[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 34--TO EXPRESS THE SENSE OF CONGRESS IN 
   OPPOSITION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW PALESTINIAN CONSULATE OR 
                    DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN JERUSALEM

  Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Braun, Mr. Scott of Florida, 
Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Daines, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Marshall, Mr. 
Hoeven, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Boozman) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 34

       Whereas the United States recognizes sovereign nations' 
     authority to designate their own capitals;
       Whereas Jerusalem has served as the diplomatic capital of 
     Israel for decades and has remained the cultural center of 
     Israel and of the Jewish people for millennia;
       Whereas large, bipartisan supermajorities in the Senate and 
     the House of Representatives voted for the Jerusalem Embassy 
     Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-45), which states, as the policy 
     of the United States--
       (1) ``Jerusalem should remain an undivided city'';
       (2) ``Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the 
     State of Israel''; and
       (3) ``the United States Embassy in Israel should be 
     established in Jerusalem'';
       Whereas, in 2018, the Trump administration relocated the 
     United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in accordance 
     with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995;
       Whereas the Biden administration's plan to open a 
     Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem could be viewed as a 
     challenge to--
       (1) Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem; and
       (2) Jerusalem's status as an undivided city;
       Whereas such plan has received bipartisan criticism among 
     members of the Government of the United States and the 
     Government of Israel;
       Whereas the United States Embassy in Jerusalem's 
     Palestinian Affairs Unit already manages, in a timely and 
     effective manner, the proposed responsibilities of the Biden 
     administration's planned Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem; 
     and
       Whereas the opening and maintenance of a new and 
     unnecessary consulate in Jerusalem would require a 
     substantial expenditure of American taxpayer funds: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) Congress opposes the establishment of a new Palestinian 
     consulate in Jerusalem;
       (2) establishing such a consulate would violate the intent 
     of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995;
       (3) any establishment of a new consulate or diplomatic 
     mission in Jerusalem should not move forward without 
     congressional approval through the passage of new 
     legislation; and
       (4) the presence of a United States diplomatic mission 
     devoted to a non-state actor in Israel's sovereign capital 
     would be an affront to the territorial integrity of a long-
     standing United States partner and ally.

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