[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 209 (Tuesday, December 19, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6048-S6050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER
FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO ``SMALL BUSINESS LENDING UNDER THE
EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY ACT (REGULATION B)''--VETO
Mr. SCHUMER. As in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent the
veto message on S.J. Res. 32, it be considered as having been read,
printed in the Record, and spread in full upon the Journal.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The veto message is ordered to be printed in the Record as follows:
To the Senate of the United States:
I am returning herewith without my approval S.J. Res. 32, a
resolution that would disapprove of the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau's (CFPB) final rule titled ``Small Business Lending Under the
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B).''
The CFPB's final rule would provide small business owners, lenders,
and the public with critical information about the $1.7 trillion small
business financing market. It would bring much needed transparency to
small business lending and improve the ability of lenders and community
organizations to meet the most critical needs of America's sma11
businesses. This rule implements a long-overdue piece of the Dodd-Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It is also central to
the effective implementation of the Community Reinvestment Act, which
helps ensure that the needs of all borrowers--including low- and
moderate-income borrowers--are met. But this Republican-led resolution
would hinder the Government's ability to conduct oversight of abusive
and predatory lenders, make it harder for 33 million small businesses
across the country to assess lending opportunities and access capital,
and make it more difficult for lenders and community groups to address
the most acute gaps in capital access for minority- and women-owned
businesses.
If enacted, this resolution would harm all those that stand to
benefit from expanded transparency and accountability. By hampering
efforts to promote transparency and accountability in small business
lending, Republicans are siding with big banks and corporations over
the needs of small business owners. Small businesses are the engines of
our economy, and my Administration will not support policies that hurt
their ability to thrive and grow.
Therefore, I am vetoing this resolution.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
The White House, December 19, 2023.
Unanimous Consent Agreement--Veto Message S.J. Res. 32
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that,
notwithstanding rule XXII, the veto message with respect to S.J. Res.
32 be considered at a time to be determined by the majority leader in
concurrence with the Republican leader prior to January 31, 2024; that
there be up to 2 hours for debate equally divided between the two
leaders or their designees; that the Senate then vote on passage of the
joint resolution, the objections of the President to the contrary
notwithstanding.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, for the information of Senators, there
will be no further votes tonight. It is our expectation that we will
finish all remaining business tomorrow.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Israel
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me begin by wishing all Americans and
my colleagues here in the Congress a very happy and peaceful holiday
season.
Unfortunately, for the people in Israel and Palestine, that will not
be the case. This is not a peaceful season for them. In Gaza, millions
of people will end the year under constant bombardment, exposed to the
winter or living in tents, wondering where they will find their next
meal or clean drinking water or the medical supplies they need. What is
going on in Gaza right now is an unmitigated humanitarian disaster, and
we must not look away from it.
We all know that the current war was begun by Hamas in their brutal
terrorist attack against Israel, which killed some 1,200 innocent men,
women, and children and took more than 240 hostages. Hamas is a corrupt
terrorist organization which, before and after their attack on October
7, has made it clear that their goal is to destroy the State of Israel.
There is no question in my mind that Israel has the right to defend
itself and respond against the perpetrators of the October 7 attack.
But while it is clear that Israel has the right to respond militarily
against that terrorist attack, it is also clear that the Netanyahu
rightwing extremist government is waging that war--that response--in a
deeply reckless and immoral way.
A just cause for war does not excuse atrocities in the conduct of
that war, and that is precisely what we are seeing. Israel has the
right to go to war against Hamas. It does not have the right to go to
war against innocent men, women, and children in Gaza.
Israel's reliance on widespread and indiscriminate bombardment,
including the use of massive explosive ordnance in densely populated
areas, is unconscionable. Israel's military campaign will be remembered
among some of the darkest chapters of our modern history.
Consider the toll thus far--and I hope that every Member of Congress
is prepared to consider the toll of what Israel is doing right now. As
of today, nearly 20,000 people have been killed, 70 percent of whom are
women and children.
Let me repeat that. Nearly 20,000 people have been killed, 70 percent
of whom are women and children. And more than 52,000 have been wounded
since October 7. More victims are likely trapped under the rubble.
Further, 135 United Nations workers have been killed as well as dozens
of other aid workers.
Unbelievably--and it really is quite unbelievable--nearly 1.9 million
people--that is more than 85 percent of the population in Gaza--have
been driven from their homes. Can you imagine
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that? Eighty-five percent of the people have been thrown out of their
homes, and, as we speak, they don't where they are going. They don't
know what their future is. They don't have enough food, water, medical
supplies, or fuel.
Despite sharing their locations with Israeli military forces, more
than 100 United Nations facilities have been bombed. More than 100 U.N.
facilities have been bombed, and the U.N. reports--and, again, an
incredible fact--that over 60 percent of the housing units in Gaza have
been damaged or destroyed. Can you imagine that?
My State of Vermont has 600,000 people. That is one-third of the
people who live in Gaza, and I am just trying to think in my mind what
it would look like if 60 percent of the housing units in Vermont were
damaged or destroyed. But that is the case in Gaza right now.
Let me put this in historical perspective and what that historical
perspective means: that the destruction in Gaza is now equivalent to
that of Dresden, Germany, where 2 years of bombing by the U.S. Air
Force and British Air Force during World War II destroyed half of the
homes in that city and killed about 25,000 people. Gaza has matched
that in just 2 months--not 2 years, 2 months.
This massive bombardment has made it impossible for the United
Nations and other aid groups to provide basic necessities to the people
in Gaza. As we speak, some 1.4 million people are sheltering in 155
overcrowded U.N. facilities.
Can you imagine that 1.4 million people are sheltering tonight in 155
grossly overcrowded U.N. facilities? There is little electricity, food,
water, medicine, or fuel; and hundreds of thousands of children are
going hungry tonight in Gaza. The shortage of clean water and adequate
sanitation facilities is leading to disease.
And we can't even begin to contemplate the lasting psychological
damage being done to the children of Gaza. Can you imagine a 5-year-
old, a 10-year-old, looking around for whether a bomb is going to be
hitting him or her, wondering what kind of house, if any, they are ever
going to return to or where are they going? Massive psychological
damage is being done to the people of Gaza and especially to the
children. The United Nations' senior humanitarian official said that he
fears a ``breakdown in society'' amid this desperation.
Let's be frank. What we are talking about in Gaza now is not just a
humanitarian cataclysm but a mass atrocity.
And what is important for every Member of this body to understand--
for every American to understand--is that all of this is being done
with bombs and equipment provided by the United States of America and
heavily subsidized by American taxpayers. We are paying for the carnage
in Gaza right now--our bombs, our ordnance. There is no denying that we
are, as a nation, complicit in this carnage.
The Israeli military has made extensive use of massive explosive
munitions in its campaign, including 2,000-pound and 1,000-pound bombs,
and 155-millimeter artillery. These bombs and shells are manufactured
here in America and supplied to Israel by the United States of America.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the United States has provided
at least 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells to Israel since
October 7, including more than 5,400 of the huge 2,000-pound bombs that
can flatten entire neighborhoods.
The Washington Post reports that, in just 6 weeks after October 7,
Israel dropped more than 22,000 American-supplied bombs on Gaza. And
CNN reports that U.S. intelligence believes 40 to 45 percent of the
bombs Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided ``dumb bombs.''
These munitions were provided with the full knowledge they would
likely be used in Gaza, a densely populated urban area with a large
civilian presence. Parts of Gaza are more densely populated than New
York City.
The press, human rights monitors, and U.S. officials have confirmed
that U.S.-provided bombs have been used in attacks that have killed
thousands of civilians.
This campaign, I am sorry to say, very likely violates U.S. law and
U.S. policy. That is why I have introduced a privileged resolution
under section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act. The resolution
requests that the State Department provide information on any credible
allegations of human rights violations in Gaza caused by indiscriminate
or disproportionate military operations and the blanket denial of
humanitarian access. It also requests a list of the arms provided to
Israel since October 7 and a description of the steps taken to limit
civilian risk caused by Israeli military actions.
We will be voting on this resolution in January, and the best basic
question that we will be answering in that resolution is, Do we support
asking the State Department whether human rights violations may have
been committed in the Israeli campaign in Gaza?
That is not a tough question, and I hope that what we will see is a
``yes'' vote from most of my colleagues.
This should not be controversial. If you believe, as I do, that this
campaign has been indiscriminate, then, it is our responsibility to get
that question answered. If you believe Israel has done nothing wrong in
Gaza, then you should want that information to support your belief.
When we receive this information, we will then have a privileged
vehicle to debate any necessary changes in U.S. security assistance to
Israel.
While I look forward to this debate, let me also mention that there
are other things that we should be doing as well. The United States--
President Biden--has urged Israel to change its tactics with regard to
their indiscriminate bombing. The President and people in the State
Department have asked Netanyahu over and over and over again.
Unfortunately, the Netanyahu government has not listened and has not
been terribly interested in our perspective, despite the fact that we
are supplying the bombs that they are using, despite the fact that we
have provided them with $3.5 billion every year for a long time in
military aid. Instead, the Netanyahu government is continuing its
military approach, which is both immoral and in violation of
international law.
In my view, the United States must end our complicity in those
actions, and, to do so, we must make two critical changes in our
policy. First, while it is appropriate to support defensive systems
like Iron Dome to protect Israeli civilians against incoming rockets,
it would be irresponsible to provide an additional $10.1 billion in
military aid beyond those defensive systems, as contained in the
proposed supplemental foreign aid package.
The bottom line is that we should not be giving more money to a
rightwing extremist government in Israel to conduct a horrific and
immoral military campaign that includes indiscriminate bombardment.
Second, in my view, the United States should support efforts at the
United Nations Security Council to end the bloodshed, such as the
resolution expected tomorrow that would demand an ``urgent suspension
of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and
for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities,'' as
well as the unconditional release of all hostages. This should be
something we strongly support.
As you may recall, last week, the United States vetoed a resolution,
and I think that was disappointing not just to me but to many
Americans.
As we soon head home to our families, let us not forget the millions
of people in desperate need both here in the United States and around
the world. In Gaza, there is a horrific situation we can and must do
more to address. We cannot forget about it. We cannot shove it under
the rug. The time is now for the United States to stand up and do
everything that we can to end this humanitarian disaster.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Military Promotions
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, as this day comes to an end, a very sad
chapter in the history of this body comes to an end, mercifully.
I stand here before you and my colleagues as the last Vietnam veteran
serving in the U.S. Senate, a retired Navy captain, a grandson of a
Gold Star Mother, and from a family who believes in the Navy blue.
I want to say to the hundreds of military families who have endured
the uncertainty of whether or not their loved ones--their husbands,
their fathers,
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their brothers, their sisters--were going to be able to assume the
promotions that they have earned for their years of service in
protecting our country and in helping to defend our Constitution that
this sad chapter has come to an end.
I want to apologize to those families. I spoke last week and urged
that we turn this page and move on, and I am grateful that that has
happened.
I want to especially commend the work behind the scenes of our
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed, an Army
veteran, for the work that he has done in enabling us to end this sad
chapter.
I remember serving in a number of tours in Southeast Asia in the
Vietnam war. In some of those years, we were not home for Christmas,
for the holidays. We were on the other side of the world, and our
families were back here in the States. Those were not happy days for
us, and I know the last months have not been happy days for a lot of
people in the armed services who deserve better.
My hope is and my prayer is that at this Christmas season--at this
holiday season, as we move toward Christmas--and as we move toward the
end of the year and into a new year that the memories of what they have
had to endure will fade and that what they will remember is that there
are a number of our colleagues who stood up and said that this has got
to end, and let's treat our military folks--all of them--with the
respect that they deserve.
We have a big Air Force base in Delaware, Dover Air Force Base. We
have C-5s and C-17s. Through their large cargo aircraft, they provide
an air bridge to Ukraine by literally carrying in those large aircraft
the munitions, the supplies, and the materiels that are needed to help
Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion.
I have kept very close tabs with the Air Force base, gosh, for 30-
some years. One of the challenges we have at the Dover Air Force Base,
with the Delaware National Guard, and at military installations across
the country is the workforce. We find, for civilians, there are all
kinds of businesses and all kinds of employers. When I go visit them in
Delaware and across the country and I ask them how are they doing, how
are we doing, what can we do to help--we in the Federal Government and
the State government--they say: We just need people to come to work,
people who are employable and trainable who will come to work.
We have similar challenges in our armed services these days. We need
people who are willing to step up, be trained, and serve in the Army,
the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard. We want
to make sure, when they do that, that we will respect them and their
families as we traditionally have done since the beginning of this
country.
So, as we wrap this up and prepare to go home for the day--at least
in Delaware--I will be back tomorrow to, hopefully, do more of our
Nation's business. I am hopeful we will, and I am encouraged by what
has happened today.
Again, to those who serve us throughout the world in the Army, Navy,
Air Force, and Marines, the Navy salutes you, and God bless. To each
and every one of you out there who is serving us, whether you happen to
be in the States or someplace around the world, God bless you. Be safe,
and thank you so much.
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. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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