A resolution calling for free and fair elections in Iran, and for other purposes.

Madam President, I wish to add my gratitude and recognition of Ambassador Patterson and her whole team--the State Department team on the ground. They did a very good job making the case to the Egyptian Government. But we have to all realize Egypt is in transition. They have just had their elections for the lower house, the Parliament. The upper house has not been seated yet, and they have not elected a President. They have gone from a dictatorship to an emerging democracy, and this case comes along, the NGO prosecutions.

I think both of us--our entire delegation--think this is offensive. The IRI, the NDI are Republican-Democratic organizations funded by the government and the private sector that try to help emerging democracies all over the world. They have been in every country hotspot you can name--after the collapse of the Soviet Union--doing great work. So the accusations were the people involved in these organizations--and Senator McCain is the head of IRI--were involved in spying and espionage, and I wanted to take the floor to say I found the accusations offensive and without merit.

The Egyptian coworkers, Egyptian citizens who were working with the IRI and NDI, are still in custody in Egypt, facing criminal prosecutions for helping these fine organizations, and we will not take our eye off of that and we will keep pushing to make sure we get the right answer.

But how did this end? We know how it started. I think it was a political effort to try to justify Mubarak-era law that was used to oppress and keep out of the country people who were helping to bring about change. One of the bright spots of this engagement was that the army--and General Tantawi was as helpful as he could be, given the constraints of the army in this new government formation.

But when we engaged the Muslim Brotherhood, the Freedom and Justice Party, the largest bloc in Parliament, Senator McCain, in his first engagement, the first thing he said to the representative was this NGO situation and how damaging it was to Egypt-American relationships, how unfair it was, how out of bounds it was in terms of the law. The response was from this group that we find the NGO law unacceptable, unjust, and we are wanting to change it. Once that statement was made publicly, it allowed this momentum to withdraw or lift the administrative travel ban. The cases may still go forward, but our people are coming home.

I think the reason this happened is because of the collaboration between the State Department, the delegation, every aspect of the American Government, and the people on the ground in Egypt I think understood the value of the United States-Egyptian relationship, and the judicial system finally made a wise decision. To those left behind, we are certainly standing with you, and you will not be forgotten.

But this could have ended the United States-Egyptian relationship.

Senator McCain and Senator Hoeven, let me ask a question to you both. If this had not ended well, if they had insisted on prosecuting and having the American citizens questioned appear in cages before an Egyptian court based on an outlandish acquisition, what kind of reaction would we have had in the United States and what damage would it have done to United States-Egyptian relationships, in your opinion?

Will the Senator yield?

And I will turn it back over to Senator McCain.

I can tell you that very few people in Egypt, almost no one in Egypt realized somebody from North Dakota was being held. You were on message. You were very effective. I hope Staci and her family appreciate it, and I know they do. But for everybody--Sam, the NDI workers, the whole gang--we are proud of what they do.

Senator Blumenthal is here, and I want people to know this is a bipartisan delegation. We had kind of a dinner meeting, when things were not going so well, about the idea of bringing our American citizens down to Egyptian court to be put at risk securitywise and maybe to be put behind cages--which would have destroyed the relationship. I think Senator Blumenthal made it crystal clear that was not a good idea. And thank God it didn't happen.

With that, I yield back to Senator McCain.

I think this is a very good topic to be talking about-- the future--because this is an episode that could have destroyed the relationship before it had a chance to mature. What am I concerned about? I am still concerned about the development in Egypt. The Constitution will be written here in the coming months, by the summer. I want to make sure America's voice is heard about who we are. We hope that the Egyptian people embrace tolerance; that the Coptic Christians are going to be welcomed as they have been for centuries in Egypt; that religious minorities will be protected; that women will not be taken back into the darkness; that the Constitution will reflect an Islamic nation that understands the concepts of tolerance and free enterprise.

The Muslim Brotherhood will be the leading organization politically. It is up to them to create an environment where the world feels welcome. It is up to them to create an economy, working with their coalition partners. We will be watching. It is not what you say in politics, it is what you do. Apply that to all of us here. I think we are failing our people back in the United States by talking way too much and doing too little.

Between now and the summer can really be outcome-determinative for decades in Egypt. I am urging the Egyptian political leadership, the Muslim Brotherhood included, to write a constitution and create an environment where people believe they can come and visit Egypt and do business. Senator McCain is dead-on. There is a lot of money to be made interacting with the Egyptian people, and they are

a proud people and smart people, and I want to get our businesses on the ground. I want to help the Egyptian economy develop through the private sector, not just the public.

I am the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, working with Senator Leahy, the chairman. We will be continuing to provide economic assistance, but the end game is to create a functioning society we can do business with where we can create jobs in America.

The main thing to do in the short term is maintain the military relationship. The reason Egypt did not become Syria when people were rising against the autocratic regime is because the Army stood by the people. The relationship we have had with the Egyptian military over 30 years really paid dividends. Egyptian officers coming to American military academies and schools has been invaluable.

As we go forward, maintain that relationship between us and the Egyptian Army, honor the treaty with Israel, make sure you write a constitution worthy of a bright future in Egypt, and to all the political leaders in Egypt: The world is watching, the Arab world is watching, and if you have a narrow agenda, if you have an exclusive agenda, you will be doing your country a disservice. We will be a willing partner but not under any and all circumstances. Maybe we have learned our lesson--that you cannot have partnerships without basic principles.

We look forward to working with the Egyptian Parliament and people. They have a chance to change the course of history in the Arab world and the Mideast. Don't lose the opportunity.

Will the Senator yield for just 1 second?

Not only did we meet with people who came back to Libya from the University of Alabama--if there had been anybody from North Dakota, I would have known about it, I assure you.

We met a person who was detained at Gitmo--you talk about a small world and how the world changes--someone detained at Guantanamo Bay because they had been involved with some very unsavory characters but who did not adopt the al-Qaida agenda but will be a key player between the United States and Libya.

I want to mention--I think my colleagues will verify this--you have been nice to Senator McCain and myself, but let me tell you, having the three Senators there, as Senator Blumenthal said, echoing public opinion in America--we were not negotiators, we were trying to tell people the way it was here at home--we could not have done it without the three of you saying, here is the way it is.

But let me say, when Senator McCain turned to the former Guantanamo Bay detainee and said: You know, I have been in prison, too, and about forgiveness and about starting over and starting a relationship in Vietnam--Senator McCain and Senator Kerry did that--and about understanding that the future is what we want it to be, I thought it was a very moving moment. I think the interaction between the two individuals gave me a sense that there is hope out there.

I want to acknowledge that was an unusual moment, when you meet someone who had been in Guantanamo Bay, who is now one of the future leaders of Libya, and have a Senator from the U.S. Senate who served his country and was a prisoner of war--that was an incredible exchange. I hope something good comes from it.

Madam President, I, along with Senators Graham, Hoeven, Blumenthal, and Sessions, had a very interesting trip last week, where we visited various countries and learned a lot at each one. The reason we are here on the floor today is to talk a bit about the recent release--thank God--of Americans who were in the American Embassy and were subject to trial and prosecution by the Egyptian Government. This was a humanitarian issue from the standpoint that no American citizen should be treated that way, especially by an ally, but it was also a larger issue in that the outcome could have significantly impacted relations between our country and Egypt.

Egypt, as my friend from South Carolina well knows, is the heart and soul of the Arab world. What happens in Egypt affects the entire Arab world. Our relationship with Egypt is one that is vital not just for Egypt but our national security interests are that the region remain peaceful and that there not be conflict and abrogation of the treaty that was concluded between Egypt and Israel as a result of the Camp David agreements.

I think it is important to recognize that Egypt is in a bit of turmoil. These young people, from the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, and Freedom House, unfortunately, had to go to our embassy because they were going to be prosecuted under then-Egyptian law.

I wish to begin by saying that our Ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, may be one of the finest diplomats this Nation has produced. The more the Senator from South Carolina and I travel, and the more we meet with and have discussions with representatives at our U.S. Embassies, we realize these people are enormously good, and we are proud they represent the United States, particularly Anne Patterson.

She has worked tirelessly since this whole crisis began. I believe the majority of the credit for this successful outcome, as far as our American citizens are concerned, can be directly attributed to her dedication, her hard work, and her tireless efforts day and night on behalf of these young people. So we are extremely proud of her.

I wish to ask my friend from South Carolina what he thinks were the reasons why the Egyptian Government changed what they had previously said would be a judicial prosecution of these American citizens to allowing them to leave Egypt and return to the United States, as they are now on their way?

As the Senator from South Carolina knows, there was a pending amendment to cut off the $1.3 billion. I would emphasize to my colleagues that $1.3 billion was a commitment that was made at the time of the Camp David agreement which led to a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which, if that amendment had been enacted, I am confident would have been cause for the Egyptians to abrogate the peace treaty with Israel. The consequences of all that I am not sure of.

I wish to emphasize to my friend--and I see Senator Hoeven here--we did have meetings with the speaker of their Parliament and his colleagues. We did have meetings with the chairman of their committee on human rights, who happens to be the nephew of Anwar Sadat, one of the signatories to the Camp David agreement--the signatory, along with Menachem Begin. We did meet with the Muslim Brotherhood, who then agreed with us that NGOs are important and the law needed to be revised. Of course, we met with Marshal Tantawi, the head of the interim military government.

What confused us a bit at first, I ask my colleague from North Dakota, was that everybody said: We are with you. Yet, they were gridlocked. In the words of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who had been over there, they were paralyzed. It seemed to me that the statement of the Muslim Brotherhood--who all of us I know have concerns about, but it was the statement of the Muslim Brotherhood supporting NGOs, supporting revision of the Mubarak law that seemed to be a major factor in unsticking what had clearly been a situation which day by day grew more and more of a crisis. I would ask my friend from North Dakota if he had that same impression.

I agree with my colleague from South Carolina. Senator Blumenthal was very important, one, for bipartisanship, but also his background as a prosecutor.

At one point in all of this back and forth, one of the lawyers--who will be unnamed--said to Senator Blumenthal that: Well, we probably have to go along with the advice of the lawyers. And Senator Blumenthal, in a very succinct way, said: Well, maybe it is time to fire the lawyers.

So I want to thank Senator Blumenthal for his involvement and the expertise and knowledge that he brought to this whole scenario because of his background as a prosecutor and attorney general of his State.

I guess I wonder, from my friend from Connecticut, if he believes that this kind of thing is something we should be emphasizing, these NGOs, so maybe we can prevent this in the future.

For example, when we visited Tunisia, the Tunisians have enacted a law that encourages the participation of these dedicated men and women who come and live and work in their country and help them build democracy. That was what was so--not enraging, but certainly it was so frustrating to hear these people who are only trying to build democracy. They weren't there to make money. They weren't contractors. They weren't anybody who was in business. They were just trying to help them build democracy, and they end up in the situation that they were in--which caused us from time to time to maybe grit our teeth, I would ask my friend from Connecticut.

Didn't my friend from Connecticut find it striking that these new parliamentarians were most eager to have interparliamentary association with us? They wanted to come to the United States to have further relations between the two elected bodies. I was very impressed by that.

Very briefly, before I turn to my other two colleagues, the day we arrived in Egypt there was a suppliers conference, companies and corporations from all over the world, ranging from companies such as General Electric, Boeing--the major corporations. It is very clear that the one thing they need is jobs--jobs and jobs and jobs. Their tourism has collapsed. Unless their economy improves, I think they are going to face some very significant challenges.

At least I was very happy to see a lot of American participation in that gathering. I think they said there were like 600 people in that room, all of them representing various businesses in the United States. And of course they are experiencing a hard currency crunch right now that is very significant.

I thank my colleagues and dear friends. It was an exciting trip and a very interesting one. I would just like to say that when you go to a country such as Libya and see the challenges they have with the militias and yet the dedication of their leadership toward a free and democratic country; when you go into Libya, where both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister both attended school or were professors at the University of Alabama, it really does show the incredible effect of an education in the United States of America.

Extremist, but anyway----

I note the presence of my colleague from Vermont. I once again thank my colleague. Every once in a while we can think we did a little bit of good around the world, and thanks to the five of us, I think we really did. I think we can be proud.

We are also proud that we represent, still, in their view and our view, the greatest Nation in the world.

I yield the floor.

I wish to thank the esteemed Senator from Arizona for allowing me to join him on the floor today to talk about this very important issue that has had a favorable outcome. Even more importantly, I want to express my great appreciation and gratitude to Senator McCain and Senator Graham for organizing the opportunity for us to go over to Egypt, and to not only meet with our NGO workers at the U.S. Embassy, but to engage in conversations and meetings with military and government leaders on this very important issue.

It is not just these seven Americans we are very concerned about, and their safety--which obviously is paramount. But as Senator Graham indicated, this situation clearly had ramifications for the relationship on a longer term basis between Egypt and the United States, and Egypt and Israel, particularly in regard to the peace treaty.

So taking this initiative to sit down with Field Marshal Tantawi, who is the leader of the military council, but also the leaders of the Freedom and Justice Party--which is the majority party now in the Parliament. Of course, that is the Muslim Brotherhood. We sat down with the Muslim Brotherhood as well. I think those meetings were extremely important in helping to foster an understanding that broke the logjam.

I too want to commend the work of our Ambassador, Ambassador Anne Patterson. She did an outstanding job. I want to thank Secretary Clinton and the people at the State Department for their diligent efforts. But I must say, having the opportunity to be part of a delegation led by Senator McCain and Senator Graham gave us the opportunity to talk to the Muslim Brotherhood, gave us the opportunity to talk to the leaders of the Freedom and Justice Party. And the next day they put out a statement, which I agree was very important in helping move things forward, because what they said in that statement involved two things, two things that I do think helped break the logjam; first, that they support nongovernment organizations. They support nongovernment organizations. They recognize that these NGOs do important work, and they want to address the laws in Egypt to make sure they have good laws that will enable the NGOs to continue.

The second thing they said, which I thought was particularly important, is they also expressed their concern about NGO workers, and that those NGO workers be treated fairly.

As Senator McCain said, I hail from the State of North Dakota, and he knows I am going to say this. I can see the smile sneaking up on his face already. One of the NGO workers, one of the Americans detained under the travel ban whom I had the opportunity to visit with at the Embassy is a woman named Staci Haag. She has been over

there working. Needless to say, I was worried about all of our Americans. I was really worried about Staci, and making sure that she and her fellow workers--and of course, Secretary LaHood's son, Sam LaHood, but all of them, that they were able to get home safely.

Again, I think it was important in terms of fostering an understanding that I hope now will continue as we work to build relations with Egypt and their new government.

I will, to the Senator from South Carolina.

I echo the sentiments of the good Senator from South Carolina. What I would like to add is I think that is exactly the right question to pose. The Senator from Connecticut says: Where do we go from here? I think that is right-on. There is no question in my mind but that the relationships Senator McCain and Senator Graham have built overseas made a difference for the United States and our foreign policy. This is a clear example of it.

When we sat down with Field Marshal Tantawi, when we met with other government leaders, even when we met with the Muslim Brotherhood, because of the fact that there was a relationship there, that they knew these individuals, there was some level of trust there that enabled us to engage in very important communications that produced a message that I think was integral to the resolution of this situation, which could have been a very bad one.

These relationships matter when we talk about working with other countries, particularly in that part of the world. There are so many differences between our countries and how we operate that having some relationships where people can sit down, have these discussions, and talk about how we work together and foster some future agreement and some mutual understanding is vitally important.

At the meeting with the Freedom and Justice Party parliamentary members, we invited them to come visit us. I think that would be very helpful and very important, not only so these new leaders and their parliament have a better sense of the United States and how we work and the kinds of relationships we can foster in both business and government but also so the Members of this Senate, of this Congress, and our people here get a better sense of them as well. I believe that is very important as we track forward with this new, young government that is now embarking on writing a constitution and governing in a vitally important country in the Middle East.

At this point, I would like to turn things back to the good Senator from Arizona, with my sincere gratitude.

Madam President, I request 10 minutes to speak in regard to a resolution.

I thank my colleague from Arizona who led this trip. Very enthusiastically and emphatically I would say the answer is, yes, we should be encouraging these nongovernmental organizations that are committed to the cause of democracy and human rights and civil society. Their work in Egypt and in places such as Tunisia and other areas of the Middle East, as well as around the globe where democracy and freedom are at risk and sometimes at great peril, has been enormously important.

I was so proud and grateful to be part of this trip led by Senator McCain, and to hear and see the kind of respect there is in the world for his views, for his leadership, as well as for Senator Graham's. And ``receptiveness'' is probably an understatement that Field Marshal Tantawi, leaders of Parliament, and others in Egypt had for his statements about the importance of allowing these Americans, these seven Americans, who committed no crime, to leave that country. The power of his and Senator Graham's statements, the ability of our colleagues such as Senator Hoeven and Senator Sessions to speak--not on behalf of the United States, because we were not there to negotiate-- but on behalf of public opinion in the United States I think was very instrumental and shows the importance of the interchanges and the relationships that can be built when we interact face to face, on the ground, with our peers and contemporaries in foreign countries. Not that we were speaking as military people or as diplomats, but simply in reflecting the opinion of people in the United States that these Americans, innocent of any crime, should be permitted to leave the country.

I would say, yes, indeed. I was extraordinarily impressed by their eagerness to see what democracy looks like as it works. Remember, some of these individuals have been in prison for long periods of time, some of them under the most brutal conditions, many of them tortured while they were there, with little exposure to the real world of democracy.

In answer to the question of the Senator from Arizona, it would be very helpful to them. In fact, on a number of occasions we invited them to come to this country.

But I would ask the Senator from Arizona and perhaps my other colleagues who are on the floor today to look ahead and to comment perhaps on what we can do to move in a positive way from here, because I think all of us feel Egypt is a linchpin for our relationship to that area of the world going forward. So much that is exciting is happening in that part of the world, and Egypt is so critical to it. So I would ask my friends from Arizona and South Carolina and North Dakota what they feel perhaps are positive steps we can take to build on this good step forward.

It was an extraordinary moment but even more so because Senator McCain asked a number of them--one in particular--about the impacts on their families and in that case, I believe, the impact on his wife. We tend to forget in this country--all too often we tend to take for granted the immense protections we enjoy in this country, the value of our freedoms.

That moment was profoundly moving for me, and his reaction in the realization of how far he has come as a leader in his country, how much he has endured, how much pain and travail for him and his family. It was a striking reminder about the importance of democracy and freedom and the protections we often take for granted and the great work being done by those nongovernmental organizations in fostering freedom and democracy, sometimes at peril or risk to themselves.

The Senator from South Carolina has hit a very important point, and it ties to what Senator McCain said about the suppliers conference in Egypt. These principles and the growth of democracies in that part of the world are important, not just because we like democracy and not just because of the strategic value, militarily, and the interests that our national security has, but also they are potential markets for our exports. The Senator from South Carolina used that word. People should understand that there is an important interest that we have in promoting jobs in those countries because it will be jobs for us. That is, at a very basic level, one of the values of this trip, trying to promote and expand those markets, as Senator McCain did in speaking at the suppliers conference in Cairo to hundreds of Egyptian businessmen wanting to do business, buy our products, and expand their markets.

I yield.

Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from North Dakota for his leadership on this very important issue. I want to thank him for his perseverance and his vision in seeing the importance--along with Senator McCain, Senator Graham, and Senator Sessions--of this kind of effort, which had its genesis in the trip that we took to Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Tunisia, and Libya.

What impressed us so much is how democracy is growing and starting there, and in that part of the world how the dictatorship and tyranny of Iran are such contrasts with the hopeful, burgeoning democracies that are growing there. That is the reason so many of our colleagues--I believe that over 60--have joined.

I want to ask unanimous consent that Senator Klobuchar of Minnesota be added as a cosponsor.

Mr. President, I am honored today to speak in support of the Hoeven-Blumenthal resolution calling for free and fair elections in Iran and condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its ongoing violations of human rights. These violations are brutal, tangible, and real in their impact on individual lives in that country, and our hearts go out to the people of Iran, particularly the individuals there fighting for freedom and democracy.

The world has watched the Arab spring bring down dictators in Tunisia and Tripoli, and the people of Iran continue to be denied those basic human rights that we hold dear and which should be universal.

I also want to thank Secretary Clinton for her tireless work in this region. She arrived in Tunisia shortly after we left to consult with all nations interested in aiding the Syrian people and she showed, again, her dedication to this same cause of human rights through her leadership there.

I saw in our meetings with a new generation of leaders that is emerging in the Middle East how dramatic the statements we make here and the actions that we take impress them in their fight for basic human rights. How we are speaking out here for universal suffrage and freedom has an impact on what they do, and perhaps many in our own country need to be reminded about the importance of what we say and do here.

The parliamentary elections that will occur on Friday in Iran will be neither free nor fair. They have already taken actions to assure that it will be, as one observer said, the fakest one yet. But the brutal oppression in human rights going on there is too real for those who suffer at that government's and that regime's hands. As the resolution makes clear, Iran has already disqualified 2,200 candidates from actually running for office simply based on their political views.

It maintains severe restrictions on the press, strangling a free press, preventing even the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe from reaching the people of Iran, having created a sham election, a travesty, and a tragedy. The Iranian regime now will force Iranians to vote at the polls in an effort to show popular support, and force them to vote simply to show this sham support. The truth is it has no such support. Allowing international monitors to bear witness, as we demand in our resolution, would reveal these acts of oppression for what they are and for the world to see.

The last nationwide election held in Iran, on June 12, 2009, was widely condemned throughout the world. Following the election, there was brutal repression documented all too dramatically by the videos and other evidence that, in effect, was smuggled out of Iran, although in real time. That large campaign of politically motivated violence, intimidation, repression, torture, cruel and degrading treatment, including rape, executions, and extrajudicial killings, and indefinite detention is all well documented.

On December 26, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution denouncing the serious human rights abuses occurring in Iran. The Hoeven-Blumenthal resolution lets the people of Iran know we are with them, they are not alone; that we side with them, and we stand and speak out on their behalf because they are not forgotten in their effort for democracy.

The future of the Middle East will be determined first and foremost by the

people of the Middle East themselves, but American strength, vision, and leadership are absolutely essential. So in that regard I am very proud and grateful for the 62 cosponsors of this resolution--now 63 with Senator Klobuchar--and I again thank the Senator from North Dakota.

I yield the floor.