[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 158 (Thursday, September 28, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4755-S4759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-69. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of Louisiana urging the United States Congress 
     to take such actions as are necessary to establish the 
     ``Agent Orange Veterans Service Medal'' to commemorate the 
     service and sacrifice of veterans who were exposed to the 
     Agent Orange herbicide during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 
     1971; to the Committee on Armed Services.

                   House Concurrent Resolution No. 12

       Whereas, for generations, millions of Americans have 
     answered the call to serve and taken the sacred oath to 
     defend and preserve our nation's ideals of liberty and 
     democracy; and
       Whereas, such valiant men and women sacrifice their 
     personal safety and time with their families to protect the 
     individual and collective freedom guaranteed to all 
     Americans; and
       Whereas, more than eight million citizens of this country 
     honorably served during the Vietnam War, during which time 
     Agent Orange was widely used in Vietnam by the United States 
     Armed Forces as part of the herbicidal warfare program 
     Operation Ranch Hand from 1961 until 1971; and
       Whereas, nearly twenty million gallons of the orange powder 
     were sprayed over the land from helicopters or low-flying 
     aircraft, destroying vegetation and crops in order to deprive 
     enemy guerrillas of food and cover for their activities and 
     exposing more than two million American soldiers to the 
     herbicide and defoliant chemical; and
       Whereas, Agent Orange is a dioxin and cancer-causing 
     chemical that enters the body through physical contact or 
     ingestion and moves into the human cell nucleus, where it 
     attacks the genes and causes a number of serious illnesses, 
     including leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, ischemic heart 
     disease, soft tissue sarcoma, amyloidosis, diabetes, and 
     cancers of the throat, prostate, lung, and colon; and
       Whereas, Agent Orange also causes genetic damage, and in 
     some cases, the children and grandchildren of veterans 
     exposed to Agent Orange have been born with spina bifida and 
     other abnormalities; and
       Whereas, today, only eight hundred thousand Vietnam 
     veterans exposed to Agent Orange are alive, and approximately 
     three hundred deaths occur among them every day; and
       Whereas, while fallen comrades are memorialized at the 
     Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., those veterans 
     who are victims of Agent Orange are not recognized as 
     fatalities of the Vietnam War; and
       Whereas, it is most appropriate that we should honor these 
     veterans to the full extent of our ability, as they have made 
     untold and innumerable sacrifices to preserve the liberties 
     we enjoy today and that our progeny will hopefully continue 
     to cherish for generations to come. Therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 
     memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions 
     as are necessary to establish a commemorative military 
     service medal to be known as the `` Agent Orange Veterans 
     Service Medal'' to honor and recognize the victims of Agent 
     Orange during the Vietnam War for their courageous service to 
     our Nation as some of America's most heroic citizens; and be 
     it further.
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives of the United States Congress and to each 
     member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-70. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Oklahoma making an application to the United 
     States Congress, as provided by Article V of the United 
     States Constitution, to call a convention limited to 
     proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution to 
     set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be 
     elected as a Member of the United States House of 
     Representatives and to set a limit on the number of terms a 
     person may be elected as a Member of the United States 
     Senate; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                    House Joint Resolution No. 1032

       Section 1. The Oklahoma Legislature of Oklahoma hereby 
     makes an application to Congress, as provided by Article V of 
     the Constitution of the United States of America, to call a 
     convention limited to proposing an amendment to the 
     Constitution of the United States of America to set a limit 
     on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a 
     Member of the United States House of Representatives and to 
     set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be 
     elected as a Member of the United States Senate.
       Section 2. The Secretary of State is hereby directed to 
     transmit copies of this application to the President and 
     Secretary of the Senate of the United States and to the 
     Speaker, Clerk and Judiciary Committee Chairman of the House 
     of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, and 
     copies to the members of the said Senate and House of 
     Representatives from this State; also to transmit copies 
     hereof to the presiding officers of each of the legislative 
     houses in the several States, requesting their cooperation.
       Section 3. This application shall be considered as covering 
     the same subject matter as the applications from other States 
     to Congress to call a convention to set a limit on the number 
     of terms that a person may be elected to the House of 
     Representatives of the Congress of the United States and the 
     Senate of the United States; and this application shall be 
     aggregated with same for the purpose of attaining the two-
     thirds of states necessary to require Congress to call a 
     limited convention on this subject, but shall not be 
     aggregated with any other applications on any other subject.
       Section 4. This application constitutes a continuing 
     application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution 
     of the United States of America until the legislatures of at 
     least two-thirds of the several states have made applications 
     on the same subject.
                                  ____

       POM-71. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Oklahoma making an application to the United 
     States Congress, as provided by Article V of the United 
     States Constitution, to call a convention limited to 
     proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution to 
     set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be 
     elected as a Member of the United States House of 
     Representatives and to set a limit on the number of terms a 
     person may be elected as a Member of the United States 
     Senate; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                    House Joint Resolution No. 1032

       Section 1. The Oklahoma Legislature of Oklahoma hereby 
     makes an application to Congress, as provided by Article V of 
     the Constitution of the United States of America, to call a 
     convention limited to proposing an amendment to the 
     Constitution of the United States of America to set a limit 
     on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a 
     Member of the United States House of Representatives and to 
     set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be 
     elected as a Member of the United States Senate.
       Section 2. The Secretary of State is hereby directed to 
     transmit copies of this application to the President and 
     Secretary of the Senate of the United States and to the 
     Speaker, Clerk and Judiciary Committee Chairman of the House 
     of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, and 
     copies to the members of the said Senate and House of 
     Representatives from this State; also to transmit copies 
     hereof to the presiding officers of each of the legislative 
     houses in the several States, requesting their cooperation.
       Section 3. This application shall be considered as covering 
     the same subject matter as the applications from other States 
     to Congress to call a convention to set a limit on the number 
     of terms that a person may be elected to the House of 
     Representatives of the Congress of the United States and the 
     Senate of the United States; and this application shall be 
     aggregated with same for the purpose of attaining the two-
     thirds of states necessary to require Congress to call a 
     limited convention on this subject, but shall not be 
     aggregated with any other applications on any other subject.
       Section 4. This application constitutes a continuing 
     application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution 
     of the United States of America until the legislatures of at 
     least two-thirds of the several states have made applications 
     on the same subject.
                                  ____

       POM-72. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Colorado urging and requesting the United States 
     government to take action to preserve and enhance American 
     leadership in space; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

[[Page S4756]]

  


                   Senate Joint Resolution No. 23-007

       Whereas, Our nation significantly benefitted from 
     technological and scientific advancements resulting from 
     space exploration and aerospace activities; and
       Whereas, Colorado ranks first in the nation for aerospace 
     employment concentration; and
       Whereas, There are over 34,000 Coloradans who are directly 
     employed in aerospace, with the aerospace cluster supporting 
     over 240,000 jobs; and
       Whereas, Colorado is home to the nation's top aerospace 
     companies, including Ball Aerospace, Boeing, L3Harris, 
     Lockheed Martin Space, Maxar Technologies, Northrop Grumman, 
     Raytheon, Sierra Space, and United Launch Alliance, and close 
     to 500 additional companies that support the aerospace sector 
     by providing services and developing products, including 
     spacecraft, launch vehicles, satellites, command and control 
     software, sensors, and navigation operations; and
       Whereas, Colorado is a strategic location for national 
     space and cyber activity, with five key military commands: 
     North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the United 
     States Northern Command, the United States Strategic 
     Command's Joint Functional Component Command for Space 
     Missile Warning Center, the United States Space Command, and 
     the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command/ 
     Army Forces Strategic Command, as well as three space-related 
     United States Space Force bases: Buckley, Peterson, and 
     Schriever; and
       Whereas, The United States Air Force Academy, along with 
     Colorado's colleges and universities, including the 
     University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado 
     Colorado Springs, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State 
     University, Metropolitan State University of Denver, 
     University of Denver, Colorado Mesa University, and Fort 
     Lewis College, provides access to world-class aerospace-
     related degrees and offers aerospace companies one of the 
     country's most educated workforces; and
       Whereas, Various organizations are key to Colorado's 
     prominence in aerospace, such as the American Institute of 
     Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world's largest aerospace 
     technical society; the Colorado Space Coalition, a group of 
     industry stakeholders working to grow and promote Colorado as 
     a center of excellence for aerospace; the Colorado chapter of 
     Citizens for Space Exploration, housed within the Colorado 
     Business Roundtable, whose mission is to promote better 
     understanding of aerospace and its importance in our economy 
     and daily lives, as well as promoting the importance of human 
     space exploration; and the Colorado Space Business 
     Roundtable, an organization that works to convene 
     stakeholders from industry, government, and academia to 
     advance aerospace business and workforce opportunities 
     throughout the state. Together these organizations form the 
     Colorado chapter of the Aerospace States Association, a 
     nonpartisan organization of lieutenant governors and 
     associate members from aerospace organizations and academia 
     who represent states' interests in federal aerospace and 
     aviation policy development led by Colorado Lieutenant 
     Governor Dianne Primavera; and
       Whereas, In addition, the Colorado Air and Space Port, 
     located east of the Denver International Airport, seeks to 
     serve as America's hub for commercial space transportation, 
     research, and development; this horizontal launch facility 
     will have the potential to become the foundation for a global 
     suborbital transportation network connecting Colorado 
     globally. Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate of the Seventy-fourth General 
     Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of 
     Representatives concurring herein: That we, the members of 
     the Colorado General Assembly:
       (1) Strongly urge and request the government of the United 
     States of America to take action to preserve and enhance 
     American leadership in space, spur innovation, and ensure our 
     continued national and economic security by supporting space 
     exploration and activities, including sending United States 
     astronauts (including the first female and first person of 
     color who will walk on the Moon) under NASA's Artemis 
     program, which launched its successful uncrewed test flight 
     on November 16, 2022. Hundreds of Colorado companies worked 
     to make Artemis I a success, including Boeing, which built 
     the Space Launch System rocket; United Launch Alliance, which 
     built the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion system, the second 
     stage that propelled Orion into orbit around the Moon; and 
     Lockheed Martin Space, which designed and built the Orion 
     spacecraft for NASA in Colorado, which traveled 1.4 million 
     miles beyond the Moon and back;
       (2) Recognize and appreciate Colorado's space and aerospace 
     companies and organizations, especially the growing 
     membership and activities of the Colorado chapter of Citizens 
     for Space Exploration, in partnership with the Colorado 
     Business Roundtable, whose activities to promote space 
     exploration are helping to increase public understanding and 
     enthusiasm for exploration funding;
       (3) Recognize and appreciate the exciting new innovations 
     coming this year with the inaugural flight of the United 
     Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket; Boeing's CST-100 
     Starliner crew test flight to the International Space 
     Station; and the Sierra Space Dream Chaser, the world's only 
     winged commercial spaceplane, which will also travel to the 
     International Space Station. Both the Starliner and Dream 
     Chaser will launch atop a United Launch Alliance rocket;
       (4) Express our most sincere and deepest appreciation to 
     the men and women working in our military installations in 
     Colorado; and
       (5) Hereby declare March 13, 2023, to be ``Colorado 
     Aerospace Day''.
       Be it Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint 
     Resolution be sent to President Joseph Biden, Jr.; Vice 
     President Kamala Harris; Speaker of the House of 
     Representatives Kevin McCarthy; House Minority Leader Hakeem 
     Jeffries; Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer; Senate 
     Minority Leader Mitch McConnell; Senator John Hickenlooper; 
     Senator Michael Bennet; Congresswoman Diana DeGette; 
     Congressman Joe Neguse; Congresswoman Lauren Boebert; 
     Congressman Ken Buck; Congressman Doug Lamborn; Congressman 
     Jason Crow; Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen; Congresswoman 
     Yadira Caraveo; Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator; Billy Nolen, 
     Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration; Governor 
     Jared Polis; Lieutenant Governor and Co-chair, Colorado Space 
     Coalition, Dianne Primavera; Brigadier General Laura Clellan, 
     Adjutant General of Colorado; General James Dickinson, 
     Commander, U.S. Space Command; Colonel Marcus Jackson, 
     Buckley Garrison Commander, Buckley Space Force Base; Dr. 
     Christopher Scolese, Director, National Reconnaissance 
     Office; Ross B. Garelick Bell, Executive Director, Aerospace 
     States Association; Thomas E. Zelibor, Chief Executive 
     Officer, Space Foundation; Alexandra Dukes, Section Chair, 
     American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Rocky 
     Mountain Section; Dr. Ronald M. Sega, Co-chair, Colorado 
     Space Coalition; Michael Gass, Co-chair, Colorado Space 
     Coalition; Bob Cone, Chair, Colorado Space Business 
     Roundtable; Christie Lee and Stacey DeFore, Co-Chairs, 
     Colorado Citizens for Space Exploration; Jeff Kloska, 
     Director, Colorado Air and Space Port; and Debbie Brown, 
     President, Colorado Space Business Roundtable.
                                  ____

       POM-73. A resolution adopted by the Senate of the State of 
     California respectfully calling upon the President of the 
     United States and the United States Congress to formally and 
     consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the 
     atrocities committed against the Armenian people constituted 
     genocide; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                        Senate Resolution No. 28

       Whereas, Armenians have resided in Asia Minor and the 
     Caucasus for approximately four millennia and have a long and 
     rich history in the region, including the establishment of 
     many kingdoms. Despite Armenians' historic presence, 
     stewardship, and autonomy in the region, Turkish rulers of 
     the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey subjected 
     Armenians to severe and unjust persecution and brutality; and
       Whereas, Ottoman Turkish political leaders, succeeded by 
     the leaders of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, promoted a 
     pan-Turkic agenda to unite the Turkic populations of the 
     Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire by annihilating the 
     non-Turkic Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian minorities in the 
     region, an agenda that continues to this day; and
       Whereas, The Armenian population was a victim of a series 
     of massacres, namely the Hamidian massacres between 1894 and 
     1896 and the Adana massacre of 1909, at the hands of Ottoman 
     Turkey; and
       Whereas, The Armenian nation was subjected to a systematic 
     and premeditated genocide at the hands of the Young Turk 
     government of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1919. The 
     genocide officially began on April 24, 1915, and continued at 
     the hands of the Kemalist Movement of Turkey from 1920 to 
     1923; and
       Whereas, Over 1,500,000 Armenian men, women, and children 
     were slaughtered or marched to their deaths in an effort to 
     annihilate the Armenian nation in the first genocide of 
     modern times, thousands of surviving Armenian women and 
     children were forcibly converted and Islamized, and hundreds 
     of thousands more were subjected to ethnic cleansing during 
     the period of the modern Republic of Turkey from 1924 to 
     1937; and
       Whereas, During the genocides of the Christians living in 
     the Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions, in addition to 
     the 1,500,000 men, women, and children of Armenian descent, 
     hundreds of thousands of Assyrians, Greeks, and other 
     Christians lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman 
     Turkish Empire and the Republic of Turkey, thereby 
     constituting one of the most atrocious violations of human 
     rights and crimes against humanity in the history of the 
     world; and
       Whereas, The Republic of Azerbaijan also carried out 
     massacres in Shushi, Baku, Ghaibalishen, Jamilli, Karkijahan, 
     and Pahlul between 1918 and 1920; and
       Whereas, These crimes against humanity also had the 
     consequence of permanently removing all traces of the 
     Armenians and other targeted people from their historic 
     homelands of more than four millennia and enriching the 
     perpetrators with the lands and other property of the victims 
     of these crimes, including through the usurpation of several 
     thousand churches and cultural institutions; and

[[Page S4757]]

       Whereas, In response to the genocide and at the behest of 
     President Woodrow Wilson and the United States State 
     Department, the Near East Relief organization was founded and 
     became the first congressionally sanctioned American 
     philanthropic effort created exclusively to provide 
     humanitarian assistance to, and to rescue from annihilation, 
     the Armenian nation and other Christian minorities. Those who 
     were rescued went on to survive and thrive outside of their 
     ancestral homeland all over the world and specifically in 
     this state; and
       Whereas, Near-East Relief succeeded, with the active 
     participation of the citizens from this state, in delivering 
     $117,000,000 in assistance and in saving more than 1,000,000 
     refugees, including 132,000 orphans, between 1915 and 1930, 
     by delivering food, clothing, and materials for shelter and 
     by setting up refugee camps, clinics, hospitals, and 
     orphanages; and
       Whereas, The Armenian nation survived the genocide despite 
     the attempt by the Ottoman Empire to exterminate it; and
       Whereas, In 1923, Soviet leader Josef Stalin, utilizing a 
     strategy to divide and conquer ethnic minorities in the 
     former Russian Empire, proclaimed the ancient Armenian region 
     of Artsakh, populated almost entirely by ethnic Armenians, as 
     the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijani 
     Soviet Socialist Republic; and
       Whereas, In 1924, Soviet leader Josef Stalin, in 
     furtherance of the same strategy, created an Azerbaijani 
     exclave on the ancient Armenian lands of Nakhichevan, which 
     was subsequently ethnically cleansed of all Armenians and 
     rendered devoid of Armenian cultural presence through the 
     deliberate destruction of thousands of Armenian antiquities, 
     cross-stones, and artifacts; and
       Whereas, Adolf Hitler, in, persuading his army commanders 
     that the merciless persecution and killing of Jews, Poles, 
     and other people would bring no retribution, declared, ``Who, 
     after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the 
     Armenians?''; and
       Whereas, On November 4, 1918, immediately after the 
     collapse of the Young Turk regime and before the founding of 
     the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923, the 
     Ottoman Parliament considered a motion on the crimes 
     committed by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) 
     stating: ``A population of one million people guilty of 
     nothing except belonging to the Armenian nation were 
     massacred and exterminated, including even women and 
     children.'' The Minister of Interior at the time, Fethi Bey, 
     responded by telling the Parliament: ``It is the intention of 
     the government to cure every single injustice done up until 
     now, as far as the means allow, to make possible the return 
     to their homes of those sent into exile, and to compensate 
     for their material loss as far as possible''; and
       Whereas, The Parliamentary Investigative Committee 
     proceeded to collect relevant documents describing the 
     actions of those responsible for the Armenian mass killings 
     and turned them over to the Turkish Military Tribunal. CUP's 
     leading figures were found guilty of massacring Armenians and 
     hanged or given lengthy prison sentences. The Turkish 
     Military Tribunal requested that Germany extradite to Turkey 
     the masterminds of the massacres who had fled the country. 
     After German refusal, they were tried in absentia and 
     sentenced to death; and
       Whereas, On August 1, 1926, in an interview published in 
     the Los Angeles Examiner, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk admitted: 
     ``These left-overs from the former Young Turk Party, who 
     should have been made to account for the lives of millions of 
     our Christian subjects who were ruthlessly driven en masse 
     from their homes and massacred, have been restive under the 
     Republican rule. They have hitherto lived on plunder, robbery 
     and bribery and become inimical to any idea or suggestion to 
     enlist in useful labor and earn their living by the honest 
     sweat of their brow''; and
       Whereas, From 1988 to 1990, the Armenian population in 
     Soviet Azerbaijan was also the target of racially motivated 
     pogroms in the Cities of Sumgait (February 27 to 29, 1998), 
     Kirovabad (November 21 to 27, 1988) and Baku (January 13 to 
     19, 1990); and
       Whereas, Eighty-nine medieval churches, 5,840 ornate cross-
     stones (khachkars), and 22,000 tombstones in the formerly 
     Armenian region of Nakhichevan were systematically and 
     covertly eradicated by the Azerbaijani government from 1997 
     to 2006 in order to erase the region's indigenous Armenian 
     trace; and
       Whereas, Having suffered racial and economic discrimination 
     under the Soviet Azerbaijani occupation, the citizens of the 
     Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region declared their 
     independence from the USSR in 1991 and established the free, 
     independent, and democratic Republic of Artsakh through a 
     referendum held in accordance with the constitution and laws 
     of the Soviet Union, the Universal Declaration of Human 
     Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 
     Cultural Rights, and the principles of the International 
     Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and
       Whereas, Unlike other people and governments that have 
     admitted and denounced the abuses and crimes of predecessor 
     regimes, and despite the Turkish government's earlier 
     admissions and the overwhelming proof of genocidal intent, 
     the Republic of Turkey inexplicably and adamantly has denied 
     the occurrence of the crimes against humanity committed by 
     the Ottoman and Young Turk rulers for many years, and 
     continues to do so more than a century since the first crimes 
     constituting genocide occurred; and
       Whereas, The Republic of Turkey continues its genocidal 
     policy by showing no remorse for the crime and engages in the 
     final stage of genocide by denying the veracity of the crimes 
     perpetrated against the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian 
     nations; and
       Whereas, Those denials compound the grief of the few 
     remaining survivors and deprive the surviving Armenian nation 
     of its individual and collective ancestral lands, property, 
     cultural heritage, financial assets, and population growth; 
     and
       Whereas, The Republic of Turkey has escalated its 
     international campaign of Armenian Genocide denial, 
     maintained its blockade of Armenia, and increased its 
     pressure on the small but growing movement in Turkey 
     acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and seeking justice for 
     this systematic campaign of destruction of millions of 
     Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and other Christians upon their 
     homelands; and
       Whereas, Those citizens of Turkey, both Armenian and non-
     Armenian, who continue to speak the truth about the Armenian 
     Genocide, such as human rights activist and journalist Hrant 
     Dink, continue to be silenced by violent means or 
     imprisonment, in part due to a Turkish law that criminalizes 
     any expression that is considered to be insulting to the 
     Turkish identity; and
       Whereas, There is continued concern about the welfare of 
     Christians in the Republic of Turkey, their right to worship 
     and practice freely, and the legal status and condition of 
     thousands of ancient Armenian churches, monasteries, 
     cemeteries, and other historical and cultural structures, 
     sites, and antiquities in the Republic of Turkey; and
       Whereas, The United States is on record as having 
     officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in the United 
     States government's May 28, 1951, written statement to the 
     International Court of Justice regarding the Reservations to 
     the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime 
     of Genocide, through President Ronald Reagan's April 22, 
     1981, Proclamation No. 4838, and by congressional 
     legislation, including House Joint Resolution 148 adopted on 
     April 9, 1975, and House Joint Resolution 247 adopted on 
     September 12, 1984; and
       Whereas, Prior to the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the United States had a 
     record of seeking just and constructive means to address the 
     consequences of the Ottoman Empire's intentional destruction 
     of the Armenian people, including through United States 
     Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 adopted on February 9, 1916, 
     United States Senate Resolution 359 adopted on May 11, 1920, 
     and President Woodrow Wilson's November 22, 1920, decision 
     titled, ``The Frontier between Armenia and Turkey,'' which 
     was issued as a legally binding arbitral award, but has not 
     been enforced to this date; and
       Whereas, The Republics of Armenia and Artsakh are bastions 
     of freedom, liberty, and democracy in the region; and
       Whereas, Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, has never 
     been a part of the independent Republic of Azerbaijan in that 
     it proclaimed its independence before the fall of the Soviet 
     Union and before Azerbaijan did the same; and
       Whereas, The Republics of Turkey and Azerbaijan proclaim 
     each other as ``one nation, two states''; and
       Whereas, The Republic of Turkey. has long served as a 
     destabilizing force in the region by illegally blockading the 
     Republic of Armenia, targeting minority groups in Turkey, and 
     invading and occupying the sovereign territories of the 
     Syrian Arab Republic, among other gross violations of 
     international law; and
       Whereas, The Republic of Turkey directly supported 
     Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War through the 
     recruitment and deployment of mercenary terrorists and the 
     supply of military equipment and senior military personnel 
     used by Azerbaijan to commit war crimes and crimes against 
     humanity against the Armenians of the Republic of Nagorno-
     Karabakh, including ISIS-style beheadings of Armenian senior 
     citizens; and
       Whereas, These international crimes against humanity still 
     need to be prosecuted under the jurisdiction of international 
     legal institutions; and
       Whereas, Azerbaijan has continuously invaded and occupied 
     the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia since 
     May 2021, harmed or killed civilians, and destroyed critical 
     infrastructure; and
       Whereas, Azerbaijan began, on December 12, 2022, an illegal 
     blockade of the Lachin corridor, the road of life connecting 
     Artsakh to the world through Armenia, that has deprived 
     120,000 Armenians of food, medicine, gas, electricity, and in 
     internet connectivity; and
       Wherfas, California is home to the largest Armenian 
     American population in the United States, and Armenians 
     living in California have enriched our state through their 
     leadership and contribution in business, agriculture, 
     academia, government, and the arts. Many of them have family 
     members who experienced firsthand the horror and evil of the 
     Armenian Genocide and its ongoing denial; and
       Whereas, Every person should be made aware and educated 
     about the Armenian Genocide and other crimes against 
     humanity; and
       Whereas, The State of California has been at the forefront 
     of encouraging and promoting a curriculum relating to human

[[Page S4758]]

     rights and genocide in order to empower future generations to 
     prevent the recurrence of genocide: and
       Whereas, April 24, 1915, is globally observed and 
     recognized as the commencement of the, Armenian Genocide; and
       Whereas, The Armenian Genocide has been officially 
     recognized by the United States Congress in 2019 with the 
     adoption of House Resolution 296 and Senate Resolution 150, 
     officially reaffirming the United States' record on the 
     Armenian Genocide; and
       Whereas, Both resolutions set, as a matter of United States 
     policy, to (1) commemorate the Armenian Genocide through 
     official recognition and remembrance; (2) reject efforts to 
     enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States 
     government with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any other 
     genocide; and (3) encourage education and 
     public understanding of the facts of the Armenian 
     Genocide, including the United States' role in the 
     humanitarian relief effort and the relevance of the 
     Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity; 
     and
       Whereas, President Joseph Biden affirmed the United States' 
     record on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on April 
     24, 2021, and in doing so noted that recognition is a step 
     ``to ensure that what happened is never repeated''; and
       Whereas, The Senate encourages the United States government 
     to halt all military assistance to Azerbaijan while it 
     continues Turkey's annihilation of ethnic Armenians in both 
     Nagorno-Karabakh, which is also known as Artsakh, and 
     Armenia; and
       Whereas, We must encourage education and public 
     understanding of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, 
     including the United States' role in the humanitarian relief 
     effort, and the relevance of the Armenian Genocide to modern-
     day crimes against humanity; and
       Whereas, Armenians in California and throughout the world 
     have not been provided with justice for the crimes 
     perpetrated against the Armenian nation despite the fact that 
     over a century has passed since the crimes were first 
     committed: and
       Whereas, The Armenian people in California and throughout 
     the world remain resolved and their spirit continues to 
     thrive more than a century after their near annihilation; and
       Whereas, By recognizing and consistently remembering the 
     Armenian Genocide and other genocides, we help protect 
     cultural and historic memory and ensure that similar 
     atrocities do not occur again; now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, That the 
     Senate hereby designates the year of 2023 as ``State of 
     California Year of Commemoration of the Anniversary of the 
     Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923'' and in doing so, intends, 
     through the enactment of legislation, that the Armenian 
     Genocide is properly commemorated and taught to its citizens 
     and visitors through statewide educational and cultural 
     events; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate hereby designates the month of 
     April 2023 as ``State of California Month of Commemoration of 
     the 108th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-
     1923''; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate commends its conscientious 
     educators who teach about human rights and genocide, and 
     intends for them, through the enactment of legislation, to 
     continue to enhance their efforts to educate students at all 
     levels about the experience of the Armenians and other crimes 
     against humanity; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate hereby commends the extraordinary 
     service that was delivered by Near East Relief to the 
     survivors of the Armenian Genocide and the Assyrian Genocide, 
     including thousands of direct beneficiaries of American 
     philanthropy who are the parents, grandparents, and great-
     grandparents of many Californian Armenians and Assyrians, and 
     pledges its intent, through the enactment of legislation, to 
     working with community groups, nonprofit organizations, 
     citizens, state personnel, and the community at large to host 
     statewide educational and cultural events; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate deplores the persistent, ongoing 
     efforts by any person, in this country or abroad, to deny the 
     historical fact of the Armenian Genocide; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate respectfully calls upon the 
     President and the Congress of the United States to formally 
     and consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the 
     atrocities committed against the Armenian people constituted 
     genocide; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate calls on the President of the 
     United States to work award equitable, constructive, stable, 
     and durable Armenian-Turkish relations; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Senate calls on the President and the 
     Congress of the United States, in all official contacts with 
     Turkish and other world leaders and officials, to emphasize 
     that Turkey should:
       (1) End all forms of religious discrimination and 
     persecution;
       (2) Allow the rightful historical church and lay owners of 
     Christian and other church properties, without hindrance or 
     restriction, to organize and administer prayer services, 
     religious education, clerical training, appointments, and 
     succession, religious community gatherings, social services, 
     including ministry to the needs of the poor and infirm, and 
     other religious activities;
       (3) Return to their rightful owners all historical 
     Christian and other churches and other places of worship, 
     monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy 
     sites, and other religious properties, including movable 
     properties, such as artwork, manuscripts, vestments, vessels, 
     and other artifacts;
       (4) Allow the rightful Christian and other church and lay 
     owners of church properties, without hindrance or 
     restriction, to preserve, reconstruct, and repair, as they 
     see fit, all churches and other places of worship, 
     monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy 
     sites, and other religious properties within Turkey; and be 
     it further
       Resolved, That in light of the impending ethnic cleansing 
     and genocide of the Armenians in Artsakh, the Senate calls 
     upon the President of the United States to ensure the rights 
     of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to extraterritorial 
     self-determination (independence) in accordance with the 
     principle of remedial succession and the global commitment to 
     Responsibility to Protect (R2P); and be it further
       Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies 
     of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the 
     United States, to the Speaker of the House of 
     Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to 
     each Senator and Representative from California in the 
     Congress of the United States, to the Governor of California, 
     to every Member of the California State Legislature, and to 
     the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
                                  ____

       POM-74. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of South Carolina applying to the United States 
     Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments 
     pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution 
     limited to proposing amendments that impose fiscal restraints 
     on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction 
     of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for 
     its officials and for members of Congress; to the Committee 
     on the Judiciary.

                    House Joint Resolution No. 3205

       Whereas, the founders of our constitution empowered state 
     legislators to be guardians of liberty against future abuses 
     of power by the federal government; and
       Whereas, the federal government has created a crushing 
     national debt through improper and imprudent spending; and
       Whereas, the federal government has invaded the legitimate 
     roles of the states through the manipulative process of 
     federal mandates, most of which are unfunded to a great 
     extent; and
       Whereas, the federal government has ceased to live under a 
     proper interpretation of the Constitution of the United 
     States; and
       Whereas, it is the solemn duty of the states to protect the 
     liberty of our people--particularly for the generations to 
     come--by proposing amendments to the Constitution of the 
     United States through a convention of the states under 
     Article V for the purpose of restraining these and related 
     abuses of power. Now, therefore, be it
       Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 
     Carolina:


           Application for calling a convention of the states

       Section 1. The General Assembly of South Carolina, by this 
     joint resolution, hereby applies to Congress, under the 
     provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United 
     States, for the calling of a convention of the states limited 
     to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United 
     States that impose fiscal restraints on the federal 
     government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal 
     government, and limit the terms of office for its officials 
     and for members of Congress.


                         Distribution of copies

       Section 2. The Clerks of the South Carolina House of 
     Representatives and the South Carolina Senate shall transmit 
     copies of this resolution to the President and the Secretary 
     of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
     United States House of Representatives, the members of the 
     South Carolina Congressional Delegation, and the presiding 
     officers of each of the legislative houses in the several 
     states, attesting to the enactment of this joint resolution 
     by the South Carolina General Assembly and requesting 
     cooperation.


         Joint resolution constitutes a continuing application

       Section 3. This joint resolution constitutes a continuing 
     application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution 
     of the United States until the legislatures of at least two-
     thirds of the several states have made applications on the 
     same subject.


                             Time effective

       Section 4. This joint resolution takes effect upon approval 
     by the Governor House.
                                  ____

       POM-75. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of Louisiana urging the United States Congress 
     to take such actions as are necessary to improve the mental 
     health of military veterans by supporting exposure to nature 
     with the designation of ``Get Outside Day''; to the Committee 
     on the Judiciary.

                      House Concurrent Resolution

       To memorialize the United States Congress to take such 
     actions as are necessary to improve the mental health of 
     military veterans by supporting exposure to nature with the 
     designation of ``Get Outside Day''.

[[Page S4759]]

       Whereas, mental health is a top priority both at the 
     federal and state government level; and
       Whereas, mental health issues affect different groups, in 
     particular, our vulnerable military veterans; and
       Whereas, countless military veterans return home suffering 
     from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, 
     anxiety, and depression; and
       Whereas, the onset of certain mental health conditions have 
     increased substance abuse and decreased social interaction; 
     and
       Whereas, military veterans have disproportionally high 
     rates of suicide; and
       Whereas, studies show that exposure to nature has a 
     positive and therapeutic impact on mental health and the 
     psychological conditions that are related to suicides; and
       Whereas, the enjoyment of a single day outside can lead to 
     increased mobility and renewed therapy for psychological 
     impediments and correspond to a decrease in suicides; and
       Whereas, the Louisiana Naval War Memorial Commission in 
     conjunction with the Military Veterans Advocacy agree to 
     sponsor ``Get Outside Day'' at the USS Kidd Veterans Museum. 
     Therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 
     memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions 
     as are necessary to designate the second Saturday in June as 
     ``Get Outside Day'' at the federal government level; and be 
     it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives of the Congress of the United States of 
     America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional 
     delegation.

                          ____________________