[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 14 (Thursday, January 25, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S266-S267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              S. RES. 504

  Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, the Senator from Vermont last week 
proposed to discharge the Foreign Relations Committee of S. Res. 504, 
his resolution to require the production by the Department of State of 
a report on Israel's human rights practices.
  Senator Sanders' resolution is intended to serve the important 
purpose of ensuring robust Senate oversight of how U.S. security 
assistance has been deployed by the State of Israel in Gaza, where 
humanitarian conditions are catastrophic. However, Senator Sanders' 
measure as drafted is overbroad, with potentially significant 
unintended consequences.
  Beyond its reporting requirements with respect to ongoing Israeli 
operations in Gaza, Senator Sanders' resolution requires within 30 days 
the affirmative certification by the Secretary of State that no 
individual unit of the Israel Defense Forces receiving U.S. security 
assistance over the past 5 years has committed any gross violations of 
human rights. The Department of State cannot feasibly undertake within 
30 days the far-reaching analysis of IDF operations over half a decade 
that would be required to make such a certification.
  The Department of State would therefore, in my view, be unable to 
comply with the reporting requirements in Senator Sanders' resolution, 
potentially triggering a mandatory cessation of U.S. security 
assistance to Israel before the Senate even had the opportunity to 
review its report.

[[Page S267]]

  Accordingly, I voted to table S. Res. 504.

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