[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 89 (Wednesday, May 22, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3823-S3824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 8369

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, I was in the Chair and objected in my 
capacity as the Senator from Vermont to the unanimous consent request 
of the Senator from Arkansas. I would like now to have an opportunity 
to explain the basis of that.
  First, the Senator from Arkansas essentially said that President 
Biden is appeasing pro-Hamas voters in imposing an arms embargo on 
Israel and, also in that assertion, suggesting that President Biden is 
not fully supportive, as he has been throughout his political life, to 
Israel.
  Let me start by saying what I believe represents the unanimous points 
of view of this U.S. Senate, and that is that the attack by Hamas on 
Israel, the taking of hostages, the sexual assaults, the murder of so 
many innocent Israelis are condemned by each and every one of us. No 
one condemns it more than President Biden, who went to Israel on his 
own to show his solidarity and empathy for what happened to the Israeli 
people.
  Second, I believe that every Member of the U.S. Senate supports the 
Jewish, democratic State of Israel.
  Third, while the Senator from Arkansas suggested an ``arms embargo,'' 
the U.S. Congress--without my support, by the way, for reasons I will 
explain--has sent billions of dollars in aid with the supplemental 
appropriations bill.
  The fact that the President is raising questions about how best to 
secure the long-term status of Israel as a Jewish and democratic State 
in the context of this conflict in Gaza is in no way a suggestion of 
lack of support.
  There is serious debate within Israel about the war plan that is 
being prosecuted by the Netanyahu government. In fact, a member of the 
war cabinet has indicated that he will leave the war cabinet if, in 
fact, the Prime Minister does not come up with a plan for what happens 
after the cessation of hostilities in Gaza.
  Is there going to be an occupation by Israel? Is there going to be a 
joint Arab force that will be peacekeeping? Will there be an effort to 
constitute a Palestinian Government that has the support of its people?
  None of these plans envision Hamas having a role, and they can't have 
a role. But the President is asking responsible questions that are 
being asked by seriously engaged military, political, and security 
folks in Israel.
  So to suggest that the President is raising questions because he is 
looking over the horizon and saying that adding to the 35,000 
casualties in Gaza--half or more women and children--to suggest that 
the President, when he says Israel should not invade Rafah because of 
the catastrophic consequences of more humanitarian losses, to suggest 
that when the President says 2,000-pound bombs that would be dropped on 
the most densely populated couple of square miles in the world, without 
massive civilian casualties, is not showing support for Israel, I 
dispute that. I disagree with that.
  This effort requires judgment, and the President has been given 
authority by this Congress to send arms to Israel. He has made a 
decision that 2,000-pound bombs should not be included in that. And he 
is not alone. There are many in Israel raising the question about the 
wisdom of how this war is being prosecuted.
  We know that in order for there to be peace between Israel and the 
Palestinians, we must have a two-state solution. That is not just the 
policy of the Biden administration; it has been the policy of the Obama 
administration, the Bush administrations, and the Carter 
administration. Two states for two people where the respective rights 
of those people for self-governance and the renunciation of violence 
toward one another has got to be the long-term goal.
  We have a situation right now where our ally Israel--and the current 
government Israel--disagrees with that two-state solution approach. 
And, in fact, the Netanyahu government position is that there should be 
one state.
  And what we are seeing right now is the escalation of violence by 
extreme settlers in the West Bank that is causing more instability. So 
the President, as our Commander in Chief, must be given some latitude 
about how best to distribute whatever munitions have been authorized by 
the U.S. Congress. And in the President's judgment, 2,000-pound bombs 
to Rafah are the wrong munitions at the very wrong time.
  All of us have enormous heartbreak for what has happened to those 
Israelis and their families, to those Palestinians in Gaza who are 
being used by the vicious Hamas as human shields. But the President is 
committed, as I am committed--as I believe all of us are committed--to 
peace and security in the Middle East, and we believe--most of us--that 
that requires a two-state solution where there is an independent, 
democratic Palestinian state--self-governing, respectful of Israel's 
security--and where there is an Israeli state that reciprocates toward 
the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank.

[[Page S3824]]

  And it is for those reasons, Mr. President, that I stood in 
opposition and objected to the unanimous consent request of my 
colleague from Arkansas.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask consent that I be allowed to 
complete these remarks before the rollcall begins.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.