Royce, Ryan join House Republicans in unveiling new national security agenda

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), along with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), unveiled the House Republicans’ blueprint for security at home and abroad on Friday.

The blueprint is part of the House GOP’s “A Better Way” initiative, which outlines ideas to address terrorism, homeland security, threat detection and the defense of freedom. Threats and opportunities outlined in the plan include the Iran deal, a nuclear-armed North Korean regime, free trade promotion and the restoration of American leadership on the world stage.

Royce said that the Iran deal gave too much power to the ayatollah and that a more appropriate deal could have been reached.

“We needed a tilt toward the people in Iran,” Royce said. “Instead, the administration made the decision to engage with the ayatollah and in so doing, empowered, enabled that revolutionary regime in many ways. And subsequently [the White House] has bought into this idea now that they can’t offend the Iranian regime. And we’ve seen this in a whole slew of decision making. You know, giving them access to the dollar – the attempt to do that – the heavy water subsidy and so forth.”

Royce also emphasized the need for free trade promotion to increase U.S. influence in key areas throughout the world.

“Beijing has got an initiative underway for trade agreements all across Asia to sort of supplant U.S. influence throughout that region,” Royce said. “Those trade deals are based on a concept of trade—free trade—but with no standards. No rules. What the United States needs is free trade agreements with high standards. With rules that protect intellectual property. And we discuss this in this document. This is what is in the interest of U.S. jobs, but it’s also in the interest of U.S. national security.”