[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 24, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



    Joint Meeting of Congress By His Excellency, Binyamin Netanyahu

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, this afternoon--in just, actually, a few 
short hours--Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will deliver an address 
to a joint session of Congress.
  As his country faces multiple attacks on multiple fronts--an 
existential threat, actually--Prime Minister Netanyahu has come to the 
United States to affirm the strong relationship between his country and 
ours and to highlight the stakes of this war.
  This joint address comes at a critical time, and I am absolutely 
stunned and profoundly disappointed that the Vice President of the 
United States has decided to boycott participating in this particular 
speech. As we all know, it is traditional that the Vice President, as 
the President of the Senate, and the Speaker sit behind the invited 
speaker--in this case, Prime Minister Netanyahu.
  I remember several years back, when Prime Minister Netanyahu was last 
here, that the Vice President and the Speaker both sat in those chairs, 
recognizing the importance of lending that dignity and sense of gravity 
to the proceeding. But Vice President Harris can't be bothered with any 
of that. She is blaming her decision on a scheduling conflict even 
though the date of this speech was announced in early June. The only 
other item on the Vice President's schedule is a speech to a sorority 
convention in Indianapolis. The world is on fire--we have never seen a 
more dangerous environment since World War II--and the Vice President 
can't be bothered to show up at the Nation's Capitol, in the House 
Chamber, and demonstrate the respect and courtesy that we thought was a 
given--but apparently not in this case.
  Not only has the Vice President chosen to skip this address, so has 
the Senate's President pro tempore, Senator Murray. We learned this 
morning, the majority whip, Senator Durbin, is boycotting this address 
as well. I think it is absolutely disgraceful that the most senior 
members of the Democratic Party have chosen to give the Heisman to one 
of our closest allies in the Middle East--the only democracy in the 
Middle East that is fighting for its very existence. Why would they do 
something like this? Well, it is pretty obvious. It is pandering. It is 
pandering to the most radical elements of the Democratic base.
  I am proud of the deep friendship between the United States and 
Israel. Our national security is tied up in the national security of 
Israel. We know Iran, the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism, wants to 
wipe Israel off the map, like Hamas, which is a proxy for Iran, like 
Hezbollah, like the Houthis in Yemen, which all are determined to 
destroy the nation of Israel. So it has never been more important for 
the United States to stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally and 
friend against these unprovoked attacks by terrorist groups against 
innocent civilians.
  There were 251 hostages taken on October 7--innocent civilians--in 
addition to all of the thousand-plus individuals who were murdered. 
Eight of the current hostages are American citizens, and the Vice 
President can't be bothered to show up? It is disgraceful.