Skip to main content

The World is a Safer Place with Soleimani Gone

January 9, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) took to the House Floor to blast Democrats' cynical attack on President Trump just days after the U.S. military took out the notorious and brutal Iranian terrorist, Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops.

Democrats' concurrent resolution, constitutionally, has no force of law. It is nothing more than a press release declaring Democrats' frustration at President Trump's foreign policy successes. Iran, a regime of human rights abusers, hostage-takers, and terrorists, finally fears our military after years of being treated with kid gloves.

Image removed.
Click here or on the image above to view the remarks.


Full remarks:

"Thank you, Madam Speaker. I thank my colleague from Texas for yielding and I rise in strong opposition to this resolution.

"And if you look at what they're attempting to do, there's been a lot of talk about the 2002 AUMF, Madam Speaker, and I'm sure as Congress has over the years — will continue to have a healthy debate over what that proper role should be of Congress as it relates to the 2002 AUMF. But that's not what this debate is about. When you read the resolution, in fact just by its own name, this is not an act of Congress. This isn't even changing the law.

"And so if you want to have a sincere debate over what that power should be, that Congress gave to the executive branch, then let's have that debate. But don't try to pass some fig leaf resolution that is only intended to try to undermine the President in the middle of a conflict with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism.

"Iran — there's no dispute about how bad of an evil terrorist Soleimani was, but yet you hear all of these equivocations — 'oh, Soleimani was a bad person. But...' How can you sit here and try to apologize for the things that he did by saying taking him out was wrong? This world is a safer place with Soleimani gone.

"And if you want to apologize to anybody, go apologize to the families of those hundreds of men and women in our uniform who are dead at the hands of Soleimani. Not only the people who he had already killed, but the people who he, at the very time of his death, was plotting to kill even more Americans. How much is enough? At what point do we say, 'take him off the face of this planet so he can't kill more innocent people?'

"That's what was ultimately done. We support President Trump in his efforts at keeping America safe, just like we supported President Obama when he took out Osama bin Laden — another evil terrorist who had the blood of thousands of Americans on his hands. If we're going to be serious about keeping this country safe, absolutely there's a role for Congress to play, but you've got to support the efforts of your commander-in-chief to carry out his constitutional duty, which he has to keep this country safe."