09.16.16

‘The World Is More Dangerous’

‘If It Didn't Send Chills Down Your Body Thinking About That, It Should’

SEN. BARRASSO: ‘The World … Has Become More Dangerous Over The Past 7 ½ Years’

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): “Mr. President, people all around the country know that the world is a very dangerous place. It has become more dangerous over the past 7 ½ years, and even over the course of this summer. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, I come here again to the floor because I have seen one example after another--examples of how the Obama administration seems to not know what is going on when it comes to foreign policy. I believe the Obama administration--and specifically Secretary Clinton as well as President Obama--have been embarrassingly naive…”(Sen. Barrasso, Congressional Record, S.5595, 9/13/2016)

SEN. CORY GARDNER (R-CO): “This is a time where men and women across this country are standing on guard, engaged in combat today around the globe. This is a nation whose military is standing guard in South Korea, watching a madman in North Korea detonate nuclear bombs--not because he just thinks they are fun to show off but because he wants to use them against the United States and our allies.” (Sen. Gardner, Congressional Record, S. 5600, 9/13/2016)

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): “I just returned from a trip over Memorial Day to the South China Sea, and we learned there about China constructing military facilities on manmade islands.  Just last week, North Korea conducted its latest and largest nuclear test. If it didn't send chills down your body thinking about that, it should, because they want to get the capabilities to reach our western coast. … The instability is remarkable.” (Sen. Capito, Congressional Record, S. 5598, 9/13/2016)

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): “It was just this last Sunday that we marked the 15th anniversary of the bombings we have referred to as 9/11, the terror attacks which took nearly 3,000 American lives and occurred in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. Fifteen years ago these attacks were perpetrated by terrorists whose sole goal was to terrorize American citizens and destroy our way of life. Fifteen years later, that risk and that threat have not gone away.” (Sen. Rounds, Congressional Record, S.5595, 9/13/2016)

SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MT): “We see ISIS expanding into places like Libya and managing to influence people and attacking Western targets in Paris, in Belgium, and even in our homeland, in San Bernardino and Orlando.” (Sen. Daines, Congressional Record, S. 5596, 9/13/2016)

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): “[L]ook at where our forces are right now--all over the world. There are 5,000 troops in Iraq. They are in combat. The White House doesn't like to use the word ‘combat,’ but those troops are in combat. Our troops in Syria, brave pilots, are bombing ISIS, terrorist groups, on a daily basis. They are in combat. Their families know it. Again, we have a White House that doesn't want to talk about combat. The Press Secretary will not mention the word, but our forces are in combat.” (Sen. Sullivan, Congressional Record, S. 5598, 9/13/2016)

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): “[T]oday I believe the world is more dangerous than it has ever been... The early removal of our troops from Iraq created a vacuum into which ISIS has grown. They needed territory to validate their caliphate, and they got that.” (Sen. Perdue, Congressional Record, S. 5710, 9/14/2016)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): “The President's failure to enforce his own redline in Syria has led to instability throughout the Middle East, as no one knows where the lines are for anyone. Making a statement like ‘they won't use chemical weapons,’ when every year since 2013 the Syrian Government has used chlorine gas on its own people, had our administration responding with: Well, that is not crossing the redline because chlorine was exempted from this deal. They couldn't use other chemical weapons, but they could gas their own people with chlorine. That makes absolutely no sense to anyone. The Syrians have continued to use chlorine gas on their people year after year, mocking the President's redline and diminishing American leadership around the world.” (Sen. Lankford, Congressional Record, S. 5599, 9/13/2016)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): “One of the most alarming things in this administration--one of the most alarming things they have done is not only ignore threats but also fuel those threats, just as they did with the Iran nuclear deal. The nuclear deal that this administration brokered with Iran is putting taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the largest State sponsor of terrorism.” (Sen. Ernst, Congressional Record, S. 5708, 9/14/2016)

SEN. JOHN BOOZMAN (R-AR): “Earlier this month, the regime in Tehran deployed a Russian-supplied surface-to-air-missile defense system around its Fordow underground uranium enrichment facility. This potent missile defense system was part of an $800 million deal Russia signed with Iran in 2007. That deal has been voluntarily put on hold because of a 2010 U.N. Security Council resolution, but that hold was lifted after President Obama's weak Iran deal signaled to Russia that it is acceptable to sell weapons to Iran.” (Sen. Boozman, Congressional Record, S. 5716, 9/14/2016)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): “Today, at a hearing in the House, ‘a top TSA official divulged [for the first time] ... that Cuba has yet to agree to allow U.S. air marshals aboard scheduled airline flights between the two countries--meaning there have been no air marshals on board thus far, despite’ the fact that the administration said there would be... On most, if not all, of these flights there are no air marshals. This is endangering U.S. passengers... [T]his is the latest example of an administration that is so intent on burnishing its legacy, on getting credit for this opening, that they are willing to throw everything else out the window.” (Sen. Rubio, Congressional Record, S. 5713, 9/14/2016)

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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Related Issues: China, ISIL, National Security, Syria, Iraq, Iran Nuclear Deal, Iran, War on Terror, North Korea