[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,

[[Page S106]]

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.

[[Page S107]]

  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

[[Page S109]]

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.


[[Page S110]]


  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

[[Page S111]]

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

[[Page S112]]

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.

[[Page S113]]

  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.

                          ____________________