[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S105-S113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
AMENDING THE PERMANENT ELECTRONIC DUCK STAMP ACT OF 2013--Motion to
Proceed--Resumed
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 2872,
which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 243, H.R. 2872, a bill to
amend the Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2013 to
allow the Secretary of the Interior to issue electronic
stamps under such Act, and for other purposes.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
Inclement Weather
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as of today, over 200 million Americans
remain on alert as heavy snow and subzero temperatures persist across
the country. As far south as Texas, Americans are seeing snow, ice, and
dangerous road conditions and power outages by the hundreds of
thousands.
On Friday, Governor Hochul declared a state of emergency for western
New York and warned residents to stay off the roads. Of course, I might
say, though, the cold did not stop the Buffalo Bills. Go Bills.
And, last week, Senator Gillibrand and I sent a ``stand ready''
letter to FEMA, urging them to remain at the ready to assist our State
officials with whatever support they request.
Thankfully, snowfall in New York has slowed today compared to over
the weekend, but we are not out of the woods yet. Yet another wave of
lake-effect weather is set to pass through our State in the coming
days.
My office will continue to remain in touch with State officials, and
I urge everyone to continue to exercise caution.
Government Funding
Mr. President, now, on the CR, over the weekend, Congressional
leadership reached a bipartisan agreement on a clean extension of
government funding until March 1 and March 8, which will prevent a
government shutdown.
The focus of this week will be to pass this extension as quickly as
we can. Time is of the essence. If we don't act soon, the government
will run out of funding at midnight this Friday, January 19, just a few
days away.
So, today, the Senate will take the first vote to move forward on a
clean CR, putting the Senate on a path to pass the CR before Friday's
deadline. If both sides continue to work in good faith, I am hopeful
that we can wrap up work on the CR no later than Thursday.
The key to finishing our work this week will be bipartisan
cooperation in both Chambers. You can't pass these bills without
support from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the
Senate.
And passing a clean CR this week is important for two main reasons:
First,
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passing the CR, of course, will avert a harmful and unnecessary
government shutdown. No reasonable Member on either side, Democrat or
Republican, wants a government shutdown. Both sides recognize that a
government shutdown would mean crushing delays to veterans programs;
nutrition programs for women, infants, and children; delayed benefits
for our military; and so much more.
Second, passing the CR will give our appropriators time to finish
drafting all 12 bills to reflect our bipartisan agreement.
Congressional leaders have already agreed to a top-line number that
will protect critical priorities like housing, veterans' benefits,
healthcare, nutrition programs, and more. We want to move forward as
quickly as we can to turn this top-line number into legislation, but
everyone knows we need more time.
Now while most Democrats and Republicans want to avoid a shutdown, a
small group of hard-right extremists seem dead set on making a shutdown
a reality. With little leverage to actually enact their agenda, these
extremists have tried again and again to bully the Speaker, bully their
own Republican colleagues, and bully the country into accepting their
hard-right views. That is it. The only tactic the hard right has in its
playbook is to bully everyone else into submission, just like Donald
Trump does. And the reason is simple: Most Senators, most Congressmen--
Democrat and Republican--do not accept that their draconian cuts will
be good for America. So the only thing they can do is bully because
they can't convince, they can't win over people by argument, so
bullying seems to be their way to go.
Even now, the hard right, amazingly, is demanding that the Speaker
walk away from the agreement that the four corners made on the
appropriations top lines. That is simply ridiculous, as even many
Republicans recognize, and it goes to show you how unserious, how
incapable the hard right is of doing the hard work of governing.
But if the hard right's tactics in the House have proved one thing,
it is that bullying almost never works--and it ain't working for them.
Bullying didn't work during the default; it didn't work during previous
shutdown threats; and it is certainly not going to work now.
I hope that both sides can continue working together this week to
move forward with the CR quickly to prevent a government shutdown
before the Friday deadline.
Tax Framework
Mr. President, now on the tax framework, this morning, Senate Finance
Chairman Wyden and House Ways and Means Chairman Smith announced a
bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a tax framework that will
significantly improve the lives of millions of working families and
help Main Street businesses growing in today's economy. It has taken a
lot of hard work to come up with this framework, and I applaud the good
work done by Chairman Wyden, Chairman Smith, and everyone on both sides
who made this agreement possible.
I support this bipartisan tax framework because it makes important
progress to expand the child tax credit, helps address our affordable
housing crisis, and helps keep U.S. businesses competitive against the
Chinese Communist Party. As everyone knows, it takes bipartisan support
to get things done, so I hope our Republican Senate colleagues are
willing to work with us to keep this process going.
Now, this tax package has a great many provisions, but there are two
that I think distill why it is so important an achievement. The first
number is 16 million; that is the number of children from low-income
families who would benefit from this tax package's expansion of the
child tax credit. It goes a good part of the way toward restoring full
refundability to the CTC, and largest tax credits will go directly to
families who earn the least. For instance, under this tax package, a
family with three kids where one parent earns $32,000 a year will
receive almost a thousand dollars more from the CTC in the first year
alone, and a single parent with two children earning $13,000 part time
would see their credit double, a gain of over $1,500 in the first year.
That is more money for parents to pay for groceries, diapers, baby
formula, clothes, toiletries--the things parents absolutely need but,
in many cases, struggle to afford.
Now, the second--the first number was 16 million--the second number
of significance is 200,000. That would be the number of new affordable
homes that will be made possible because of this agreement through the
expansion of the low-income housing tax credit. I pushed very hard
to make sure that strong, low-income housing tax credit provisions were
included in this tax agreement. I made it public that omitting it would
be unacceptable, and I could not support the package without it.
The housing shortage is one of the biggest issues we face in this
country. It affects urban, suburban, and rural areas. It is one of the
biggest issues we face in New York where we need to build more
affordable housing.
The low-income housing tax credit is one of the most effective tools
in existence to increase the supply of affordable housing, and this
package will make this credit far more generous and far more easy to
access.
So, once again, I commend Chair Wyden and Chair Smith for all of
their hard work in making this framework possible.
Again, it will take bipartisan support in both the House and Senate
if we want to take the next steps forward. I hope Members of both
parties are willing to work with us on this package because there are
many things in it that both sides can celebrate. It represents a great
opportunity to help working families, help Main Street businesses, and
lower costs for people across the country.
Supplemental Funding
Mr. President, on the supplemental, as we continue to work to fund
the government, Senate negotiators remain hard at work finalizing an
agreement for a national security supplemental. As I have said
repeatedly, it is a matter of the highest national urgency that we pass
the supplemental. At stake is the security of our country, the security
of our friends abroad--including Ukraine and Israel--and nothing less
than the future of Western democracy. We cannot afford to let these
issues go unaddressed.
Passing the supplemental is one of the hardest things the Senate has
done in a very long time. But for the sake of our national security, of
our friends abroad, of our fundamental values, and of the strength that
this country is regarded in in the rest of the world, we must stay the
course.
I yield the floor.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is
recognized.
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, our Nation honored one of
the most consequential lives in American history. The America in which
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., labored for change was the same America in
which I grew up.
I was fortunate to be raised by parents who believed deeply in equal
rights, but the scourge of segregation was not unfamiliar in the places
I spent my formative years.
As I have shared with some of our colleagues before, I was especially
lucky to witness one of the most climatic moments of the civil rights
movement as I was a congressional intern here in Washington. I remember
stepping outside my office on August 28, 1963, and taking in the
enormous crowds that had flocked to participate in the March on
Washington. I remember looking down toward the Washington Monument and
the Lincoln Memorial beyond.
I was too far away to hear Dr. King's immortal words with my own
ears, but I was proud to be a witness to that remarkable history he
wrote that day and throughout his extraordinary life.
Government Funding
Mr. President, now an entirely different matter, House and Senate
negotiators worked hard and reached an agreement on top-line government
funding levels for the current fiscal year, and work continues to
deliver full-year appropriations through regular order. Shutting down
the government, even part of it, would interrupt this important
progress. That is why, today, the Senate will begin the process of
passing a short-term extension of government funding to allow this work
to continue.
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I am grateful that the Speaker of the House was able to secure
serious rollbacks on reckless spending, but it remains to be seen
whether the Biden administration can get serious on its responsibility
to provide for the common defense. For 3 straight years, the President
has turned in budget requests with real dollar cuts to funding
America's Armed Forces. Even a quick glance around the world shows how
little we can afford to shortchange the men and women defending the
United States and our interests. We need to take this responsibility
seriously.
Iran
Mr. President, now, on another matter, 3 years ago, I warned the
Biden administration that it needed to take a tougher approach to
growing threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies. I warned against
removing the Houthis from the Terrorist Watchlist, and I called
attention to how, even then, Iran was increasing its shipments of ever
deadlier and longer range weapons to the terrorists in Yemen.
But from the beginning, the administration chose to meet Iranian
aggression with accommodation. The President's team operated on a
profoundly naive assessment of the threat that we face. They abandoned
pressure and squandered leverage in an attempt to revive a failed
nuclear deal.
They hectored regional partners under attack, as if their defensive
actions against Houthi terrorists had provoked these Iranian proxies in
the first place. And then they trumpeted the utterly fictional
successes of their approach.
Remember how the President's National Security Advisor described the
state of the world last September--just last September--in an
incredibly timed essay in Foreign Affairs. Just weeks before Iran-
backed terrorists would slaughter 1,200 Israelis on October 7, he
claimed the United States had an ``enhanced deterrence'' to deter
``further [Iranian] aggression'' and that the Middle East was ``quieter
than it has been for decades.''
And 3 years in, the price of these delusions has become inescapably
obvious. To the extent that President Biden sought detente with the
world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, he was woefully ill-
advised about the nature of the Iranian regime. To the extent that this
administration ever seriously sought to deter Iran and its proxies,
their efforts have demonstrably failed.
So let's be absolutely clear. The United States is capable of
destroying those who threaten our allies, our interests, and American
lives. A global superpower is equipped to bring enormous force to bear
against its enemies. But deterrence isn't just about capabilities. It
is not enough for Iran to know that America has the means to demolish
its military and its network of terrorists. No. Deterrence requires
that our adversaries actually believe we are willing to use these
capabilities. It requires credibility. And when credibility is eroded,
it is not easily restored.
It will be difficult for the Biden administration to convince Tehran
and its agents that after 3 years spent scolding our partners for
wanting to defend themselves from Houthi terrorist attacks, America now
intends to do the same thing.
It will be difficult for the administration to convince our
adversaries that, after years of bending over backwards to accommodate
Iran and wringing our hands over the use of military force against its
proxies, we are now prepared to respond directly against Iranian
targets.
Restoring credible deterrence means identifying what our adversaries
hold dear and proving we are willing to hold it at risk.
Now, I am certain, Mr. President, that there are things Tehran
considers more precious than empty terrorist warehouses in Syria or
Houthi radar systems in Yemen. Iran uses proxies precisely because they
consider them expendable. Taking pains to avoid killing these proxies
or targeting Iranian forces and interests themselves tells Tehran that
its strategy is actually working.
President Biden owes it to the American people to explain how,
exactly, he intends to compel Iran and its proxies to actually change
their behavior.
He owes it to the Nation to start explaining how the stakes of
conflict in the Middle East ripple across the world; how the challenges
we face in the Red Sea, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific are all
connected; and how the cost of failing to meet them compounds.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration is not alone in its failure
to take its responsibility seriously. This afternoon, the Senate must
take it upon ourselves to reject an attempt to degrade our Nation's
credibility even further.
The resolution brought forward by Senator Sanders is little more than
performative leftwing politics. It is not, as our colleague would
suggest, about authorizing a report on aid to Israel. It is not even
about human rights. It is about tying the hands of a close ally locked
in a necessary battle against savage terrorists.
It is a gift to the leftwing anti-Israel activists.
So colleagues who share a concern about the plight of innocent people
in Gaza should set their attention on the Hamas terrorists who
orchestrate their suffering--the terrorists who take hostages, steal
humanitarian aid, and use their own citizens as human shields; the
terrorists who go to loathsome extremes to imperil innocent human life.
America's ally Israel takes extraordinary risks to minimize civilian
casualties. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iran's other
proxies across the region go to extraordinary lengths to maximize
senseless death. We must not confuse one for the other. The distinction
here is clear and boldfaced.
Any colleague considering a vote for the Sanders resolution ought to
consider what message they would like to send to America's allies and
partners facing shared threats around the world and what message they
would like to send our adversaries who doubt our resolve.
Israel deserves America's firm support as it roots out terrorist
killers and restores its security.
Soon, the Senate will have an opportunity to make necessary
investments in our capacity to support Israel and other threatened
partners from Ukraine to Taiwan or the Philippines. As the threats to
our interests grow, so do the costs of defending them.
In just the time the Senate has been working on the national security
supplemental, operational costs for U.S. forces in the Middle East have
risen. As I have warned for weeks, using million-dollar missiles to
defend against thousand-dollar drones strains an already insufficient
inventory of long-range capabilities.
The supplemental is our chance to expand our capacity to meet the
national security challenges we face. The American people deserve
leaders who are willing to take these challenges seriously.
I suggest the absence of a quorum
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Political Violence
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, when is enough enough?
At the start of 2024, we find ourselves in another Presidential
election cycle, and as we move closer to election day in November, we
can expect political tensions to rise. But, as the new year begins, a
rise in political violence threatens to overshadow the traditional
Presidential process.
Across the country, at every level of government, we are experiencing
a surge in violent threats against public officials and government
workers. Some officials have been victims of swatting incidents, in
which false 9-1-1 calls lead to law enforcement swarming the homes of
targeted individuals. In other cases, officials have received death
threats or bomb threats where they live or work, and in some tragic
instances, violent threats have escalated into violent acts.
It should go without saying, but it is worth repeating: Political
violence in furtherance of any cause--any cause--is unacceptable. But
it is undeniable that the recent spike in violent threats and acts has
one major source: the grievances of former President Trump.
Just over 3 years after President Trump called his supporters to
Washington, DC, and directed them to this
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Senate Chamber and Capitol Building, where they staged a violent
insurrection, his calls for retribution against his perceived enemies
continue on an almost daily basis. Recent victims have included the
secretary of state in the State of Maine, the former speaker of the
Arizona House of Representatives, and the employees of the Georgia
secretary of state's office--all of whom were targets of swatting and
violent threats. These individuals were targeted for their roles in
upholding the lawful result of the 2020 Presidential election or for
their involvement in the upcoming election. Many election workers at
lower levels have also been threatened, especially women and people of
color.
Just this morning, POLITICO published an article about the fears and
concerns of local election workers and the conspiracy theories and
threats they face. These threats deter Americans from engaging in civic
life or even seeking public office.
The recent rise in political violence has not just affected those who
run for office or help to run our elections; judges, jurors, and
officers of the court have also faced threats. Just last week, Justice
Arthur Engoron--the New York State judge presiding over the former
President's civil fraud trial--had his home swarmed by police after
someone called in a fake bomb threat. This occurred hours after Trump
took to his now favorite social media platform, Truth Social, and
called Judge Engoron ``a Trump-hating judge.''
This came on the heels of similar swatting, targeting the homes of
Jack Smith and Judge Tanya Chutkan--the special prosecutor pursuing
criminal charges against the former President for election interference
and the judge overseeing the case. The former President has repeatedly
attacked both of these public servants by name.
Last August, Judge Chutkan received a voice mail saying:
If Trump doesn't get elected in 2024, we're coming to kill
you, so tread lightly.
On Christmas Eve, Trump called Special Counsel Smith ``deranged'' and
claimed he was one of President Biden's ``misfits and thugs.'' The very
next day, the special counsel's home was targeted with a swatting call.
The justices of the State Supreme Courts of Colorado and Wisconsin,
along with staff, jurors, and prosecutors, have also faced threats due
to their involvement in the former President's legal case. All of these
individuals have been targeted simply because they continue to fulfill
their duties to uphold the law.
All the while, former President Trump has refused to condemn the
actions of his supporters, and at times, he clearly encourages it. Yet
we rarely hear any of our Republican colleagues criticize their de
facto leader for his public threats of violence or his encouragement of
his most extreme supporters.
Threats of violence and violence are antithetical to our democracy,
whatever their political source. In a free country, there are countless
ways for people to legitimately and peacefully react and respond to
political events and outcomes with which they disagree. People can vote
as they choose. They can encourage their fellow citizens to do
likewise. They can organize and advocate whether by knocking on doors,
speaking at rallies, or posting on social media. They can peaceably
assemble and protest public officials and the policies they pursue.
In the United States, these kinds of political activities are not
merely tolerated; they are encouraged, and they are protected by the
Constitution and the force of law. But we cannot as a nation tolerate,
let alone encourage, threats of political violence by anyone, including
the former President of the United States.
The recent rise in political violence marks a renewed attempt to use
violence and the threat of violence to intimidate public officials,
election workers, and our fellow American voters.
Sadly, the specter of political violence is not new. In 1968--another
Presidential election year, one marred by heinous acts of violence--
Robert Kennedy gave remarks the day after Martin Luther King was
assassinated. He spoke about the mindless menace of violence in
America, and he quoted Abraham Lincoln, who more than a century before
wrote:
Among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the
ballot to the bullet; and [those] who take such appeal are
sure to lose their case, and pay the cost.
Today, I am calling on my colleagues in both political parties to
publicly condemn the state of violence which is dominating in this
country. We have come to accept it as commonplace. Shame on us in that
regard. If this true democracy is to succeed, we all have to speak out
against violence on both sides of the equation. We must stand together
in opposing violence and threats of violence. Our democracy is strong,
but it is only as strong as the people who participate in it, who
protect it, and who serve it.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Israel
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, we are all returning to a snowy
Washington, DC, but it never ceases to amaze me, when I come back to
the Nation's Capital from home, back in Texas, the disconnect between
what people are focused on back home--namely, their jobs, their family,
and, well, football. That didn't turn out so well for us this weekend.
But the mainstream media and, of course, social media, which amplifies
what people are talking about or the message that they want to convey--
the so-called influencers, which are, really, in some instances, no
more than propagandists--and even our foreign adversaries are engaging
in a nonstop battle to control the narrative here in Washington, DC, on
a variety of issues, including the terrorist attack that occurred in
Israel on October 7 of last year.
Yesterday marked 100 days since Hamas terrorists murdered more than
1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostages. I traveled to Israel with
several of my Senate colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee
last week, and we witnessed the grief and the fear that has gripped the
Israeli people over the last few months. It was a familiar feeling
because it seemed very much like where the American people were 3
months after the attacks of 9/11/2001, when al-Qaida killed 3,000
Americans.
In Tel Aviv, photos of the hostages who were still being held captive
by Hamas lined the walkway. The photo of a 9-month-old baby held
hostage literally stopped me in my tracks, wondering who would it be,
what kind of person would take a 9-month-old baby and hold it hostage.
In the face of every person I spoke with, from families of hostages
to senior government officials, there was, understandably, a deep sense
of shock, mourning, and anger. Again, it reminded me of how we felt
after 9/11. We were grieving, we were shocked, we were angry, and we
were absolutely committed to holding those responsible accountable.
Our shared sense of purpose extended far beyond the borders of the
United States. Our friends and allies around the world said: We have
America's back. And they have supported our mission to destroy the al-
Qaida threat.
That is exactly the kind of response you would expect when a
terrorist group viciously attacks a friend--solidarity. Sadly, Israel
has not received the overwhelming support that our country did in the
wake of 9/11. In the more than 100 days since this war began, Israel
has been criticized for defending itself. It has been villainized for
going after the terrorist group that murdered, raped, and kidnapped its
people.
This is not a view just held by a few people. Anti-Israeli rhetoric
has spread like wildfire across social media. It has taken root at
elite college campuses and even here in the Halls of Congress.
This past weekend, we saw the latest chapter in blaming the victim,
as thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Washington, DC, to
demand a ceasefire in Gaza. I would say a ceasefire would be great, but
there is no guarantee Hamas won't continue to kill innocent men, women,
and children. So it is just not feasible.
Protesters chanted: ``Ceasefire now.'' ``End the war in Gaza.'' They
carried
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signs that said ``Free Palestine'' and ``Let Gaza live.'' They accused
Israel of being an apartheid government and outrageously said the
United States was supporting genocide.
Again, this was not a small protest. Thousands of people lined the
streets of our Nation's Capital, and countless others protested around
the world as part of a ``Global Day of Resistance,'' as it was called.
I find it deeply disturbing to see this view shared by so many
because it is completely divorced from reality. These protesters have
the entire problem completely backward. Hamas is not a victim; Hamas is
the aggressor in every possible sense, along with its state sponsor,
Iran.
While we were in Israel, my colleagues and I were shown footage of
the October 7 attack, which was captured by Hamas terrorists. In other
words, they were taking video of themselves killing innocent men,
women, and children. They intentionally filmed all of these atrocities
they committed so the entire world could see. But what we saw affirms
that these are not victims in any sense--Hamas, that is. They are
murderers. They are rapists. They are kidnappers, and they are
terrorists.
Hamas carried out the most gruesome atrocities I have ever seen, and
I hope to never see those again. But we cannot, under any set of
circumstances, allow them to be viewed as the victim in this war.
This is not only Israeli blood on the hands of Hamas. Hamas is also
responsible for immense suffering by civilians living in Gaza. Hamas
raises vast amounts of money from the Palestinian people and outside
donors, but that money does next to nothing to support a better quality
of life for Palestinians. It isn't invested in schools, hospitals, or
housing. Instead, it is used to arm Hamas's wartime operations.
This terrorist group spends vast amounts of money building tunnels
beneath the streets of Gaza--some 500 kilometers. It is a virtual city
under a city. It allows it to hoard weapons. We literally saw
manufacturing facilities for weapons and ammunitions in the tunnels.
And, of course, it is used to keep food and fuel and to shield
themselves from the violence above ground. Unfortunately, these tunnels
are also used to hide the hostages, more than 100 of whom are still in
Hamas captivity.
Hamas builds these tunnels beneath hospitals and schools and other
vulnerable locations in order to give credence to Hamas's lie that it
is the victim, not the aggressor.
Here in the United States, we are thousands of miles away from this
war. Hamas didn't invade our neighborhoods. They didn't murder and
kidnap our family or friends. And they aren't launching rockets that
threaten us each night. But just because we aren't living with the
daily realities of this war doesn't mean that we can be divorced from
it. War is not just a battle of brute force; it is also a contest for
public opinion.
Hamas goes to great lengths to shift the narrative and build
sympathy. It is not a new strategy, but it is deeply disappointing to
see how many Hamas sympathizers are found on American soil. It is
disheartening that scores of Americans are lapping up Hamas's lies. By
claiming that Israel is the aggressor, they are playing directly into
these terrorists' hands.
We know war is ugly. It is tragic. It hurts innocent people and
punishes the most vulnerable. William Tecumseh Sherman, a Civil War
general said:
War is hell. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I
will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.
The realities of this war are nothing short of devastating. I
understand the desire for the violence to end, and I hope and pray that
it will soon. But we must remember this can only happen when the Hamas
threat is defeated.
The ultimate goal of Hamas, along with its state sponsor Iran, is to
end the Jewish State, to wipe Israel off the map. That is the only risk
of genocide in this war.
We have a responsibility to call out and correct the falsehoods and
mischaracterizations that are spreading in our own country. We have a
responsibility to do our best to inform the American people about the
facts and to make sure they understand who is the aggressor and who is
the victim. And, in the end, I believe we have a duty to stand with our
ally Israel as it does what is needed to root out the terrorist threats
in its own country.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia.
Religious Freedom Day
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate Religious
Freedom Day, recognized by Presidential proclamation since 1993. The
day is timed to honor the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious
Freedom on January 16, 1786. This statute became the basis of the First
Amendment's protection of religious freedom for all Americans.
I was inspired to offer these thoughts by the moving address on anti-
Semitism delivered in this Chamber by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer a
few weeks ago. His powerful comments addressed the fears felt today by
so many Jewish Americans, the connection between those fears and the
tragic global history of anti-Semitism, and how Americans can come
together to reject religious bigotry against Jews.
As a person who takes my own Catholic faith seriously, it is
important to listen to those who feel discriminated against due to
their religion. During our history, Catholics have often been targeted
by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. I am fortunate to say that I have
never faced anti-Catholic bigotry, but those who haven't faced
religious discrimination need to be sensitive to the real fears of
those who face it every day. All of us are God's children--brothers and
sisters meant to dwell together in unity.
The final part of Senator Schumer's address regarding what we can do
as Americans to reject anti-Semitism or any discrimination based on
religious beliefs reminded me of the principles imbedded in the
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and I am convinced that part of
the solution to the rise in anti-Semitism is to go back to first
principles and remind ourselves of the values that we have long
proclaimed as Americans.
The Virginia statute was first drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777.
Its purpose was simple and powerful--to declare that a person could
freely choose whether and how to worship and would neither be preferred
nor punished for that choice. This was at stark odds with prevailing
English practice, in which the Church of England was the state-
sponsored church, and other Christian sects and non-Christian religions
were discouraged, punished, or outlawed. Official discrimination
against Jews in English law persisted well into the 19th century, and
life in the American Colonies of England before the Revolutionary War
showed the continuation of this preferential treatment for certain
religious practices over others.
The operative clause of the Virginia statute is as follows:
[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any
religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall
be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body
or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his
religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free
to protest, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in
matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise
diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
We complain that things move slowly in the U.S. Senate. This is not a
new complaint about legislative bodies. It took 9 years for the
Virginia General Assembly to take up and pass Jefferson's statute, and
the State legislative leader who finally gained passage of the measure
was Madison. Madison witnessed discrimination against Baptist ministers
in Virginia by those associated with the Church of England, and he
believed deeply that religious liberty needed protection.
The Virginia General Assembly passed the statute on January 16, 1786,
in a building at the corner of 14th and East Cary Streets in downtown
Richmond, a few blocks from where I live. Today, that site is a small
museum, the First Freedom Center, highlighting the idea of religious
freedom and how it became a bedrock principle of American law.
Madison was soon charged with drafting the Bill of Rights to the
American Constitution. He used the Virginia statute as the basis for
the religious protections of the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
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The statute also informed article VI, clause 3 of the Constitution:
[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a
Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United
States.
These provisions demonstrate a powerful intent to form an America
where all can worship as they please without fear. The meaning of these
clauses was well understood at the time.
Early in his first term as President, George Washington corresponded
with the Jewish community of Newport, RI. In his beautiful letter from
August 1790--he had been President a little bit over a year--he
described an America that was not merely tolerant of religious
pluralism but where all could equally claim the blessings of
citizenship. Here is what he wrote:
All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of
citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of,
as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that
another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural
rights. For happily, the Government of the United States,
which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no
assistance, requires only that they who live under its
protection should demean themselves as good citizens.
He concluded with a wish specifically directed at American Jews:
May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this
land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of other
inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his
own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him
afraid.
``[A]nd there shall be none to make him afraid.'' This is our
birthright as Americans. Those of us who take an oath to support and
defend the Constitution of the United States have pledged to act in way
to make these words real. We have to guard, protect, and celebrate--not
merely tolerate--a society where people of different religious faiths
can live in the same neighborhoods, attend the same schools, work side
by side, and do so as friends.
When we live up to this promise, it is not only for the benefit of
those living here. There are many places in the world where this
protection of religious freedom is nonexistent, barely possible to even
imagine. Yet, if people around the world can see America as a place
where people of different faiths live together in respect, equality,
and friendship, they can at least believe in that as a possibility for
their own societies.
We need a recommittal to the first freedom--religious liberty.
While comprehensive statistics on religiously motivated harassment
are not complete, there is a disturbing spike in anti-Semitism as well
as harassment directed at Muslims or people of Arab descent, who are
targeted either for religious or ethnic reasons. We have seen Jewish
students harassed on campuses in recent months, following upon horrific
violence directed against Jews in Charlottesville in 2017 and
Pittsburgh in 2018. We have seen the bigotry-fueled murder of a 6-year-
old Muslim boy in Illinois and the heartless shooting of three
Palestinian college students in Burlington--Mr. President, the State
you represent--just within the last few months.
One troubling form of discrimination is targeting Americans for
events occurring elsewhere in the world. In Williamsburg, VA, just a
few weeks ago, a Jewish group was denied the ability to display a
menorah at a local festival because organizers claimed that they didn't
``want to make it seem like we're choosing a side'' in the ongoing war
in Gaza. American Jews celebrating Hanukkah here should not be blocked
from a celebration of the season because of a war thousands of miles
away. Arab and Muslim Americans have long faced fear and discrimination
because of the ignorant assumption that the horrific actions of
extremists in the Middle East, operating on the margins of society,
somehow reflect the views of an entire faith or community.
That we have strong and diverse views about events happening around
the world is natural. Events in the Middle East have long caused
heartbreak, and the current war in Israel-Gaza is tragic. But events
elsewhere give no cause for bigotry or violence against fellow
Americans.
Organizations monitoring hate crimes have seen significant spikes in
attacks on American Jews and American Muslims and Arabs since the Hamas
attack on Israel on October 7. At the very time when we should be
showing the world that there is a different way, that religious
pluralism can actually work, we are seeing tears in the social fabric
we have worked so hard for so long to stitch together.
While religious bigotry can affect any group, recent statistics
indicate that the most frequent targets in America today are Jews. Jews
make up only 2.4 percent of the American population, but statistics in
recent years have shown that the overwhelming majority of hate crimes
committed out of religious animus--nearly 60 percent--are driven by
anti-Semitism. Instances of anti-Semitism between October 7 and January
7 increased by 360 percent over the same period a year ago. We also see
rising anti-Semitism around the world. And increasing anti-Semitism is
often an early warning sign of the fragility of a democracy.
My conversations in recent months with Jewish friends and
acquaintances have been saddening. Some are worried about their own
safety and, even more painfully, the safety of their children and
grandchildren. Some even wonder whether they might need to leave this
country one day, just as Jews have been forced out of many other
countries over time due to bigotry.
One expressed to me the powerful feeling of wanting to belong to the
American family, to be truly welcomed and safe after a history of
global anti-Semitism but now feeling pushed aside. He recounted
standing up for so many excluded groups over the course of his life but
sadly wondered why more are not standing up for Jews now.
Another friend recounted growing up in a mixed household with a
Jewish father who would often say, ``The world has always hated Jews,
and you think you are accepted here? You'll learn different one day.''
She told me that she and her siblings would roll their eyes at their
dad when he would say this when they were kids. Now she says, ``For the
first time in my life, I begin to understand what he meant.''
A third friend told me something that really shocked me. Some family
members are deciding to remove the mezuzahs placed on the doors of
their homes. A mezuzah is a small cylinder with a sacred Hebrew text
inside, placed on the door of a home and sometimes on interior doors as
well, to provide a blessing and protection to those within. My friend
told me that it is an obvious--perhaps too obvious--sign that it is a
Jewish household. So while this tradition dates back centuries, people
are tempted to avoid it just out of fear that the presence of a mezuzah
may lead them to be targeted for discrimination.
I researched this a bit and found that my friend's fear was well-
founded. There are many examples of people facing harassment or having
their homes vandalized merely because of their mezuzah. In 2022, for
example, Jewish students at the University of Indiana found that their
mezuzahs were being stolen or defaced. This instance followed others on
or near the campus in which swastikas and other anti-Semitic phrases
appeared.
Senator Schumer laid out the prevalence of anti-Semitism throughout
global history. We have never been immune to it here even as we profess
the freedom of each person to worship as they choose. So how should we
deal with this blight on our values and recommit to respecting the
religious beliefs of each person?
First, let's take pride in our tradition of religious freedom and
celebrate it today and every day. It has made our society rich in faith
traditions. By being authentically who we are, we can educate each
other about religious beliefs and grow deeper in our own spiritual
understanding.
I am a better Christian because of things that I have learned from
friends who are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, and from
those who have deep ethical and spiritual grounding, though not
expressed as religious faith at all. And I hope that living my own
Christianity may have a positive influence on others' spiritual beliefs
as well.
Second, let's get better at tracking hate crimes and other forms of
discrimination committed on the basis of religion. We passed the Khalid
Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act. Heather Heyer was the very, very
remarkable young woman who was killed by neo-Nazis in Charlottesville
in August 2017. I was proud to cosponsor that bill. We passed it in
2021 to provide training and implementation grants to
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help law enforcement agencies report and respond to hate crimes.
This will solve gaps in reporting. Eighty percent of law enforcement
agencies participating in national crime databases reported no hate
crimes between 1996 and 2020. This is likely a serious underreporting
problem rather than an indication that hate crimes don't happen. Better
measurement alone will not solve the problem, but the failure to
accurately measure religious discrimination renders improvement very
difficult.
Third, let's commit to increasing education about religious
discrimination throughout our history and the reasons why America
embraced the guarantee of religious freedom as our Nation was founded.
I am gratified, for example, that Virginia has made education about the
Holocaust an important part of our social studies curriculum. In a
recent hearing on anti-Semitism before the HELP Committee, a key fact
that emerged was just how poorly informed many are about this topic.
And the plethora of misinformation spread by irresponsible social media
platforms makes the need for better education even more urgent.
If we just count on the criminal justice system to deal with this
topic, we will never be successful. We need to inculcate a curiosity
about spirituality and a love for religious pluralism in our young
people. This is not about indoctrination; it is about respect.
Fourth, let's embrace a whole-of-government response to anti-Semitism
by working to implement the recommendations contained in the ``U.S.
National Strategy to Counter Anti-Semitism'' announced by the Biden
administration in June 2023. This comprehensive approach is built
around four key pillars: education, safety, fighting the normalization
of anti-Semitic words and actions, and building solidarity. It can be a
model for similar work at the State and local levels. We can do more in
Congress and in communities across America to make this strategy
visible and meaningful.
Finally, there are acts that we can each take as individuals to show
we respect the religious beliefs of all. There have been powerful
examples throughout history of actions of solidarity against anti-
Semitism.
I am pleased to partner with my Republican colleague Senator Bill
Hagerty of Tennessee to recognize forgotten heroes of the Holocaust
with the Congressional Gold Medal. These were diplomats from over two
dozen countries who took grave personal risks to help Jews escape Nazi-
occupied Europe. Their actions show us the power of an individual to be
a light in the darkness, to say: I am not Jewish, but I see what is
happening to Jews, and I will do what I can to help.
When students at the University of Indiana confronted anti-Semitism
on campus in 2022, they came up with a novel solution. Noting that the
desecration of mezuzahs made Jewish students afraid to display them, a
campus organization produced and then distributed mezuzahs across the
campus to Jewish students and non-Jewish students alike. They reasoned
that a massive display of mezuzahs on the community's doors would send
a message of solidarity and render it less likely that a Jewish student
would fear being targeted for bigotry.
I will follow the creative idea of the Indiana students by installing
a mezuzah at the entrance to my home. I want to send a message to Jews
and all people that they will always be welcome. I won't put Hebrew
Scripture inside of the mezuzah because I don't feel that, as a
Catholic, I should appropriate that particular religious tradition, but
I will put these words on a small message inside: ``None shall be
afraid''--echoing the letter George Washington wrote more 230 years
ago. That message applies not just to American Jews but to all who seek
to live in harmony with others of diverse spiritual views.
I encourage others to follow the inspiration of these young people.
Find a mezuzah at a local synagogue or Judaica shop and install it on
the door of your home. Place within it a message of hope and
acceptance--Washington's words or the First Amendment or another
message meaningful to you. Or take other steps to demonstrate that you
celebrate our religious freedom and offer welcome to all. Stand
together with those of all spiritual traditions against forces that
would divide or harm us. By doing so, let's move closer to the ideal
that America professed at our founding.
With that, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Order of Procedure
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to
be determined today, Senator Sanders be recognized to make a motion to
discharge S. Res. 504; and that if the motion is made and upon the use
or yielding back of time, the Senate vote in relation to the motion to
discharge; further, that the cloture motion with respect to the motion
to proceed to H.R. 2872 ripen upon disposition of the motion to
discharge.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. For the information of the Senate, Senator Sanders had a
flight delay and is still expected to make the motion to discharge his
resolution and speak prior to this evening's votes. Senators should
expect votes to start at approximately 6:45 p.m.
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. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from South Carolina.
Israel
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I want to speak a few minutes on the
business before the Senate here. Apparently, S. Res. 504 will be taken
up in about an hour or so. And this resolution basically requires the
Secretary of State to submit a report to the Foreign Relations
Committees of the House and Senate regarding human rights practices and
violations against the State of Israel regarding their operations in
Gaza.
I can only imagine how this is playing in the Middle East. I can only
imagine the joy that terrorist groups throughout the world have that we
are even talking about such a proposal.
The question, I think, for this body--certainly, for me--is, what was
October 7? Was it just a continuation of a tit for tat between Israel
and Hamas, or was it an effort by Hamas--a terrorist organization under
United States law--an effort to kill innocent civilians in Israel at a
rate we haven't seen since the Holocaust?
I just got back. I would urge everybody in the body to go over there
and take some time to visit the kibbutz--the kibbutzes in question,
where Hamas came en masse, took over kibbutzes, cut the heads of
children off, slaughtered people in front of their parents and their
children, committed atrocities on par with the Nazis, if not beyond,
and recorded them for posterity. So the response is, the U.S. Senate is
going to ask for a report about how Israel is conducting military
operations. Wow.
Again, to the terrorists who are emboldened, maybe, by this
discussion--this is going to go down in flames. The Senate is going to
reject this big time. And here's why: I think most people--at least on
my side--see October 7 as Pearl Harbor on steroids.
What would happen after Pearl Harbor if some Senator or Congressman
did something like this to America?
Did anybody in America believe that the response after Pearl Harbor
was anything but total war?
The Japanese Empire and Nazi Germany were in league with Mussolini in
Italy to destroy the world as we know it. A surprise attack against our
forces on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, awakened this country, and
we embarked on ``a noble crusade,'' I think as General Eisenhower--
eventually President Eisenhower--described, in destroying the Nazi
regime and Imperial Japan. Nobody during those times would have
suggested anything like this, because the only way you could
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destroy those regimes was to destroy the infrastructure around the
regimes.
The problem I have with this--not only does it empower the
terrorists, it is the most tone-deaf thing maybe in the history of the
Senate--is that it ignores the fact that Hamas has tunnels under
hospitals, under schools. They use civilians as human shields. They
routinely violate the law of war--and there is nothing in here about
that. So all I can say is that the Senate will reject this idea.
And to the left, what are you thinking? To the people who go in and
try to interrupt cancer treatments in New York at a cancer hospital,
what are you thinking?
A ceasefire with Hamas only allows Hamas to regroup. Do you not see
Hamas for who it is? It is a terrorist organization. They are religious
Nazis.
They are not taking up the cause of the Palestinian people. They are
abusing the Palestinian people probably greater than anybody. A Hamas
spokesperson said a few weeks ago that there will be another October 7,
another October 7, and another October 7.
Probably the biggest mistake Israel made was withdrawing from Gaza,
because when they did, the Palestinians took over.
To the Palestinians who want to live in peace with Israel, Hamas
throws them off the roofs of buildings in Gaza.
So we are dealing with the most barbaric organizations in the history
of the world who are bent on destroying the Jewish people, are calling
for attacks on the United States, and we have a resolution in front of
us asking the Secretary of State to investigate the Government of
Israel for war crimes.
You talk about upside down and backwards.
Just having been back from Israel, I can assure you the IDF is
spending more time trying to protect innocent Palestinians than Hamas.
What is odd about this whole thing is that Hamas is doing everything
they can to expose civilians to military action, and Israel is trying--
I think in a reasonable way--to lessen the exposure.
What do you call a group of people that build tunnels under hospitals
and have command infrastructure under a hospital? You call them
bloodthirsty terrorists who are trying to prey on the rules that exist
in the law of war. By being under the hospital and the schoolhouse and
firing rockets from apartment buildings, they have militarized these
locations.
So here's what I would tell our friends in Israel: This effort to
have you investigated will fail in the U.S. Senate. Keep doing what you
need to do to make sure there is no more October 7s. Make sure that
Hamas, as we know it, is destroyed. Do the best you can to protect
civilians who are in harm's way.
A little bit about Gaza: From the time you are born, you are taught
to kill the Jews. The most radicalized nation on the planet, I would
say, is Gaza, and a close second would be the West Bank.
When Germany and Japan were destroyed by military force, it took a
generation to change the culture. So the Prime Minister of Israel says
his goal is to demilitarize and deradicalize. Well, the way you
demilitarize is you destroy Hamas as a military power. They have, I
think, about 24 brigades.
If we end this conflict with their military capability still
standing, we will have made a huge mistake.
The idea of anything but unconditional surrender in World War II was
laughable. We used two nuclear bombs, and that is what was required to
get Japan to surrender. So when you look back in history, the invasion
of Japan that was being planned could have resulted in up to 1 million
casualties of American forces. We brought that war to conclusion by
using two atomic bombs that eventually allowed unconditional surrender.
Anything less than unconditional surrender in World War II would have
been a mistake.
Anything short of destroying Hamas militarily would be a mistake for
the ages. If Hamas is still standing militarily after this attack of
October 7, we will all pay a heavy price.
The world is watching.
To the world: If you see Israel as the bad guy here, you are missing
a lot. There is no moral equivalency in play. Hamas goes out of its way
to make sure civilians are killed in large numbers. That is part of
their strategy, to require Israel to use military force in a way to
heighten the likelihood of death by integrating their military
infrastructure with civilian infrastructure.
So we will have a vote here soon. This resolution will fail. But the
idea behind this resolution is scary to me.
You need to go to Israel and get briefed about what happened on
October 7--what happened to the women, what happened to the children,
and what is happening to the hostages. If you go and have that briefing
and you believe that the only response--and if you believe anything
less than total war to destroy Hamas is required, I would be surprised.
What would we do if this happened to us? What would we do to any
terrorist group or government that brought about such atrocities
against the American people?
We would hunt them down. We would make sure they could never do this
to us again. That is exactly what Israel has to do.
It will be a long time before the populations of Gaza and the West
Bank are going to be capable, I believe, of living in true peace with
Israel, because if you have been taught from the time you were born and
all through your life to hate somebody and to learn math by the
following: ``If you had 10 Jews and you killed 6, how many would you
have left?'' it is going to be a tall order to change that population.
But here is the good news: We have seen from Germany and Japan that
it can change, but it is going to take a lot of effort. I am willing to
help the people in the West Bank and Gaza once Hamas has been
destroyed. I am hopeful we can do a deal between Saudi Arabia and
Israel in normalizing and effectively putting an end to the Arab-
Israeli conflict.
I believe Iran is the root of all evil here and that this attack was
partly due to stopping the normalization efforts between Saudi Arabia
and Israel. I have been supporting the efforts of the Biden
administration, and I want to publicly thank them for continuing to
push. I will do all I can as a Republican to help President Biden bring
about the normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. That would
isolate Iran, and it would effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
One of the benefits of that deal would be to give the Palestinian
people a better future.
This resolution is not only off base; it is dangerous. It is doing
harm. It sends absolutely the wrong signal at the wrong time.
So, to the people who believe this is a good idea for the United
States to launch an investigation of Israel as a potential war criminal
after October 7, you have learned very little from history. The proper
response by Israel is to destroy Hamas. The problem Israel has in that
task is that Hamas is trying to make sure Israel kills as many innocent
people as possible. Therein lies their dilemma. So this is a horribly
bad idea.
To the American people, put yourselves in the shoes of Israel: an
attack, barbaric in nature, that is designed to destroy you. Hamas's
goal is not to liberate the Palestinian people; it is to kill the Jews.
Hamas's goal is not to bring about a better life for the Palestinian
people but to destroy the lives of the Jewish people.
They are religious Nazis. If you don't believe me, listen to them.
They will not hide their agenda. They celebrate it. The SS tried to
hide their war crimes. They tried to rebury bodies and destroy the
concentration camps, but they were unable to hide their crimes. Hamas
filmed their crimes. They want you to see what they were willing to do
to babies and to women.
The question for the world is, What is the right response?
The right response, ladies and gentlemen, is, when you see evil,
confront it. When you deal with people who are willing to destroy
children or to rape daughters in front of the mother and father, you
need to destroy them.
So, not only will this resolution fail, I believe the U.S. Senate
will ensure that Israel has the latitude it needs to destroy not only
an enemy of the Israeli people--Hamas--but the enemy of mankind itself.
I look forward to voting this resolution down, and I will be coming
up with one of my own to try to correct the record.
With that, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
____________________