and to introduce senator reid we have a dear friend and former colleague of his, congressman howard berman, who is also a friend of ours. we had the pleasure and honor of working together on a number of issues when he was chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. he's still very active in international affairs. so it gives us extra pleasure to ask congressman berman to come up and introduce senator reid. congressman berman: thank you very much, george. just before i introduce the peaker, i just want to let our host know that, host of carnegie, that really how incredibly valuable your work has been to me during the 30 years that i was on the house foreign affairs committee. issues like nonproliferation, arms control, u.s.-soviet can and then u.s.-russia relationship. so many other issues. your writings and our -- your testimony, our conversations really helped shape my own outlook on a lot of key foreign policy issues. i owe you a lot. a special shout out to the great ople these days who are -- whenever i google members of congress with me never went to russia without stopping to get

there's no one i would rather introduce me than my friend, howard berman. i sold -- i also want to thank the carnegie endowment and your president, burns, he has a remarkable career and record and i'm grateful that he is somebody that i speak to and somebody that i like a great deal. he is, most of the time out of the public eye, i understand that. he's known around this city and around the world as someone that has worked really hard to keep the world safe from a nuclear armed iran. so thank you, bill, even though you aren't here. george, thank you for filling so ably in. when the senate is gaveled into session in just a few hours, a debate has ignited passion from tehran to tel aviv, from beijing to berlin and from coast to coast across our great country will take center stage in the world's greatest deliberative body. the question at hand is no small matter. is the agreement between iran and the international community led by the united states the best pathway to peace and security for america, israel, our partners, and interests? i believe the answer is

california to introduce me today, there's no one i would rather have introduce me than my friend howard berman. i also want to thank the carnegie endowment and your president, former secretary burns, for this meeting. he has a remarkable career and record and i'm grateful he's somebody that i speak to and somebody that i like a great deal. he is mostly out of the public eye, i understand that, but he's known around this city and around the world as someone that has worked really hard to keep the world safe from a nuclear 46 armed iran. -- from a nuclear-armed iran. thank you, bill, even though you're not here, and george, thank you for filling in so ably. when the senate gaveled into session in just a few hours a debate that's ignited passions from tehran to tel aviv, from beijing to berlin, and from coast to coast across our country will take center stage in the world's greatest deliberative body. the question at hand is no small matter. is the agreement between iran and the international community, led by the united states, the best pathway to peace and security for america, israel, our part

and if anybody wants to raise that question, i suggest that they talk to howard berman. it's not true. there were differences of opinion about the nature of the sanctions in some respects, it is incorrect to say that this administration opposed sanctions against iran. it's not true. and i just want to say one other word about this notion that we'll be stronger turning this down in terms of sanctions. i don't know of any responsible person who has looked at this who has the background in it who says that. i just suggest you look at the testimony of secretary jack lew. he just refutes this notion that if we turn this down, we can honor -- we can on our own effectively impose a stronger sanctions regime. that's fallacious. we would walk alone as mr. scowcroft has said and colin powell said. the notion that we have the financial power when already other nations have begun to undertake some further economic ork with iran, it's -- it's an illusion. it's an illusion. because so many of the sanctions would disappear. the other countries would not participate and the ministers fr

and if anybody wants to raise that question, i suggest that they talk to howard berman. it's not true. there were differences of opinion about the nature of the sanctions in some respect. it is incorrect to say that this administration opposed sanctions against iran. it's not true. and i just want to say one other word about this notion that we'll be stronger turning this down in terms of sanctions. i don't know of any responsible person who has looked at this who has the background in it who says that. i just suggest that you look at the testimony of secretary jack lew. he just refutes this notion that if we turn this down, we can on our own effectively impose a stronger sanctions regime. that's fallacious. we would walk alone, as mr. scowcroft has said and colin powell has said. the notion that we have the financial power when already other nations have begun to undertake some further economic work with iran, it's -- it's an illusion. it's an illusion. because so many of the sanctions would disappear. the other countries would not participate. and the ministers from th

and if anybody wants to raise that question, i suggest that they talk to howard berman. it's not true. there were differences of opinion about the nature of the sanctions in some respect. it is incorrect to say that this administration opposed sanctions against iran. it's not true. and i just want to say one other word about this notion that we'll be stronger turning this down in terms of sanctions. i don't know of any responsible person who has looked at this who has the background in it who says that. i just suggest that you look at the testimony of secretary jack lew. he just refutes this notion that if we turn this down, we can on our own effectively impose a stronger sanctions regime. that's fallacious. we would walk alone, as mr. scowcroft has said and colin powell has said. the notion that we have the financial power when already other nations have begun to undertake some further economic work with iran, it's -- it's an illusion. it's an illusion. because so many of the sanctions would disappear. the other countries would not participate. and the ministers from th