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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020
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speech of
HON. DAVID E. PRICE
of north carolina
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 11, 2019
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of
the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2500) to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military
activities of the Department of Defense and for military
construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for
such fiscal year, and for other purposes:
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I rise in support of the en
bloc amendment, which includes my proposal to require the
Administration to report to Congress on the status of United States
military-to-military and diplomatic deconfliction channels with Iran.
This amendment is cosponsored by my colleagues Jan Schakowsky, Gerry
Connolly, John Yarmuth, Lloyd Doggett, Barbara Lee, Peter Welch, and
Earl Blumenauer. I thank them for their support, and I thank Chairman
Smith for his consideration.
Last month, President Trump came dangerously close to conducting a
military strike on Iran in retaliation for the downing of an American
surveillance drone.
During that week in June, officials from the U.S. and Iran traded
public accusations before any investigation into the downing of the
drone was complete.
Meanwhile, oil tankers have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz,
the Iranian regime is beginning to increasingly enrich uranium, and
U.S. troops are being moved around the region.
These events demonstrate the extraordinary need for established
military-to-military and diplomatic channels of communication and
deconfliction to prevent miscalculation, define ambiguities, and
correct misunderstandings that could otherwise lead to unintended and
possibly devastating consequences.
In January 2016, such diplomatic lines of communication saved U.S.
sailors on two Navy riverine command boats that were seized by Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after entering Iranian territorial
waters. Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign Minister
Zarif. Within 15 hours, the sailors were released unharmed.
Since withdrawing from the JCPOA, the Trump administration has
eliminated those channels of communication. Can you imagine what would
happen now should U.S. forces be captured by Iranian forces? Can you
imagine the cost and consequences of military action provoked by a
misunderstanding or miscalculation?
Even Department of Defense officials caution that spiraling
escalations put our troops in the region at risk, and that we cannot be
pulled into an unnecessary armed conflict with Iran.
This amendment would assert Congressional oversight to ensure that we
have information about the status of vital military and diplomatic
channels of communication that must be in place to prevent
miscalculation.
I urge the adoption of this En Bloc amendment.
____________________
