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Rep. Robert Dold

Mr. Speaker, in stopping a nuclear-armed Iran, 2012 will be as critical a year as ever, and that's a fact. But we here in this Chamber speak as one. With a bipartisan, unambiguous voice, we can drive the conversation all around the world, and that does mean something because the United States must lead the world. It is an abdication of our responsibility and leadership if we leave the Iranian threat to anyone else.

This Iranian regime is already the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They bear responsibility for killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They fuel Assad's slaughter in Syria. They were behind the recently foiled assassination plot right here on American soil in Washington, D.C. Now imagine what they would do under a nuclear umbrella of their own.

This is why we, this Congress, and this administration must anticipate what comes next. We must clearly establish that containment has no place at the table. Such a policy places us at the mercy of a madman, and it would unleash unparalleled consequences the likes of which the world has never seen. This is what's at stake.