Christopher Coons

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for his clear-eyed assessment of the challenges that lie ahead as we try to move past implementation day and into a positive world where together we might be able to provide the administration with the resources they need to enforce the agreement, counter Iran's bad behavior, and deter Iran from any further illicit or bad behavior. I wish to invite my colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kaine of Virginia, to offer any thoughts he might care to share at this point before we bring this colloquy to a close. I know Senator Kaine has followed the importance of the inspections regime under the JCPOA closely. As Senator Shaheen and I both referenced earlier, full and robust funding of the IAEA is the only way to ensure they really have the ability to enforce this agreement and make sure this heavy water reactor does not somehow get redesigned, reengineered, and restarted in the future. I invite my friend and colleague from Virginia to offer his thoughts on how to make sure we are effectively enforcing this deal.

Mr. COONS. That is my understanding as well. There is no publicly articulated basis--certainly no basis that has anything do with his qualifications, skills, experience or relevance to the job--as is the case with all three of these nominees. There are many other nominees we could be talking about, whether for judgeships, ambassadorships or senior positions. These three we have chosen to focus on today because they are so directly relevant to America's national security and to the successful enforcement of this complex nuclear deal with Iran. As I said, and Senator Shaheen and Senator Booker said earlier, the IAEA has incredibly broad scope to investigate what is going on in Iran, but if we don't have the senior people in our government, in the administration, that can take action when things are discovered in Iran that we want to be active in taking on or when there is bad behavior outside of this nuclear agreement, we have no one to blame but ourselves as a body for failing to provide our administration with the senior leadership and the skills and the resources needed to really defend America. I wish to encourage and invite my colleague from the State of Connecticut to add, as he wishes today, both the positives about implementation day and the concerns he might have going forward, such as these vital national security nominees whom Senator Shaheen and I have been discussing. Senator Murphy.

Mr. COONS. Of course.

Mr. COONS. I thank the Senator from New Hampshire. I want to emphasize again that these three nominees--Tom Shannon, Laura Holgate, and Adam Szubin--have been waiting for months. In particular, Adam Szubin is a nonpartisan career professional, having served in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Being the lead enforcer, the lead investigator in sanctions, he has now been nominated to take on the top role at the Department of Treasury in making sure our sanctions have bite and stick. Why wouldn't we proceed on a bipartisan basis to give this administration the senior officials and the resources it needs to enforce sanctions, to keep us safe, to make sure this nuclear deal is enforced? Whether we voted for or against it, supported it or opposed it, I can't comprehend why any Senator would consent to the ongoing months-long delay in these vital nominees being confirmed so that the administration can do the job that I believe all of us want them to do, which is to enforce sanctions against Iran for its bad behavior.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, today I come again to the floor to speak about the ongoing challenges that we face in our relationship with Iran, about some of the benefits that we have seen through the JCPOA-- the joint comprehensive agreement on the nuclear program that Iran has now significantly set back--and some of the challenges that we face going forward. We will hear from a number of my colleagues in the next 45 minutes, and I am grateful that they, too, are coming to the floor today to talk about the balance, what there is that we can recognize about the progress we have made under the JCPOA and what there is that remains to be done and that remains as a challenge. There are some who believe that having reached so-called implementation day means that we have settled our scores with Iran, that there are no more concerns we have, and that we can now expect a complete and positive change in its behavior. But in my view this couldn't be further from the truth. Now more than ever, we cannot afford to take our attention away from Iran. My colleagues and I are on the floor today to explain why we must do more to strictly enforce this deal and to aggressively push back on Iran's bad behavior outside of the parameters of the nuclear deal. My personal concern is that if we don't, if we don't do this effectively, this important landmark nuclear agreement may not survive even into next year. Let me at the outset say that there have been some encouraging developments in recent days. It is hugely encouraging to see an American, a U.S. citizen such as Jason Rezaian from the Washington Post, return to United States soil and be reunited with his family. He is someone who had been unjustly detained and sentenced without foundation. He is now once again free. A journalist--the best and brightest of American journalism--is now free and back in the United States. I also want to recognize former marine Amir Hekmati, who was arrested while visiting his grandmother in Iran. He was also unjustly arrested and detained and is now also free in the United States. I wish to move to another topic by way of introduction. In the past week alone, the Iranians have signaled that Iran is open for business again as Iran's leaders have hosted Chinese's President Xi Jinping, and Iranian President Ruhani has traveled to Europe to meet with the Pope and with leading officials from the French Government and the Italian Government. Just a few weeks ago, Iran was still an international pariah. Business deals with the Iranian Government were illegal. Today, some foreign governments--some who are supposed to be our vital partners in enforcing the JCPOA--at times seem all too eager to resume business ties with the regime. At the outset I might caution those allies of ours to be mindful that American sanctions remain in place against Iranian bad behavior--whether it is their support for terrorism, their human rights violations, such as arresting and detaining Americans without foundation, or their illicit ballistic missile program. So to further expound on the challenges that we face and the importance of having the resources in the U.S. Government and in the international monitoring agency called the IAEA that we need to be successful in enforcing this deal, I wish to invite my colleague from the State of New Hampshire to rise for a few minutes and to share with us her thoughts, having served on the Foreign Relations Committee, having closely studied this deal, and having looked forward to what the opportunities and challenges are for us in the weeks and months ahead.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with a number of Members.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from New Jersey. I wish to emphasize a point he made. We need to remain vigilant. We need to remain ready to impose additional sanctions on those actions by Iran that are outside the JCPOA. We saw two launches of ballistic missiles by Iran late last year, designations recently having been made of those involved in supporting Iran's ballistic missile program. There is other bad behavior by Iran--violations of human rights that led to the long and unjust detention of Amir Hekmati and also potentially their increased support for terrorism in the region. I invite my colleague from New Hampshire to help us understand what barriers there might be to the administration vigorously enforcing the sanctions that remain on the books here in the United States if we as a body don't act to do our part in making sure the administration has the resources they need.

Mr. COONS. That would be fine. I think there is a strong point being made by my colleague from New Hampshire that I will just briefly expound upon and then invite my colleague from New Jersey to join in this conversation. Earlier this month, I traveled with a number of my Senate colleagues to the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency and heard from them directly the same sorts of concerns my colleague from New Hampshire just laid down. They are struggling with how to ensure that they have the resources, the staffing, and the equipment to take on this remarkably broadened scope of inspections. One of the underappreciated, positive benefits of the JCPOA is that the IAEA now has unprecedented 24/7 access not just to Iran's nuclear enrichment sites but to its centrifuge production workshops, its uranium mines mills, the entire so-called fuel cycle for the production of nuclear material within Iran. So I believe, as does my colleague from New Hampshire, that the IAEA needs and deserves greater funding, more reliable funding, more robust and long-term funding. The oversight and monitoring mechanisms of the JCPOA, if strictly enforced, can serve as a viable deterrent to Iran's cheating and, in a worst-case scenario, provide the international community with early warning and enough time to respond if Iran decides to break out and dash to a nuclear weapons capability. But access to all of these sites is only valuable if the IAEA has the resources it needs and has asked for to conduct thorough inspections. So my colleagues and I will be working together with the administration and others of our colleagues in the months ahead to authorize not just an adequate level of funding of 1 year or 2 years in advance but to put in place a long-term, reliable source of funding. As my colleague from New Hampshire said, there could be no better investment than in ensuring deterrence through vigorous and comprehensive inspections to prevent Iran from ever renewing its dream of access to a nuclear weapon. We will press the administration to work with all of us on this and to make this a higher priority going forward. The idea that we have world-class nuclear scientists in the United States and that the IAEA has world-class nuclear inspectors and together they have developed new technologies and can deploy highly skilled teams to do this monitoring in Iran is a great opportunity, but it is only meaningful if we contribute the resources to ensure that those inspectors do their jobs. So let me turn to our colleague from the State of New Jersey who wants to speak about some of the pros and cons of this critical turning-point implementation.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, 6 months ago, world powers reached an agreement to constrain Iran's nuclear program and to give us a path forward toward constraining Iran's nuclear ambitions. While the international community has taken some positive steps to implement this agreement and to limit Iran's nuclear program and while Iran has recently taken positive steps to observe and to implement this agreement, we must do much more to strictly enforce this deal and aggressively push back on Iran's bad behavior outside the deal's parameters. If we don't, this nuclear agreement may not survive into next year. This past weekend was an eventful one for U.S. foreign policy and, in particular, for U.S. policy toward Iran. Saturday marked implementation day of this nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. Implementation day is important because it means that the International Atomic Energy Agency, or the IAEA, has certified that Iran has completed a whole series of tasks required as part of the nuclear agreement. The four most important of those tasks are these: First, it has shipped 12 tons of enriched uranium--nearly its entire stockpile, which took Iran a decade to amass--out of the country to a secure facility supervised by the IAEA around the clock. Second, it means Iran has reduced the number of its functioning centrifuges--centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium--by nearly two- thirds, or from roughly 19,000 to a little more than 6,000, and it has accepted long-term limits on developing, testing, and deploying new centrifuges. Third, it means that Iran has presented the IAEA with unprecedented 24/7 access to monitor all of its nuclear-related facilities. That is not only enrichment facilities. That is uranium mines, uranium mills, and centrifuge production facilities--every known and declared site within Iran connected to its nuclear program. This level of access far exceeds previous IAEA authorities in countries suspected of trying to develop a nuclear weapon. Fourth--and to me, in ways most importantly--Iran has filled the core of its Arak heavy water reactor, pictured here, with concrete, permanently disabling the most likely short-term path that Iran had to producing weapons-grade plutonium. Had Iran proceeded and had Iran been able to produce significant quantities of weapons-grade plutonium, our ability to intervene and to prevent their march toward a nuclear weapon would have been significantly harder. Plutonium is one of the most lethal toxic substances known to man, and any attack on a heavy water reactor producing plutonium would have had horrible consequences, not just in Iran but throughout the entire region. So blocking Iran's short-term pathway through uranium enrichment and through plutonium enrichment is a significant step forward and does reflect significant restraints on Iran's nuclear weapons program. As a result of the conditions on this deal that I just referenced, the time it would take Tehran to break out and to dash toward a nuclear weapon, to amass all of the fissile material needed for a bomb has been extended significantly from just 2 months to 3 months to a year or more. But these positive developments come with substantial risks, principally among them is the tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief that Iran will now receive for complying with the terms of the deal. Tens of billions of dollars of Iranian assets, which have long been frozen in bank accounts around the world through an American-led international sanctions effort will now be released. That is why America and our international partners must continue to aggressively enforce the terms of the deal and to make sure that Iran remains in compliance with every aspect of the JCPOA. Our work in this area is more urgent and more difficult than it has been at any point before. We can be confident that in the coming months and years the Iranians will test the boundaries of the deal and will probe our every response. Indeed, they already have. If we fail to respond more swiftly and more vigorously to these Iranian provocations, Iran will nibble away at the deal's restrictions and gradually undermine the international coalition that put it together. Every minor violation that we permit, every violation that we tolerate damages our credibility and gives Iran tacit permission to continue its breaches of the agreement. Given this stark, difficult reality, our efforts to deter Iranian aggression must not be limited to just enforcing the nuclear deal, or the JCPOA. Rather, our efforts must be part of a coherent, unified regional strategy to contain Iran and to push back on its bad behavior in the Middle East, a task made even more difficult because of its newfound access to assets previously frozen. That comprehensive effort to counter and contain Iran must include a willingness to take unilateral action by imposing new sanctions on Iran for destabilizing actions, both inside and outside the parameters of the nuclear agreement. That brings me to the second important development of this past weekend--the designation of additional sanctions to punish Iran for its ballistic missile tests. Last fall, in clear violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929, Iran conducted two ballistic missile tests: one on October 10 and one on November 21. Since then, I and many of my colleagues have been calling on the Obama administration to punish Iran for these disruptive, dangerous, and blatantly illegal actions. Over the weekend, the administration took action by designating for sanctions 11 additional individuals and business entities involved in supporting Iran's ballistic missile program. These sanctions follow a series of steps previously taken by the Treasury Department last fall to sanction other Iranians, other Iranian-linked individuals and organizations for a litany of other dangerous and illegal activities: supporting Hezbollah officials and agents who threaten our vital ally, Israel; supplying financial and material aid to the Houthi rebels in Yemen; providing military support for the murderous Assad regime in Syria; and the list goes on. It is important for all of us, on a bipartisan basis, to remind our allies throughout the world that American-led sanctions against Iran--for its human rights violations, for its ballistic missile program, for its support of terrorism--remain in effect and will be vigorously enforced. From conducting these missile tests to supporting terrorism, to continuing to deny the very existence of some basic human rights, Iran has shown time and again it will continue to flout international rules and values. The United States must continue to maintain its unilateral sanctions in these areas, and we must not hesitate to use these authorities--not just to punish Iran for its immediate bad behavior but to send a clear signal to our allies in the region, throughout the world, and to Tehran that we are serious about holding Iran accountable. Of course, implementation day and the imposition of sanctions and sanction designations for Iran's illegal ballistic missile tests weren't the only significant developments of the new year. We also learned this weekend that America would soon be able to welcome home five innocent Americans long held unlawfully by Iran. These Americans should never have been held in the first place and their release was long overdue. The negotiations to release these five Americans occurred outside the parameters of the JCPOA. While we are grateful for their safe return, this release also raises some serious questions. We still don't know the status of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson or his whereabouts. We don't know the status of Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American energy industry executive arrested in October. It is my hope there are equally ceaseless efforts by the administration to bring them home. We have to ask: What did we give up? What were the terms of the agreement? How did we make possible this release? A key part that is public is that while none of the 7 Iranians released were convicted of violence, they were nonetheless convicted of criminal acts, and 14 Iranians who may have been convicted had the charges against them dropped. The question we are going to have to pursue is, What precedent did these prisoner swaps set for our future interactions with the Iranian regime? It is my hope that we are at the end of prisoner deals with the Iranian regime. We must remember, though, that despite the limits imposed by the JCPOA, Iran continues to destabilize the Middle East and undermine America's goals for the region. Iran's behavior since the JCPOA was signed has made it crystal clear that Iran is neither America's friend nor ally. We must remain suspicious and distrustful of the Iranian regime. In addition to its ballistic missile test I referenced before, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has conducted dangerous military operations near U.S. ships, most recently threatening the safety of American sailors by conducting a live-fire exercise barely a mile from the aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman. Iran also detained American sailors in the Arabian Gulf last week, and it did not treat them in a manner consistent with naval forces rendering assistance at sea. While I am pleased our sailors were released safely, Iran did use the images of those sailors for propaganda purposes in an attempt to send a signal to the world about its capacity to sow chaos in the region. We must not turn a blind eye to provocations of Iran in the open seas of the Persian Gulf and throughout the region. I call on the administration and on my colleagues to support significantly increased efforts at maritime interdictions in the gulf and throughout the broader region. We should conduct more joint military exercises with our valued allies and partners in the region to make it clear to Iran that we will continue to pursue our interests, and we will counter Iran's maligned activities. Again, to remain distrustful of Iran and push back on the regional ambitions I think is the only path toward a safer, stronger Middle East and an American presence as one of its regional leaders. No one should mistake Tehran's compliance with the terms of the nuclear agreement for a broader willingness to respect human rights and engage with the international community in the rules-based order that we have helped lead since the Second World War. I have seen nothing to indicate that the regime in Tehran cares about the well-being of the Iranian people, much less the opinion of the world community. In October, for example, two Iranian poets each received 10-year sentences and 99 lashes for kissing members of the opposite sex and shaking their hands. That same month an Iranian award-winning filmmaker was sentenced to 6 years in prison and 200 lashes on the charge of insulting sanctities. The filmmaker was making a documentary about an Iranian artist, based in Europe, who had been accused of blasphemy. Nearly two-thirds of the 12,000 candidates who applied to run in next month's parliamentary elections recently withdrew or were disqualified by Iran's Guardian Council. Iran's Supreme Leader said: ``Americans have set their eyes covetously on elections, but the great and vigilant nation of Iran will act contrary to our enemies' will, whether it be in elections or on other issues, and as before we will punch them in the mouth.'' These are not the actions or the statements of a state that respects the rights of its people or seeks friendship with the United States in the near future. Just 2 weeks ago I returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, and Austria. I am grateful to my colleague from New York, Senator Gillibrand, for organizing this trip, which included important meetings with nuclear inspectors from the IAEA. We met with their leadership headquartered in Vienna and had meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Ya'alon, and Turkish President Erdogan, as well as other vital regional leaders. The message my colleagues and I heard from these leaders was simple, powerful, and clear: America must reassure our allies that we will not waver in our commitment to push back on Iran, its nuclear program, and its destabilizing actions in the region. Our partners, our allies--and Iran--must know and believe through our words and our actions that we are serious about preserving the long-term stability of the Middle East and that Iran--a revolutionary regime--does not share our values or that goal. As part of this effort, we must reassure, reaffirm, and strengthen our support for our vital ally, Israel. As the administration negotiates a new, long-term memorandum of understanding to provide Israel with the security assistance it needs to protect itself in the most dangerous neighborhood on Earth, we must insist that joint U.S. and Israeli strategic planning includes protection of Israel from threats it faces from neighboring instability in Syria. We must not allow Israel to be attacked by Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah and Hamas. We must work closely with the Israelis to share intelligence and intercept any weapons shipments from Iran to its regional proxies. If we fail to push back on Iran and enforce the terms of the nuclear deal, not only will the agreement collapse, but our efforts to show the world that diplomacy actually works will be dealt a dangerous blow as well. In the weeks and months to come, I call on the administration to do more to push back on Iran, and I call on my colleagues--Republicans and Democrats alike--to come together, to be engaged, and to remain focused on enforcing the terms of this nuclear agreement, on containing Iran, and on deterring their bad behavior, their support for terrorism, their support for human rights violations, and their relentless effort to develop and advance ballistic missile capability. As I said before on this floor, the Iranian Government has long paid close attention to everything America says and more closely to what America does. Never has it been more true than today. Never has it been more urgent than today. As the regime gains greater access to money and resources, we must not take our eye off of Iran. I yield the floor.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. I wish to thank my colleague from the State of New Jersey and to briefly recognize a success in the fall, in September--a raid off the coast of Yemen that seized a large cache of Iranian arms destined for the Houthi rebels who are working to undermine the legitimate Government of Yemen. This massive weapons shipment of 56 tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided TOW missiles, and the associated sights, mounts, tubes, and batteries--those are all the different components for these advanced and sophisticated anti-tank weapons--was successfully interdicted in international water. This is an example of what my colleague the Senator from New Jersey was just talking about, which is the need for more and more aggressive and more successful interdiction to push back on Iran's destabilizing actions in the region. I am grateful now to be joined on the floor by my colleague from the State of New Hampshire, who is also my colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee, who wants to contribute to our conversation today about the positive progress that is being made in the implementation of this deal and what remains ahead in the work we have to do to make sure we are implementing it effectively.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be able to enter into a colloquy with a number of my colleagues, including Senators from Virginia, Florida, and New Jersey.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I have just returned from a trip to the Middle East--an absolutely important and eye-opening trip at this vital moment when the threat of extremism, the threat of violence, and the risks posed to regional stability by Iran and its regional ambitions could not be clearer. Senator Gillibrand of New York led this delegation, and a group of eight of us had an opportunity to visit Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Austria. Let me begin by saying that all of us were deeply moved and concerned when we heard this morning news of a terrorist attack in Istanbul, literally in an area we had just visited Saturday morning. I reached out, as have a number of others on this trip, to express our condolences and concerns both to the Turkish Ambassador, the American Ambassador, and to others we met with on our visit there. This is just another brazen reminder of the instability raging throughout the Middle East and of the threats to our concerns and interests and to regional stability posed by terrorism. I invite the Senator from Virginia to join me in making some comments based on his insights and his experience on this trip. The very first place we visited left an important and lasting impression on me. We visited with the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna to hear about their progress towards implementing the nuclear deal with Iran and what they are going to be doing, now and in the future, to ensure full, thorough, and valuable inspections of the entire cycle of Iran's nuclear efforts. If Senator Kaine would offer any additional comments as a member of the delegation and someone who joined in the trip, what were some of the things that the Senator saw and what were some of the concerns that the Senator came home with that we ought to share with our constituents and colleagues?

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Virginia for his service on the Foreign Relations Committee and for his real leadership on the question of our prosecution the war against ISIL and the roll of this Senate in confirming that we are in fact engaged in a conflict, for his role on the Armed Services Committee, and for the important and tough questions he asked on our visit to the four countries that I just referenced in opening. I appreciate the Senator detailing the four different, big positive moves forward that are happening as the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, moves towards into full implementation. I wish to encourage my colleague from Florida, the second-most senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, to also offer his thoughts on how this deal contributes to our security and what concerns are remaining.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Florida. I would invite my colleague from New Jersey, who also joined us in the Middle East and is on the homeland security committee, to offer his comments on how the Iran deal actually contributes to regional and global security, and I ask what remaining concerns there are that we have to tackle together.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues who have come to the floor to join with one voice in recognizing the very strong progress that is being made so far in implementing the JCPOA, in implementing the nuclear deal with Iran. I wish to particularly thank my colleague from North Dakota who has taken her experience on the banking committee to help us understand why it is so important to have confirmed senior administration figures who can enforce the sanctions that were on the books before this deal, were enforced during this deal, and should be enforced going forward. In closing, let me briefly make some reference as to what that means. The JCPOA was an agreement about constraining Iran's nuclear program, but the sanctions the United States has on the books to stop Iran's support for terrorism, to stop Iran's ballistic missile program, and to stop Iran's human rights abuses or to hold them accountable and sanction them for those abuses will remain on the books. I will briefly mention that during the negotiation of the JCPOA, the Treasury Department, where Adam Szubin is the nominee to be the top sanction enforcement person, utilized multiple authorities and sanctioned more than 100 Iranians and Iran-linked entities, including more than 40, under its ongoing terrorism sanction authorities. Just this past July, three senior Hezbollah military officials were sanctioned in Syria and Lebanon because they provided military support to the Assad regime. In November, the Treasury Department designated procurement agents and companies in Lebanon, China, and Hong Kong, and just this last week, on January 7, the Treasury Department targeted a key Hezbollah support network by designating a Hezbollah financier and member, Ali Youssef Charara, and Spectrum Investment Group. As my colleague from New Jersey has said, we are all optimistic that the administration will take the next step and soon impose sanctions in response to recent ballistic missile launches. I celebrated earlier because I recognized the success the administration had in interdicting a weapons shipment from Iran to the Houthis rebels, their proxies in the region. The fundamental point is this. If we want to have the positive successes of the JCPOA, and if we want to continue to have the opportunity to constrain Iran's nuclear program and its bad behavior in the region, we have to be vigilantly engaged in oversight and in support for the enforcement of that agreement and for our exercise of the prerogatives and capabilities the American Government has to push back on Iran. I think by working together in a bipartisan and responsible way, we can get this done. There are folks in this Chamber who opposed the deal and folks who supported it, but what we heard on our recent delegation trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey was that our regional allies are looking for clarity--clarity that the United States stands together in fighting Iran's regional ambitions to support terror and in constraining Iran's nuclear program. We can do that best by confirming these nominees, by funding the IAEA, by exercising the sanction authorities that this administration and this Congress have put in place, and by continuing to make progress under this agreement. With that, I thank my colleagues and I yield the floor.

Mr. COONS. I thank my colleagues from Connecticut and from New Hampshire. I invite my colleague from North Dakota, who also serves on the homeland security committee and who was part of our delegation that just had the opportunity to travel to Israel, to Saudi Arabia, to Turkey, and to Austria, and in Austria to hear from the IAEA. The references just made by my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee were in one part to the vacancy in the position of the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. offices in Vienna. I want to reemphasize that. Ever since August 5 of last year, that mission the Senator from North Dakota and I just visited that is responsible for directing and supporting the work of the IAEA to the extent the United States helps fund it and supports it and is a participating member--they have been waiting for a new confirmed ambassador for more than 6 months. I wish to invite my colleague to make comments based on her experiences and her reflections based on this recent trip.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, if I might, let me briefly explain the basis for my objection. I have had the opportunity to discuss this matter with my colleague from the State of Alaska. The cruise industry foreign-flags its vessels and thus pays no U.S. income tax, yet it has asked for protections in this bill from remedies sought by seamen for failing to pay wage and overtime, for remedies for maintenance and cure, one of the oldest, internationally recognized remedies for seafarers. These two remedies would keep the U.S. Merchant Marine competitive. U.S.-flagged vessels are required to hire U.S. seamen, and only by ensuring that workers on U.S. vessels and foreign- flagged vessels, which sail in and out of U.S. ports carrying U.S. passengers, have the same remedies can U.S. jobs be protected. I have had the opportunity to discuss this issue with the Senator from Alaska, and it is my hope that we can work diligently together to address and clear issues of concern to myself and a number of my colleagues. But until we have that opportunity to review the text and to appropriately resolve concerns that arise from the Jones Act and the longstanding workers compensation-type benefit I described called maintenance and cure, my objection will continue. I yield the floor.

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, as the year comes to a close, I would like to highlight a proclamation from the U.N. General Assembly recognizing 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies. This global initiative is aimed at raising awareness of the vital role of light in our daily lives and its importance to 21st century technology and innovation. For centuries, light has transcended all boundaries from geography and gender, to age, culture, and race. For centuries, light-based technologies have provided solutions to worldwide challenges in energy, agriculture, telecommunications, security, and health. To start, light has revolutionized medicine through technologies such as x ray imaging, laser surgery, and cancer treatments. Light has transformed international communication via the Internet, a tool we cannot imagine living without today. It has helped us improve safety through sensors in cars and aircraft, advanced infrastructure monitoring, and weather prediction. Furthermore, light has helped millions around the globe work, study, and play after dark through low-cost and sustainable light sources for families who do not have access to grid electricity. From agriculture to forensics to virtual reality, light and light-based technologies continue to fuel innovations and improvements that touch nearly every aspect of lives around the world. In fact, the science of light is becoming increasingly critical in growing our economy and keeping American manufacturing competitive on a global scale. The contribution of light-based technologies to our economy starts with fundamental optics and photonics education and research. Look no further than the work being done in my home State at Delaware State University's Optical Science Center for Applied Research, OSCAR, where researchers are developing new detectors for night vision technologies, methods for determining the composition of complex materials, and technologies with applications in space exploration, to name just a few. These economic contributions continue with investments in manufacturing to increase the development and production of new optics and photonics applications and technologies, a market that supports more than 7.4 million jobs and $3 trillion in annual revenue in the United States. The transformative value of light-based technologies was reaffirmed earlier this summer with the establishment of the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics, AIM Photonics, as part of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Continued investment in public-private partnerships like AIM Photonics accelerates research and development that leads to technologies like integrated photonic components and circuits. This vital work helps ensure that breakthroughs in related fields like biophotonics, high-resolution imaging, next generation wireless communications, and quantum computing will not only occur, but also be built right here in America. The International Year of Light is also a real opportunity to provide the general public with a better understanding of the science of light; promote STEM education; and inspire the next generation of scientists, researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. This past year, optics and photonics organizations have held events around the United States such as the Light for a Better World symposium held in September in Washington, DC, that featured two Nobel prize winners as keynote speakers, Dr. Eric Betzig and Dr. Shuji Nakamura. In October, the University of Delaware also hosted Green Light: Prospects in Lighting Design and Technology, which brought together artists and scientists from around the world, while other groups across the country have hosted similar symposia through local sections and student chapters of organizations. Events such as these provide public outreach on the importance of optics and photonics, promote youth interest and engagement in science, and educate us all on the crucial role that light-based technologies play in the U.S. economy and in everyday life. Events like these have been happening not just here in the United States, but all over the world throughout 2015. Across the globe, events have been organized to learn more about the science of light and to celebrate the innovation and imagination that has fueled incredible discoveries and inventions. The storied history of innovation in light dates back to the first studies of optics 1,000 years ago and continues today with breakthroughs in the field of optical communications. These activities would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of people in the optics and photonics field, both in industry and in academia. This includes the optics and photonics based societies and organizations that have sponsored the initiative, including the Optical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, the European Physical Society, the German Physical Society, the Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics, the IEEE Photonics Society, the Institute of Physics, Light: Science and Applications, Lightsources.org, 1001 Inventions, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics. In fact, the International Year of Light has been endorsed by the International Council of Science, as well as several international scientific unions and professional societies, and has more than 100 partners from over 85 countries. By highlighting the critical role light plays in our everyday lives and its unique potential to improve the world in ways we cannot yet imagine, celebrating the International Year of Light provides a valuable opportunity to inspire, educate, and connect all of those who are fighting to make the world even brighter. From scientific societies to educational institutions to trade groups, from nonprofit organizations to private sector partners, the global community has recognized 2015 as the International Year of Light not only to commemorate achievements past, but also to set the stage for technologies of the future.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, today our Nation is distracted by grave concerns, by threats abroad and at home, by concerns about our economy and our people. I stand here today to call on us to continue to be focused on something that is not currently at the top of the news but on something that is a pressing and ongoing national concern. We need to be strictly and aggressively enforcing the terms of our nuclear deal with Iran that we reached with a variety of our other international partners and that is currently moving forward. We need to push back on Iran's bad and disruptive behavior, not just in its region but globally, and give our administration and international agencies the resources and the nominees confirmed that will allow them to be successful in enforcing our actions against Iran. A few short months ago, if you asked anyone what topics would be at the top of the list of America's foreign policy conversation or the upcoming Presidential campaign, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't mention the Iran nuclear agreement front and center. It completely centered the debate in this Chamber and around the country last summer and fall. What a difference a few months can make. This morning many of us are deeply concerned about an alleged bomb threat in Los Angeles that is causing hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren to be sent home mid-schoolday. And in response to the recent and horrific attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, we are focused on identifying weaknesses in our border security and in finding ways to protect the American people without compromising our fundamental values. We are rightly focused on expanding the U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS and on finding a way to assist our allies in providing safe haven to some of the millions of refugees fleeing terror and chaos abroad. Sadly, we are also distracted by a Republican Presidential primary in which a leading candidate has cast aside the Constitution in favor of incendiary rhetoric. That is why I rise today to make sure we remain focused on one of America's most important challenges to the United States and our key allies, including, centrally, Israel, which is enforcing the terms of the nuclear deal with Iran. On September 1, after a long study and real reflection and significant debate, I ultimately announced my support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear agreement. Just over a week later, the review period ended and Congress failed to reject the deal, so it moved forward. The agreement took effect a month and a half later on October 18, known as adoption day, when Iran agreed to give the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, dramatically expanded inspection and verification powers. We are now 3 months into the JCPOA, and I want to take this opportunity today to assess areas where the Obama administration and our international partners have done well over the past 3 months and to highlight areas where we must do more. Since adoption day, we have seen some progress and some real setbacks on implementing the terms of the deal. First the positives, and there are some. Iran has begun to reconfigure its plutonium nuclear reactor at Arak so it can no longer produce materials necessary for a nuclear weapon. The government has also started to dismantle its enrichment centrifuges and its infrastructure that would have enabled it to use uranium as a nuclear weapon in the short term. The IAEA has also continued to make preparations to monitor and verify the deal and to increase its number of inspectors on the ground, to deploy modern technologies to monitor Iran's declared nuclear facilities, and to set up a comprehensive oversight program of Iran's centrifuge manufacturing facilities and its entire nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mines, to mills, to enrichment facilities. These steps are promising, but by no means do they tell the complete story of Iran's bad behavior since this deal was reached, nor do these few positive steps indicate that implementing the terms of this deal going forward will be anything less than exceptionally difficult. In fact, not only will enforcement of this deal be incredibly tricky, but I believe how effectively and aggressively we enforce the JCPOA in these early months and years will set the table for how we respond when Iran commits violations later. Whether we respond now when Iran commits minor violations around the boundaries of the nuclear deal will send a critical message to our allies and adversaries alike. I am confident that the actions taken by the United States and our allies to counter and restrain Iran and the Middle East, especially in these early months of the deal, will profoundly impact Iran's behavior going forward. That brings me to less positive news. When I announced my support for the JCPOA last September, I made it clear that it was based on a deep suspicion of Iran, an inherent distrust of their intentions, and a clear-eyed commitment to aggressively oversee and enforce the terms of the deal. My concerns proved justified on October 22 when Iran concluded a ballistic missile test in clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929. Those unlawful tests came just days after adoption day under the JCPOA. Last week, before the U.N. Security Council could finish their investigations and take any concrete actions, we heard reports of a second Iranian ballistic missile test on November 21. I fear the Iranians are taking action after action in this area and others to demonstrate that they are willing to flout international rules, regulations, and restrictions. And in the absence of our decisive action, these misdeeds by the Iranians will simply continue and escalate. Today, a new report from the IAEA gives further justification to the distrust shared by supporters and opponents of the nuclear deal. The IAEA report on the so-called possible military dimensions--or PMD--of Iran's nuclear program found ``that a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device were conducted in Iran prior to the end of 2003 as a coordinated effort, and some activities took place after 2003.'' These activities included computer modeling that took place as recently as 2009. The PMD report details just how determined Iran has been to develop nuclear weapons capability. Iran developed detonators. Iran experimented with explosives technology. Iran engaged in computer modeling of a nuclear explosive. Iran even set up organizations specifically dedicated to nuclear weapons activity. It is not hard to connect those dots, and the IAEA did. That agency found that Iran engaged in efforts to demolish, remove, and refurbish facilities related to testing nuclear weapons components. Its government also offered misleading explanations of its past nuclear behavior. It is equally important to note what the IAEA did not find. Iran's weapons program didn't advance beyond an exploratory stage. The IAEA found no indication there was a whole undeclared nuclear fuel cycle in Iran or that Iran held significant amounts of undeclared uranium. Despite the ambiguous nature of this report, I think the take-away is clear: Iran's nuclear weapons-related activities and its sustained determination to hide and obfuscate its behavior reinforce our justifications for ongoing distrust of the Iranian Government and for the strict monitoring and verification of the components of the nuclear deal. My colleagues and I have access to classified material, meaning we know more than is publicly known about the extent and direction of the nuclear weapons program in Iran. But the IAEA report is important because it establishes a baseline for Iran's program, for our assessment of their breakout time, and for our knowledge of how far they have gotten in weaponization. Knowledge of these efforts is critical to our future enforcement of this deal. The IAEA report also reaffirms that as implementation of the deal moves forward, the international community must continue to seek and consider information about Iran's past nuclear activity. In my view, the IAEA must maintain its ability to continue reviewing any new information related to Iran's past nuclear weapons program, and we have to continue to assertively investigate any new accusations of Iranian covert activity or malfeasance. We have to continue to counter Iran's rogue actions--which only serve to isolate Iran on the world stage--by continuing to enforce sanctions without exception and be prepared to impose new sanctions if and when Iran's behavior warrants it. For example, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, was right to immediately shine a spotlight on the recent ballistic missile test I recently cited and to call for a U.N. Security Council investigation promptly. When that investigation is completed, the Security Council should act, but if it doesn't, I hope and expect that the administration is ready to enforce a series of unilateral American actions, including direct sanctions against those Iranians responsible for this violation. While these ballistic missile tests are outside the parameters of the JCPOA, our response has to be strategic, and we have to make sure Iran knows it can't continue to simply and blatantly disregard the international community and the U.N. Security Council. Since the announcement of the JCPOA, the Treasury Department has taken steps to target Iran's malign activity in the region. In November, the Treasury Department designated three Hezbollah procurement agents and four companies in Lebanon, China, and Hong Kong for purchasing dual-use technology on behalf of Hezbollah. These sanctions followed actions in July against three senior Hezbollah military officials in Syria and Lebanon who were providing military support to the Syrian regime and an additional Hezbollah procurement agent who served as the point person for the procurement and transshipment of weapons and materials for the group and its Syrian partners for at least 15 years. These designations also follow Treasury's actions during negotiations over the JCPOA when the Department utilized multiple authorities and sanctioned more than 100 Iranians and Iran-linked persons and entities, including more than 40 under its ongoing terrorism sanction authorities. In November, Treasury also participated in the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Working Group on Iran, through which participants discussed our joint efforts to counter Iran's support for Hezbollah, for the Assad regime, and for other militant proxies in the region. That working group continues to improve information sharing and cooperation to take joint actions targeting Iran's support for terrorism and its other destabilizing activities in the region and around the world. In early December, Saudi Arabia agreed to designate 12 Hezbollah officials for terrorism, further disrupting their ability to raise and move funds around the gulf. Implementing this agreement successfully will demand that we continue to develop discrete, clear, and public responses to minor Iranian violations of the agreement. My view on this was shaped in no small part by advice I got from a dear, long-term friend in New York, Maurice, who told me about his experience decades ago negotiating a complex commercial deal with Iran. After 2 years of excruciating and detailed back-and-forth negotiations, he told me they sat at the table to sign their agreement and begin their commercial partnership. After shaking hands across the table, the lead Iranian negotiator said: Now, my friend, the negotiations begin in earnest. All of us who have studied Iran's behavior and know the history of their work to conceal their nuclear weapons program and their work to destabilize the region know that Iran will cheat on this agreement. They will litigate the boundaries. They will find ways large and small to test us. For example, the nuclear agreement bars Iran from enriching beyond 3.67 percent. How will we respond if, for example, for a month Iran claims it accidentally enriched to 4 percent? We are unlikely to snap back the full multilateral sanctions regime because such a move would have little support in the international community for such a small and transient infraction and could be perceived as an overreaction. But inaction is not an option either. In coordination with our allies, we must develop a menu of responses that allow us to respond quickly and precisely to minor violations of the deal because there are no real minor violations of the deal. Otherwise Iran will little by little eat away at the constraints of this agreement, and our deterrence and credibility will collapse. In addition to deploying sanctions more effectively and ratcheting them up as necessary, the international community must also increase our efforts to push back against Iran's malign activity in the Middle East. More specifically, we have to enhance our campaign of interdicting Iranian weapons shipments and support to its proxies in Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. Iran sends illicit arms shipments to terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis who pass through international waters, and under both domestic and international law, the United States maintains its authority to disrupt these shipments. We must use that authority to act and to demonstrate our will. We must use that authority to work with our partners in the region and our allies around the world to increase the tempo and scope of our interdiction efforts. Successful interdiction efforts not only get deadly weapons out of the hands of terrorists but also deter Iran and undermine its proxies throughout the Middle East. We know we can be successful in this aspect of our enforcement because the administration has already successfully disrupted Iranian weapons shipments in recent months. Although many of us have been briefed in a classified setting about encouraging developments in this area, I think it is important that we have at least one example that we can share with our colleagues and the world. Please take a look at this picture to my left. In September, a raid off the coast of Yemen seized a large cache of Iranian arms destined for the Houthi rebels who seek to undermine the legitimate Yemeni Government. This massive weapons shipment included a whole series of the component parts of sophisticated TOW missiles, including 56 tube- launched, optically tracked, wire-guided TOW missiles and the associated sights, mounts, tubes, battery sets, launcher assemblies, guidance systems, battery assemblies, and nearly 20 other sophisticated anti-tank weapons. I commend the administration for these efforts and for this successful interdiction in international waters, but we cannot stop there. Every month while Iran negotiates with the international community with one hand, with the other hand it has been sending millions of dollars' worth of weapons to the murderous Assad regime in Syria, to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and to the Houthis in Yemen. We must not stand by while Iran continues to spread its terror and destabilize this region. Nor is it sufficient simply to increase our interdiction efforts. We must publicize these efforts when successful. When an American smalltown sheriff pulls off a successful drug bust, we better believe that sheriff is going to hold a press conference and put on the table the drugs and guns taken off the streets. Actions like that send a simple signal to those who engage in the drug trade that there is a sheriff in town who is actually going after bad actors and who isn't going to tolerate this destabilizing and illegal activity. I think the American people and the international community need to know about Iran's bad behavior and our willingness to take effective actions to push back. Just as importantly, Iran needs to know that the international community remains serious about cracking down on its illegal arms shipments and its promotion of terror. I am committed and I am willing and ready to help the administration increase its interdiction efforts in any way I can. A shared commitment to this from my colleagues--a shared focus on this from my colleagues-- is especially important today when many members of the administration and the American people are understandably focused elsewhere: on our Presidential election next year, on the global refugee crisis, and on recent terrorist attacks and the conflict with ISIS. These are busy times. As the holidays approach and as Congress nears a massive budget deal, I see my colleagues and my constituents focusing less and less on Iran, but we must maintain our focus for the months and years to come. Given the 24/7 news cycle and the media's incessant focus on the crisis of the moment, we will be tempted to turn our attention elsewhere. Adoption day was not the end of the agreement with Iran. In fact, it signified just the beginning. And we must think strategically about the Middle East, which critically includes Iran as the central promoter of terrorism and source of destabilizing action in the region. We must redouble our efforts to follow through on the most rigorous enforcement of the JCPOA or face terrible consequences. We have to scrutinize Iranian actions ever more closely for signs it is reneging on its commitments. This JCPOA is set to last in principle for 15 years but in some terms indefinitely. Congress must not waiver--not for 1 day--in our oversight of the implementation of this agreement. Whether my colleagues supported or opposed the deal, we should put our differences about that aside and focus on enforcement. The deal is designed to deter Iran from evading or cheating on the deal while also countering Iranian bad activity in the region. That is why I worked with a group of my colleagues to introduce the Iran Policy Oversight Act in September. This bill, cosponsored by supporters and opponents of the JCPOA, helps ensure the United States aggressively enforces the terms of the nuclear deal. The Iran Policy Oversight Act also provides support for our friends in the Middle East, most centrally our vital and steadfast ally, Israel. I am pleased to hear the administration is working on negotiating a new 10-year memorandum of understanding for Israel's security, and I am pleased to hear that its assistance will continue to grow to ensure Israel maintains its qualitative military edge. In recent weeks, I have also had the chance to discuss the Iranian deal and our intention to continue to enforce the sanctions that remain on the books and to interdict and to push back against Iran's destabilizing regional activities. When I was in Paris at the global climate conference, I had the chance to discuss this issue with French Government officials and business leaders. I will continue these efforts in early January when I will travel with seven other Senators to the Middle East and to Europe to discuss our progress implementing this nuclear deal and the challenges that remain. I commend President Obama and his administration for engaging with Congress during the debate over the Iran agreement and in the months since it took effect, but I urge the administration not to lose focus and to work with this Congress in the months ahead to ensure strict enforcement of the agreement. But we in Congress have our part to do here as well, not the least of which is making sure the executive branch has capable and effective officials, which is a crucial part of effective implementation. In recent months, not only has the Senate not done its job, but this Chamber's inaction and our apparent focus instead on Presidential politics means we are increasingly making this Chamber less relevant in American foreign policy. The United States has a very qualified and capable leader in the enforcement of sanctions in Adam Szubin, who oversees the current imposition and enforcement of sanctions at the Department of Treasury. Mr. Szubin worked under the Bush administration and under the Obama administration. He is a dedicated, capable, seasoned career professional who has been widely complimented on a bipartisan basis by members of the Banking Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee on which I serve. He has been nominated to be the new Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism Financing--a position critical to the successful enforcement of the JCPOA--but his nomination has been on hold for months for no clear and publicly stated reason. Adam Szubin's nomination is one of more than two dozen national security-related nominations, including Tom Shannon, nominated to be the Under Secretary of Political Affairs at the State Department. Tom Shannon is a career Foreign Service officer and a determined, dedicated, nonpartisan professional who also would play a critical role in working with our allies and ensuring successful enforcement of this agreement. Adam Szubin, Tom Shannon, and nearly two dozen other nominees have been blocked, seemingly for purely partisan reasons in this Senate. I call on my colleagues to release their holds and to give the administration the resources and the personnel it needs to do its job in enforcing this difficult deal. The Senate's commitment to overseeing and enforcing the terms of this deal must go beyond simply doing our job and giving the President's nominees an up-or-down vote. We have to do more. I stand ready to work with this President and the next one to fully oversee the JCPOA. The length of this agreement will transcend Presidential terms, and implementing it should transcend politics as well. We know Iran will seek every opportunity to push the limits of this deal in an attempt to test our resolve. We must not let Iran relitigate the terms of the deal and escape the boundaries of this deal and lay the groundwork for its future development of a nuclear weapon. We must deter them by holding them accountable. When this President or a future President, Republican or Democrat, successfully enforces this deal, I will be the first one to compliment them for countering Iran's destabilizing activity in the region. And when the administration, current or future, isn't actively and vigorously enforcing this deal and pushing back on Iran, I will be the first to ask--to demand--that it do more. The Iranian Government is paying close attention to everything we do, and I, for one, am determined to make sure that Congress, the administration, and the American people are doing the same, to demonstrate to Iran our determination and our will to deter them and to closely and vigorously enforce this difficult deal. Thank you, Mr. President. With that, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I wish to express my gratitude to Senator Cardin for leading this great delegation of 10 Senators to the Paris Conference of Parties--the COP21, the global climate change conference in Paris--and to Senator Shaheen of New Hampshire for her tireless leadership on energy efficiency. The least expensive, most powerful way we can reduce our energy consumption is by investing in new technologies and new approaches that help create jobs and manufacturing in the United States and reduce our total energy consumption and footprint. I think the Paris conference has already been a success from the outset. As we heard directly from the head of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, 150 heads of state gathered at the very outset of that conference, and 184 countries made voluntary national commitments to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, to reducing their carbon footprint, and to working together to find sustainable solutions to this very real challenge. The other thing I found most encouraging about the many conversations we had with governmental leaders, with advocates, with nonprofit leaders was a commitment to bring together developed countries such as the United States and European and Asian allies of ours and the developing world--the very large countries such as India and China which have become major emitters of greenhouse gases--to bring them all together in one common agreement. One other comment I wish to make that comes out of what we saw going through an Innovation Fair that was hosted by Secretary Ernie Moniz of our Department of Energy was that governments alone can't solve climate change. Global conferences, such as the one we attended, are important--they are critical--but making real and sustained impact on fighting climate change is also going to require new and innovative approaches, and that requires investment by the private sector and by the Federal Government in clean energy and energy efficiency research and development. Commitments made in Paris, such as the announced new mission innovation and the breakthrough energy coalition, which are public- private partnerships to ramp up and accelerate our investment in research and development are more important than ever. We also had a chance to attend a meeting of some national leaders, of mayors and county executives, of Governors, and folks who lead regions and provinces around the world where remarkable progress has been made. At the same time that we are moving forward through this global conference as a group of nations, it is also important to recognize what subnational groups have done. Senator Shaheen referenced the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which New Hampshire and my home State of Delaware participate in. It has been a remarkable and effective way for a whole group of Mid- Atlantic and Northeastern States to work together. The nine participating States have reduced our emissions by nearly 20 percent while also seeing stronger economic growth than the rest of the country, I think, suggesting it is possible for us to both reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and continue to grow a strong economy. In fact, my home State of Delaware has reduced its GHG emissions more than any other State in the last 6 years. That is partly due to the great leadership of my Governor, Jack Markell, and partly due to the deployment of a lot of new solar systems and a lot of investment in energy efficiency. If I might, let me mention one important piece of bipartisan legislation that I think is part of solving this challenge of how do we achieve an ``all of the above'' energy future that has sustained long- term investments in clean energy and energy efficiency research and deployment; that is, the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act. This is a very bipartisan bill that has long had the support of Republican Senators Murkowski, Moran, Collins, and Gardner. Even Congressman Ted Poe, of Houston, TX, who represents a great deal of oil and gas in his district, is an advocate for this bill. I have been leading it, along with Senator Stabenow, Senator Bennet, Senator King, and others in this Chamber. It is an important way that we can allow master limited partnerships, long available to the oil and gas industry, to be opened up to all forms of energy to make it a level playing field and to provide opportunities going forward to finance renewable energy products and energy efficiency projects. This small tweak to our Tax Code could make a cumulative big difference going forward. In conclusion, let me renew my point that government alone can't solve climate change, but it has a central role to play in bringing together the people who can. Let's pass the MLP Parity Act, and let's make long-term, sustained investments in Federal R&D. Let's bring together public, private, and nonprofit leaders because there is no limit to what we can accomplish when our brightest scientific minds, business leaders, and our diplomats working for us in Paris come together to lay out a positive, sustained goal. I wish to yield the floor to my colleague, the junior Senator from the State of Rhode Island, who has been a tremendous and tireless champion for conservation and in particular for our oceans, which are such a vital part of our climate future. I yield the floor to Mr. Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. I thank the Senator from Vermont for calling the Senate's attention to the challenges facing coffee producers in the Eastern Congo. The Congress passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, to advance economic growth and political stability in sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA furthers these objectives by offering trade benefits to countries that meet certain requirements, including commitments to policies that alleviate poverty and reflect market based economic principles. Moreover, as part of this year's AGOA renewal, we included provisions to enhance industries where African women are making strong contributions. Since its inception, exports from AGOA countries to the United States have grown 300 percent. Agriculture is the largest employer in Africa, and in the years to come, farming can play a key role in accelerating exports even further and realizing the vision of AGOA. To meet the standards of AGOA and gain eligibility, the Congolese Government must do away with the excessive export and other taxes currently being levied on its coffee farmers. Impeding the growth of their coffee industry and lowering the standard of living of their own farmers is inconsistent with the language, intent, and spirit of AGOA. Lowering this tax burden should be required before the Democratic Republic of the Congo is granted AGOA benefits.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, the Senators from Connecticut and Ohio be recognized.