Every Child Achieves Act 2015--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I do want to compliment the HELP Committee and Senator Alexander, who chairs that committee, for the great work they have done in bringing the Every Child Achieves Act legislation to the floor of the Senate. This is long overdue. Anybody who meets with school administrators, teacher groups, parents or school boards realizes that people for a long time have been looking for us to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and to make reforms that are important and that will return control and power to school districts, to parents, to teachers, and to administrators, rather than having it here centralized in Washington, DC.

So I am pleased that we can have this debate. I am encouraged by the discussion that has already been held and by the willingness of both sides to work together to allow amendments to be considered. This is an important issue--how we educate our children, equipping them, preparing them for the challenges that will be ahead of them. There is no more important task that we have. So to the degree that this legislation makes it more possible for our kids to learn at the very fastest rate possible, this is something that this Senate ought to be focused on.

I am hopeful that we will be able to get through the amendment process and be able to move this bill across the floor of the Senate and to the House, and hopefully, eventually, to the President's desk. But I think it is also an example of what happens when you get people who are willing to open the Senate process up and allow legislation to be considered.

REPUBLICAN-LED SENATE

The Senate has now been under Republican control for a full 6 months. Those months have been some of the most productive that the Senate has seen in a long time. So far this year, the Republican-led Senate has passed more than 45 bipartisan bills, 22 of which have been signed into law by the President. Committees have been hard at work and have reported out more than 150 bills for floor consideration by the full Senate. In May, the Senate passed the first 10-year balanced budget resolution in over a decade--over a decade.

One reason the Senate has been so productive is because the Republican majority has been committed to ensuring that all Senators, whatever their party, have the opportunity to have their voices heard. Under Democratic leadership, not only Republicans but many rank-and-file Democrats were shut out of the legislative process in the Senate. As an example of that, the Democratic leadership allowed just 15 amendment rollcall votes in all of 2014--an entire year. That is barely more than one amendment vote per month here in the Senate.

Republicans, by contrast, had allowed 15 amendment rollcall votes by the time we had been in charge here for merely 3 weeks. In all, Republicans have allowed more than 136 amendment rollcall votes so far in 2015. That is not only more amendment rollcall votes than in all of last year, but it is more amendment rollcall votes than the Senate took in 2013 and 2014 combined. We still have 6 months to go in 2015.

NUCLEAR AGREEMENT WITH IRAN

Mr. President, one of the most important bipartisan bills the Senate has passed this year is the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. This legislation, which was signed into law in May by the President, ensures that the American people, through their representatives in Congress, will have a voice in any final agreement with Iran. Specifically, the law requires the President to submit any agreement with Iran to Congress for review and prevents him from waiving sanctions on Iran until the congressional review period is complete.

The bill also requires the President to evaluate Iran's compliance every 90 days. I am particularly glad that this legislation is in place because the negotiation process so far has given cause for deep concern. The primary purpose of any deal with Iran is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. But the interim agreement the President unveiled in April casts serious doubt on the administration's determination to achieve that goal. The framework does not shut down a single nuclear facility in Iran. It does not destroy any single centrifuge in Iran. It does not stop research and development on Iran's centrifuges. It allows Iran to keep a substantial part of its existing stockpile of enriched uranium.

It is not surprising that Members of both parties are concerned about this agreement. Again and again during the process, Secretary Kerry and the President have seemed to forget that the goal of negotiations is not a deal for its own sake but a deal that will actually stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Administration negotiators have repeatedly sacrificed American priorities for the sake of getting an agreement.

In the process, they have created a very real risk that the deal that finally emerges will be too weak to achieve its goal. A Washington Post editorial this week declared that any agreement with Iran that emerges from the current talks ``will be, at best, an unsatisfying and risky compromise.'' That is from the Washington Post. The editorial board continues by saying:

Iran's emergence as a threshold nuclear power, with the ability to produce a weapon quickly, will not be prevented; it will be postponed by 10 to 15 years. In exchange, Tehran will reap hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief it can use to revive its economy and fund the wars it is waging around the Middle East.

Again, that is a quote from the editorial in the Washington Post from yesterday. When Iran recently failed to comply with the provision of the interim nuclear agreement currently in place, the Obama administration, in the words of the Post editorial, ``chose to quietly accept it'' and even ``rush to Iran's defense.''

Again that is the quote from the Washington Post editorial. This is an example of what the Post aptly describes as ``a White House proclivity to respond to questions about Iran's performance by attacking those who raise them.''

Well that is a deeply troubling response on the part of the White House, and it raises doubts about the President's commitment to achieving an agreement that will shut down Iran's nuclear program. The stakes could not be higher on this agreement. At issue is whether a tyrannical, oppressive regime that backs terrorists, has killed American soldiers, and has announced its intention of wiping Israel off the map will get access to the most apocalyptic weapons known to man.

Even as negotiations continue, Iran continues to advance its nuclear program. If Iran continues its research and development into more advanced centrifuges, the breakout period--the time needed to produce enough nuclear material for a bomb--could be weeks--weeks instead of months or years. If we fail to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, we will not only be facing a nuclear-armed Iran; we will be facing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. That is what is at stake. Every Member of Congress obviously would like to see the President successfully conclude a deal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. But the President needs to remember that a deal is only acceptable if it achieves that goal. We have heard the President say that he will walk away from a bad deal. But each time we reach a deadline, that deadline is extended.

As negotiations continue, it is essential that negotiators push for a strong final deal that includes rigorous inspection of Iranian sites and full disclosure of all Iranian weapons research to date. If the administration cannot secure a sufficiently strong deal, then it should step back from the negotiation table and reimpose the sanctions that were so successful in driving Iran to the table in the first place. No deal is better than a bad deal that will strengthen Iran's position in the Middle East and pave the way for the development of a nuclear weapon.

For a deal to be acceptable to the American people, it must be verifiable, it must be enforceable, and it must be accountable. It also needs to promote stability and security in the Middle East and around the world. Any deal that does not reach that threshold is a bad deal. I hope the President will listen to the American people and reject any agreement that falls short of that goal.

I yield the floor.

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