The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Iran (Executive Session)” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S505-S506 on Feb. 3.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Iran
Madam President, now, on an entirely different matter, this week, two of America's closest partners in the Middle East made history.
The UAE welcomed a President of Israel for the first time, laying another diplomatic stone on the foundation of the Abraham Accords. But within mere hours of President Herzog's historic arrival, we were reminded of the dangers that an increasingly violent Iran is willing to impose on anybody who pursues peace.
For a third straight week, the UAE was targeted by a Houthi missile attack--of course, made possible by Tehran. Last week, the terrorists targeted an airbase that hosts 2,000 U.S. personnel, and it was American-made missile defense systems that intercepted the strike.
The United States faces these same Iranian-backed threats, alongside partners like Israel and the UAE, but you wouldn't know it--you wouldn't know it--by looking at President Biden's foreign policy.
A year ago, the State Department removed Yemen's Houthi terrorists from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. Since then, the Iranian proxy terrorists have only increased their attacks, underwritten by Iranian money and technology--so much so, in fact, that, last month, the Biden administration was reportedly considering reversing its decision.
Iran's strategy is to use violence to drive the United States out of the Middle East--small wonder they would double down on this strategy after the administration's humiliating retreat from Afghanistan--and the failure to respond forcefully to Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. troops in the region has eroded our deterrence and dramatically increased the risk to U.S. personnel.
If this administration chooses to shrug or look the other way when terrorists target our friends and our interests and if they continue to withhold military capabilities from partners threatened by Iran, then they should not pretend to be surprised when traditional American partners in the Middle East start looking to Moscow and to Beijing to fill the vacuum.
Of course, the biggest distraction keeping this administration's attention from protecting our interests in the Middle East has been its ongoing obsession with returning to the Obama administration's failed 2015 nuclear agreement.
Since President Biden took office, he has made rejoining the deal an overriding diplomatic objective, but by blaming their predecessor's
``maximum pressure'' approach and demonstrating an unwillingness to respond forcefully to Iranian-backed terrorist attacks, the administration has effectively taken the threat of sanctions or military action literally off the table, neutering their own diplomacy right at the outset. So it is no wonder the hard-liners in Tehran are holding out for more concessions from the soft-liners in Washington.
Now, look. It is not just Republicans who are concerned. Senator Menendez recently expressed similar concerns on the Senate floor and called upon the Biden administration and our partners to ``exert more pressure on Iran to counter its nuclear program, its missile program, and its dangerous behavior around the Middle East, including attacks on American personnel and assets.''
Recent reports suggest some of Biden's own diplomats also share these concerns and have literally withdrawn from the team over concerns the administration's top negotiator is taking too soft a line on Tehran.
So, a year ago, Republicans made it clear to President Biden that, if his administration were interested in having a bipartisan foreign policy, they would find willing partners here in the Senate.
For my part, I recommended the President focus on securing bipartisan support for promises and threats so they could endure beyond his term in office. I urged him not to let the foreign policy of the most powerful Nation on Earth be reduced to an Etch A Sketch, starting from scratch every 4 years.
We don't often agree, but I was grateful to hear Chairman Menendez concur this week that the ``best guarantee of a sustainable, diplomatic agreement with Iran and the international community is to build one that garners bipartisan political support.''
So look. I am still hopeful that President Biden will finally recognize how uninterested Tehran is in negotiating in good faith. It is certainly not too late to start heeding good advice. It is not too late to start ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran and imposing serious costs when its proxies dare to challenge the United States. It is not too late to try to craft a bipartisan approach to the Middle East. It is not too late to have a plan to contest Russian and Chinese influence in the Middle East. It is not too late to start nurturing the historic Abraham Accords and reassuring partners like Israel and the UAE that their engagement is backed by a rock-solid U.S. commitment.
A year ago, I said Iran was the biggest threat America and its partners faced in the Middle East. Unfortunately, a year of Biden administration foreign policy has made that even more true.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be able to complete my remarks.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
