f gatekeepers telling people what they can do, where they can go, and what they can think. the action that we take today is about the protection of internet openness. let's make no mistake about it. broadband access providers have the technical ability and the economic incentive to impose restrictions on the internet. as the d.c. circuit said in its decision remanding this matter to us, "broadband providers represent a threat to internet openness and could act in ways that could ultimately inhibit the speed and extent of future broadband deployment."

but today a majority of this commission establishes that will not come to pass. today is a red letter day for internet freedom, for consumers who want to use the internet on their terms, for innovators who want to reach consumers without the control of gatekeepers for a future in which there are rules to protect the internet and its users. but importantly, today is also a day that gives network operators what they require if they are to continue expanding broadband service and competition. the rules for a fair and open internet are not old-style utility regulation but a 21st century set of rules for a 21st century service. rate regulation, terror tariffing

and forced unbundling have been superseded by a modernized regulatory approach that has already been demonstrated to work in an encouraging investment in wireless voice networks. it is important for consumers as well as companies that nothing in today's order alters the economic model for continued network expansion. the isp's revenue stream will be the same tomorrow as it was yesterday. before today, that revenue enabled companies to build ever faster networks. nothing in what we do today changes the equation for consumer revenues to isp's for tomorrow. i believe that is why sprint t-mobile, frontier communications, and google

fiber, along with hundreds of smaller phone company isp's have said they are comfortable with the commission's modern regulatory approach. and, bulletin, according to this morning's "wall street journal," which quotes cablevision as saying, "we do not see at least what the chairman has been discussing as having any real impact on our business." today's order is more powerful and more expansive than any previous considered or suggested. it provides a statutory one-to punch, that provide -- that combines title 2 with significant powers of the telecommunications act. this is the fcc using all the tools in our toolbox to protect

innovators and consumers to ban paid prioritization, the so-called fast lanes. they will not divide the internet into haves and have-nots. the band blocking -- to ban blocking, consumers will get what they pay for -- unfettered access to any lawful content on the internet, and to ban throttling. because degrading access to legal content and services can have the same effect as blocking, and it will not be permitted to exist. these are enforceable rules. they will allow consumers to go wherever they want when they want. they will also protect the rights of innovators to

introduce new products without asking anyone's permission. the order also includes the general conduct rule that can be used to stop new and novel threats to the internet. any action must not unreasonably interfere with or unreasonably disadvantage the ability of consumers and content providers. to use the internet. there is one thing we can all agree on up here, i am sure. and that is that we cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen next on the internet. we want to encourage that kind of innovation by making sure that there are ground rules, and that those ground rules are in place.

everybody knows what is expected. for the first time, those ground rules will apply to both wired and wireless access to the network. mobile networks account for the vast majority of internet access. mobile is a critical pathway and it must be open and fair. today's order also, for the first time, serves jurisdiction over the connections by which isp's plug into the internet. and the core principle there is the same as elsewhere. the internet must remain open. we will protect the values of an open internet. both in the last mile as well as at the point of interconnection.

so let me close where i began. with a shout out to 4 million americans who took their time to share with us their views. today history is being made by a majority of this commission. as we vote for a fast, fair, and open internet. and with that, i will call for the yay's and nays. all in favor say i. >> aye. >> opposed? >> no. [cheers and applause] >> the house majority leader and house democratic whip will speak

at this 2015 american-israel policy conference in washington, d.c. we will have the free life when it begins. benjamin netanyahu will speak tomorrow morning at a 30 a.m. eastern on c-span two. he will address congress at the invitation of republican leaders. the white house is unhappy with his speech. the prime minister will not meet with president obama. the matter was discussed at friday's white house briefing. >> on the upcoming netanyahu speeches, so much attention focused on them. this is going to turn into a situation of dueling speeches? >> i certainly hope not.

i know the focal point of the remarks that the national security advisor and you and ambassador will be delivering will be focused on the importance and strength of the relationship between the states and israel. the president has pursued a policy that reflects how important it is to u.s. national security for us to stand shoulder to shoulder with our strongest ally in the middle east. he has done that. that is something that is easy to demonstrate. whether you are looking at the iron dome program, even the prime minister himself has said that the level of security cooperation is unprecedented.

that certainly reflects the dangerous environment that israel is operating in right now. it also demonstrates the commitment of this administration to protecting and standing closely with our closest ally in the region. i will also say that the dogged determination that this administration, country, and international partners have demonstrated in bringing iran to the notion -- negotiating table is not just in the security interest of the united states trade it's also in the interest of israel. whether it standing shoulder to shoulder with israel are taking the kind of actions consistent with national security interest of both of our country's. the president has led in the right direction. that will be the focal it of the remarks. it is worthy of the kind of relationship that the president has got to cultivate and strengthen between our two

countries. >> netanyahu coming now to critical time -- is it bad for negotiations? is that bad for the negotiations? >> the short answer is, i don't think so. there is a real opportunity for us here. the president is helpful that we are going to have an opportunity to do what is clearly in the best interest of the united states and israel. it is true that the prime minister has been critical of that effort to date. he was also pretty critical of the joint plan of action, which

was essentially the first stage of these talks. in the context of the joint plan of action, the prime minister characterized that agreement as the historic mistake.

that iran has not only made progress on their nuclear program, in fact, they have actually rolled it back by destroying as i mentioned

earlier their 20% uranium stock pile. >> doing this even though it might not have any immediate affect in anything that he tries to persuade congress to do could be vetoed anyway but it could put the u.s. in a better bargaining position. >> i haven't heard that analysis. i suppose you could make the case that that's true. but i'm not quite sure exactly what that case would look like. and the reason i say that is what has been so critical to our success thus far is the unanimity of opinion across the international community. we have put in place a very strict sanctions regime against iran. one of the toughest sanctions regimes in history. and that effort has been successful because we have persuaded essentially the rest of the world to go along with it. and some countries have even

made a pretty substantial economic sacrifice to do so. there are other countries that are much more reliant on iranian oil than the united states. so they did have to make a sacrifice by standing with the united states to oppose its economic sanctions. to resolve the international community's concerns. and, again, what we're aiming for is an agreement that would prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and allow the international community to verify it for themselves. for us to have independent inspectors. not just in their nuclear facilities but at all levels of their nuclear program supply

chain to verify that they have living up to their terms of the agreement. so again this is why the president believes it's clearly in the best interest of american national security for us to drive toward this solution and it's clearly in the best interest of israeli national security too. and i'll end with this: the prime minister is also not presented an alternative option. the fact is if you take away these efforts to reach a diplomatic solution you take away the limitations on their nuclear program. you essentially take away any of their options to deal with their nuclear program other than the military option. and that is why the american commander in chief is so focused on pursuing a diplomatic option that, again, in the view of this administration is actually more effective than the military

option. the military option is one that would of course, step back the iranian nuclear program but only until it can be rebuilt. and i think any logical observation would be it would only feed the resolve of the iranians to rebuild it. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage frank -- >> welcome back. i want to issue one piece of

very useful information. it is icy and nasty outside. so when you walk, walk very carefully. please. >> we have an opportunity to hear from two former national security advisors who have this as part of their job description. they can talk about how this partnership manifests itself at the highest levels of government and how fascinating it will be to hear this given the issues and the concerns that they confront today. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming tom

donnolin. [applause] welcome. >> tom. >> gentlemen, welcome and thank you for joining us. let's jump right into this if we can which is the best way to jump i think. a lot of noise. lot of issues. lot of tension. i want to ask you about the state of the u.s. israel relationship which you've both worked on. but i want to ask it from sort of a personal perspective because the two of you help to drive that and how your relationship when you were there helped to define it. tom? >> well, thank you. first, it's great to be here

today. let me say a couple of things about that. the general and i were counterparts for mr. netanyahu and president obama. the first thing is i knew i was lucky. i was lucky because i had such a terrific counterpart. he's one of the great officers and thinkers in israel. and also one of the really a man of incredible integrity and great personal wealth. we know that. >> you were working person to person. >> absolutely. the relationship though was always against the backdrop of the bedrock principle that the united states would support israel security and that was for a lot of different reasons, history, shared values shared objectives. but the interaction that we had personally i think that was important. one is that we owe these endeavors to determine what was driving the other side's position, to understand where

the other side was coming from and to be really quite precise about that. second, we always thought to share information down through our systems and that came from us to share that information. third when there was a complicated issue like iran we set up a mechanism, structure to deal with that in depth and we did that on a regular basis. and not for an hour or two hours but regular meetings of eight and ten hours to go through all the various elements of it. next is that we did have a very good personal relationship and there was personal communication on a regular basis. it was intensive communication on a secure phone on his desk and my desk. every other week or so and sometimes every day. depending on what the issue was. and at least from my perspective i always felt comfortable when i hung up the phone and then i would call him back one more time. and last is if there was a

disagreement, and that's going to happen and some conflict in position given the two positions the united states and israel occupy to confront those disagreements honestly and not let those things fester. >> what's your take? >> i was lucky to work with tom. he's very professional and honest and fair. and i think that the secret of these relations is i was not a diplomat and he was not a diplomat. >> we'll pass that on to all the diplomats. >> on some occasions, very blunt and there was no mistake what our views were after such a conversation. but in the whole two and a half years almost together nothing was -- i think it's very important for relations to keep the issues between us and we don't forget that at the end of

any two days of these conversations with a group of professionals he invited me to a dinner in which we didn't eat anything. we just speak between us for two or three hours and at the end, everything was clear. very defined. and nothing came out of those conversations but to our -- >> let me ask you. the iran issue is front and center. there are tactical and strategic differences as we know. i'm interesting in how you feel this strong relationship that you've talked about sails through this. what your take is. where it's going. >> thank you. the first point i think is critical and that is as a strategic matter, the united states and israel share the same goal, prevent iran from

acquiring nuclear weapons. it's in the national security interests of both of us. we in the united states have put a tremendous amount of effort in this. i personal oversaw the effort for four years. second is that it's a complicated negotiation with a lot of different elements to it. at the end of the day again, i do think it's important for the united states to take into account the position of israel and will and i think the way to go on this is to engage directly and honestly with respect to the substance, the merits of the matter. i think in the last week or so, i think we've been distracted by unnecessary controversy i think. the real issue here is the substance of disagreement and there are real questions that

have to be worked through particularly on duration and iran's history what the best method is here to cut off their very -- how best to make sure we have time and how best to make sure that we for a long long time, have the ability to keep eyes on iran because, you know, i think the most serious threat with respect to iran is most likely a covet attempt at having nuclear weapons. >> how do these two countries work through these differences? >> when we look at the problem from jerusalem's point of view, it's affecting the existence of the state of israel. from washington's point of view it's a huge issue but not a threat to the existence of the united states of america. so we are most sensitive in jerusalem than in washington. it is well understood. you can't change it. this is the essence of

geopolitics. what was important is that i tried to understand what motivated americans and i tried as much as possible to explain to tom what motivated us and to be sure that the concerns that we have will be taken in those negotiations. somewhere in the middle i don't know when, instead of being very precise of being dismantling iran's capabilities it became conversations about monitoring the capabilities. and this is a huge difference. it's a huge difference from our point of view -- [applause] [applause]. >> from our point of view, the issue is how to dismantle the ability of the iranians to make

a bomb. what we see and i'm not familiar with the details and it's just the middle of the negotiations and i'm not familiar with behind the curtains what's going on about that but what was published gave us the feeling that at the end of the day it's about monitoring and not about dismantling. and i think it's very important to understand why the difference emerged, two different point of views, and what changed during the negotiations which led to this friction. but at the end of the day, i think that if both countries will be united on this issue, the achievements in the negotiations and after the negotiations would be much, much better than any other situation. >> i think that's fair. >> a couple of points is again, the negotiation is ongoing and we don't know what the outcomes

are going to be with these specifics. but there are going to have to be constraints on any capabilities that iran has. serious constraints with respect to their ability to pursue any number of tasks that they might have. there's going to have to be an intensive inspection monitoring and verification regime so that the international community including the united states can act if iran doesn't respect the deal or goes in a direction not allowed by the deal. and i think it's important for us to engage with israel with respect to the merits here. the interim understanding that we've had, the interim deal that we've had has been a sound basis. it has, in fact frozen the program. it has rolled back the 20% uranium portion of the program. and it's given us insight into

the whole chain. >> there's so much more to the iranian presence in the region obviously. there's support for he haszbolla and hamas. i'm wondering whether as you look and put this into perspective at iran longer term you see any prospect that there could be a potential ally or stabilizing force or whether this iran is a long term problem no matter what. >> i don't know you know 50 years from now, i don't know what will happen. but iran -- >> let's do five years. >> iran is today a force of instability in the middle east. the old ideology the whole bna

of this muslim republican state is two messages. first we the shiites want to win at the end of the day, and we will not let -- future what was done in the past. and in any place in which there is shiites and sunnis we will prevail. and today they did it. they have now as was explained by them months ago, they have more than influence in four arab capitals. it's never happened in history. so if someone believes that they will become stabilizing force in the area it doesn't not understand this regime. the second message is that we the intoxilyzer lammist the

clerics can run the state. this is a message to the middle east. intoxilyzer lam is the solution. there are some version of intoxilyzer lam. how intoxilyzer lam. they are ready to kill themselves about the question of what is intoxilyzer lam but they agree that intoxilyzer lam is the solution. if someone don't understand this is the dna of this regime it does not understand the middle east. so to build any prospective of stability in the middle east on the iranians is like to build a very good palace on ice. at the end of the day, the sun will be there and the ice disappears. >> i can't disagree with that. the negotiation with respect to the nuclear program is about the nuclear program and any efforts to address and try to prevent them from engaging in specific activity. critically important but only one piece. iran is a very strong force of

instability in the middle east. >> and you don't see that changing? >> the current government right. and i don't see it changing in the short term frankly. we have seen throughout the middle east iran continue to be a force for instability and a threat to the united states and israel. >> there are only a couple of minutes we have left. i want to ask you a big picture question. as you look around the region and take the big picture what are the biggest trends and threats that you see in the next five years. >> the first is we need to address the iranian nuclear problem. it affects america israel and globally. it needs to be addressed. second, we have an unprecedented theory of terrorist threats emerging in the middle east.

this isis threat that we have in the middle east has emerged is an unprecedented kind of organization. a large organization of scale, tens of thousands of people. 20,000 foreign fighters. the pace of foreign fighters coming into the iraq syria theater has not slowed down. some 3 or 4,000 of those have western passports. it's a well financed organization and presents a real threat i think. you have al quaeda organizations in syria and still the al quaeda organization in south asia. you have organizations in north africa. and you have because of social media and technology you have the ability to radicalize individual small groups around the world. this is a new phase in the terror threat and one that will be with us for a long time. >> very briefly for us general.

>> nuclear iran is not in the same level as those other threats. [applause]. >> and and on the second all these organizations which use, exploit the no man's land areas, for sure the biggest -- organizations which held 1,000 rockets and missiles is hezbollah was used by iran. this is the threat to israel. >> and you get a sense of what those two or three hour dinners were like. >> unfortunately we don't have that but we got a good sense

from both of you right now. i want to thank you both and of course we'll be watching those negotiations very closely. tom yaakov, thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] my religious friends say how could you work in hollywood and my hollywood friends say how can you be religious. i grew up on long island in a tiny town on the south shore. there were only six jews.

it just got me so interested in israel and israel advocacy. i'm running a show now for warner brothers. one of them in the studio came up to me and she said what do i do? i don't know what to do about israel. i don't care for the government of israel or here as we support israel. she immediately got so fired up about it and two weeks later had a meeting in her house with about 50 people, the highest level people and lawyers and agents, studio executives and people were hearing about apac for the first time. when you go there and see all

these people, you think oh, i can really advocate for israel. doesn't matter if you're left, right, in the center. it's really empowering. apac is that. you feel that you're not alone. [applause]. >> ladies and gentlemen, apac activist jeff -- [applause] [applause]. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome apac president, bob cohen. good evening. good evening and welcome to the

largest policy conference in aipac history. [applause]. >> we have more than 16,000 delegates gathered here in our nation's capital to deliver this message. a strong u.s.-israel relationship makes america israel, and our world a safer

place. half of my colleagues on the aipac board of directors, i want to say ape thank you. thank you for standing up. for being exceptional citizens. for investing in our cause to help keep america and israel strong and secure.

[applause] [applause]. >> as i look out across this hall filled to capacity i am encouraged. not just by the sheer volume of numbers. but by who is represented here. democrats and republicans from all 50 states here to demonstrate by partisan support for a strong u.s.-israel relationship. [applause]. >> that's right. bipartisanship, a fundamental principle of our organization. there are 500 rabbis and religious leaders who are guiding their congregations not only in prayer but in the sacred work of helping to heal our world. hundreds from the

african-american, hispanic and christian communities. [applause]. >> that's right. and so many others who know that when we strengthen israel we are strengthening america as well. and in honor of the veterans and men and women in uniform who are with us today please join me as we thank them for being here and for their service to the united states of america. [applause]

[applause]. >> with us today are leaders aprocess the pro israel community including the national director of the antidefamation league, abe foxman. [applause]. >> abe, aipac has been honored to work with you and as you approach retirement we want to thank you for your leadership in helping to foster a strong u.s.-israel relationship and for being such a valuable partner in aipac's work. thank you, abe. [applause] [applause]. >> from one generation to the next, in this room today, are more than 3,000 high school and college students. [applause] [applause].

>> and i want to welcome the more than 300 gellar student government presidents from all 50 states who are here with us. [applause] [applause]. >> this has been an especially challenging year for the pro israel community on college campuses as both the president of this organization and as a fellow activist i want to say to the students thank you, you inspire us. [applause] [applause]. >> among us are thousands of aipac club members, partners for tomorrow, and congressional club members who are working to keep aipac strong today and tomorrow. among you are more than 6,000 delegates who are attending the policy conversation for the very

first time. [applause] [applause]. >> that's right. by choosing to be counted by making the decision to be an actor, not merely a witness to history each of you will have an impact on conversations that will shape the future of two great democracies for years to come. our presence here in the capital of the most powerful nation in the world sends another message as well. it is a response to those who question israel's right to exist. it is a response to the rising tide of antisemitism, antiwestern anti-israeli, and anti-american sentiments.

it is a response to those who challenge the seriousness by which we hold the words never again. [applause] [applause]. >> these past weeks we all watched in horror the attacks in paris and copenhagen. today we are honored to personally welcome leaders from numerous european jewish communities and it is my special privilege to welcome a leader of the french jewish community, roje coucomen. [applause] [applause]. >> to you and all our brothers and sisters in europe we stand

together as one family. [applause] [applause]. >> we are one very diverse family. i am truly honored to lead an organization that includes activists like the reverend eve nunez and the mayor of columbia south carolina steve benjamin. [applause] [applause]. >> their backgrounds couldn't be more different but their passion for israel couldn't be more aligned. reverend nunez brought with her to policy conference this year 20 other hispanic delegates from churches throughout nevada and

arizona. [applause] [applause]. >> now bud is from des moines iowa. his first policy conference was in 1968 when only 500 people were in attendance. 500 people. that's right. there were 500 people in line for coffee this morning. incredibly bud, a former aipac board member has attended 48 consecutive aipac policy conferences. [applause] [applause]. >> on the other hand mayor benjamin steve, wasn't even born when bud attended that first gathering.

last december when congress passed the u.s.-israel strategic partnership act, steve wrote a letter to his member of congress and to the chairman of the congressional black caucus thanking them for their support. that's right. but he didn't stop there. he encouraged 111 additional african-americans who cosign the letter ccing their own member of congress and sending a powerful pro israel message from the african-american community to our country's african-american leaders. [applause] [applause]. >> and the incredible additional detail here, all 111 co-signers

had previously been on a trip to israel with aipac's education foundation. [applause]. >> indeed aipac is a big tent, home to a diverse array of opinions, political views races and religions if the this type of diversity is what makes us strong. to that end, i want to thank my dear friend, aipac's chairman of the board, michael cassen. [applause] [applause]. >> my colleagues on the aipac board of directors as well as ceo howard core and vice ceo richard fishman. [applause]. >> they continue to lead with creativity and vision. and i know everyone joins me in

thanking the entire aipac staff for their hard work and deadation throughout the year. [applause] -- dedication throughout the year. [applause]. >> strong leadership is what makes aipac so effective, and so it is my distinct honor to introduce an extraordinary leader who was selected by aipac's board of directors to be our next president. ladies and gentlemen, from dallas, texas my friend aipac president elect lillian pinkus. [applause] [applause]. >> if you've had the good foreign to meet lillian you

know why everyone admires her wisdom and commitment. lillian will formally become aipac president at next year's policy conference. to lillian john and the whole family, mazel tov. [applause]. >> and while i'm talking about family i want to thank my wife louise and my children sarah jake, and david for their incredible ongoing support. [applause]. >> simply put i could not do this without you. louise and i have been to israel countless times. and each time we return, we are inspired by the people.

370 hamas rockets have fallen just since the last time we all gathered here in one town in israel. a gentleman who serves as is that community's youth organizer recently gave some college students a tour of his town. he asked the visitors what do you think is the first thing that the citizens of staro do when the sirens go off signalling incoming rockets in the area? what is the first thing you think they do? one student immediately answered, they run to the shelters. another said they grab their kids. no. to both answers.

what is the first thing that the residents of staro instinctively do when they are told they only have 15 seconds to save themselves and their children from incoming rockets? what do they do? they open their doors. first they open their doors so that anyone outside has a way to find shelter. [applause] [applause]. >> they open their doors. this is the instinct of israelis facing danger to help others. this is the response of a nation under constant threat to feed to heal, to help, to protect, to

build and nurture to invent and reinvent, to give to the world. they open their doors. and so do we. we open our doors to include americans of every faith and creed and political party because only together can we help make america and israel safe. thank you. [applause]

♪ the sounds and images from 1965 remind us of the friendship between the jewish and african-american communities during the civil rights movement when our jewish brothers and sisters and so many from other faiths answered dr. king's call. together, they joined hands and walked across the edmund pettus bridge in selma alabama in support of full voting rights for african-americans.

[applause]. >> as a young girl, i lived in selma, and i rode across that historic bridge almost daily. my mother participated in the movement, and my aunt marched along side dr. king on the bridge that day. they both grew up in selma. for my mother her activism inspired my activism. she would often say to me always stand with those who stood with us. the jews -- [applause]. >> the jews were there for us and they never waivered. [applause] [applause]. >> friendships, courage commitment. these are the characteristics that i was taught to value.

these are the qualities that i want to pass down to my own daughter. and these are the values which compelled me just three years ago to become a member and proudly serve on the aipac national council. [applause] [applause]. >> today, i stand with those who support israel as i know they stood with me. [applause] now, it is my turn to stand up for justice. those were my thoughts in 2008 when i offered legislation making the city of atlanta the first city in the united states to divest from companies with ties to iran or sudan.

[applause] [applause]. >> atlanta has a storied civil rights tradition and i could not support those whose leaders would harm the innocent. the legislation reminded me of the power of nonviolent action in the tradition of the men and women who walked over that bridge in selma nearly 50 years ago this very month. then and now a brighter future is up to us. i believe it's not just as an elected leader working hard every day to create a better society but as the father of two daughters who, like so many children around the world, deserve the promise of peace and security. [applause] [applause]. >> i was born just a few months after the assassination of dr. king. my parents made sure i

understood the struggles of our people so that i would not only be able to vote, but engage in political organizing and activism at the highest levels. when my daughter was 8 years old we went to selma. and we walked over the bridge. then i took her to birmingham and we visited the 16th street baptist church where four little girls were killed simply because they were black. my heartached as i watched her grapple with these hard truths but then i reassured her that in our time of need we stayed strong. and there were good people who risked everything who did the right thing, and who stood by our side. years later, when we traveled

with aipac's education foundation to israel and stood inside a memorial the realities of that history truly shook my soul. how could the world have been silent in the face of such utter evil? as i reflected on what both of our communities have endured i recognized once more the importance of our mutual cooperation and the moral force we create when we join hands to make this world a better place. [applause] selma not only gave full voting rights to black americans, selma allowed all of us to fully participate in the political system, to stand up

for the causes that we hold close to fight against injustice, hatred and to stand together in support of a strong and a safe israel. [applause] [applause]. >> in selma, we were not alone. we had one another. so today we come together for the aipac policy conference knowing there's much work to do to make our world safe and fair and whole. [applause] [applause]. >> and just like in selma, we can only reach the other side when we march together when we work together when we pray together, and when we are as

one. united. thank you very much. [applause] for more than 50 years, pro israel americans from across the united states have gathered in our nation's capital at the aipac policy conference to hear presidents and prime ministers, to learn from top experts and to expand the broad sense of america's pro israel community. but most important, aipac members come to washington each year to shape policy on capitol hill. at the policy conference empowers -- american political process by engaging members of

congress on the issues that matter most to the u.s. israel relationship. this year, you will help continue this powerful tradition on lobbying day, you will join thousands of aipac activists on capitol hill to educate inspire, and foster personal relationships with your senators and representatives. you will soon take part in one of the most important days of the year to help shape the future of the united states and israel. ♪ ladies and gentlemen, please welcome aipac directors of policy and government affairs marvin foyer and brad gordon and the director of legislative strategy,ester kehr. [applause] good evening.

whether this is your first policy conference or your 33rd like mine, you're here because you understand the importance of this moment. you know the importance of tuesday. of walking up to capitol hill by the thousands to stand united with israel. >> for many years, aipac's policy conference has included three core issues securing foreign aid to israel, supporting israel's peace efforts, and stopping iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. [applause]. >> but you also know that this year is different. we are at a critical moment. for the last 15 months, the united states has led talks between a key group of countries and iran to end iran's pursuit

of nuclear weapons. we've seen the deadline of negotiations extended twice. we've seen america make every effort to resolve this issue peacefully. and we've seen iran refuse to waiver on its dangerous nuclear program. so while we will continue to lobby on many important issues to strengthen the u.s.-israel relationship, on tuesday, we will urge congress to take immediate action on just one, stopping iran. and question will ask congress

first to support diplomacy by increasing economic pressure on iran. second, to insist on a grid agreement that prevents iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. and third, to play a key role in reviewing any agreement. [applause] [applause]. >> in order to make this case, it's important to understand how we got here. for the last 25 years, aipac has worked with many administration and congresses to peacefully resolve the iranian nuclear challenge. thanks to your commitment congress has remained focused on this work and the sanctions congress passed over the last 25 years created the pressure that brought iran to the negotiating table. >> but today, after 15 months of negotiations, that pressure has not yet forced iran to abandon

its nuclear weapons program. and reports on the negotiations suggest iran is yet to make the concessions necessary to reach an acceptable agreement. our 25-year effort to stop iran's race to a bomb has reached a critical crossroads. congress must again play a pivotal role and so must you. [applause]. >> so how do we do this? it started with sour first message to congress. support diplomacy by increasing pressure. we believe negotiations have the best chance to succeed if iran understands the economic and political price it will pay for refusing to abandon its nuclear

ambitions. and the best way for congress to convey this message to iran is by passing the nuclear weapons free iran act of 2015. [applause]. >> this bipartisan legislation would impose tough sanctions on iran if it refuses to give up its nuclear weapons quest, and it would give important flexibility to the president to waive these new sanctions for brief periods if he certifies an agreement is within reach. now on tuesday you might get some push back from the hill. you might hear this bill will cause iran to walk away from the table. it will violate the interim agreement. or even it will lead us to war. but the point you need to make

to congress and to the world is that the status quo is unacceptable. this legislation supports negotiations and abides by the terms of the interim agreement. it sends a clear message to iran that further extensions of negotiations are not an option. and it adds pressure on iran to get to a good deal. look, failure to reach an acceptable agreement may lead the united states with the choice of either accommodate accommodating a nuclear iran or using force to prevent it. this bill gives diplomacy the best chance to succeed in order to avoid that dilemma. [applause]. >> this brings us to our second

message for congress. insist on a good agreement. since the interim agreement, congress has clearly outlined the acceptable terms of a final deal. in fact, after you lobbied at aipac policy conference last year, 395 house members and 83 senators declared that any deal must force iran to dismantle its program so that it has no uranium or