President and deferring to the leadership of the democratic leader in the United States senate, not only did this senator who made this statement indicate his approval of the deal, this senator voted to block an upordown vote on the deal in the United States senate. In other words, participated in the filibuster of this vote. So, mr. President , this debate is one that the American People deserve to hear. I know that the press, as they typically do, like to keep score and like to move on to other things. But this is one that the American People deserve to hear and its one theyve demanded. And, frankly, from what they know so far, they dont like this deal. 21 have said they approve of it. And rather than listen to their constituents, our friends across the aisle have decided to essentially move on, block a vote that prevents the kind of accountability that our constituents deserve and to move on to other issues. But with the future security of our country hanging in the balance, mr. President , we cant just move on. And we cant disregard the will of our own constituents or what common sense or our own investigation and inquiry tells us. This deal is an unenforceable deal. It ignores the fact that iran remains the primary state sponsor of international terrorism. It releases about a hundred billion dollars of money thats going to help finance terrorism, that proxy war against the United States and our allies thats been going on since 1979 when the Iranian Regime came into power. And then theres the bogus verification process. First of all, under the bill, under the agreement, 24 days noaa long with various appeals process, which is a process along with various appeals process which is a process only Rube Goldberg would be able to devise. And then theres the self selfmonitoring process. Its sort of like i call it, its like a selfie stick that the Iranian Regime is going to carry around where they conduct their own tests on their military sites and then they turn that over to the iaea, the International Atomic energy agency, at the front gate. Because the socalled independent Monitoring Agency will not even have access to the military sites where a breakout and violation of this agreement are most likely. Hardly one that gives you confidence that is going to be conducted with any sort of integrity. And then theres the dramatic change in u. S. Policy. Prime minister netanyahu, when he spoke to a joint session of congress a couple of months ago, said it used to be u. S. Policy to deny iran a Nuclear Weapon. But this agreement, as he correctly points out, paves the way to a Nuclear Weapon. Again, this is a not a rational actor on the international stage. This is a extremist regime, a thee cat i can regime thee cat i can regime driven by a desire to wipe israel off the map and conduct this proxy war against the United States and our allies as the primary sponsor of international terrorism. But then theres the final insult to injury, mr. President. Just as our democratic colleagues filibuster the opportunity to have any real accountability with an upordown vote in the United States senate, we learn that the Supreme Leader in iran has insisted that the Iranian Parliament have the final vote and sayso on the deal in iran. So try to fix that picture in your mind. The Iranian Regime, the main principal state sponsor of international terrorism, a theocratic regime determined to wipe israel off the map and conduct war against what they call the great satan, the United States, the Iranian Parliament will have a chance for an upordown vote but our democratic colleagues have blocked an upordown vote in the United States snalt. United states senate. That ought to be deeply troubling to anyone who cares about the United States senate and any sort of sense of democratic accountability. So its beyond irresponsible for our democratic colleagues to again deny the United States senate to do the very same thing that the ayatollah has said that the Iranian Parliament will have a chance to do, especially when they all supported this process by which an upordown vote would be facilitated. So later today, my colleagues and i will have another opportunity to move this bill closer to an upordown vote on the merits of the president s agreement with iran, and i hope the same senators who clearly supported a thorough review of this deal will join me in the very least in moving this bill forward so the American People can get the sort of debate that they deserve about the numberone National Security threat affecting this generation of americans and the American People can get the kind of accountability they deserve when it comes from their elected officials casting a vote on their behalf on such an important agreement. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from south carolina. Mr. Scott thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i have watched and wondered in amazement as the Obama Administration attempts to justify what is clearly a misguided gamble and a bad deal with iran. We saw the signs of how bad this deal is almost immediately. As during the same speech in which he announced the deal, the president threatened to veto any legislation that opposes it. Ive been a business owner, mr. President , and when you lead with threats, you typically are covering a really bad deal. Because when youre Building Support for your product in this case, the iran deal you dont tell folks that youre talking to that disagree with you that theyre crazy. Thats simply something you dont do when you have confidence in the deal. If youre leading with threats, youre showing your hand, mr. President , and the president is trying to bluff while holding a 2, a 5, an 8, and a 10. And, mr. President , we didnt even bring a fifth card to the table. I use a poker reference because thats exactly what the president of the United States is doing here gambling with our security. Gambling with israels security. And, frankly, gambling with the future of the middle east. He was also gambling that his National Security advisor, susan rice, would not admit that the iranian government would use resources from lifting the sanctions to fund terrorists. But as we saw on cnn, wolf blitzer she did. He was gambling that his own press secretary would not tell us that we should trust trust the iranian government because they would use quote common sense and use sanctions relief to help their economy and to help the iranian people. But he did. Even though since we have seen no signs whatsoever previously that the iranian government cares actually about helping the iranian people and their horrific record on human rights has only worsened worsened in the recent years. And the president is gambling that he could use International Pressure to convince people that he was on the right side of the issue along with russia and china. And that brings the deal to the United Nations before the u. S. Congress would somehow Show Congress that the deal was acceptable. Another bad gamble. But it didnt work. The longer we have to study the deal, the worse the deal gets. The longer the American People have to learn about the deal, the stronger their opposition becomes to the deal. Theres just not much good news, mr. President , as we look at this deal, as we look at the polling information 21 in opposition to the deal, the American People. And yet the president refers to those on the opposite side of the deal as crazies, referring to the American People, the vast majority of those folks around our country, so many of us, almost unanimously on the republican side and even some good friends on the left. As i said earlier, the president gambles with our security and weve seen how bad his hand really is. As i suggested, he has a 2, he has a 5, he has an 8 and he has a 10. A 2 because iran will be able to double their oil exports and, therefore, double their oil revenues, increasing by more than a Million Barrels a day. In other words, 15 billion to 20 billion of revenue to fund nefarious behavior in the middle east. Mr. President , thats more terrorism in the middle east. A 5 because without any question, in the year five of the deal, they gain access to more weapons as the weapons embargo is lifted. An 8 because in year eight of the deal, iran will be able to purchase Ballistic Missiles. And a 10 yes, mr. President , a 10. In year 10, iran can begin installing advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium. Simply put, this deal legitimizes Irans Nuclear program and guarantees a time line for iran to secure the bomb. If congress signs on this deal deal signs off on this deal, we can all take out a big red pen and mark on our calendars almost the exact day that iran will have a Nuclear Weapon. This isnt a republican or a democrat issue. Just listen to some of the quotes from my friends on the other side of the aisle. The joint comprehensive plan of action legitimizes Irans Nuclear program. Another quote whether or not the supporters of this agreement admit it, this deal is based on hope. Hope is a part of human nature but unfortunately it is not a National Security strategy. And finally, to me, the very real risk that iran will not moderate and will instead use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goal is too great. Mr. President , in what the administration would call an exchange for this, we see the economic sanctions will be lifted, arms embargo will be lifted, and iran will have more money and more dangerous weapons to route to groups like hezbollah and insurgents in iraq, both groups responsible for the deaths of Many American soldiers. Thats not just a gamble, mr. President. That is the wrong direction at the wrong time and the wrong deal, and absolutely, positively unequivocally not in the best interests of this country. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from missouri. Mr. Blunt mr. President , i am glad to be here and hear the comments of my friend from south carolina, senator scott. Made me glad that i get to sit by him on the senate floor and to hear the reasons and they are good and they have been repeated many times about why this is not a way forward for the United States, its not a way forward for the middle east. In fact, senator scott did a great job talking about what was in the deal. But what wasnt in the deal. What wasnt in the deal was nothing the president said would be there when the negotiations started. When the negotiation started, the administration said that iran would never be allowed to have Nuclear Weapons, that wed find out everything iran had ever done to try to develop Nuclear Weapons. That wed have anywhere, any time inspections. And that sanctions would only be lifted when Real Progress was made in those first three areas. That was the framework. That was what we were negotiating for. And, mr. President , none of those things happened. None of those things are in this agreement. I think the question that you and i and others in the senate are hearing from when were home, when were talking to people about this agreement is is one question is, is the Congress Giving away its power . How is it possible that Something Like this could happen and the congress, a majority of the congress couldnt do anything to stop it . And, of course, the other question is, or is the president giving away the power of the United States of america to lead . I think it is as clear from this agreement as it is so many other things that leading from behind doesnt work. A view that the United States of america is just any other country in the world is not a view that leads to a peaceful, more stable world. In fact, our friends dont trust us and our enemies arent afraid of us in a world where there is vast agreement. There are more potential bad things that could happen from more potential places than any time ever before. Thats not just republicans. Thats the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Thats the head of the National Director of intelligence. Thats the head of the c. I. A. They all come up with that same conclusion. And we look at the president s Foreign Policy, that this is just one symptom of, remember the red line in syria, that if the syrians do this, were going to do that . Well, the syrians did what we said we wouldnt allow them to do and basically we didnt do much of anything. In fact, what happened was that when the United States of america takes that kind of position and doesnt move forward, assad is emboldened. I think the latest number of syrians that have been killed by assad is now around 250,000 people. From chemical weapons to barrel bombs to every way they can think of to massacre their own population, a population that has been displaced in the millions both inside and now outside the country. So an emboldened assad. Russia, putin looks at this and before you know it, putin has taken control of crimea and putin has Russian Troops in the in ukraine. And this week, putin puts Russian Troops and tanks in syria. Every american president since president truman, whose desk im standing one of the desks president truman used as a senator on the floor is this desk right here with his name carved in it, president truman in 1946 did whatever was necessities whatever was necessary to force the soviets out of iran. Every other president until right now has done whatever was necessary to keep the russian influence in the middle east at a minimum, and theyre building a base right now, theyre unloading equipment right now, things are happening because they think, why . Because they think they can get away with it. The chinese, the asian pivot that chinese are build on an atoll in the sea in striking distance of the philippines, why, because they think they can get away with it. And the more were faced with this agreement, the more we look at the consequences of the agreement, the more we wonder about it, but why arent we able to stop it . One, mr. President , is no future president is bound by it. For weeks now on this floor and around the country, people have talked about the destabilizing impact this will have on the middle east and the world, and the only administration thats bound by it is this one. Its not a treaty. If i it was a treaty, as it should be, we would be voting in the senate on a treaty and twothirds of the senators would have to approve the treaty and the next administration would be bound by it as well. When president ial candidates say ill reverse this the first day, they absolutely can reverse it the next day. What policy is that to put place that has this kind of destabilizing effect without the sense the United States for the long term is committed to it. The president believes that by the time he leaves, every president would want to keep this but i dont know how you could listen to this and think that. It does dramatically change the middle east, neighboring countries dont trust iran, theyll want to have whatever weapons iran has and senator scott just made a point and made it well that you can circle the date on the calendar when iran is likely to have a Nuclear Weapon if this agreement goes forward, and more importantly, the hope that maybe the government will change, it might, but that wont change the neighbors from deciding they have to defend themselves. You know, if north korea wasnt bad enough, the 1994 agreement with north korea wasnt bad enough, they have a missile announced today, they have a better missile they were never going to have, if that wasnt bad enough, we have let the genie out of the we have let the jeanne out of the bottle. Iran is on 12month clock but it may not be 12 months from the day they say we are going into full weapons mode and 12 months from now we will have one. You will have three or four countries in a short time that will have Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Weapons capability right now. At the Munich Security Conference in 2014, a conference a handful of senators go to and i went and we were meeting with john kerry and he said they will not be able to do anything we know about because we will have monitors. And i see i dont believe that is true but even if it was you will not be able to contain enrichment. Once you let iran do this, other countries will feel like they have to do the same thing. There are well over a dozen countries that have Nuclear Power that dont do what we are about to let iran do. We h