In a rare moment of unambiguous bipartisanship, the U.S. Senate passed a bill authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) by unanimous consent. The bill, S. 2195, was recently introduced as an action to prevent any nation from appointing a known terrorist to be an ambassador to the United Nations (UN) and travel to American soil.
Iran recently appointed Hamid Aboutalebi to be their next ambassador to the UN–once an active participant in the group of terrorists who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
In a press release obtained by Breitbart Texas, Sen. Cruz stated, “This nomination is part of Iran’s clear and consistent pattern of virulent anti-Americanism that has defined their foreign policy since 1979. We need to send Tehran an equally clear message: The United States Senate is not going to just ignore this most recent insult, but is going to give our President the authority to affirmatively reject it. I am proud to join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on this national security issue that transcends political parties.”
In the House of Representatives, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) filed companion legislation, H.R. 4375. Senator Cruz called upon the House to fast-track the bill and pass it prior to the Easter recess.
Breitbart Texas reported Cruz’s filing of the bill on April 2nd, where Sen. Cruz said, “Iranian President Hasan Rouhani recently named Hamid Aboutalebi as the nation’s new ambassador to the U.N., which is headquartered in Manhattan. A visa application to allow him to enter the United States has been duly filed.”
“Mr. Aboutalebi is a special case,” Cruz stated after explaining the normal process for visa applications for ambassadors. “He was a member of the Muslim Students following the Imam’s Line. The group that held 52 Americans hostage in Tehran for 444 days from 1979 to 1981.”
Quoting General Stansfield Turner, Cruz said, “You don’t have a better bad idea than this?”
Cruz’s bipartisan action is not without precedence, however. In early March 2014, the junior Texas Senator led the Senate to block the Obama nomination of cop killer advocate Debo Adegbile to head the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
See the rest of Senator Cruz’s Senate Floor remarks below.
Follow Bob Price on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX
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