[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 85 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2535-S2541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ENDLESS FRONTIER ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1260, which the 
clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 58, S. 1260, a bill to 
     establish a new Directorate for Technology and Innovation in 
     the National Science Foundation, to establish a regional 
     technology hub program, to require a strategy and report on 
     economic security, science, research, innovation, 
     manufacturing, and job creation, to establish a critical 
     supply chain resiliency program, and for other purposes.

  Mr. McCONNELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                 Israel

  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, just 4 short months ago, hopes were 
running high in the Middle East. ISIS was wiped off the map, the 
Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies were in retreat, and Israel 
was forging historic peace deals with its neighbors. All along the way, 
the United States was instrumental in this progress.
  But in just a few months, the Biden administration has dashed those 
hopes with its policy of weakness and appeasement. The forces of terror 
are again on the march. Pillars of smoke and fire are rising from Tel 
Aviv and the holy city of Jerusalem. The assault on Israel by terrorist 
groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the latest and 
most concrete evidence yet that the Middle East is spiraling toward 
chaos.
  But instead of standing firm with Israel, the Biden administration's 
policy of endless accommodation is fanning the flames of conflict. The 
President should show strength. Instead, he is broadcasting indecision 
and weakness. Our greatest ally in the Middle East is under attack. Yet 
the Democratic Party refuses to say: We stand with Israel. The night 
sky over the Jewish State blazes with the starbursts of intercepted 
rockets, and the Biden administration only offers muted calls for 
restraint.
  Where are the righteous denunciations of the terrorists responsible 
for these repeated, premeditated, and unprovoked attacks? Where are the 
statements of solidarity with Israel? Please. From this administration 
and from this Democratic Party, we can't even get the President's 
spokeswoman to say that the United States would help resupply munitions 
for Iron Dome, Israel's lifesaving missile defense system.
  So this afternoon, let me provide a little clarity that the President 
and his party appear incapable or unwilling to articulate. The fault 
for the death and destruction in the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, 
Gaza, and the West Bank lies not with the Israeli Government, much less 
with the Israeli people. The belligerents in this conflict aren't 
morally equivalent, the way it is often presented in supposedly 
enlightened circles. Put simply, there are good guys, and there are bad 
guys. Israel seeks peace. Terror groups seek death and destruction. 
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are not legitimate state 
actors. They don't speak for the Palestinian people and don't truly 
care about them.
  These groups are terrorist organizations run by evil men who commit 
evil acts in pursuit of the evil dreams of an evil ideology. They 
purposely fire waves of unguided rockets at civilian targets, while 
they protect themselves from reprisal using babies, hospitals, schools, 
and dupes in the media as shields--what cowards, attacking innocent 
civilians while they hide behind women.

[[Page S2536]]

  Of course, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad don't act alone. The 
Palestinian Authority supports, encourages, and funds terrorism in the 
form of so-called martyr payments--pensions paid to terrorists who 
attack Jews. The PA perpetuates cycles of violence by refusing to 
acknowledge the existence of Israel, teaching anti-Semitism in its 
schools and leaving its people to wallow in poverty as wards of the 
international community.
  And we all know who funds and arms Palestinian terrorist 
organizations, the world's foremost supporter of terrorism, the Islamic 
Republic of Iran. For decades, Iran's theocrats have staged 
demonstrations where their fanatical supporters scream: ``Death to 
America'' and ``Death to Israel.'' The assault on Israel today shows 
that those chants are not idle threats.
  Iran's ayatollahs are deadly serious about wiping the Jewish State 
off the map. That is why Iran arms Palestinian terrorists with some of 
its most lethal weapons. Hamas's arsenal of 10,000 rockets might as 
well have ``Made in Iran'' stamped on the side.
  Those are the villains of this conflict, but let's not forget the 
heroes. Standing courageously against this organized onslaught is the 
State of Israel, our closest ally in the region. Over the past week, 
terrorists have fired approximately 3,000 missiles and rockets into 
Israel. In response, Israel has defended itself with technological 
miracles like Iron Dome. It has carried out precision airstrikes 
against military targets, and, as always, Israel has gone to 
extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties, despite the 
terrorists' best efforts to maximize and then publicize any carnage.
  While Hamas and the Islamic Jihad fire indiscriminately from 
Palestinian schools, office buildings, and apartments, Israel responds 
by hitting those launch sites, but only after--only after--they warn 
civilians, allowing them to evacuate first. Regrettably, these warnings 
also allow terrorists to escape, but Israel bears that cost because it 
values innocent life, unlike its terrorist enemies.
  You may have heard of one recent example Last week, Israel carried 
out an airstrike against a building used by Hamas intelligence 
personnel, a building that also housed the Associated Press. An hour 
before the airstrike, the Israeli military called the AP and other 
civilians in that complex and warned them to depart. This precaution, 
once again, allowed Hamas terrorists to escape but also allowed 
reporters and other civilians to vacate the premises before the 
airstrike occurred. As a result, no civilians died, and Hamas lost a 
terrorist haven.

  Now, in any other country and with any other military--except 
America's, I have to add--one would hear praise for that military's 
restraint and commitment to the laws of order. But because this 
military is the IDF and the country is Israel and the people are the 
Jews, they are widely condemned around the world and on the left in 
America.
  If you cut through the hysterics and the hyperbole, you can see the 
truth clearly: One side seeks to maximize carnage and the other seeks 
to minimize civilian casualties.
  Besides, I must observe, why is the Associated Press sharing a 
building with Hamas? Surely, these intrepid reporters knew who their 
neighbors were. Did they knowingly allow themselves to be used as human 
shields by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization? Did AP pull its 
punches and decline to report for years on Hamas's misdeeds?
  I submit that the AP has some uncomfortable questions to answer. Yet 
the AP and its fellow journalists are in high dudgeon about Israel's 
wholly appropriate airstrike. Leave it to whiny reporters to make 
themselves the story and the victim when terrorists are shooting 
missiles at innocent civilians.
  In any event, the moral standing of the competing forces in this 
conflict is simple and clear. Our greatest ally and the only democracy 
in the region against an Islamist theocracy and its terrorist 
partners--most Americans know which side they are on. I speak for them 
when I say that we stand with Israel.
  Unfortunately, too many elected Democrats have taken a different 
stand. Members of the so-called ``Squad'' in the House of 
Representatives have called Israel an apartheid state and accused it of 
war crimes. Remember, these aren't obscure backbenchers. Many Democrats 
herald these Representatives as the future of their party.
  Meanwhile, 27 Democratic Senators have called for an immediate cease-
fire to the conflict. Even the Democratic floor leader, who has long 
styled himself as Israel's great defender, has joined this moral 
equivalence, calling for immediate cease-fire.
  Hear me clearly. The handwringing calls for a cease-fire are 
tantamount to Hamas propaganda. Both sides are not the same in this 
conflict, no matter what the Democrats naively imply. If Hamas puts 
down its weapons, there would be peace. If Israel puts down its 
weapons, there would be no Israel.
  Thankfully, Israel's leadership is resolute, united, and committed to 
victory. The United States should respond to this terrorist onslaught 
with equal resolve. That means we should give Israel the time, space, 
and resources to destroy Hamas's war machine and protect its own 
people. We should also ensure that Israel has the military hardware to 
weather this crisis. Hamas may have as many as 10,000 missiles, 
rockets, and mortars in reserve. Meanwhile, Hezbollah lurks to the 
north with many times that arsenal. We should, therefore, endeavor to 
ensure that Israel has more interceptors for Iron Dome than Hamas has 
rockets to kill Israelis. Moreover, we ought to cut off aid to the 
Palestinian Authority until we can be absolutely sure that not a dime 
of taxpayer money is being used to buy and build rockets or pay 
pensions for murderous terrorists.
  And, finally, the Biden administration ought to immediately end its 
misguided flirtation with the theocrats in Iran by recalling its chief 
negotiator and appeaser, Rob Malley, from negotiations in Vienna. If 
the Biden administration reenters the failed Iran nuclear agreement and 
grants sanctions relief to the regime in Tehran, in very short order 
that appeasement payoff will be converted into rockets aimed at Israel, 
as well as at American troops throughout the region.
  While Israel is under attack, we have heard plenty of talk and 
mealymouthed statements from politicians. But in this moment of crisis, 
Israel needs more than words. Israel needs and deserves our full 
support to defend itself and its people and to achieve a just and 
lasting peace.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                 China

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, I spoke recently about how the 
President's ``skinny'' budget is disappointing, dangerous, and a 
disservice to our men and women in uniform. China actively seeks to 
outpace the U.S. military, and in some cases, they are succeeding. This 
isn't a 5- or 10-year problem; the threat is right now, today.
  Unfortunately, the military is not the only area facing active 
challenges by China. Today, I am going to discuss a few at-risk areas 
that are critical to the stability of our Nation.
  It is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, wants to 
replace the United States as the world's top power. The American people 
need to be aware of how the Chinese Communist Party is coming after us, 
not just with missiles and military might but with plans to subdue the 
American spirit.
  The repressive CCP uses economic espionage to advance its agenda to 
weaken our arsenal of democracy. A significant part of what has made 
the United States a global powerhouse is the strength and resilience of 
our private sector companies. Whether it is in the technology, 
healthcare, or energy sector, American innovation is unrivaled. It is 
what has made us the greatest economy in the history of the world.
  China's leaders know this, but rather than go head-to-head in honest 
competition, they have settled for stealing our intellectual property. 
Chinese businesses, at the instruction of their government, lure 
American companies in. They offer cheap labor. They promise

[[Page S2537]]

an ``exchange of ideas,'' but they really want to steal our valuable 
intellectual property.
  As President Trump's Director of National Intelligence, John 
Ratcliffe, said, China's strategy is to ``rob, replicate and replace.'' 
China robs American companies of their intellectual property, they 
replicate our technology, and then China replaces U.S. firms in the 
global marketplace.
  This theft isn't exclusive to just one industry. They will go after 
whatever they can to get their hands on it--wind turbines, airplane 
designs, underwater drones, chemicals, or artificial intelligence 
technology. According to the Department of Justice, between 2011 and 
2018, more than 90 percent of the Department's foreign economic 
espionage cases involved China.
  By stealing this critical knowledge, the Chinese have given 
themselves a leg up on other nations. They are using it to expand their 
military and economic power. Their goal is to surpass the U.S. economy 
and gain monopoly control over every major industry. We cannot allow 
that to succeed.
  Even more alarming is what China is doing from within our own 
universities. The American people may not be familiar with Confucius 
Institutes, but they should be. Confucius Institutes currently operate 
at 55 American colleges and universities. While they claim to 
harmlessly promote Chinese language and culture, they actually serve as 
a beachhead for the Chinese Government within America's research 
institutions. Often, just the presence of a Confucius Institute on 
campus will enable Chinese officials to stifle any criticism of the 
Chinese Government at that university. The institutes also allow the 
Chinese Government to harvest valuable data from research being 
conducted at our country's world-class institutions. Who knows what 
else they could be up to.
  I was very proud to cosponsor Senator Blackburn's Transparency for 
Confucius Institutes Act, which would provide needed transparency to 
these dangerous organizations. I was also glad to see Alabama A&M, a 
public land-grant and historically Black university, make the decision 
to close their Confucius Institute just last month.
  Congress has made clear that American institutions of higher 
education that host Confucius Institutes could lose their Federal 
funding.
  I hope any remaining colleges and universities with these CCP 
satellite organizations follow Alabama A&M's leadership.
  The United States and the entire Western World have given China 
valuable concessions for decades. We gave China a seat at the table 
thinking they would change, but they have played their hand ruthlessly. 
The hope was that by facilitating economic growth through open markets 
and giving them leadership roles in the international institutions, 
China's Communist regime would finally embrace democracy, human rights, 
and free market values. It is past time we recognize that despite all 
its good intentions, this strategy has failed and miserably.
  The Chinese Communist Party has continually spied on its citizens, 
violently suppressed dissent, and systematically persecuted religious 
and ethnic minorities to the point of genocide.
  President Trump stood up to China. He was the first U.S. President to 
do so in decades. And he made great strides, but he didn't have enough 
time in office to finish the job. I sincerely hope President Biden will 
continue to build on the Trump administration's momentum in pushing 
back against China's aggressive rise.
  The United States must address the challenges posed by China. I have 
shared a lot of concerns today, but I am not one to offer criticism 
without a commonsense solution. Here is one commonsense step Congress 
can take immediately.
  The TSP, or Thrift Savings Plan, is the 401(k)-style investment plan 
that over 6 million Federal and government employees, both military and 
civilian, use for their retirement plan. The plan manages more than 
$700 billion in assets.
  Back in 2017, the Board that governs the TSP decided to invest 
billions in companies with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 
They wanted to send government employee dollars--the retirement savings 
of our military and civilian public servants--to Chinese companies, 
including mine and everybody's here in Congress. These companies are 
tied to a government that openly committed genocide against its own 
people. Well, with me, that dog doesn't hunt.
  Thankfully, President Trump put a stop to that plan before it was 
implemented, but now with President Biden in the White House, the Board 
could decide to push through this decision. We need congressional 
action to make President Trump's decision with the thrift savings plan 
permanent. I bet if you ask the folks who work in these buildings or 
who served the United States overseas if they want their retirement 
savings going to Chinese companies, you would hear a loud no.
  I will be offering a solution on this tomorrow to protect our 
national security and safeguard the retirements of those who have 
served our country with honor and distinction.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Duckworth). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                 Israel

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, over the past week, the Palestinian 
terrorist organization Hamas has launched more than 3,000 rockets at 
civilian targets in Israel. Violent mobs have taken over the streets of 
Jerusalem, and even seasoned veterans of the Palestinian-Israeli 
conflict have expressed shock at the intensity of the violence.
  This isn't normal. This isn't the Middle East version of the 
Resistance. This is terrorism. Still, pro-Hamas activists have flooded 
the media with Instagram-friendly content condemning Israel for 
defending itself and questioning the legitimacy of Israel's very 
existence, which is an argument that in any other context would bring 
all hell down on the person foolish enough to say it out loud.
  The level of denial and misinformation about what is happening in 
Israel and why it is happening is appalling. Nearly every single member 
of the United Nations Security Council embarrassed themselves this 
weekend by embracing a generic draft statement condemning the violence 
but refusing to acknowledge the hundreds of Hamas rockets that started 
it.
  The U.N. has a shameful history of ignoring threats and violence 
against Israel, but rarely in recent memory has the Security Council so 
blatantly regurgitated anti-Israel propaganda while Israeli civilians 
cower in fear under persistent rocket fire.
  Thankfully, the U.S. mission blocked the statement's release, but I 
think it is important--important--to inject a little reality into the 
ongoing discussion.
  First, we must acknowledge that Israel has the absolute right to 
defend itself, no matter the state of their relations with the 
Palestinian Authority. There is a world of difference between a state-
sponsored terrorist attack on a civilian population and action taken to 
stop that attack. We have a responsibility to counter the dangerous 
argument that because Hamas currently lacks the weapons capability to 
win this battle, Israel must stand by and allow terrorists to slaughter 
civilians.
  Second, I would encourage all of my colleagues to join me in making 
it clear that the United States is and will remain Israel's closest 
friend and ally. We will continue to assist with the development and 
production of advanced missile defense systems like the Iron Dome. We 
will not step away from that obligation simply because celebrity 
influencers would rather witness a slaughter than a proportionate 
response to mass terror.
  Last, it is important to acknowledge that this violence is a symptom 
of a much more serious disease. Hamas terrorists may be the ones 
launching rockets at civilians, but it is Iran, the world's leading 
state sponsor of terror, that is paying for it. That is right, Madam 
President--it is Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, 
that is footing the bill for these attacks. When we provide assistance 
and support to Israel, we are not just

[[Page S2538]]

protecting an ally; we are containing the destructive influence of our 
most belligerent adversary in the Middle East.
  This month, the Biden administration traveled to Vienna to negotiate 
sanctions relief with Iranian officials. Since then, President Biden 
has also spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu and reaffirmed Israel's 
right to defend itself from these attacks.
  However, I would take this opportunity to remind my Democratic 
colleagues that the United States designated Hamas as a terrorist 
organization more than 20 years ago. That is right. For the past two 
decades, we have recognized Hamas as a terrorist organization. As a 
rule, we do not provide them assistance of any kind. They are a 
terrorist organization. But by opening the door to sanctions relief for 
Iran, we cannot help but enrich a regime that will not stop until it 
destroys Israel. That is their goal. We know it because they have told 
us that is their goal. We must not provide sanctions relief to Iran or 
give quarter to any regime that allies itself with this evil.
  It is my hope that all Americans will take some time this week to 
just unplug and think about this and reflect and then pray--pray that 
reason and wisdom will prevail as we seek an end to this outbreak of 
violence and the defeat of this terrorist group that wants to destroy 
the nation of Israel.


                               Tennessee

  Madam President, this weekend, we had a positive development in the 
status of the I-40 bridge that connects West Memphis, AR, and Memphis, 
TN. Just as a reminder, last week, inspectors discovered a crack in one 
of the steel beams supporting the bridge. The crossing was immediately 
closed to all vehicle and barge traffic. On Friday morning, the Coast 
Guard reopened the stretch of Mississippi River that runs under the 
bridge, but the bridge itself remains closed indefinitely.
  Now, a lot of armchair experts have decided to sound off with the 
argument that this closure won't affect local economies, but with all 
due respect, those making this argument really should spend a little 
bit more time out in the real world. This part of Middle America that 
we are talking about is an incredibly important part of our Nation's 
domestic supply chain. We have a 15-mile stretch along the Mississippi 
River, and that houses 68 waterfronted facilities. Thirty-seven of 
those facilities are terminal facilities moving products such as 
petroleum, tar, asphalt, cement, steel, coal, salt, fertilizers, rock 
and gravel, and grains.
  Shipping companies and cross-country trucking companies depend on the 
I-40 crossing, and so do the local grocery stores, industrial 
facilities, restaurants, retail outlets that purchase the cargo, and, 
of course, our Nation's farmers.
  Commercial trucking constitutes 25 percent of all traffic that 
crosses the I-40 bridge. The river traffic that flows beneath the 
bridge is just as important. When the Coast Guard reopened that stretch 
of the Mississippi, they had to juggle 60 vessels hauling more than 
1,000 barges. Yes. We had a little traffic jam in the Mississippi 
River.
  It is amazing to me how quickly a problem like this does turn into a 
bottleneck. Tennessee and Arkansas transportation officials are still 
working out a timeline for repairs, but as of now, the trucking 
industry is preparing for a downward spiral.
  According to the Arkansas Trucking Association, this could cost 
operators and their customers more than $2 million a day, which is an 
amount that the industry actually cannot absorb. This means that the 
delay could end up costing consumers an additional $2 million a day. 
And depending on what they are buying, they could also see empty 
shelves due to a supply chain interruption.
  Meanwhile, the Biden administration is putting all their energy and 
focus into checking items off of a decades-old wish list of social 
programs. They put forward an infrastructure package worth more than $2 
trillion that wastes about two-thirds of this total pricetag on 
projects that have nothing to do with infrastructure, nothing to do 
with making sure that major bridges and thoroughfares are safe and open 
or expanding broadband access or making sure that parents in rural 
Tennessee can get their kids to school without worrying that a 
rainstorm will flood the road on the way to town. This is making the 
American people feel so incredibly unsettled and very frustrated, and 
Tennesseans are pretty nervous about the future.
  If I could give the President one piece of advice, it would be this: 
If you want to waste time peddling Green New Deal policies or expanding 
social safety nets, admit it--just admit it. Call it what it is. Don't 
call it infrastructure and then turn around and throw pocket change at 
actual infrastructure problems that need to be addressed right now. 
That mislabeling makes it look like you are trying to pull a fast one 
over the American people, and it makes the American people believe that 
you really don't care. And that is a dangerous message to send in the 
middle of a traumatic pandemic recovery, especially considering that 
prices are already on the rise. We see it in utilities. We see it at 
the gas pump. We see it in the packaged snacks we purchase for the 
children's Sunday school class. Even basics in the produce section at 
the grocery store are beginning to get out of reach. It is affecting 
basic nutrition.
  This is the Biden surcharge. We are paying a premium just to live 
from the moment our feet hit the floor in the morning to the time we 
brush our teeth and get into bed at night. The barebones cost of living 
is going up thanks to these reckless spending priorities.
  My Democratic colleagues need to understand that a government subsidy 
cannot save a family from that kind of hit to their monthly budget, 
affecting everything from the moment their feet hit the floor in the 
morning to the time they brush their teeth and go to bed in the 
evening.
  The Biden administration is creating a perfect storm of income 
insecurity, shortages, and the uneasiness that comes when Americans see 
more month at the end of their money than money at the end of the 
month.
  They know how to manage their budget, and they know what they have to 
do when prices creep up 25 cents, $1 or $2 at a time. Their instinct 
isn't to reach out to the Federal Government for help; their instinct 
and their action is to cut back on the extras and to prepare for harder 
times ahead.
  The only way to avoid this even now is to make prudent, targeted 
investments in economic recovery, supply chain security, cyber 
security, and, yes, actual real infrastructure projects.
  The American people cannot afford all the extras that are on the 
Democratic Party's wish list. Their income can't keep up with the 
inflation that is hitting their pocketbook every single day of the 
week. And they really are concerned with what will happen when those 
trend lines cross and inflation heads north every single day.
  I would, again, ask my Democratic colleagues to step back from the 
money printer and recognize the effect all this spending is having on 
American families.
  I yield the floor
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, I further ask unanimous consent that the 
mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion for the motion 
to proceed to Calendar No. 58, S. 1260, be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MURPHY. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to 
finish my remarks prior to the upcoming vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                 Israel

  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, I come to the floor this afternoon to 
talk about two issues of vital importance to the United States and the 
world.
  First, I want to say a few words about the current violence 
paralyzing Israel and the Palestinian territories, but then I want to 
spend the bulk of my remarks on the future of nuclear proliferation in 
the Middle East.
  First, here in America, our hearts are breaking for Israelis and 
Palestinians.

[[Page S2539]]

The images are just bone-chilling--rockets and interceptors streaking 
across the night sky, parents huddled with their children as air raid 
sirens ring out, tragic images of innocent Israeli and Palestinian 
civilians, including children, injured or killed in the blasts.
  For many Americans who are turning on the news this week, it might 
appear that the events of the last few days erupted almost overnight. 
While tensions are now reaching a fevered and deadly pitch, this 
cataclysm has been long in the making and no party, including the 
United States of America, has completely clean hands.
  Zero-sum politics have driven both the decision making of the 
Netanyahu government and Palestinian leadership, to the extent that 
there is such a thing as Palestinian leadership. Those decisions have 
led us to this crisis.
  Over and over, Prime Minister Netanyahu has pushed Israeli 
settlements further into territory historically considered reserved for 
a future Palestinian State. The Israeli Government, increasingly 
reliant on rightwing, zero-sum political constituencies for its 
survival, also stepped up campaigns to remove Palestinians from areas 
in East Jerusalem as a means to undermine the Palestinian claim to that 
section of the ancient city as the capital of a future state.
  The spark that lit the match of the existing conflagration was the 
Israeli effort to remove Palestinian families from their homes in the 
East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and replace them with 
Israeli settlers.
  In February, the Israeli court ordered Palestinian families in that 
neighborhood to vacate their homes by May 2 or they would be forcibly 
removed. Protests began, spread to other cities in Israel with large 
Arab populations, while the Palestinian families awaited a final ruling 
from the Israeli Supreme Court.
  As these protests spread and grew in size, Israeli police adopted 
some tactics that we have seen on display here in the United States--an 
overly securitized approach that only escalated rather than defused the 
tension. Those crackdowns led to more protests and more clashes and a 
cycle that continued and continued.
  Then Israeli security forces stormed Islam's third holiest site in 
Jerusalem during Ramadan prayers. Now, the Israelis contend that they 
were responding to a rock thrown from Palestinians inside. The 
Palestinians argue it was the other way around. But whatever happened, 
at the end of that night, more than 330 Palestinians and 22 Israelis 
had been injured.
  The story of the Palestinians' conduct over the last decade is just 
as important in understanding the roots of the existing crisis. Fatah, 
the main political party representing Palestinians, has failed the 
people it represents. Ripe with internal conflict and corruption, Fatah 
lost its mandate to govern Gaza in 2006, when Hamas, an internationally 
recognized terrorist organization, beat Fatah in parliamentary 
elections there that year.
  Hamas refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist and advocates 
for the armed rebellion of Palestinians against Israel. Fatah, under 
pressure from Hamas to take more extreme positions, spent most of the 
last decade refusing any and all chance to negotiate with the Israelis, 
preferring to sit on the sidelines and nurture grievances. They were 
unable to deliver any real economic benefit to the people under their 
charge in the West Bank, and the resulting desperation of Palestinians 
fed this grievance culture even more.
  In response to those events I mentioned at Al Aqsa, Hamas and its 
allies in Gaza started firing rockets into southern and central Israel. 
Since that day, thousands of rockets have landed inside Israel. These 
rocket attacks were then responded to by an Israeli Government that has 
begun its own assault inside Gaza, and as we sit here today, hundreds 
of Palestinians inside Gaza, including children, have been killed. 
Although there have not been as many casualties in Israel because of 
the defense-security relationship with the United States, Israelis have 
been killed as well.
  The Israelis were wrong to pursue settlements and evictions as a 
deliberate means to undermine a future Palestinian state. These 
policies might have helped hold together Netanyahu's political 
coalition, but they helped to feed a sense of hopelessness amongst 
Palestinians and their future.
  The Palestinian leadership was wrong to perpetuate an anti-Israeli, 
anti-Semitic narrative as a foundation of their hold on power. They 
were wrong to choose grievance over diplomacy.
  But the United States, over the last 4 years, played a role too. 
President Trump rejected America's historic role as a broker for peace 
and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. He chose a side 
unconditionally, and his alliance with Netanyahu and his rejection of a 
Palestinian state drove the two parties further apart and turned the 
temperature up. Trump pursued a path to intentionally create division 
rather than healing. Those 4 years of America's absence from its 
traditional post of mediator is also a big reason we are here today.
  There is going to be time to talk about the big picture--to talk 
about what went wrong and how American policy needs to change toward 
Israel and the West Bank and Gaza--but right now, our focus needs to be 
laser-like on deescalation, on a cease-fire. Hamas must stop its rocket 
attacks. They are war crimes. They are indiscriminate. They do nothing 
to help the Palestinians in East Jerusalem or anywhere else. Israel 
needs to stand down its military campaign as well. They have to take 
off the table a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel possesses a 
disproportionate military power. That is why, during the 2014 invasion 
of Gaza, 2,000 Palestinians died compared with fewer than 100 Israelis. 
But when children die in Gaza, it does nothing to secure Israel. In 
fact, it does the opposite. It just provides further fuel to this 
furnace of grievances.
  So I am glad that the administration is sending Deputy Assistant 
Secretary Amr to the region, that he is there. It is critical that we 
also get a formal U.S. Ambassador to Israel in place as quickly as 
possible. But the United States needs to be pressing for a cease-fire. 
The United States can't afford to simply allow for this escalation to 
continue. That is not in Israel's best interest, and that is not in 
America's best interest. My hope is, in the conversations that are 
happening today between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu 
government, that they are talking about the terms to bring this 
violence to an end.
  Now, as to the second topic, I recently spent 5 days in the Middle 
East last week. I came back just before this recent spate of violence 
began in Gaza and Israel. During the 5 days I was in the Middle East, I 
crossed paths with a bunch of Biden officials who were making stops 
throughout the region, and I can report that, in setting aside the 
conflict in Israel--something that is pretty hard to do right now--
there is some real positive news to bring back from the Gulf.
  The 4-year-long rift between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors is healing. 
There is now a new diplomatic energy behind cease-fire talks in Yemen, 
and the Saudis and the Iranians are in direct talks for the first time 
in years. All of this--I was repeatedly told by leaders in the Middle 
East--is happening because President Biden has made clear that 
deescalation is going to be rewarded and supported by the United 
States--a stark departure from the Trump administration.
  Now, this is good news, but the bad news quickly follows, and it is 
this: If the United States does not reenter the Iran nuclear agreement, 
all of this nascent progress is going to be at risk.
  Joe Biden ran on a promise to reenter the Iran nuclear agreement. He 
made this commitment because he knew that this agreement was critical 
to American security. With Iran's nuclear program curtailed and 
inspectors allowed to comb every inch of the country to look for signs 
of a secret enrichment program, the world could breathe a sigh of 
relief in knowing that, for all of Iran's other malevolent behaviors 
and policies, at least we knew that they were not developing a nuclear 
weapon.
  The achievement of the deal also brought together a set of really 
unlikely bedfellows--the United States and Europe but also Russia and 
China. On Iran policy, with this coalition of regular adversaries, it 
was intact at the end of the Obama administration. It was ready to be 
picked up by President Trump to confront Iran's ballistic

[[Page S2540]]

missile program or their support for regional proxy forces like 
Hezbollah, but Trump went in a different direction. Instead of building 
on the Iran deal, he decided to put to test the theory of its 
opponents. That theory is this: that if the United States imposed 
unilateral, crippling sanctions on Iran, leaders in Tehran would limp 
to the negotiating table, cowed and willing to put all of the issues--
nuclear enrichment, missiles, human rights, proxy support--up for 
discussion. That is what Obama's critics said he should have done, and 
those critics cheered when Trump took their advice.
  What happened, of course, was a policy cataclysm. Trump imposed the 
sanctions, and our partners, instead of following America's lead, 
effectively took the Iranian side, even helping Iran work around our 
sanctions. Making matters worse, when Trump sent word to the Iranians 
of our 12 demands, they refused to talk. Instead, they did the 
opposite. They ratcheted up their bad behavior. They sent more support 
to the Houthis in Yemen. They restarted dormant parts of their nuclear 
program, reducing their breakout time to a weapon from just over a year 
to just under 3 months, and they resumed attacks on American forces in 
the region, both directly and through proxies.
  Here is a pretty simple way to take a look at the success of the 
maximum pressure campaign. One element of the Iran nuclear deal was a 
commitment by Iran to reduce their enriched uranium stockpile. You can 
see, in the years leading up to the deal, there is a dramatic 
escalation in the amount of enriched uranium the Iranians are holding. 
Then immediately upon the deal's being reached, it plummets. Yet here 
is the bad news: As soon as the maximum pressure campaign is unveiled 
by President Trump, those numbers start to creep back up again.
  One chart explains to you the effect of Trump's maximum pressure 
campaign. It was a spectacular failure and definitive proof that the 
alternative approach, cheered by the Iran deal's opponents--keep the 
sanctions in place until Iran totally capitulates--was a fantasy. 
Instead, the situation has empowered the more hardline wing of an 
already hardline regime who is prepared to perpetually operate a 
resistance economy and blame the United States for the nation's 
suffering.
  Yet now those same critics of the nuclear agreement are back, and 
incredibly, despit the writing inked on the wall during the past 4 
years, their argument hasn't changed a bit. Just keep doing what Trump 
did, and this time it will work, they say. They suggest that getting 
back into the nuclear deal, as Biden pledged during the campaign, isn't 
enough. They want a new deal that includes a resolution to all of 
Iran's bad acts, but unless we are prepared to invade Iran and demand 
unconditional surrender--news flash: We are not--then that 
comprehensive, soup-to-nuts deal is a neoconservative fantasy. It 
doesn't exist in real life.

  In real life, the achievable result is a restart of the nuclear 
agreement. The good news is that this result in 2021 might have an even 
greater peace dividend than when it was executed the first time in 
2015.
  This brings me back to my trip to the region. I heard this story, 
while I was there, of how quickly talks on healing the Gulf Cooperation 
Council rift matured as soon as Biden won the election. Countries that 
were at one another's throats throughout the Trump administration were 
suddenly coming to terms with one another. While conflict and bullying 
and score-settling--Trump's calling cards--were rewarded during his 
term, countries quickly realized that diplomacy and deescalation would 
most quickly win favor with President Biden.
  In Oman, I heard how the Saudis were suddenly much more willing to 
make additional concessions in Yemen and how the Houthis were now more 
likely to trust the United States as an interlocutor. In Jordan, the 
King talked to us about how an Iraqi Government was now more welcoming 
than ever of help from places other than Iran, and he spoke of Jordan's 
new overtures to a Baghdad Government in its looking for a more diverse 
set of allies. And everyone in the region, at every stop, buzzed about 
these talks, these dialogues, between the Saudis and the Iranians. 
Reports suggest that these two countries wanted to talk during the 
Trump administration but were discouraged from doing so.
  This momentum toward peace is encouraging, but it is so fragile, and 
one major setback, one major, unexpected diplomatic hiccup, could turn 
all of this progress around. I worry that this hiccup could be the 
failure of America and Iran to get back into the nuclear agreement. If 
the talks fail and the Biden administration is forced to implement 
Trump's Iran policy for the next 4 years, complete with these 
unilateral crippling sanctions, it is easy to see how all of this 
progress in the Gulf could disintegrate. The so-called Iranian 
moderates would head back to Tehran with no deal and be defeated in the 
upcoming national elections. A harder line government, much less prone 
to diplomacy, would choose to scuttle peace talks in Yemen, end the 
outreach to the Saudis, and work like mad to make sure that their 
proxies in Iraq take power in the upcoming parliamentary elections. 
This could convince the Saudis to double down militarily in Yemen and 
open up new fissures in the Gulf.
  Listen, maybe I am wrong. Maybe this is an overly apocalyptic vision 
of what would occur if the nuclear negotiations go south, but I fear 
that it is more accurate than fantastical that the stakes might be that 
high, which brings me, finally, to our negotiations in Vienna. If the 
consequences of success are so promising and if the ramifications of 
failure are so dire, then what has to happen to guarantee a good 
outcome? And I will end here.
  First, the structure of the talks is deeply problematic, and that is 
the Iranians' fault. They are insisting on this shuttle diplomacy when 
we should be talking directly to them.
  Second, countries in Iran's neighborhood that were hostile or neutral 
to the talks in 2015 suddenly have their eyes wide open to the benefits 
of getting back into the deal, so we should make sure that our partners 
in the Middle East who have the ear of the Iranian Government or the 
Supreme Leader are applying the appropriate pressure and letting Iran 
know that their relationships in the region are at risk if Iran fails 
to get back into the deal.
  On our side of the ledger, we need to be willing to be creative. Now, 
of course, any restart of the nuclear agreement is going to require the 
United States to drop the sanctions Trump applied to Iran's economy--
that had the same impact as the Obama-era nuclear sanctions.
  Yet here is the point I want to make: What about the other sanctions 
that Trump layered on top of the economic sanctions? For example, it 
should be expected that the Iranians would want us to lift Trump's 
designation of its primary military force, the IRGC, as a terrorist 
organization. This wasn't strictly a nuclear sanction, but it was 
certainly a key part of Trump's maximum pressure campaign, and it was 
specifically designed to try to bring Iran back to the negotiating 
table on a nuclear program.
  In evaluating the wisdom of peeling back these noneconomic sanctions, 
it is important to remember that they were all completely feckless. 
These sanctions had no impact. In fact, their only impact was to worsen 
Iran's behavior, so lifting them would have no practical negative 
impact.
  Just as importantly, lifting this particular designation, the one 
example I am posing to you today, is a rather technical exercise under 
the U.S. statute, and it actually doesn't prevent us from sanctioning 
the truly bad actors in the Iranian military. For example, our 
sanctions on some of their most brutal interrogators--the IRGC's 
interrogators--would all stay in place even if we lifted that blanket 
IRGC designation.
  This is just one example of a Trump-era sanction whose erasure would 
have little to no practical impact. There are many more, but I use this 
example to show how weighing the equities, the benefits, of getting 
into the deal are going to be far greater than the imaginary benefits 
of keeping many of Trump's noneconomic sanctions.
  Now, let me be clear. If the sanctions like this are removed, 
opponents of the deal are going to cry bloody murder in that they are 
going to accuse Biden of giving more than Obama gave, but this is the 
exact trap that Trump was trying to set for his successor. He applied

[[Page S2541]]

sanctions on Iran in connection with the pullout of the nuclear deal, 
but he called them nonnuclear sanctions, hoping the next President 
would be caught in this sticky web. President Biden shouldn't be bound 
by Trump's tortured sanctions logic.
  But, just as importantly, let me assure you that no matter the 
particulars or the details of the agreement to restart the nuclear 
deal, the deal critics are going to oppose it, no matter what. They 
opposed it in 2015. They are going to oppose it again.
  What we should really be worried about is Trump's Iran policy 
becoming, by accident, permanent, and this is what is likely to occur 
if the Vienna talks fail. Iran will continue to speed up its nuclear 
research program, the maximum pressure will continue, and a chill will 
be delivered to the deescalation momentum in the region.
  But on the other hand, reentering the deal, while effectively already 
priced into a Biden electoral victory, will be seen as a diplomatic 
victory, at a perfect time to score a win for diplomacy, and the Middle 
East countries who have found new affection for a U.S.-Iran agreement 
will exhale.
  Now, I am not naive. I understand the Middle East has still dozens of 
intractable crises, and the events of the last few days in Israel and 
Gaza are a reminder of the grave challenges that are still there. But 
the overall mood of deescalation in and around the Gulf is real, and it 
is much better than the old incentive structure for escalation.
  So I see these roots of positive change slowly, quietly growing, and, 
right now, the best way for the United States to nurture those grass 
shoots is to restart the Iran nuclear agreement.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________