing less. It will by the way gives us the opportunity to give notice of material breaches and be able to take action to prevent iran from becoming a Nuclear Weapon state if they in fact breach the agreement. So the two points that senator rubio mentioned the first is that there are different interpretations being given one by the United States and one by the iranians. Well the First Amendment that we filed we think is going to deal with that. Its pending right now. It requires us to get every official document of a poe teption deal in the language potential deal in the language agreed to. That amendment is pending. Its filed by senator corker and me for the reasons senator rubio mentioned. That is, we want to see the original text. We dont want to have the interpretation by the iranians. We want to know what the language says. Thats our responsibility. The were going to get that once we take up this First Amendment. I hope it is approved that will give us the original language text of every agreement and exib thats agreed to twain the parties. The second issue that senator rubio mentions is the israels right to exist and iran acknowledging israels right to exist. I fully agree with senator rubio rubio. I dont think there is a member of this body that doesnt want israel legitimated by every country in the world. It is our key ally in the middle east. It is a country that shares our values. It has a strategic relationship with the United States and i could go on and on. Since 1948 the United States and israel has enjoyed a very close important relationship and weve taken so many actions in this body in order to protect israels right to exist. And thats why we included your language and senator boxers language in this bill. Where we say the president should determine the agreement in no way compromises the commitment of the United States to israels security nor its support for israels right to exist. We had that in the bill. Now, what senator rubios amendment would have us do and let me just explain this. What his amendment would have yous do is require us do is require that the president certify to us before he could submit into any agreement enter into any agreement that iran has recognized israels right to exist. Now, this agreement that were negotiating with our with the p5, our negotiating partners in iran is to deal with irans Nuclear Weapon program. I know in my kefertions confers conversations with the Israeli Government they think thats the most important thing to their existence the most important thing that iran does not become a Nuclear Weapon staivment thats what israel needs and thats what were trying to get. The rubio amendment although it is not intended to do that, would say no, thats not the most important thing. The most important thing is to negotiate the language, what iran says about israel, not their Nuclear Weapon program. And that the president must achieve that and youre negotiating the more things you put on the table the weaker position youre in. In achieving the most important point, and that is making sure we have a strong agreement that iran can never become a Nuclear Weapon state. Thats why this amendment will accomplish just the opposite, as far as israels security is concerned. Yes, it is a poison pill. Yes, it is defeat this bill. That also happens to be true. And, yes itll mean it will be almost impossible for the president to negotiate a Nuclear Agreement with iran. I think most people in this body and most people in america believe the best course is a negotiated agreement with iran. The unintended consequences of this amendment would make it virtually impossible to have that agreement completed. So yes, we can get into debate on the specifics of your amendment. Im more than happy to do that. But we have an orderly process here and there are a lot of amendments that have been filed and we are trying to work out a way do this. We have been on the floor senator corker and i now four, five days debating this issue and well debate any member who wants to come by, because we want to make sure that we have an open debate. But were going to follow an orderly process. And this amendment amendment as wellintended as it is, is an amendment that would very much compromise what weve tried to do in a bipartisan way and thats to make sure that this senate and the house has an orderly way to consider any deal struck between our negotiating partners in the United States and iran. Thats our responsibility, and were going to stay focused on that and were going to end with a bipartisan product that is i think in the best traditions of the United States senate. So i resp so i respect very deeply my colleagues commitment to israel. I do. All of us are committed to israel. But lets think about what is the most important thing for israel. And that is having a strong agreement that prevents iran from becoming a Nuclear Weapon state. Lets focus on that because that, i think this bill helps us achieve. I yield the floor. Mr. Rubio mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio and i appreciate the senator from marylands passion and he makes points that i think are very relevant to the debate once we are on the amendment. Thats all im asking for is a vote on the amendment and hes made an argument why he things we should not pass the amendment. I didnt think coming to the floor and try to get my amendment pending somehow unravels this orderly process but im more than happy to work within the orderly process as long as i can get a vote on my amendment. Whatever that process entails. Id be happy to have it explained to me where i fit in in this orderly process and well have the amendment. But i want a vote on the amendment and the argument that you made here can be made. The only other point i will make is it is true tragically there are a number of countries in the middle east that do not recognize israels right to exist. The difference is those countries arent trying to build a Nuclear Weapon nor do they use terrorism as an instrument of state craft. Nor do every friday do they hold ceremonies in which their top leader chants death to israel and death to america. Nor do they actively support terrorist groups around the world who exist for the sole purpose of destroying israel itself. Nor do they have billions of dollars in sanctions that are about to be released. And so at the end of the day there is a big difference between whats happening in iran and the billions of dollars were about to turn over to them and these other countries that unfortunately do not recognize israels right to exist but are not going around actually actively trying to destroy the state of israel. And the last point on the differences in the details listen, i dont think that the fact sheet the house the state department put out is sufficient. I think the deal as described by the president isnt good enough and wont lead to the prevention of a Nuclear Weapon. But all im asking for in my amendment is for the deal that he submits to be the one that says he says he negotiated. He has told us already we have reached a preliminary agreement. Hes announced it to the world what that preliminary agreement is. And all im saying is what you submit to us must be what you told us it is. And heres why i say this. Because this negotiation has been going on for awhile, and every month that goes by, iran gains more concessions and our position slips further and further. If you look where we were at the beginning of this process to where we are today its a very different place from where we were not that long ago. We are in a very different place than we were in terms of what we originally said. When this whole thing started ten years ago 12 years ago the United Nations Security Council put sanctions on iran that said youre not allowed to enrich and reprocess. Now theyre allowed to. If these negotiations keep going on were going to end up building a bomb for them at the rate its going because every year and every month that goes by they gain more and more concessions. All im trying to do is at a minimum freeze this thing in place and say mr. President youve told us that you have negotiated a deal. Mr. President , you put out a fact sheet that told us what the deal is. Youve represented it to the American People as the deal. And now all this will say is what you submit to us must be what you told us you agreed to on april 2. Dont come back here in six months and submit to us a deal and as it turns out the iranian fact sheet is the one we should have been relying on. And all im asking, even though that i dont think what he agreed to is sufficient, all im asking in my Second Amendment is that the deal he submits be the deal he says it is. Nothing more and nothing less. I hope that through this orderly process that the moment will arrive before we vote on passage of this that my amendments can be heard and voted on. And i respect the arguments that others make about why they cant support it and what they think it will ultimately do to the process. All im asking for is votes on these amendments and then everyone is free to vote the way they want and for the reasons they want. Fficer the quorum call has been vitiated. Mr. Cardin im sorry. Mr. Cotton time and time again, a Nuclear Armed iran is the greatest threat this country face. Ive said time and again the senate needs to have votes object the merits of this agreement. The president has taken us down a very dangerous path. The president has backtracked on his own words. He said that iran needed to live up to all of its obligations under international law. Yet iran still has not disclosed the past military dimensions of its Nuclear Program. The president said after this negotiating process began in december of 2013, that iran has no need for a fortified underground military bunker in fordo you fordow yet they have conceded its existence. The president has said we have to have fully verifiable, anywhere any time access to all sites in iran to ensure theyre not cheating on any agreement, to include their military sites. Yet the leaders of iran continue to say that we wont be able to access their military sites there will be no intrusive inspections. I, the senator from florida many other senators have submitted multiple amendments to ask for votes on these points. We have been consistently blocked from bringing up these amendments for a vote. Its fine if you want to vote no. If you think that iran should keep an underground fortified military bunker with centrifuge cascades. Its fine if you dont think they should have to disclose the past military dimensions of their Nuclear Program. But we need to vote. We need to vote no. Its even fine if you agree about with those points but you think this is a delicate agreement that has to be prevented from being amended in any way but we need to vote. If you dont want to vote, you shouldnt have come to the senate. If youre in the senate and you dont want to vote, you should leave. As the senator from florida said yesterday, be a talk show host be a columnist. Its time that we have a vote and a simple majority threshold on all of these critical points. We are talking about a nucleararmed iran. The most dangerous threat to our National Security. The amendments ive offered first, would simply take the language of the bill that came out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and add those three points. First,