with god's name the merciful then effect will the merciful redeem we see your guidance your mercy and your forgiveness that this body of servants to god in this country will be blessed with hindsight insight and foresight is only you can provide supply this elected assembly entrusted by our nation citizens to ultimately trust the creator of us van by humans these a delicate sounds but still we know is your time and so let truth excellence justice and service lead the intellects and sews of our house of representatives yes god bless america yes god has blessed america yes god is steel blessing america our land of diversity and every imaginable way for the holy koran a book of guidance to humanity it states god is on it all of the children of adam and in america's declaration of independence all men are created equal so with the resources material spiritual and mental we thank god we thank you god for engineering the tradition of this land to witness that life and it sure has examined a journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house's approval thereof pursuant to clause one of rule one the journal stance approved the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from virginia history i'd like to ask everyone on the floor and in the gallery is stand and action the gentleman from minnesota mr ellison is recognized for one minute arts degree as well as his master's degree in education he is a devoted educator who has held the rank of professor principal and teacher in the wake of the brutal terrorist attacks of september eleventh two thousand and one you ma'am salema along with other prominent leaders in the muslim community met with president george bush to condemn the attacks and to establish a unified front against terrorism as spokesman for this historic meeting immensely in remarks along with those of president bush help to clarify for the american people the peaceful muslim community mr speaker please join me in welcoming to the floor a true citizen servant who has committed to his faith his family and the united states of america  chair will entertain requests for one minute speeches for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise connecticut request one minute or perhaps gentlemen rise that objection or thank you mr speaker last week president bush threatened to veto a bipartisan agreement that provide health insurance to ten million of america's children before acting on this threat the president should talk to our nation's governors forty three of whom support a robust reauthorization of children's health insurance known as s chip set to expire this sunday night governor such as republican jon huntsman of utah republican temple leonti of wisconsin republican arnold schwarzenegger of california and republican jody realm my state of connecticut have all endorsed protecting this program which the bipartisan agreement will accomplish make no mistake about it if the president's plan for s chip his plan will disqualify millions of americans children from s chip coverage in the future we already know in connecticut five thousand children will be kicked off the existing s chip program if this plan goes through mr speaker republican and democratic without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute mr speaker this last weekend i was grateful to visit our troops in iraq in afghanistan and saw firsthand the growing success in baghdad during a visit with major general joseph fil commander of forces in baghdad to a neighborhood joint security site we saw shops open normal traffic and civilians unafraid this evidence of success was repeated in a visit to ramadi where enthusiastic american and iraqi troops have depose terrorist in kabul i was briefed on training of afghan police two eighteenth's brigade of the south carolina army national guard led by general bob livingston as a twenty eight year veteran of the two eighteenth i know the confidence and resolve of our troops additionally in jalalabad america and american and afghan the provincial reconstruction teams are promoting security government governance and economic development with eight visits to iraq and four to afghanistan i'm more convinced than ever that to protect american families we must stop the terrorist overseas our dedicated troops deserve our support of this vital mission in conclusion guv less our troops and will never forget september the eleventh jimmy gets back for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania that objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute two years ago in my thirty first year in the military my single daughter four year old alex was struck with a malignant brain tumor after two brain operations given three to nine months to live we moved into a cancer ward and began a journey that has are here today and has me in the house the incident that brought me here was her roommate that day she began her chemotherapy was a young two and a half year old boy from washington d c he was diagnosed that morning with for six hours we could not help but overhear a social workers came and went to see if that two year and a half year old boy could stay because parents did not have health insurance i've been in combat i have seen the worst of human nature i've also seen the best of human nature this s chip bill to cover ten million uninsured americans that two and a half year old boy so the social worker does not determine whether some child is taken care of is the best of our nature i ask everyone to support the s chip bill thank you his time for purposes jumma from illinois rise by that objection a gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker we have won the battle against the bridge to nowhere this three hundred twenty million dollar federally subsidized structure would have been as long as the golden gate bridge standing eighty feet higher than the brooklyn bridge it would have connected the mainland to an island population fifty with no roads or stores last year the house adopted the kirk amendment blocking all funding for the bridge to nowhere it was a wise move to protect taxpayers but the senate said no and temporarily save the bridge house leaders of this congress surprisingly back to the bridge to now here but our arguments have finally won alaska has decided to block all funding for the bridge to nowhere following the collapse of the minneapolis bridge we now have additional funds to fix bridges in need of repair and maybe return some of this money that was to be wasted to the american taxpayers that earned it shellman yells back for what purposes the gentleman from vermont rise without objection and john is recognized for one minute mr speaker we have forty seven million americans without health insurance today we're going to have an opportunity to vote on providing ten million children with continued health care coverage that they're going to need this is as in the spirit of many of the good things we've done bipartisan governor of vermont republican supports it republican senators hatch and grassley support it done a good turn mendus job the response from the president unfortunately i this legislation it's hard to understand how it is that when the cost of this program is the equivalent of two weeks spending on the war in iraq we can't find it in our capacity to spend that money to make certain that parents when they go to bed at night know their kids when they need a doctor will have access to the health care that they need our opportunity here in this house is to send the president a message in the hopes that he'll do the right ng and sign this bill with an overwhelming bipartisan bill that reflects the bipartisan work and by camera work that was done to bring it to the floor thank you i yield the balance of my job as time has expired for purposes gentleman from georgia ross without objection the gentleman  speaker today the new majority sadly declares politics more important than health care for our nation's poorest children democrats are moving forward with the massive expansion of washington run health care under the auspices of helping kids yet any honest discussion about this bill reveals that it is clearly less about helping children and more about washington control you see they think they can make better decisions than you remarkably this expansion of bureaucratic health care offers taxpayer funded coverage to people who are neither poor nor children democrats have made it clear that this bill is just the next step in their desired march toward washington control of health care and as a physician i have seen how dangerous government control of health care can be rather than forcing bureaucratic controlled health care upon the american people i urge my colleagues to reject this proposal and reauthorize s chip in a way that is consistent with its original bipartisan intent helping of billions of dollars need to be spent to enable this president to avoid accountability to say face for the worst foreign policy fiasco in america's history and when all is said and done when all the blood in the treasure has been spent and we look back at what we will have accomplished we will have a shia theocracy far more loyal to iran that is to the united states and probably equally repressive of women's rights and human rights how is that possibly worthy of the sacrifice of our soldiers this to speaker it is not and the fact is that the president supplemental for iraq that he's requesting now is granted we will be spending almost as much in one week three and a half billion dollars as it would take to provide needed health insurance for four million gentlemens recognize for one minute that you mr speaker two hundred twenty years ago fifty five delegates assembled in philadelphia to form a more perfect union establish justice insure domestic tranquility provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity the principle set forth by our founding fathers are still important today in the constitution our founding documents are essential to understand our history as a nation they remain the bedrock of american society and it's essential that we honor our constitution as the embodiment of the freedoms we hold dear that's why introduce the u s history resolution this resolution acknowledges the importance of promoting u s history in our schools and communities with a particular focus on our america's founding documents as the saying goes those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and avoid this fate we should repeat it often but to repeat it in schools to repeat it to our children so they understand where we came from so we can know where we're going and that will promote a better america you'll back john this time has expired for purposes gentleman from kentucky rise that objection  not for one minute think mr speaker the president recently both to that we were quote kicking ass in iraq with brave american soldiers dying in record numbers i have two questions for the president in north carolina words are out of order the president soldiers dying in record numbers i have two questions for the president just whose pastor years are we kicking and how do you know with sunis and shiites killing themselves and each other plus an incompetent maliki government we don't know who we're fighting much less where we're kicking them and while we're tied up in iraq al qaida thrives in pakistan and afghanistan so the president's turn of phrase will go to the blooper hall of fame with other bush golden oldies like last throws links to al qaeda and mission accomplished there was a time when american success met the feeding nazis tearing down communism's iron curtain and walking on the moon supporting our troops men honest safeguards not trash talk how low of our standards fall when the president points to the debacle he created and says this is what i'm proud of most americans believe in a country that is capable of much higher standards and if america were really kicking butt the president would need to say anything everyone would know it you know but a gentleman time has expired t congress with a progress report that we requested rather than encountering a failure dialogue on the situation in iraq he was confronted with an accusation of treason by one of the nation's most prominent and well funded liberal advocacy organise haitians last week the senate took the appropriate course of action to officially and in a bipartisan fashion condemn this atrocious act on a distinguished war hero i call on the democrat leadership to follow the senate's lead and allow for consideration of house resolution six forty four the men and women of our armed forces have committed themselves to the defense of this nation i ask my colleagues who will come to that objection a judge has recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker ten years ago in a bipartisan manner congress enacted the children's health insurance program to provide health coverage to those who need it the most since that time it's been a success story providing health coverage to six million children when i was a member of the texas state legislature i had an opportunity to help implement the first chip program in the state of texas there and we're right on again it's a story that's worked very well in fact as the the number of uninsured children in our nation has dropped dramatically even though child poverty was on the rise and many of the families were losing their employer based health coverage unfortunately this trend has started to reverse itself for two years in a row the number of uninsured children has increased there are now eight point seven million children our nation who are uninsured those numbers are a clear sign that congress needs to pass a bipartisan agreement that was reached last week it will be on the floor today will provide access to quality health insurance to ten million low income children mr speaker this is a bipartisan agreement again democrats and republicans need to come together for the nation's children mrs speaker i yield back the remaining time for purpose gentleman from pennsylvania r a gentleman strike not one minute thank you michel bicker over the last days the world has witnessed an incredible display of courage in the face of tyranny and burma buddhist monks have been peacefully marching throughout the streets of rangoon as well as twenty five other cities throughout the country these pious men revered by their countrymen are peacefully calling for an end to the brutal mill military dictatorship that is hell the country hostage for over four decades citizens are beginning to stand in support of the peaceful demonstrations at times protecting the monks from possible violence from riot police by linking arms acting as a human shield the military junta has warned that it may take action against the protesters action that has been terribly violent in the past mr speaker i stand today in solidarity with the people of burma who wish only for freedom and an end to the military dictatorship and i call on the military regime to respect the will of the opportunity to remember the victims of violent crimes and offer our support to their families as a career law enforcement officer i saw firsthand the devastation violent crimes bring to victims and their families and to the communities where they occur and understand the need to defend victims rights in the aftermath of their unspeakable loss in honor of those victims i'm proud to join my colleague from washington mr reichert in introducing legislation to prohibit america's most heinous criminals and murderers from profiting from their crimes our bill the stop the sale of murder a billion to protect the dignity of crime victims act would fight the exploitation of criminal activity by preventing criminals from selling their wares in public auction i can think of no better way to honor the victims of murder than supporting this bill and i yield back the balance of my time back the balance of this time for purposes jump from ohio russ that objection the gentleman's recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker and i want to thank the gentleman from indiana for his resolution and i want to join him this morning and i'm on her to stand here this morning as part of the first national day of remembrance for murder victims to pay tribute to the memory of those whose lives have been tragically cut short through senseless acts of violence in this country let us and their families know that they are not alone of course we must continue to devote the resources necessary to the local state and federal level to protect our communities from falling victim to future criminal acts but we cannot forget those who have already been victims particularly the victims of murder and the families that struggle to rebuild their lives after such amos acts this day also enables us to recognize and thank those victims assistance organizations like parents of murdered children that happened to be headquartered in my district in cincinnati ohio and the national center for victims of crime that provide ongoing support of the surviving families the strength comfort and compassion that these organizations provide to families and friends of murder victims is a objection the gentleman gentleman is recognized for one minute mr speaker congress will take up a continuing resolution that fund the federal government after september thirtieth while the house has passed all twelve of its appropriation bills senate republicans continue to obstruct efforts to finish the process over in the other chamber making the continuing resolution necessary in our appropriations bill we would check the president's most harmful cut and ma targeted investments in veterans care education health care homeland security and law fourth line and we did this all by remaining fiscally responsible this is something new around here past republican congress we fused to abide by the pay as you go philosophy as a result they turned a fifty point six trillion ten year surplus under the clinton administration into a three trillion deficit today former federal reserve chairman alan greenspan summarizes the republican stewardship of the federal budget best when he states in his new book and i quote the republicans in congress lost their way mr speaker house democrats will continue to last week forty four members of congress sent a letter to the speaker urging her to immediately bring a conference report on veterans funding before the house argo it's passed this funding and avoid the political gamesmanship of the appropriation process earlier this year the house and senate both passed were veterans findings with overwhelming support the fiscal year ends on saturday unfortunately has become clear that the top democratic aides intend to hold our of our veterans hostage  spokeswoman for the house appropriations committee called our letter and efforts to pass veteran funding immediately just a cute diversion madam mr speaker there's nothing cute about withholding funding for veterans benefits there's nothing cute about withholding funding for veterans health care there is nothing cute about democrats using veterans as political pawns in their appropriations strategy i urge my colleagues not to let veterans funding be held hostage any longer our veterans are saying don't be the f o white appropriations time has expired for purposes of gentleman from new hampshire ross the general that is recognized for one minute without objection this is speaker today who will vote for legislation supporting the goals and ideals of the veterans of foreign wars day for nearly one hundred years the veterans of foreign wars have served a straightforward and noble mission honoring the dead by helping the living and by providing friendship in my home state of new hampshire we have nearly ten thousand members another four thousand five hundred members of the lazic hilarie i'm honored to be their representatives in this house and to work with them to ensure that all of our veterans and their families receive the full support and benefits they have earned the v f w has been an outspoken advocate for veterans rights it is call for expanded health care for veterans increased funding for research into traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder it has also asked for improved access to health care for veterans support for mental illnesses and treatment when i met with my veterans advisory committee last fall one prominent member of the v f w asked me to support a sufficient budget for the department of veterans affairs i'm happy to report that the hundred tenth congress passed the largest budget in the seventy seven year history of the veteran request of issue without objection a gentleman's recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker later today i will introduce legislation to stop the sale of murderabilia to protect the dignity of crime victims act and i will introduce that legislation with my good friend and former sheriff from indiana congressman ellsworth before coming to congress i served thirty three years in the king county sheriff's office i have seen the pain on the faces of victims and victims families on explainable and imaginable pain that cover their faces and their families for the rest of their life and unfortunately criminals today say you are in our state and federal prisoners prisons are using their fame and notoriety to make a buck the internet has become a gateway to an industry coined as murder balia where tangible goods owned and or created by convicted murderers are sold for their profit and today on national day of remembrance for murder victims i am privileged and honored to honor the memory of all victims and my bill amps to shut down this business i time in spite of what purpose jonathan george arise without objection john is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker when president bush was running for reelection in two thousand and four one of the major promises he made during his acceptance speech at the republican convention was to strengthen the children's health insurance program back then the compassionately conservative president vowed to and i'm quoting now quote lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government's health insurance program that's exactly what this congress has done a bipartisan agreement that comes to the floor today would enroll more than four million more children in the children's health insurance program who are eligible who are already eligible and based on his past statements you would think that president bush would be praising this agreement he is not in fact he's pregnant to veto the bill because he say is that we are t program beyond its original intent that's just wrong our bipartisan agreement does not does nothing more than what he vowed to do back in two thousand and four mr speaker actions speak louder than words the president should follow through with alan greenspan's new memoir the age of turbulence the former fed chair criticizes republicans for abandoning fiscal discipline it's no wonder the current bush administration has racked up over one third about three point two trillion of our nearly nine trillion total national debt in fact ronald reagan george h w bush and george w bush are responsible for incurring almost three quarters of our total national debt according to a new analysis from the joint economic committee republican administrations over the last thirty years have made us a nation of debtors vulnerable to the economic and political decisions made half a world away we need a new direction democrats in congress are committed to getting our fiscal house back in order thank you and the woman yields back pursuant to section two of the migratory bird conservation act sixteen us code seven fifteen a in the order of the house of january fourth two thousand and seven the chair announces the speaker's appointment of the following members of the house to the migratory bird conservation commission mr dingell of michigan mr gilcr maryland pursuant to section eight zero three of the congressional recognition for excellence in arts education act two u s code eight zero three a in the order of the house of january fourth two thousand and seven the chair announces the speaker's appointment of the following member of the house to the congressional award board and in addition mr paxton baker of maryland mr vic fazio for genuine mrs annette lantos of california ms mary rogers of pennsylvania the chair least before the house the following communication to the congressional award board mr bill iraqis has expressed interest in serving in this capacity and i am pleased to fulfill his request science and generally john a boehner republican leader the chair lays before the house the following communication honorable the speaker house of representatives madam pursuant to section eight zero three a of the congressional recognition for excellence in arts education act two u s c eight zero three a i am pleased to appoint mr clif california as a congressional award board member as a former gold medalist his work on asian use gang violence is to be commended mr akiyama has expressed interest in serving in this capacity and i am pleased to fill his request s resolution h r fourteen hundred as amended the cook report the title of the bill h r fourteen a bill to enhance united states diplomatic efforts with respect to iran by imposing additional economic sanctions against iran and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from california mr lantos in the gentlewoman from florida miss ross like in and will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california  speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and to extend their remarks to include extraneous material on the resolution  consideration without objection the speaker i rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself as much time as i might consume the speaker campaign to remove all obstacles to teheran headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons we in turn must resolve to use every available peaceful means economic political and diplomatic to put a stop to that deadly dangerous pursuit peaceful persuasion in this instance will require a lot of leverage strong international sanctions must be imposed against the regime in biting sanctions that will bring about a change in policy ideally misspeak or such measures would be undertaken through the united nations our own sanctions without any exceptions imposes sanctions in the u s market on any foreign company that invests twenty million dollars or more in the iranian energy sector but the law lets the executive branch at its sole discretion waive those sanctions and for years mr speaker administrations of both parties have d without fail since nineteen ninety nine giant companies such as the royal dutch shell francis total italy's any and impacts of japan have been just over one hundred billion dollars over one hundred billion dollars in the rainy energy industry and the united behavior of the regime in teheran it is clear what we must do we must take away the power from the administration to waive  pass two days ago on sixty minutes the president of iran had this to say about the issue of nuclear weapons and i quote we don't need and nuclear bomb in political relations right now the nuclear bomb is of no use if it was useful it would have prevented the downfall of the quote our people are the three years in the world and there are no homosexuals in iran we are all aware of the many other when he says his country has the same right as every other country to use civilian nuclear power every country has that right but if they all the side to get there by mastering the full nuclear fuel cycle then the door we'll be wide open to an arm precedented the global proliferation of nuclear weapons that is why earlier the house passed my legislation to authorize the creation of an international nuclear fuel bank on the the us p c s of the international atomic energy agency every country including iran can draw from that bank the new korea fuel necessary for the production of civilian nuclear energy on the strict i a e a safeguards but no nation will be able to divert nuclear materials for military purpose yes the international atomic energy agency supports my approach as do all five permanent members of the un security council including our own administration one would think that the decision makers in teheran would look up on this idea of an international nuclear fuel bank as an elegant way to get iran out of a difficult on productive and singularly isolated situation i hope that they will take this road and they will use this opportunity to move away from their current isolation in the international community and i hope as well that the administration will see its way clear to opening up serious and continuing dialogue with iran when i hear it said that it is somehow wrong to talk with iran i think back to the days when the soviet union tipped missiles aimed at the united states surely the soviets them were a great deal more dangerous to us than the iranian leadership is today and yet we talked with them daily we maintained a very active diplomacy the survey the soviet union we were engaged in trade travel and cultural exchanges of many types the speaker are not alone in hoping that relations with iran can and will be improved but as long as irrationality prevails in iran we must be prepared to employ all peaceful means at our disposal to ensure that the regime reno its pursuit of nuclear weapons iran today faces the choice between a very big arrow and a very sharp stick it is my hope that they will take the camera but today we are putting the stick in place i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman reserves the gentlewoman from california miss leight speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume that objection thank you mr speaker today is a day of contrast today as we stand here in this hollowed chamber of democracy discussing the threat that iran poses to the united states and indeed to global security to its own people as well iran's leader will later be spewing his venomous rhetoric before the united nations general assembly last year the leader of the ira regime called for israel to be wiped off the map and for a new wave of palestinian attacks to destroy the jewish state he further stated that anyone who recognizes israel will burn in the fire of the of islamic nations this is not the first time that the iranian leadership has called for the destruction of israel on december fourteenth two thousand and one former anian leader  threatened israel with nuclear attack saying that the use of even one nuclear bomb inside israel would destroy that country while it would do little harm to the islamic world given the uranian regimes history of acting on its declarations we should be under no illusions regarding its intentions and its intentions are to get a nuclear weapon in fact they're even taking out advertisements about it let me show you this very revealing ad that appeared in the may issue of the economist they say a picture is worth a thousand words even as the international atomic energy agency reported that quote gaps remain in the agency's knowledge with respect to the scope and content of iran's centrifuge program including the role of the military in iran's nuclear program end quote and voiced concern we guarding undeclared nuclear material and activities in iran and even as additional sanctions were being considered against iran by the united nations security council this request for proposals for two new large nuclear plants appeared in a major western magazine and let me point out that the ad clearly identifies the name of the bank a european bank for the record it is austria br asked austria bank credit and salt with the account number clearly evident in the advertisement mr speaker for over five years or rand has been manipulating the international community buying time to expand and to hide its nuclear program and it is making rapid progress the international atomic energy agency report of august thirtieth of this year stated that iran is running almost two thousand centrifuges with as many more being tested or under construction indicating that it has already overcome many of the roadblocks to manufacturing nuclear fuel including weapons grade material the estimate of the international atomic energy agency however may be too conservative iranian leader ahmed put the number of centrifuges at three thousand and said that the program was making great strides his comments underscore his regime's intense focus on its nuclear weapons program and should increase our focus and our sense of urgency when thinking of the consequences of a near iranian nuclear bomb we must always remember that iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism supplying weapons funding training and sanctuary to terrorist groups such as hezbollah and hamas that have murdered countless civilians and threatens our allies in the region and elsewhere that iran continues to supply shiite islamic groups in iraq with money training and weapons that fuel  iran is responsible for the deaths of u s troops by providing the resources in the materials used for improvised explosive devices or i d s and other much more powerful weapons that iran is also supplying the taliban with weapons to use against our troops serving in afghanistan my daughter in laws proudly wearing our nation's uniform right now in afghanistan and iran's work as a danger to her and to all of our sons and daughters serving overseas however terrans pursuit of these destructive policies has one weakness namely its dependence on the revenue derived from energy exports for that reason the s has targeted iran's energy sector at kempton to starve it of its foreign investment u s law prohibits american firms from investing in iran but foreign entities continue to do so to address that problem my distinguished colleague my good friend from california the chairman of our committee mr lantos and i introduced the rand freedom support act which was enact it into law in september of last year this legislation under consideration today however h r fourteen hundred bills upon that foundation reiterate the application of the iran sanctions act to parent companies of foreign subsidiaries that engage in activities that ice that would prohibit for u s entities like its predator predecessors the iraqi regime support act and h r nine fifty seven this bill before us h r fourteen hundred expands the application of the iran sanctions act to any financial institution insurer underwriter guarantor or other business organization including any foreign subsidiary subsidiary of the foregoing mr speaker this bill enlarges the scope of the ice of found sanctions to include the sale of oil or liquefied natural gas tankers in addition the bill before states the sense of congress that the united states should prevent foreign banks from providing export credits to foreign entities seeking to invest in iran's energy sector and in line with the iran freedom support act which urged the president to instruct the u s ambassador to the un to push for you united nations security council sanctions against iran this bill before us commands the u n security council for its previous action and urges additional action h r four thousand eight hundred also restricts u s nuclear cooperation with any country that helps or rand's nuclear program or transfers advanced convention conventional weapons or missiles to iran this puts countries seeking to maintain good relations with the us on notice that we will not allow ourselves to be used as indirect purveyors of nuclear assistance to iran finally let me emphasize mr speaker that this bill speaks directly to the people of iran the regime in tehran continues its brutal crackdown on human rights advocates on religious and ethnic minorities on opponents  universities in the press and on dissidents in general and to address their plight the bill before six presses the unwavering support of the american people for the tens of millions of iranians suffering under a brutal medieval regime we must always remember that we share a common enemy the regime in tehran and a common goal which is freedom mr speaker thank you for this time but i mostly want to thank the chairman of our committee mr lantos for his leadership on this issue and i strongly urge my colleagues to support its adoption and with that i reserve the balance of our time the gentleman reserves a bouncer time jumma from recognized for three minutes thank you speaker thank you mr chairman for yielding me to time as well as your tireless efforts in support of legislation that we are considering today there is no more imperative threat facing the world today  and checking iran's nuclear aspirations sometimes in the midst of urgent debate over the right tactics to use to stop the mullahs mad march towards the bomb we lose sight of the big strategic picture by focusing on th particular costs of the sanction the monstrous reality of a world in which iran possesses nuclear weapons can slip into the background this loss of perspective is a terrible mistake critics  fourteen hundred both here and abroad see only the costs and the irritants of american sanctions their concerns focus on economic liberty and their own bottom line on their national sovereignty but not their national security protests are heard regarding our insensitivity to the iranian regime in the likelihood of sanctions hurting the iranian people the critics are unfortunately missing the point and vacuum sanctions always seem harsh unless you consider the non peaceful alternative to fully and fairly judge the proposals in the sanctions measures such as h r fourteen hundred we have to consider what a future without it might look like if you don't want to see the complete collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and the rapid nuclearization of the entire middle east then you're for the bill if you don't want to see  proxies such as hamas and hizbollah taking over the palestinian authority and the government of lebanon then you're for the bill if you don't want to see iran accelerating its supply of arms and training to terrorists around the world then you're for the bill if you don't want the supply and price of oil to be set in tehran then you're for the bill if you don't want to even imagine a nuclear device exploding somewhere anywhere in the middle east then you're for the bill and finally if you don't if you do a bore war if you really don't want to see military force used to stop iran's nuclear program if you hate the very idea of america attacking iran's nuclear program then you're for this bill the official to idol is the iran counter proliferation act the proper title should be to stop the iranian bomb by every peaceful means possible act this is the alternative we are running out of time nuclear weapons in the hands of iran's mullah mullahs are not inevitable but to prevent such an international security catastrophe we need every tool at our disposal now while there is still time the longer we wait the greater the danger and difficulty of the challenge we face now is the time to apply the absolute maximum diplomatic political and economic pressure that we can must h r fourteen hundred will crank up the pressure and help us avoid having to choose between a military act and an iranian atomic bomb i urge all members to support them in the time has expired the gentleman from florida thank you so much mr speaker at this summit like enhance united states diplomatic efforts with respect to iran by imposing additional economic sanctions against iran as the ranking member and my other senior colleagues have described this legislation would continue an expanding effort to confront iran's rhetoric and reality in a manner both diplomatic and economic and the reasons to do so are are legion for iran for instance denies the holocaust and hosted a holocaust denying conference which aired on arab television across the region president in a job as all describing a moment as repeatedly advocated quote wiping israel off the map their headlong and reckless pursuit of a nuclear weapons program ominously would enable them to do that in a matter of minutes when combined with their missile technology iran supplies and trains insurgents and fighting u s forces and arachne forces in iraq as general petraeus and ambassador crocker and the physical evidence in the incarceration of iranian intelligence personnel now in baghdad attests iran supports hezbollah hamas and other terrorist organizations but i want to speak specifically mr speaker to yesterday in today's event involving the iranian president mahmoud din a job who arrived yesterday for reform in columbia university an address at the united nations today let me be clear if if our colleagues have no the reason to support h r four thousand nine hundred we can look to the rhetoric and the statements in the past forty eight hours of president in a job he is a destabilizing force leading a threatening country and gave evidence of that repeatedly in statements on american television columbia university and i expect the u n today and then a job years regularly between the deadly in the bazaar he is perhaps best known for the menacing statements about advocating the elimination of the state of israel but at last year's address of the un general assembly president in a job told an iranian cleric that he had felt the hand of god entrancing world leaders as he addressed that body all of these various threats and outrages are delivered with a trademark eerie grin which would be easy to dismiss as the rantings of a madman were he not vested with the power of a head of ignore his intense at our peril while the speech of columbia university yesterday was described as a rambling speech by the new york times that meandered from science to religion the creation of human beings it was his claim that he was a quote peaceful a country where no homosexuals lived for me i cannot decide which of those statements was more orwellian or more offensive to reality or to western respect for individual liberty but they do give us a window into the mindset of a leader and the speaker i believe no terrorist despot deserves an ivy league forum and said so on sixty minutes sunday night in a job refused to address what we all know to be true his forces and weaponry as i said before are directly implicated in the deaths of american forces in iraq and that would have been reason enough to deny him a podium now we're caijing lee told and maybe some will hesitate to support this legislation today because a dinner job is not in charge that some believe relatively moderate group of clerics are the real power in iran but at a military parade just saturday the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei allegedly a moderate  had a banner displayed alongside him that read the when nation is ready to bring any oppressive power to its knees clearly this threatening posture is deep seated it is not focused on one man but i think as we argue today for h r four hundred to bring additional economic sanctions against iran we should look at the man who is the leader of the country h r four thousand eight hundred sponsored by or distinguished chairman and ranking minority member does the reasonable of the gentleman additional know without objection i think that generally fourteen hundred is the reasonable step of imposing additional economic sanctions against iran but let me say i believe it is imperative that we must continue to use every tool in our power to pressure and isolate this dangerous and threatening regime and the people of the united states of america the u n security council our neighbors and allies in the region also need to be prepared to keep all options on the table as we confront this regime it is my hope h r four thousand eight hundred with its diplomatic and economic initiatives will prevail and bring iran back from the nuclear brink and that will be my prayer but we must remain committed to the notion that this nation and this leader in iran must not be permitted to come into possession of a usable nuclear weapon and i yield back the balance of my california mr chairman is recognized for three minutes i think the chairman and i thank him for this outstanding piece of legislation yesterday at columbia muchmore the denah job made two points that were newsworthy first there are no gay people in iran second there is no nuclear weapons program in iran these two points are equally true to focus on iran's nuclear program we do not need military action and i want to emphasize this bill does not authorize it does not justify it does not urge military action in any way in fact it gives us an alternative and that is economic and diplomatic pressure now we owe a special debt of gratitude to the mullahs who are running around because their mismanagement corruption and oppression has made their goal government vulnerable vulnerable even in an eighty dollar a barrel world today iran faces a slow decline in its oil fields without further investment they won't be exporting oil in ten years today as i speak they are rationing gasoline in terror ran we need to be able to use our considerable broadcasting resources to send a message iran for the people in elites of that country and say that you face diplomatic and economic isolation if you don't abandon your nuclear program the problem is none of us can live that well in farsi we have not imposed economic and isolation on iran but with this bill we can begin we have acquiesced in world bank loans to the government of iran with this bill we stop putting money into the unit of the world bank that is making loans to iran and we ought to look at other things we can do to make sure that there are no further world bank loans to iran with currently we import from iran not of oil but only the stuff we don't need and they can't sell anywhere else this bill ends imports from iran with regard to or oil companies again we owe a special  gratitude to those mullahs whose business whose outrageous business practices and threats of expropriation have made oil companies reluctant to invest in iran but now we have got to make them reluctant to invest in iran this bill turns to east foreign subsidiaries of u s oil companies and bans their investment in iran and with regard to foreign based or oil companies it sends a clear message don't do business with iran if you expect to do business as usual in the united states we have had that kind of sanction against foreign based oil companies for quite some time under what was then called the iran libya sanctions act we applied that act against libya and it worked it mr shays of the national security subcommittee of the committee on government oversight element is recognized for three minutes thank the general a d for yielding to me mr speaker i rise in support of h r fourteen hundred fourteen one hundred the strengthening our current sanctions against iran we need to strengthen our current sanctions against iran first we cannot talk about iran in a vacuum we need to pass this resolution and put other pressure on this government and we also need to make sure that we do not leave iraq and the middle east to this to this country it is pursuing nucular iran is so in nuclear capabilities and is one of the world's most egregious export or of terrorism finding a mass hezbollah iraqi insurgents we are needing to confront a rack because they are literally killing other confront iran because they are literally killing  other they are funding the iraqi insurgents therefore killing iraqis who are on our side and they are killing our american troops the seriousness of these facts is make clear when iran's president threatened to wipe israel off the map that's his intent in addition in april two thousand and six khamenei told another one of the world's told another one of the world's worst human rights abuse that iran would gladly transfer a nuclear technology to it khamenei stated the islamic republic of iran is prepared to transfer the experience knowledge and technology of its scientists that's a quote i am hopeful the ongoing discussions between the iranians and the united nation to craft a permanent nuclear agreement will be successful but i'm not holding my breath it is critical our government utilize the tools at our disposal including economic and diplomatic sanctions and the appropriate distribution of foreign aid to those groups who oppose the current regime to deter the threat around poses to global security it is also appropriate in the sensual for us to impose pressure on the other nations of the world who prop prop up the iranian government and the unequivocal in its rejection of these ambitions we need to realize that if you don't want war with iran then we need to make sanctions work i thank the gentleman and feeling back amen yells back the gentleman from california this speaker i'm pleased i support it very strongly think it's good for our nation in the security of the world i do would or would like to express it i've heard some concerns raised about whether section four  unintentionally might create any roadblocks to the non luger program with the united states and russia work together to hit nuclear materials from getting in the hands of terrorists obviously no one here no one in russia no one in this country would want to make it more difficult to protect our nation from theft of nuclear material from russia and mr chairman i just hope that is we move toward the final version this legislation and sketches for the senate i hope we can ensure it would not in any way unintentionally undermine our ability to evaluate physical protection systems at sites that receive u s nuclear exports and it just ensure that in no way do we unintentionally create some roadblocks for the i want to thank my friend from texas for raising this issue on luger program is one of the most valuable international pieces of legislation since the end of the second world war it has gone a long way in preventing nuclear materials falling into dangerous hands it is imperative that the russian federation work to gathered with the international community to ward iran's nuclear ambitions i very much look forward to working with my friend from texas to ensure that that goal and the moment proliferation goals are fully met in this the gentleman from illinois recognized for two minutes thank you miss speaker the history of the twentieth century tells us that genocidal dictators say what they will do and then do what they said hitler told us in his writings that he would murder jews and he did stalin said that he would liquidate the coolest russia's a small farmers and he did pull pot said he would eliminate the middle class and intellectuals and he did and now the president of iran said he will wipe israel off the face of the earth and he will now we americans promised in one thousand nine hundred five never again i've met a judge says that one jewish holocaust is not enough that he would wish to commit a second genocide and he would deny that that would happen because he already denies that the holocaust happened now our options with regard to iran are poor option one leave this to the united nations alone but that appears to lead to the iranians having the bomb option to let israel's armed forces remove the threat but that mission is dangerous and uncertain thanks to chairman lantos and ranking member russ light and we in congress are developing a better and third option sanctions against iran can work this bill strengthens such actions and we can do more we should bankrupt bank melli a funder of terror and we should quarantine gasoline sales to iran these measures could cripple iran like the yugoslav dictatorship we can bring effective pressure to bear to achieve our objectives without military action the new president of france sees the growing danger and says the international community and europe should act the new french president is right and this bill takes us in the direction of a safer world and one in cooperation with our allies and i yield back general yield back the gentleman from california the speaker i please the minutes in the have to think this chapter of the rest  hemisphere's subcommittee the foton affairs committee is that engel of new york gentleman from new york is recognized for a one and a half minutes i thank our distinguished the chairman for yielding to me and i rise in strong support of this legislation mr speaker yesterday i was in new york city my hometown where i spoke at a demonstration in front of the united nations protesting ahmadinejad speaking at that world body i also then went to columbia university where i also participate in a protest outside of columbia university mr speaker i want to be able to tell my children and my grandchildren that i did something when evil raised its ugly head perhaps if there had been more of this of a 's adolf hitler might not have come to power he said what he was going to do as the gentleman from illinois just said and he carried it out and when mr ahmadinejad says he wants to wipe israel off the face of the earth and do all kinds of other countless hard horrific things he means it this bill squeezes the  iranian regime where it counts the most in the pockets economically no one could have foreseen that the soviet union would have rotted from within but the iranian regime is rotting from within they are now exposed importing oil there's a crunch an energy crunch in iran this is the way to topple that regime and i think that they are the biggest threat right now to the world the united nations discredits and in self and we will soon have a resolution condemning their so called human rights commission which does nothing but attack israel may have additional thirty seconds these two years an additional five minutes without objection we need to stand up and say that we were able to act when it counted and this is one of the most important things that the congress can do by slapping sanctions on iran we had the syria accountability act which i introduced with the distinguished ranking member and we're going to have another bill syria and iran who represent threats to the region need to be hit in the pocketbook economically in order for their regimes to collapse or for them to change their behavior this bill does that and that's why everyone should support it today fire the gentleman from florida gentleman reserves gentleman from california the speaker on please to use that minute  the distinguished member of the intelligence committee ms harman of california the gentleman from california ms harman is recognized for one and a half minutes thank you mr speaker mr speaker california is poised to join several other states in requiring its huge pension funds to disinvest in iran the decision is bipartisan and i commend my state democratic legislature and republican gov for this bold move so to h r fourteen hundred is a bold bipartisan move and i urge its passage it tightens enforcement of u s sanctions which are working it conditions future nuclear cooperation with russia on that country's ceasing its nuclear ties with iran and it designates iran's revolutionary guards who have long carried out terrorist acts in iraq and in the region as a terror organization mr speaker in los angeles california is home to over eight hundred thousand a rainy in americans in fact it's called sometimes  the terror run of the united states and i understand that because we have such a large population our fight is not with los angelenos and it surely is not with  the iranian people either but our fight and we must continue it is against the threats and the actions of the extreme regime in iran who threaten our democratic ally israel and who threaten the entire world with the spoke with the prospect of a nuclear bomb and i have another fifteen seconds without objection coercive sanctions are working h r fourteen hundred will add new tools to those sanctions this is the right way for this country to speak out in the right way time country to achieve don't time has expired joan from florida thank you mr speaker i have no further requests for time so i yield back the balance of my of our time and i think that chairman mr lantos again gentleman yield back the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r fourteen hundred as amendment as amended those in favor say aye those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are speaker california on that i respect first series of votes here on the house floor and this one of course