[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5007-S5015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will be 
in a period of morning business until 12 noon, with Senators permitted 
to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, and the time equally 
divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with 
Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the 
final half.
  The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I return the compliment to Senator 
McConnell from Kentucky, the Republican leader.
  I have been here now since 2002. There is no better friend of the 
State of Israel than Mitch McConnell. He is the former chairman and 
ranking member of the foreign ops subcommittee on appropriations that 
deals with aid to the world--particularly Israel--and it was his idea 
to come to the floor today and have voices speak in support of Israel 
at a time when they need friends.
  Friends are great to have. They are wonderful in good times. They are 
a necessity in bad times. Israel is going through some pretty bad times 
and so are the Palestinian people.
  I wish to clearly make myself known. I have nothing against the 
legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people to have 
their own country, to live in peace and prosperity by Israel. But they 
have to want it more than I do.
  The Palestinian people are suffering. Children are being killed, and 
the most innocent people on the planet are children. It breaks all of 
our hearts to see them as a casualty of war.
  But now is the time to be clear-eyed and focused as to what the 
problem really is. The problem is very simple in many ways. Hamas is a 
terrorist organization in the eyes of the U.S. Government. Hamas should 
be a terrorist organization in the eyes of any decent person in the 
world.
  What did they do? They have as their goal not a two-state solution 
but a one-state solution--the complete and utter destruction of the 
State of Israel. If you don't believe me, just check out their own 
charter. They have as their tactics using their own people and children 
as human shields to win a propaganda war.
  When Israeli children are killed, it breaks Israel's heart. When 
Palestinian children are killed, it breaks the heart of all decent 
Palestinians, but Hamas sees it as a victory. They literally try to put 
women and children in harm's way to marginalize the ability of Israel 
to defend itself against two things.
  The tunnels are something new in this fight. Forty-one tunnels have 
been discovered that go from the Gaza Strip--some into Israel itself--
and yesterday five Israeli soldiers were killed by an attack that came 
from Hamas fighters that penetrated Israel through the tunnels.
  So Senator McConnell is not only speaking for Republicans when he 
says the Senate stands firmly behind Israel's right to destroy the 
terrorist tunnels, but I think that is the body's view and Democrats' 
as well.
  There is a resolution that is bipartisan in nature before the body, 
and I hope we can pass it before Thursday. In the resolved clause, it 
says the Senate opposes any efforts to impose a cease-fire that does 
not allow the Government of Israel to protect its citizens from threats 
posed by Hamas rockets and tunnels. That, I believe, is the view of the 
Senate in a bipartisan fashion.
  Today, Republicans take the floor to clearly state where we stand in 
this conflict. We stand with Israel's right to defend itself against a 
terrorist organization called Hamas. We stand with the Palestinian 
people's legitimate aspirations to have a better life. But until that 
day comes, we are going to be firmly in the Israeli camp to defend 
themselves, because what would we do as a nation if a neighboring 
nation dug tunnels under our border for the express purpose of 
kidnapping and killing our citizens. What would America do if one 
rocket coming from a neighboring nation fired indiscriminately to kill 
American citizens? We would respond in the most aggressive fashion, and 
we would have every right to do so.

  As the minority leader stated, there is no moral equivalency. Israel 
tells you they are going to attack. Israel calls before the attack. 
Israel gives notice about an impending attack. Hamas secretly fires 
rockets, caring less where they land. Their hope is that it hits a 
kindergarten. That is their desire. And the only reason they have not 
been successful is because of the Iron Dome program that has been a 
collaboration between the United States and Israel for many years.

[[Page S5008]]

  There has been discussion about appropriating additional dollars for 
Iron Dome. That discussion needs to turn into a reality. We don't need 
to marry it with controversial topics. Israel is under siege. We are 
the best friend of the State of Israel. They need this assistance. 
Every Republican stands ready to work with every Democrat to pass--in 
the next 5 minutes--additional money for the Iron Dome program.
  In tough times, what is the smart thing and right thing for America 
to do? The smart thing for America to do is pursue a lasting peace, a 
peace with meaning, and not repeat the mistakes of the past. Insanity 
is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. 
Israel is beyond that moment. America needs to stand by Israel's 
legitimate right to get to the heart of the problem and not face this 
threat 6 months or 1 year from now.
  The one thing I can tell you that is not a smart thing to do is to 
give Hamas a bunch of concrete. They are not going to build schools 
with it; they build tunnels. All the aid the international community 
has been providing to the Gaza Strip, through the hands of Hamas, has 
not gone into building hospitals, schools, and the economic improvement 
of the lives of Palestinians but to create tunnels of war. The tunnels 
are weapons of war. The thousands and thousands of tons of concrete and 
iron that have been misappropriated to build these tunnels came from 
people with a good heart.
  How long does it take the international community to wake up to the 
fact that Hamas has a bad heart--an evil, wicked heart. They could care 
less about their own people. They want to destroy Israel.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. GRAHAM. Absolutely.
  Mr. McCONNELL. We all remember that 10 or 12 years ago Israel--which 
had previously occupied Gaza for the purpose of preventing these types 
of devastating attacks--left. They said: We are through. They made a 
solid statement and said: We are uncomfortable occupying, and all we 
ask in return for the removal of our occupation is a peaceful border.
  The Senator from South Carolina has just outlined that periodically 
this is what they have gotten in return for basically leaving Gaza 
alone and giving it a chance--if it chose to--to have a normal, 
peaceful existence. Yet they choose to continue the conflict, as the 
Senator from South Carolina indicated, because they are not in favor of 
a two-state solution; they are in favor of a one-state solution.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Senator McConnell is dead on point--land for peace. Give 
the Palestinians land and in return Israel gets peace. They gave the 
Gaza Strip to the Palestinians, and what have they gotten in return? 
They got 2,500 rockets in the last 3 weeks and terrorist tunnels.
  The idea that leaving an area will lead to peace in the Middle East 
with the Palestinians has not borne fruit. What to do? No. 1, pass more 
appropriations for Iron Dome because it is the right and smart thing to 
do.
  No. 2, pass a resolution saying we oppose any cease-fire that does 
not allow Israel to get to the heart of the problem when it comes to 
terrorist tunnels and dealing with the rocket threat against their 
country.
  No. 3, push back against the United Nations that has lost its moral 
way. The Human Rights Commission--which is a subcommittee, for lack of 
a better term, of the United Nations--passed a resolution 27 to 1 about 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, and I will read the first 
paragraph:

       Deploring the massive Israeli military operations in the 
     Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, 
     since 13 June 2014 that have involved disproportionate and 
     indiscriminate attacks and resulted in grave violations of 
     the human rights of the Palestinian civilian population, 
     including through the most recent Israeli military assault 
     on the occupied Gaza Strip, the latest in a series of 
     military aggressions by Israel, and through actions of 
     mass closures, mass arrests and the killing of civilians 
     in the occupied West Bank.

  This resolution is 1,600-and-something words, and it has a half 
sentence about rockets against Israel and nothing about the tunnels and 
never mentions Hamas.
  The third thing I would like this body to do, through a letter of 
resolution, is let the United Nations know we condemn this one-sided 
view of the conflict and that we find the Human Rights Commission 
report objectionable and, quite frankly, immoral.
  The vote was 27 to 1, and we were the only nation that objected to 
this resolution, which I think should make every decent person in the 
world feel the shame of the United Nations.
  I thank our leader on the Republican side for creating this 
opportunity and allowing us to speak on this issue, and I thank him for 
his longstanding support for the State of Israel.
  I close with this thought: In times of trouble, try to do the right 
thing and the smart thing, and they both come together on this issue. 
The right thing to do is to stand by your friends in Israel; the smart 
thing to do is to stand by your friends in Israel. The right thing and 
the smart thing to do is to oppose Hamas, which has a wicked heart, and 
allow Israel, once and for all, to fix this problem by demilitarizing 
Gaza and dealing with the tunnels and the rockets.
  As Senator McConnell said, Israel has tried cease-fires time and time 
again without dealing with the military threat they face. Not this 
time. When Israel says never again, they are referring to the 
Holocaust. America needs to stand with Israel and Israel should say to 
Hamas: Never again will we allow a cease-fire that allows you to dig 
tunnels under our borders to kidnap and kill our citizens, and never 
again will we allow you to rearm and rain holy terror on our people 
through thousands of rockets being fired at innocent civilians.
  Now is the time for the Senate to say with Israel, never again.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, briefly before Senator Ayotte takes the 
floor, I wish to commend Senator Graham for his suggestions. All three 
of those suggestions should be carried out this week. Time is of the 
essence.
  In listening to the litany of actions by the Palestinians that he 
recounted--and we all remember, going back almost to the founding of 
the State of Israel--I am reminded of what one of Israel's early 
Foreign Ministers once said about the Palestinians. He said the 
Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Sad but true.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Sad but true. I recall when Prime Minister Barak was 
in office at the end of the Clinton years. The administration brokered 
a deal that Israel at that time was willing to offer and Palestine said 
no. It was a deal they probably could not get today.
  We have seen a litany of opportunities wasted over the years, and the 
people who suffered as a result of it have obviously been the 
Palestinian people.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Absolutely. With that, I will turn over the debate to my 
good friend, the Senator from New Hampshire, Ms. Ayotte, who has been 
one of the leaders on our side on foreign policy and is a steadfast 
ally of our friends in Israel.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Ms. AYOTTE. I thank my colleagues, the Senator from South Carolina 
for his leadership and our leader, the Senator from Kentucky, for the 
incredible work he has done in supporting our great friend Israel and 
also leading this body in terms of the issues he has brought forward, 
not only in supporting important protections, such as the Iron Dome 
program, but also by ensuring America remains safe and strong. I thank 
Senator McConnell very much for his leadership.
  I rise because I had the privilege in March of traveling to Israel. I 
went there not only to meet with the leadership in Israel but I had the 
opportunity to meet with some of the Palestinian leadership as well.
  I went to Sderot, which is a town in Israel. I was very much struck 
by what the Israelis are facing every day and the threat they face from 
Hamas, a terrorist organization. Go to a town such as Sderot and 
everyone in their household has a bomb shelter. I met with mothers 
there whose children feel traumatized because they never know when the 
next potential rocket may be coming toward their town, and it has very 
much affected their children. It has affected them so much so that when 
one

[[Page S5009]]

goes to the playground where the children play, the playground itself 
contains a bomb shelter. There is a caterpillar which looks like 
something your kids would play in, but it is actually a bomb shelter 
because this town in Israel has been facing rockets from Hamas. That is 
what we need to understand in this conflict: Hamas, a terrorist 
organization, has not only used its own civilians, the Palestinians, as 
human shields but they have also continued to threaten the children of 
Israel so much so that their playgrounds have bomb shelters.

  What is happening right now in this conflict is that Israel is trying 
to defend itself against the threat of rockets from Hamas which 
threaten their children and the Palestinian children, who unfortunately 
have been put in harm's way by this terrorist organization, Hamas.
  They are facing a new threat. Can you imagine if we were faced with a 
threat where terrorists could pop up through a tunnel and suddenly 
terrorize the people in this country? Can you imagine what we would do 
under the same circumstance? That is the threat the Israelis are facing 
right now. They need to eliminate these tunnels to ensure that their 
people can be protected from this threat.
  How did they build these tunnels? They actually built some of these 
tunnels by using concrete the Israelis let the Palestinians have for 
building places such as schools, and instead Hamas has taken this 
concrete and used it to build terror tunnels to allow them to either 
kidnap or kill Israeli citizens.
  We stand with the people of Israel and their right to defend 
themselves against this terrorist organization Hamas and the terror it 
has brought upon not only the country of Israel but also the terror it 
has brought to the Palestinian people and how Hamas stands in the way 
of peace in the region overall.
  We also stand against the hypocrisy we have seen on many levels, and 
that hypocrisy and double standard has been most apparent in the U.N. 
Human Rights Council and the recent resolution passed by that council. 
I have to wonder why that council exists in the United Nations because 
they have countries such as China, Cuba, Russia, and Venezuela issuing 
a resolution condemning Israel for what is happening in this conflict 
but in no way even mentioning Hamas or what Hamas is doing to use 
civilians as shields and basically as targets so they can try to get 
support from the international community.
  The opposite is happening in terms of what Israel is doing. There is 
such a contrast. Israel is taking steps to notify civilians if there is 
going to be a missile launched in their area. They have warned 
civilians to leave areas. They have taken extraordinary steps to 
protect civilian lives in contrast to what Hamas is doing; they are 
using civilians as shields.
  We condemn in this body very clearly what the Human Rights Council 
has done. The notion that we are going to follow what China, Cuba, 
Venezuela, and Russia tell the world, which is their view on human 
rights--and they don't even mention the actions of a terrorist 
organization that is at the root of the conflict we see right now in 
Gaza--talk about the situation where the fox is watching the henhouse. 
That is what has happened with this human rights council. Frankly, this 
council, in my view, should be eliminated because it is the opposite of 
standing for human rights; it is for standing for terrorist 
organizations such as Hamas.

  I stand with the recommendations of my colleague from South Carolina 
and our leader that we need to absolutely condemn the human rights 
council. We need to reaffirm in this body this week before we leave our 
support for Israel's right to defend itself and to eliminate the threat 
these tunnels present to the Israeli people, and, frankly, also to the 
Palestinian people as well, and to allow them to finally address this 
threat from this terrorist organization Hamas.
  Until this threat is eliminated, there can be no peace in this 
region. There cannot be peace for the Israeli people and there cannot 
be peace for the Palestinian people. So it is my hope that we will take 
this up this week and make sure we clearly send a message to Israel; 
that we stand with Israel, that we clearly send a message to the U.N. 
that we are not going to accept the hypocrisy of the human rights 
council; that we clearly send a message to Hamas: We know who you are. 
You are a terrorist organization. Stop using civilians to try to 
accomplish your purpose and we stand with you.
  I yield the floor for my colleague.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, if I may before Senator Ayotte leaves 
the floor, I commend her on her contribution to this discussion and 
particularly with her stories with regard to Israel, and I would also 
add that I am sure the Senator from New Hampshire agrees with me that 
the last thing the American Government needs to do right now is try to 
pressure Israel into a bad cease-fire that doesn't allow this terror to 
be stopped.
  At times it appears to me that the American administration is trying 
to push the Israelis into stopping before they have finished the job. 
We all know, based on past history, that unless this operation is 
completed, these challenges will continue.
  I wanted to see if the Senator from New Hampshire shared my view.
  Ms. AYOTTE. I would fully share the Senator's view. In order to end 
this threat we need to support Israel and its right to eliminate the 
tunnels, to address the missiles and eliminate missiles and the stash 
that Hamas has that they are targeting Israel with--which, by the way, 
would have had many more civilian casualties but for the Iron Dome 
system that we have supported and worked with Israel on.
  Finally, we need to get to a point where Gaza is demilitarized and 
they are put in a position where this threat cannot continue. That is 
what we need to get to thinking about. But we need to allow Israel to 
deal with the threat of these tunnels and the missiles so the children 
in Sderot will not continue to be targeted, so children--not only 
Israeli children but also Palestinian children--can live in peace in 
the region. That cannot happen when Hamas continues to be a terrorist 
organization that threatens all children in the region.
  Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I wish to end on what my colleagues, the 
Senator from Kentucky and the leader, Senator McConnell, say. Senator 
Graham, Senator Ayotte, and I appreciate Senator McConnell's leadership 
in making very clear what is at stake here, pushing hard to make sure 
that the Senate is doing its job in support of Israel, making sure they 
are able to defend themselves and the funding for the Iron Dome which 
has been so effective as a defense mechanism against these rocket 
attacks is done in a way that allows them to continue to use it in that 
capability.
  As you look at the situation in Gaza, I want to start by taking a 
step back and looking at this conflict in both the historic and 
regional context. In Israel we have the only functioning democracy in 
the Middle East. Israel is a nation that emphasizes human rights and 
tolerance. Its population includes religious, ethnic, and cultural 
diversity. In Jerusalem you can hear the Muslim call to prayer, the 
bells from Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, and the prayers of the 
Jews at the Wailing Wall all at the same time. There is no other place 
like this on Earth.
  This democracy, however, is situated in a region of intense brutality 
and extremism. Historically that has meant seemingly endless conflicts 
with Israel's neighbors, intentionally targeting civilians in order to 
maximize casualties. One need only look across the border into Syria to 
get a glimpse of this brutality. When Syrians made the first attempt at 
striving for democracy, the Assad regime began systematically 
slaughtering opponents, including gassing civilians with chemical 
weapons. As that violence spread into Iraq, radical terrorist 
organizations such as ISIS began killing not only Shia opponents but 
also other Sunni clerics who would not swear allegiance to ISIS. 
Communities with ancient traditions such as the Christians in Mosul, 
who just 10 years ago numbered 60,000, have been forced to flee for 
their lives. Mosul has been completely emptied of Christians for the 
first time in 1600 years.
  It is in this context the people of Israel have built their nation. 
It is in this context that we now view the conflict in Gaza. The 
current conflict in

[[Page S5010]]

Gaza is one that Israel did not start. It started with Hamas firing 
over 2300 rockets from Gaza into Israel, specifically targeting 
civilian populated areas to maximize potential casualties. In response, 
Israel has conducted a methodical and enforceable response, as you 
would expect any nation to do. First Israel locates the source of the 
rocket. Then an attempt is made to call the residents by phone to tell 
them to evacuate. In many cases a flare is sent onto the roof as a 
warning that the location is about to be hit, before that location is 
ultimately destroyed.
  In a region where neighboring leaders indiscriminately drop barrel 
bombs on residential areas for the sole purpose of slaughtering 
civilians, Israel goes out of its way to save lives. These are not just 
civilian lives Israel is saving, because they know that by their 
efforts they are giving the aggressors a chance to escape as well.

  After Hamas continued to launch rockets into Israel, even when Israel 
agreed on multiple occasions to cease fire, tunnels were used to insert 
combatants near Israeli settlements. Israel responded with a ground 
assault to destroy the tunnels and eliminate Hamas's stockpiles of 
weapons. As the attacks and rocket launches continue, it is 
understandable that Israel would want to seek out and destroy 
stockpiles of weapons to keep the cycle from being repeated a few 
months from now.
  Like all of my colleagues on the floor today, I want to see peace in 
the Middle East. Specifically I want to see peace in the Gaza and West 
Bank. I want to see peace in such a way that the Palestinian people can 
live with the prospect of a better life. But as we have seen, peace is 
not possible when a terrorist organization continues to pursue its 
cause of annihilating Israel. Peace cannot be achieved while Hamas 
rejects cease-fire agreements and continues to fire rockets. As violent 
as the current conflict in the Gaza strip is, it would be far worse--it 
would be far worse--if Israel did not have the Iron Dome. In any 
conflict, civilian casualties are a tragedy and if Israel did not have 
the sophisticated, purely defensive weapons system that allows it to 
shoot these rockets out of the sky, the number of civilian casualties 
would be far greater.
  Hamas does not drop leaflets telling civilians to evacuate. Hamas 
does not send flares to warn residents to get out of harm's way. If not 
for Israel's Iron Dome, civilian casualties in Israel would be 
staggering. The United States must continue to support Israel by 
ensuring that Iron Dome missile defense systems remain an effective 
deterrent to even greater civilian casualties. For as long as Israeli 
men, women, and children need to run to bomb shelters ahead of Hamas 
rocket attacks we must support Israel's ability to defend itself.
  The United Nations Council on Human Rights and other countries around 
the world continue to do things that are consistently at odds with the 
facts and with reality. Here in the United States we need to do as my 
colleague from South Carolina said, the right thing and the smart 
thing, and in this case, the right thing and the smart thing are one 
and the same. So I hope my colleagues in the Senate will make a 
priority providing the necessary funding for Iron Dome and in standing 
united--united--behind our ally and our friend Israel as they defend 
themselves from these attacks.
  Mr. President, I see my colleague from Texas is on the floor, and I 
would simply ask him what role he sees the United States playing in 
both supporting Israel and providing support for the Iron Dome.
  Mr. CRUZ. I thank my friend from South Dakota.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I am pleased and saddened to stand here in 
support of my colleagues as we stand united in support of the Nation of 
Israel.
  In the last several weeks over 2500 rockets rained down over the 
Nation of Israel. Eighty percent of the population had to flee what 
they were doing and run to bomb shelters to hide--moms, dads, children. 
When the alarm goes off they have sometimes 10, 15 seconds to get to a 
bomb shelter.
  I want you to imagine if the same situation were happening in 
America. Imagine if 80 percent of this country in the last several 
weeks had run to a bomb shelter. Imagine if 240 million Americans in 
the last several weeks had been sitting at work or in the doctor's 
office or having breakfast and had to grab their children and run in 
panic toward a bomb shelter. Imagine what our country would be doing in 
response.
  In recent weeks we have discovered that Hamas has opened a new 
chapter in the annals of terrorism. It is not just raining rockets down 
from on high, but it is now attacking from below. Some 32 full-scale 
terror tunnels have been discovered dug under the ground under the 
border and coming up in kibbutzes inside Israel along Gaza. Some of the 
tunnels come up inside kindergartens. We have discovered in recent 
weeks a terrifying plot that was underway for Hamas terrorists on Rosh 
Hashanah to come through those tunnels--hundreds of them--to emerge in 
kindergartens to kidnap and murder vast numbers of young Jewish 
children.
  Imagine right now if enemies of this country had dug tunnels into 
this country and were coming up into our schools. Imagine if Iran or 
China or some other hostile foreign nation had tunnels from which your 
children and my children were at risk of being kidnapped or murdered. 
Today in Gaza we see massive civilian casualties that are the direct 
consequence of the violence of Hamas.
  You see, the human casualties are not an unintended side effect of 
the conflicts. They are the objective that Hamas seeks--dead 
Palestinian children and women and men. We know this because Hamas is 
engaging in a war crime right now, not that the United Nations Human 
Rights Council would ever say anything about it. But Hamas is engaging 
in a war crime of using human shields--deliberately using human 
shields. Where do they place their rockets with which they are raining 
down death and destruction upon Israel? They place them in schools. 
They place them in private homes. They place them in mosques. 
Deliberately they surround their rockets and their terror tunnels with 
innocent civilians.
  Israel right now is engaged in something unprecedented in the annals 
of modern warfare. It is undertaking more humanitarian effort to spare 
civilian deaths than any military has in recorded history. Before 
attacking, Israel sends out texts. When they discover a rocket battery 
they need to take out because it is firing rockets targeting innocent 
civilians, they send texts saying: Clear out of the area. They try to 
save the Palestinian civilians. They drop from the sky pamphlets on an 
area that is about to be bombed to take out the rockets that are coming 
from that area. The pamphlets say to the civilians: Get out. Get out 
because we are going to take out the rockets and you are in harm's 
way. Not only that, they have a practice of sending an initial knock 
bomb. What does that mean? It means the first bomb lands on the roof 
and makes a knock. It doesn't explode; it just makes a loud knock. They 
do that for a reason: So the people inside the building can look up, 
can hear the knock, and can flee the building so the second missile can 
take down the building and the rockets that are housed inside and being 
used to try to murder innocent civilians.

  A few weeks ago Prime Minister Netanyahu summed it up very powerfully 
when he said: Israel uses missile defense to defend our citizens. Hamas 
uses its citizens to defend its missiles.
  Israel has tried to warn Palestinian civilians: Don't be located 
where the missiles are because we are going to respond as any sovereign 
nation will to protect our citizens.
  What does Hamas say? Hamas tells the Palestinians: Stay there.
  Picture that for a second. Israel is warning civilians to clear the 
area because they are going to take out the rockets and they are going 
to take out the tunnels. The response from Hamas is: No. Stay there.
  Why? Because what they want to see is Palestinian children, 
Palestinian women killed so they can put the pictures on the Sunday 
night news because they know the world--many at the United Nations, 
many in the media--will behave like useful idiots. They will point to 
the civilian casualties that are Hamas's fault. When you put rockets on 
top of children, when

[[Page S5011]]

you tell the children ``do not leave,'' when you know the rockets are 
going to be taken out--it is Hamas, the terrorists who are responsible 
for those children's deaths. Yet the international community puts the 
pictures on the evening news and blames the nation of Israel.
  I am proud this week to have joined my colleague, Senator Gillibrand 
from New York, in filing a bipartisan resolution in this body 
condemning Hamas's use of human shields, condemning it as a war crime, 
condemning it as an outrage, condemning it as the direct reason we are 
seeing so many civilian deaths.
  I have to note that one of the reasons civilian deaths have been 
mitigated in Israel is because of the incredible success of the Iron 
Dome missile defense system. Ronald Reagan's ``Star Wars'' is today's 
Iron Dome.
  We see unfolding in recent weeks in Israel the product of President 
Reagan's vision when he proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, or 
SDI, on March 23, 1983. Critics at the time dismissed it as ``Star 
Wars.'' The Presiding Officer will recall--we were both teenagers at 
the time, and we recall learned experts, so to speak, going on 
television saying SDI was a fool's errand; it was a dream. The analogy 
that was given was you cannot hit a bullet with a bullet; it can't 
work. Well, run the clock forward three decades, and we see an Iron 
Dome, the strategic vision of President Reagan, playing out in real-
time.
  There is a wonderful video on YouTube that I encourage anyone who is 
interested to Google and watch. It is a video called ``Iron Dome 
Wedding.'' If people Google it, they will discover a video from a 
wedding in southern Israel. It is an ordinary wedding video, just like 
I suspect the Presiding Officer and I both had from our weddings. But 
in the midst of it, rockets begin coming through the night sky. We see 
rockets come across the sky, and then we see Iron Dome interceptors 
come up and explode the rockets. One after the other is hit and 
explodes, and the whole thing looks like fireworks. In the background 
we hear the wedding music and the sound of celebrating, and we think, 
were it not for these Iron Dome interceptors, those missiles might be 
landing on that wedding and causing carnage and death and destruction. 
But because of the potential, the power, the actuality of missile 
defense, instead they are intercepted.
  There are indisputable differences between the intercontinental 
ballistic missiles that SDI was designed to target and the low-tech 
missiles Hamas is firing over Israel that Iron Dome is intercepting. 
That is why Iron Dome is one part of a three-tiered system that 
includes David's Sling and the Arrow 2 and 3 systems, which are 
designed to guard against more sophisticated weapons, such as the 
longer range missiles being provided to Hamas by Syria and Iran, and 
they would also defend against nuclear ballistic missiles of the sort 
being developed in Iran.
  It is worth underscoring, even as the fighting in Gaza grabs the 
headlines, that we have to keep our eye on the far more serious danger 
of a nuclear Iran. The threat of a nuclear-armed Iran would make Hamas 
and their rockets seem like child's play. And our support for Iron Dome 
should be understood in the context of support for the continued 
development of these systems, which not only protect our friend and 
ally Israel, but they protect us. There is a reason why Hamas and Iran 
refer to Israel as the ``Little Satan'' and the United States as the 
``Great Satan,'' because their intention with both is the same terror, 
the same murder, the same death and destruction.
  Israel is currently working to carry out the grinding work to 
eradicate these terror tunnels that have been built under schools and 
kindergartens designed to kidnap and murder young children. I would 
note that it is an enormously difficult task, one that might prove 
impossible were it not for the success of Iron Dome limiting the 
effectiveness of those rockets.
  I encourage this body to stand together, united as one, Republicans 
and Democrats. There may be issues on which we disagree--there may be a 
great many issues--but we ought to be able to stand together as one and 
speak in unison that we support the nation of Israel and that we will 
work with the nation of Israel immediately to replenish their Iron Dome 
supply so they can protect the citizens there and so they can do what 
is necessary to eradicate the Hamas rockets and terror tunnels being 
used to commit war crimes. There should be a unified, bipartisan voice 
in this body, and it is my hope that by the end of this week that is 
exactly what it will be.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Murphy). The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. What is the parliamentary situation?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in a period of morning business.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. May I proceed or does the other party wish to--how much 
time is remaining on our side?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority has 3 minutes remaining, the 
majority has 47 minutes remaining.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. With the concurrence of the minority party, I wish to 
proceed. I know they haven't yielded back their time. If that is 
agreeable, and hearing no objection, I will proceed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today as the chair of the 
Appropriations Committee to talk about several challenges facing our 
country.
  First, I wish to respond to the comments made by many of the Senators 
this morning on the compelling need to pass supplemental appropriations 
to help Israel replenish the rockets it has used in its Iron Dome 
missile defense system. I am an unabashed, unrelenting supporter of 
that effort.
  For many years, as a U.S. Senator on the Appropriations Committee, on 
the Defense Subcommittee, as well as as a member of the Intelligence 
Committee, I know how important the Israeli missile defense system is, 
including Iron Dome, David's Sling, and others that are absolutely 
crucial. I worked hands-on with Senator Inouye--the late great Senator, 
a Congressional Medal of Honor winner--to make sure we funded the 
missile defense system for Israel and to work on a bipartisan basis 
with Senator Stevens and Senator Cochran. We worked together, and thank 
God it worked. We also implemented an agreement signed by President 
Bush with the Government of Israel that we would always help Israel 
maintain its qualitative edge. We have done it, and I am proud of it.
  Now more than ever an antimissile defense system that has worked 
needs to continue operation. We know the technology works, but they 
need to make sure they have the tools to make the technology work--
these additional rockets.
  We know Israel is under attack. It has always been under attack since 
its very founding. This is not an existential threat; this is not an 
abstract threat; it is a daily threat. We know Israel is trying to 
defend itself against the grim, unrelenting attacks by Hamas--a self-
avowed terrorist organization that has sworn in its documents not to 
allow Israel to continue. They absolutely oppose an independent Israeli 
State.
  This month we are commemorating the Warsaw uprising. The Presiding 
Officer is a member of a group we affectionately call the Polish 
Caucus--those of us who have a relationship with the Polish Government, 
one of our greatest supporters in the NATO alliance. We recall that 70 
years ago people were willing to fight back against the Nazis, rising 
out of the sewers of the Warsaw ghetto to be able to fight them off 
with sticks and stones and out-of-date weapons, working to liberate 
Poland from Nazis oppression.
  Miles away, in places such as Dachau, Auschwitz, and others, there 
were the death camps. We are 1 year away from commemorating the 
liberation of the death camps. We know that as those people marched out 
of those death camps, they made their way into Palestine, which became 
the State of Israel.
  We were the first Nation to recognize the necessary and rightful 
place for Israel to exist as an independent government and forever and 
a day the homeland for the Jewish people so they would be safe from 
terrorism and what occurred.
  I am for this whole Iron Dome supplemental, and we need to do it, but 
it cannot be the only thing we put in this supplemental. We have 
neighbors right now hurting in our own country--our 

[[Page S5012]]

Western States with wildfires raging over hundreds of thousands of 
acres, land being depleted, local resources for first responders being 
exhausted, local funds being worn down. We have to--we have to--be able 
to respond to the Western border.

  Then there is the crisis at our border, and the crisis is at our 
border because of the crisis in Central America.
  So when we move on the supplemental, let's look out for the great 
State of Israel, let's look out for our neighbors who are facing 
wildfires, and let's look out for what is going on at our border.
  But, Mr. President, I came to the floor, first of all, to compliment 
Senator Sanders for the outstanding job he did working on a bipartisan 
basis to pass the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 
2014. What a great job they did, out of a scandal--a terrible scandal--
affecting our Nation's veterans, where they had to stand in line simply 
to see a doctor in the very country they fought to defend.
  Now they have found they have had to defend themselves against VA 
bureaucracy and in some places duplicitous action.
  Well, the Sanders bill goes a long way, again, working on both sides 
of the aisle and both sides of the dome. Gosh, when we do this, this is 
why I wanted to be a Senator. I know this is why many others wanted to 
be a Senator: coming here, working on concrete problems, shoulder to 
shoulder, on a bipartisan basis, hands across the aisle, hands across 
the dome. And they did it. When this bill is passed, we will reduce the 
long wait times for veterans, we will increase doctors and nurses and 
specialty providers. It will allow veterans to see local providers if 
they have been on a wait list for an extended period of time or have to 
drive 40 miles to be able to get to a VA clinic.
  Boy, do I know that when I look at some of the rural areas.
  We are going to pay for it with $10 billion in mandatory emergency 
funds. Mandatory emergency funds, that is the way to do it.
  The Sanders bill will go a long way in increasing personnel and also 
in expanding a number of clinics--27 new clinics. So I think it is 
great.
  But as important as that bill is--and it is an important step--it 
cannot be the only step we take this week. I am so excited that 
shoulder to shoulder, again, if we work together, we can do a trifecta 
for our veterans. We can pass the Veterans Access, Choice, and 
Accountability Act--new opportunities for health care, where veterans 
do not have to stand in line. Also, we are going to vote today on 
Robert McDonald to give the VA a new Secretary, a new CEO, new 
leadership, hopefully new energy, new vitality, and new ways of doing 
business, bringing the practical know-how of the private sector to 
meeting our mission. But as important as those two are, I also come as 
the chair of the Appropriations Committee to say, why don't we take a 
third step that really will do the job? Let's pass the VA MILCON 
appropriations bill so we can actually put next year's funding in the 
Federal checkbook rather than just putting VA on autopilot? We can 
actually make a big difference with the new accountability, expansion 
of care bill, but that will take days, weeks, months to put in 
operation. Right this minute we could pass the VA MILCON bill as well 
as giving new leadership.
  I come here because I really do want to move the VA MILCON bill.
  The Appropriations Committee works through its subcommittees. And, 
wow, I have two great leaders on the VA MILCON Subcommittee, the 
chairman and ranking member, two outstanding Senators: Senator Tim 
Johnson of South Dakota and Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. They have 
worked so assiduously on coming up with a bill for funding our veterans 
for fiscal year 2015. It is an outstanding bill. But right now we are 
out there in the wilderness. We have moved it through the subcommittee. 
We have moved it through the full committee. It passed unanimously. We 
are out in the ethers waiting to come to the floor. Johnson and Kirk, 
Mikulski and Shelby, we are like people with our noses pressed against 
the glass. We see it within our grasp but we cannot get through. All we 
want to do is help to complete the job we are trying to undertake 
today.
  As much as the bill will be that Senator Sanders worked on, without 
the VA MILCON appropriations bill, the veterans will lack key tools to 
expand care, important support personnel that allows the doctors and 
nurses to do their job, important technology to run contemporary 
institutions. By the way, the bill we are going to be working on, the 
Sanders bill, is focused on health care, but we on the Appropriations 
Committee dealt not only with aspects of that but also the terrible 
backlog on veterans disability.
  Mr. President, veterans disability--not only do you have to stand in 
line to get health care, but you are standing days, weeks, months to 
get your disability claim. You have lost an arm or a leg or you cannot 
breathe or you have PTSD and we cannot get your disability processed. 
This is unacceptable. What we do in the VA bill is come up with the 
funds to really modernize the VA.
  First of all, just in terms of health care, to complement the Sanders 
bill, we have money in there to develop state-of-the-art technology so 
the doctors can provide medical health care, to make sure we have the 
modern equipment and the modern IT systems.
  Right now, we need to be able to have DOD talking to the VA because 
veterans come from DOD. But we have an interoperable system. We work to 
fix this. We also deal with this backlog. You have no idea, Mr. 
President. My State of Maryland and my office in Baltimore have not had 
a good track record. I vowed to my veterans that I would try to break 
that backlog. And you know what. Working together we have been able to 
do this.

  In the fiscal year 2015 bill, we fund an appeals process, we train 
additional claims processors, we require the management at the Veterans 
Benefit Administration to deal with the backlog, working with the new 
Administrator. We have not only great ideas, but we actually put the 
money in the Federal checkbook. Johnson-Kirk did it. Do you know how 
they did it? Yes, talking to the VA, reviewing tons of GAO and 
inspector general reports, and guess what else they did. They talked to 
the veterans. They talked to these wonderful volunteer service 
organizations.
  So I am going to propose something later on today or later on this 
week. I do not want to be the chair of a committee who has her face 
pressed up against the glass looking longingly at the Senate floor with 
a bill I know will help the Veterans' Administration with the heavy 
lifting to deal with the health care and disability backlog. Because I 
believe in no surprises and no stunts, later on today or later on this 
week, I will ask unanimous consent to bring up the VA MILCON on third 
reading to be able to compliment what we are doing here today. I want 
to be able to do that and I hope no Senator will object to it.
  Now, just again, in the spirit of full disclosure--because I truly 
have pledged to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle I would never 
be a surprise chair and I would never be one to pull gimmicks or 
stunts--I am going to ask that consent. I want people to know about it 
so they can discuss it, chew on it, talk at their respective luncheons.
  When I ask unanimous consent, I am going to ask that it be brought up 
on third reading. Why am I doing that? Because under the rules of the 
Senate, if you bring up a bill on third reading, there are no 
amendments. So the question would be: Senator Mikulski, are you trying 
to stiff-arm again? No. I am trying to get the job done. I am not 
trying to stiff-arm the opportunity to offer amendments. But we have 72 
hours left before we take this really long break--really long, long, 
long, very long--did I say ``long''--break. I do not think, when you 
need health care for veterans, when you need to modernize technology, 
when you need to crack the backlog--while we are kind of basking in the 
Sun somewhere--I do not want them in line.
  So either this afternoon or sometime tomorrow, I will ask unanimous 
consent. I will turn to my 99 colleagues, and in the spirit of really 
meeting compelling needs of our veterans, I will ask that bill come up 
so that as we move through the other two aspects that we are going to 
do to help veterans, we can do the VA MILCON bill.
  So I wanted to come to the floor today to talk about how we support a

[[Page S5013]]

treasured ally, how we look out for our neighbors in the West fighting 
our wildfires, and how we deal with the crisis in Central America, 
where children are being victimized and brutalized every day so they 
are making the long march across that terrain and territory to come to 
the United States of America.
  So I hope in the short time the Senate is going to be in session this 
week and this month and even this year we could use this week to meet 
the needs that are confronting us, but, most of all, I would hope we do 
not just do part of the job for our veterans; we do this trifecta that 
I am recommending: passing the Veterans Accountability Act, the health 
care act; give us a new CEO; and have a chance to pass the VA MILCON 
bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant majority leader.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to associate myself with the 
remarks of the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, my 
chairwoman, Senator Mikulski.
  I would add perhaps one particular point; that is, this Senator will 
be basking in the Sun in Illinois during the recess, and I invite the 
Senator from Maryland to come join us any time she would like to. But 
it will not be in ordinary vacation climes; it will be in my home 
State. I am sure the Senator is going to be spending a lot of time in 
hers as well.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. If I could respond to the Senator from Illinois, yes, I 
am staying in Maryland because I had hoped we would even be working on 
conference reports and so on. But while the Senator is in Illinois and 
I am in Maryland, most of all, we do not want our veterans standing in 
line for their health care or their disability benefits. So shoulder to 
shoulder, forward together.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank Senator Mikulski.
  Mr. President, this supplemental appropriations bill is important. It 
is timely. One of the provisions in it is an additional $225 million 
for the Iron Dome defense. The Iron Dome defense is a joint effort by 
the United States and Israel to protect Israel from rocket attacks. 
Imagine you are living in your hometown and a neighboring State or 
neighboring town just fired 2,000 rockets into your hometown. These are 
not Fourth of July rockets; these are deadly rockets that kill. You 
want some protection. The Iron Dome provides protection for Israel.
  This joint effort by the United States and Israel has been 
successful. Despite 2,000 rocket attacks, the casualties on the Israeli 
side have been minimal, relatively minimal, and it is because of the 
Iron Dome defense.
  What attacks does Israel face today? Well, they face Hamas attacks 
from Gaza. Hamas is an organization which the United States 
characterized as a terrorist organization almost 20 years ago. We know 
Hamas. We know their tactics. What they are doing is putting rocket 
launchers in civilian neighborhoods near hospitals and apartments and 
homes, and they are launching these missile attacks on Israel and 
daring them to fire back into civilian populations.
  Iron Dome protects the Israeli population from the missiles being 
shot by Hamas in Gaza. Now the Israelis have invaded Gaza to go to the 
source to stop these rocket attacks.
  Sadly, during the course of this effort in Gaza, there have been 
casualties--some on the Israeli side, of course; but hundreds, maybe a 
thousand on the side of the civilian population in Gaza. This is 
because the strategy of Hamas is to put their armaments smack-dab in 
the middle of civilian populations. As has been said, in Israel, they 
use weapons to protect civilians; and in Gaza, they are using civilians 
to protect weapons. That has to come to an end. We have to have an end 
to the hostilities between Gaza and Israel. No nation--no nation on 
Earth--would sit still for 2,000 rocket attacks into their population. 
That is what Israel has faced over the past several weeks. But the 
people of Gaza also need much better than they are receiving when it 
comes to Hamas.
  Hamas, sadly, is engaging in tactics using human shields at the 
expense of the civilian population. When they are told about the 
civilians that are dying in Gaza, leaders in Hamas say: Well, they are 
martyrs for the cause. I will have to tell you, it would be very 
difficult for me to understand and explain to a family that has lost a 
child they love that their child has just become a martyr.
  This has to come to an end. The hostilities between Gaza and Israel 
have to end, I hope, in some negotiation and peaceful resolution. Maybe 
it is wishful thinking, but I do believe we need to make the effort. I 
commend Secretary of State Kerry for his effort at trying to engage 
Egypt and others in this conversation.
  The supplemental bill before us today provides more money for 
interceptor missiles for Iron Dome--to protect Israel--money requested 
by our Secretary of Defense, money which I support. As chairman of the 
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, we added some $350 million for 
Iron Dome defenses in the next fiscal year which begins October 1. This 
money is needed now because of the hostilities between these two 
countries. I certainly support it.
  A second part, the major part of this supplemental appropriation, 
deals with the humanitarian refugee crisis we have on our border. It is 
not often the United States faces a refugee crisis. Think back in 
history. The only refugees who come to our shores are usually from 
nearby countries: Haiti, Cuba. Occasionally, we have refugees coming 
such as after the Vietnam War, the Hmong people who were our allies in 
that war.
  But we are not like most countries in the Middle East, for example, 
that have a steady stream of refugees. The United States does not 
engage in refugee crisis alleviation because of our location and 
geography and our history. Seldom have we been challenged. But today we 
are challenged. We are challenged because in the first 6 months of the 
year 57,000 unaccompanied children--children--presented themselves at 
the border with Mexico. They were not trying to sneak in. They 
literally walked across the border and presented themselves to the 
first person in uniform.
  They were told to do that by their families. Why did they make the 
trip to the border as kids--by themselves--to present themselves? 
Because in three countries in Central America there is a state of 
lawlessness: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. Eighty percent of the 
children who have come to the border came from those three countries. 
They are not just coming to the United States, incidentally. There has 
been a 700-percent increase in refugees to adjoining Central American 
countries from those three countries.
  This has been going on for some time. But for the past 2 or 3 years, 
it has gone from bad to dramatically worse. We met last week with the 
Ambassadors from these three countries, and we talked about what 
created this. A lot of it has to do with the drug gangs--drug gangs 
that are transporting drugs through those countries for sale largely in 
the United States. These drug gangs have become powerful and rich, well 
armed and notorious for their barbaric tactics.
  They recruit young people into their drug gangs at the point of a 
gun. They mutilate those who even hesitate to join the drug gangs. God 
forbid it is your daughter, because they have a reputation for raping 
young girls. If they are not satisfied with their response, they kill 
them on the spot and leave them in plastic bags by the highway. That is 
why many families are sending their kids away from this deadly 
violence.
  Two weeks ago I went to a shelter in Chicago. This was a transitional 
shelter where 70 children from the border are being held until they can 
be placed with their families in the United States or with some 
trusting family that takes up foster care. I saw these kids firsthand. 
Your image of them may be different than what you actually see.
  My wife said to me: Well, why do they not show pictures of these 
kids? Well, they try to protect their identity and confidentiality by 
not showing photos. But if you could see them, you would see children 
of all ages. There were five women who walked into the dining hall at 
this transitional shelter.
  They did not seem to me to be 14 years of age. Each one was carrying 
a baby. They were the victims of rape in Honduras. They were carrying 
these newborn infants in their arms, as they

[[Page S5014]]

had done during the 8-day bus journey to get to the border. I asked 
some of the staff at this transitional shelter--I had been told that 
many of the families, before they send their young girls on this 
dangerous and sometimes deadly journey, give the girls birth control 
pills because they anticipate they will be attacked during the course 
of this journey. They said: It is true.
  What desperation would you have to reach before you turned your 
daughter loose under those circumstances? These families are literally 
trying to escape a burning home and sending their kids to the only safe 
and secure place they can think of.
  What do we need to do? First, we need to get to these countries and 
tell them: Stop. Stop these deadly journeys, these journeys which, 
sadly, lead to harm and even death for some of these children. Do not 
let this happen any more. We have to work with the governments of those 
countries to make it clear this is the wrong thing to do. It is wrong 
because once these kids get into America, they are not entitled to 
stay. They are not entitled to be citizens, unless, perhaps, they 
qualify for asylum. They are going to be sent back.

  After they are sent back to these countries, if they ever try to 
reenter the United States they can be found guilty of a felony. This is 
serious. So the notion that they can just come to America and stay here 
if they wish is not true. That is the first thing we need to do.
  The second thing we need to do is to stop the smuggling and the 
coyotes that are bringing these kids into the United States. They are 
charging these poor families in Central America thousands of dollars 
they do not have to bring these kids to the border. We have to work 
with Mexico to hold these coyotes and smugglers accountable.
  Third, I want to tell you, I think this really is key to our 
discussion. This is a test of who we are as a country. How many times 
in our history has the United States rallied for families and children 
around the world?
  Do you remember just a month or two ago in Nigeria when 300 girls 
were kidnapped by Islamic extremists? Members of the Senate from both 
parties came to the floor to protest outrage that 300 young teenage 
girls would be kidnapped by these extremists. We engaged at every level 
to let the world know America cared. It was not the first time. There 
is a long history of it. We have stood for families and children around 
the world for humanitarian purposes throughout our history. Look back 
to the refuseniks, the Russian Jews who were being discriminated 
against in the Soviet Union. The United States was one of the leading 
nations in the world to stand behind those families and those children, 
bringing them to the United States so that they could escape 
antisemitism and Communism.
  When you look at the victims of the Haitian earthquake, the United 
States was providing foreign aid to those families and children because 
we are, in fact, a caring nation. That is who we are. Throughout our 
history we have shown it. We need to show it again with these children. 
Some extreme American politicians have said: It is not our problem. Put 
them on a bus. Put them on a plane and dump them back wherever they 
came from--not our problem.

  God forbid that is the verdict of history, that the United States, 
when it saw vulnerable, helpless children, did not care. I think more 
highly of this country. I think we have proven over and over that we do 
care. There have been some extraordinary statements made about this 
crisis by many people. The one that caught my eye was from a friend who 
happens to be the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Deval 
Patrick was born in Chicago. Maybe that is why I am partial to him. But 
Deval Patrick spoke about Massachusetts and its feelings toward these 
children.
  He recalled moments of history. Here is what he said: My inclination 
is to remember what happened when a ship full of Jewish children tried 
to come to the United States in 1939 and the United States turned them 
away. Many of them went back to their deaths in Nazi concentration 
camps.
  He went on to say:

       I think we are a bigger hearted people than that as 
     Americans.

  I agree with Governor Patrick. President Obama has asked for 
resources to care for these children, to place them, to give them the 
right of seeking asylum if they can make that established legal claim 
and, if not, to return them, humanely, to the countries they came from. 
Two of the three Ambassadors we met with, incidentally, said they could 
not guarantee the safety of those children in Honduras or El Salvador, 
if they came back. Let's do the right thing and pass this supplemental 
appropriation. Let's provide the resources so these children are 
treated humanely, ultimately given their hearing, ultimately returned, 
in most cases, to the country they came from.
  How will history judge us? How will we be judged if, when these 
refugee children came to our border, they were turned away and sent 
back to harm, violence or even death?
  We do not want that to happen. That is not who we are as Americans. 
We care. We show it. Our government should show it as well. The Senate 
will get an opportunity to do that very soon--we hope maybe this day or 
this week--as we wind down the session.
  The last point I want to make is a tribute to two of my colleagues 
who have done an extraordinary job when it comes to the Veterans' 
Administration. I am referring to John McCain, my friend who came to 
Congress with me many years ago, the former Republican candidate for 
President and a conservative from Arizona. He teamed up with--of all 
people--Bernie Sanders of Vermont, self-styled independent socialist 
Democrat. How about that? Sanders and McCain sat down to solve the 
challenge facing the VA. God bless them. They did it. They are 
reporting a bill to us which is a dramatic improvement over the current 
VA system.
  We are now overwhelmed with the Veterans' Administration disability 
claims. Forty-five percent of the veterans coming home from Iraq and 
Afghanistan have filed a claim. We have tens of thousands of these 
claims pending, many of them for post-traumatic stress disorder.
  We have said, incidentally, that we are going to help all veterans. 
Some 400,000 veterans from other wars are making PTSD claims. In 
addition, we have those who served in Vietnam, exposed to Agent Orange 
and with nine different diseases being treated. We have those who were 
victims of Gulf War Syndrome being treated. We have homeless veterans 
who are now being brought in and counseled so they can get their lives 
back on track. It is an overwhelming responsibility which the VA has 
today.
  The Sanders-McCain veterans bill is going to address them by 
providing more resources for our veterans and more medical 
professionals, which we need. Remember--we all should every single 
day--that we said to the men and women who enlisted in our military and 
who volunteered: If you will raise your hand, swear allegiance to this 
country and risk your life, we will stand by you when you come home.
  We are going to keep our word. We promised. We are going to keep our 
word. This bill--this veterans bill that is going to come before us 
this week--does exactly that. Sanders and McCain met with the House 
conferees and worked out an agreement--an agreement which is going to 
benefit the Hines VA in Chicago with an additional facility which they 
need. There is an amendment which is going to help facilities all 
across this country serving our veterans--an amendment which says: If 
you happen to live too far away from a veterans hospital, we are going 
to find a way to make sure you get timely care that is near your home. 
I think it is the least we can do. We owe it to our vets.
  I tip my hat to my colleagues, Republican and Democrat alike, who put 
this together. I am looking forward to voting for it this week.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I agree with my distinguished colleague, 
the senior Senator from Illinois. I think Senator Sanders and Senator 
McCain showed that things can get done around here. I think of the 
tremendous work the Senator from Illinois did last year and helped us 
get an immigration bill through this body. We had a large majority of 
the Senate vote for it--Republicans and Democrats alike.

[[Page S5015]]

  How I wish the leadership in the House had allowed them to vote on 
it. I think we would be in a far better position to deal with these 
problems with the DREAMers and with those seeking to come into our 
country. I applaud the Senator from Illinois for never giving up.
  Mr. DURBIN. If the Senator from Vermont would yield for just one 
moment. I want to thank him personally. As chairman of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, he has made a point of making sure the DREAM Act, 
a bill which I introduced 13 years ago, has had a fair hearing before 
the committee on more than one occasion and has been reported by the 
committee. It was part of that comprehensive immigration bill. I thank 
him for bringing it up.
  I just want to say for the record that one Republican Senator has 
said he wants to deport all of the DREAMers. He is in for a fight 
because these young men and women are proving over and over they can 
make a valuable contribution to this country. I thank the Senator from 
Vermont.
  (The remarks of Mr. Leahy pertaining to the introduction of S. 2658 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. FRANKEN. I yield the floor.

                          ____________________