mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
i rise in strong support of the henry j. hyde united nations reform act and would like to provide some insight on the background and the impetus for title iii of the bill that relates , as the chair pointed out , to the international atomic energy agency . 
to put it simply , the catalyst was the iran case . 
for at least two decades , the iranian regime has been pursuing a covert nuclear program . 
according to the november 2003 report of the iaea , iran 's deceptions have dealt with the most sensitive aspects of the nuclear cycle . 
furthermore , the international atomic energy agency could not disprove that iran 's nuclear program was not for weapons development . 
in 2004 , the iaea reports enumerated more iranian breaches , including work on an element that could be used for nuclear explosions . 
and the response from the iranian foreign minister as well as the secretary of iran 's supreme national security council was that iran had to be recognized by the international community as a member of the nuclear club and , `` this is an irreversible path , '' they said . 
fast forward to this year , and the news reports appearing in the last few months state that the iranian regime plans to install 54 , 000 advanced p-2 model centrifuges at its facility in natanz . 
the director general of the iaea has called upon iran to allow its inspectors full access to the sites in lavizan and parchin . 
yet iran has recently barred the international atomic energy agency from visiting those sites , and western intelligence sources cited by the media sources suspect that iran may be experimenting with high explosives appropriate for nuclear weapons . 
just yesterday at the board meeting in vienna of the iaea , it was revealed that iran had conducted experiments to create plutonium for many more years beyond what it claimed . 
all of this , and iran has yet to suffer any consequences or has been held accountable by the iaea for its flagrant and indeed dangerous violations and breaches . 
in fact , iran recently served on the board of governors of the international atomic energy agency because , under the current structure , under its policies , countries that are suspected of breaching their safeguards , they are allowed to serve in leadership positions within the agency . 
the iran case as well as the linkage to the nuclear black market network of pakistani scientist a.q . 
khan illustrates another grave issue , the need to deny and deprive terrorists , whether state or nonstate actors , the access to the technology , to the parts , and to the materials to develop a nuclear-related arsenal . 
these dangers prompted the gentleman from illinois ( chairman hyde ) and me to take immediate steps within the context of the u.n . 
reform bill to strengthen the international atomic energy agency in the areas of safeguard inspections and nuclear security ; also , to effectively use u.s. contributions to deny rogue states and state sponsors of terrorism , such as iran , such as syria , the ability to pursue dangerous weapons with virtual impunity . 
and title iii of this bill thereby translates objectives into concrete actions to achieve u.s. counterproliferation goals . 
it seeks the establishment of an office of compliance and enforcement within the secretariat of the agency to function as an independent body of technical experts that will assess the activities of member states and recommend specific penalties for those that are in breach or violation of their obligations . 
also , it establishes a special committee on safeguards and verification to advise the board of governors on additional measures necessary to enhance the agency 's ability to detect undeclared activities by member nations . 
furthermore , it seeks the suspension of privileges of member states that are under investigation or in breach or noncompliance of their obligations and the establishment of membership criteria that would keep such rogue states , such as iran , such as syria , from serving on the board of governors . 
the section in this act reinforces our u.s. priorities concerning the safety of nuclear materials and counterproliferation by calling for u.s. voluntary contributions to the agency to primarily be used to fund activities related to nuclear security . 
and , mr. chairman , that is why , under the leadership and expertise of the gentleman from illinois ( chairman hyde ) , we understand that the bill before us and especially title iii of this bill translates these objectives into concrete actions , and we hope that the full body will recommend passage of this bill . 
