the clerk: mr. blumenthal, mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin.

mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. vote: mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis.

mr. manchin. mr. rkey. mr. marshall. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney.

ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders.. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.tors voting in the affirmative -- brown, butler, cantwell, carper, casey, durbin, hassan, king, klobuchar, menendez, murphy, padilla, peters, sinema, smith, stabenow, warnock.

senators voting in the negative -- britt, budd, cassidy, collins, cornyn, crapo, fischer, grassley, hagerty, hoeven, johnson, kennedy, lankford, lee, manchin, marshall, mcconnell, moran, ul, ricketts, risch, schmitt, scott of florida, thune, tillis, vance,■á ms. lummis, no. ms. duckworth, aye.

mrs. murray, aye. ms. warren, aye. ■8■■

the clerk:blumenthal, aye. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, no.: mr. welch, aye. mr. heinrich, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: mr. lujan, aye.

the clerk: mr. reed, aye.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye. mr. warner, aye.

mr. schatz, aye. wy

the presiding officer: ms. cortez-masto, aye. ■■l

the clerk: mr. coast guard the clerk: mr. cardin, aye. the clerk: mr. graham, no. san

the clerk: mr. coons, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: mrs. capito, no.

the clerk: mr. bennet, aye. th

the clerk: ms. murkowski, no.

the clerk: mr. wyden, aye. mr. tester, aye.

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye.

the clerk: mr. kaine, aye.

mrs. gillibrand, aye. ta■b

the clerk: mr. booker, aye. the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye.

the clerk:r. rounds, no.t1

the clerk: mr. hawley, no.h■■y

the clerk: mr. ernst, no.

the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mr. ■f■l■8schumer, a

the clerk: mr. the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

mr.hollen, aye. ,t

vote: #= .s ■,

the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 48. th are 40. the motion is agreed to. ■i>< ■d @x

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that all time be considered expired and the confirmation vote be at 5:30 p.m. on tuesy, march 19. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schume>r: i moveve session r calendar 465. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion.

all in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the no the judiciary, edward kiel of new jersey to be united states district judge for the district of new jersey. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we undersigned senators in accordance wh e 22 of the stands of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 465, edward sun yol kiel of new jersey to be united states district judge for the district of new jersey signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislationive session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. send a

motion to the desk. executive session to consider calendar 463. the presiding officer: the question is on all in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, eumi k. lee of california to be united states district judge for the northern district of mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar california to be united states district judge for the northern district of california signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motion

filed today, march 14 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. schumer: i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. a senator: madam president, during his state of the union address last week, president biden once again rightly pointed out that israel has the right and i would say the duty to defend itself in the aftermath of the brutal hamas terror attack of october 7. mr. van hollen: that left approximately 1200 brutally murdered and 240 taken hostage

7's. president biden also described the ongoingsaster taking place today. over 31,000 palestinians have been killed. over two-third them women and children. likely thousands more unaccounted for buried beneath the rubble.ecome a hell hole of human suffering. humanitarian organizations that have operated worldwide for decades say they have never witnessed a more terrible situation. madam president, among those suffering in gaza are not only over two million innocent palestinian civilians but also over 130 hostages still held hamas, including americans. earlier this week i met with some of the families of israeli hostages whose loved ones w sti held captive. as well as one brave woman who was held hostage and released

during the pause. every day that they are separated from their loved ones, not knowing what will happen to them next, is a day of unimaginable mental anguish and torment. that's why we must prioritize the release of the hostages and end the suffering of palestinian civilians. and the only way for do that is to an immediate cease-fire and release all of the remaining hostages. that must happen. but until itt do everything in our power to protect innocent civilians and end the humanitarian disaster in gaza. today four out of five of the hung rest people on -- hungriest people on earth are in gaza. hundreds of them are on the verge of starvation and over 23 children have crossed that

grizzly thresho died of starvation. cindy mccain, the director of the world food programme has warned of an -- many are having their limbs amp indicated withoutage these ya. humanitarian officials are seeing the spike in the spread of various preventable diseases, like die radio ya among children.■# mr. president, two weeks ago the world got a glimpse of a horrible scene. over 100 starving palestinians were killed asheyy] reached for food from trucks. in the aftermath of that horrible event, president biden has ordered airdrops of foo supplies. i support that decision because when people are starving, every parcel of food counts. but are just a drop in the ocean of need. so i was also glad to see the president order the building of

a temporary help deliver more aid by ship. but that port will likely not be ready for at least 60 days and even then, it will not be sufficient to meet the humanitarian need. all of these extraordina■ry efforts to deliver aid by air, by sea are being undertaken when we know that during the prewar period when there was already a near blockade of gaza, about 500 trucks still crossed daily through the karem shalom crossing in gaza. those 500 trucks crossed every day when the need was far less acute than it is right now. so the obvious question is why, why in the world should we have to resort to these extraordinary and more expensive means to deliver insufficient amounts of food and aid by air and sea

standpoint start answer is because this is a man made disaster. the starvation in gaza is not the result of food by drought o natural disasters that we see in many parts of the world. this has been caused primarily because the netanyahu government has used a series of tactics to restrict the amount of aid entering into gaza. anyone with eyesee or ears to hear knows that. members of the netanyahu government have made no secret of their intentions. in october after the war began, it was said so long not release the only thing that should enter gaza is hundreds of tons of air

explosives, not one ounce of humanitarian aid. he uses power of his finance minister to block thehipment th million people for a month in gaza. the shipment was finally released two days ago after having been blocked for all whi were starving. and at one point prime minister netanyahu said his government was allowing just the, quote, minimum amount needed, and that was at a time when he and others denied there was even a humanitarian gaza, denied that there was a scarcity of food in gaza, denied that there was hunger in gaza. mr. president, this is why president biden has called out these restrictions and he said dress that, quote, humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip, unquote. tha

administration is going to, quote, insist that israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people to help -- the help they need, no excuses, unquote. her than five weeks ago, 25 senators sent a letter to pres the netanyahu government to implement five specific actions to significantly increase the amount of humanitarian aidgaza. to date none of them have been fully implemented. that is why many of us have called on president biden to immediately invoke implement the humanitarian awed quarterses act and now that nsm, national security memorandum 20 is in place which is based on an amendment that 19 of us proposed to the national security act,t

is essential, essential that the biden administration enforce its terms to get humanitarian aid delivered where it to go. when people are starving, patience is not a needs to be s president, that getting humanitarian aid into gaza is only half the battle. and the more dangerous half is distributing aid once it is inside gaza. it doesn't you can't safely transport the food to the people who are starving. in other words, you need a safe distribution food for -- distribution system for aid inside gaza. now, the organization that is the primary distributor of assistance within gaza has been an entity called the united nations relief works agency, or

known by its shorthand, unrwa. americans may have not heard ab say a little bit about why unrwa exists and what it does. in gaza and elsewhere. but before i do that, i want to jump to why this is a pressing issue right now. the future of unrwa is an urgent matter right nowecau prime minister netanyahu and his extreme right-wing allies want to get rid of it, not just in gaza butbu everywhere that it operates. and guess what? prime minister netanyahu and folksn in his government have wanted to abolish unrwa not just since a

2017. being in -- in fact, in■3 2018, prime minister netanyahu actually changed official israeli policy with respect to unrwa saying that they funding even at a time that his security team warned that it could create instabilities throughout the region if that happened. and now, mr. president, we have members -- republican members of the house and the senate who are jumping on this bandwagon and saying they want to abolish unrwa. and how dohe by inserting a provision in the state foreign operations and related programs appropriations bill,ch is being considered and debated right now as we gather here, to cut off all u.s. funding for unrwa.

that's what they want to do. so, mr. president, let's go back to why unrwa was created in the first place. in 1949, a year after the establishment of the state of israel, united nations formed a new agency to provide vital services for over 700,000 refugees displaced. back then the idea was that unrwa would provide services to palestinian■h refugees until a just and durable solution to their plight was found. as we know all too 73 years have passed without a resolution to that conflict, which is why unrwa's mission remains essential. among other services unrwa provides schools and prima serv

refugees and their descendants in jordan, lebanon, syria, the west bank and in gaza. mr. president, i hope we all agree that the palestinian people deserve to live in dignity, and the way to dot is to ensure that they also have self-determination in a homeland of their own, just like every israeli i.g. -- dignity and self-determination in the state of israel. prime minister and i and many others believe that the only viable long-term solution to this conflict is a two-state solution. and president biden has put that idea forward as the best way to create sunlight at the end of this very dark tunnel. unrwa wasded to be a bridge until such a resolution was reached. now, prime minister netanyahu

has stated very clearly that he's opposed to a state solution. he was opposed to the oslo accords, and he has been a severe opponent of the two-state solution. and, as i said earlier, he also wants to eliminate unrwa, which today is an organization of over 300,000 employees providing services to palestinians in three countries and, as i said, also in the west bank and gaza. 13,000 of those 30,000 unrwa staff operate inaza, many of them as teachers. since the war started with the brutal ma'am attacks on -- hamas attacks, schedules have shut down and as a united nations agency it has deployed its

resources to supply humanitarian relief to the civilian population there. it is the main vehicle forstrib assistance in gaza. it won't do any good to get humanitarian assistance into gaza if you dismantle the u.n. organization principally responsible for delivering that aid to people in gaza. this morning i met with chef jose andres, and i applaud him for his efforts and the efforts of the world central kitchen around the world, including in israel and in gaza. he said, and i quote, support for unrwa is vital. if you want to feed people, you need to support unrwa. we may have a temporary port, but when the ship gets to the port, someone has transfer that food and other assistance

from the ship to the people who need it in gaza. and unrwa is the principaltd districter of assistance -- distributor of assistance, and you talk to the world food programme and others, and they say they cannot replace that capacity that unrwa has. now, plop, in late january, the netanyahu government allegedtha employees participated in the horrific october attacks against israel. these are, of course, very serious allegations, and unrwa has taken them seriously. all agree that any individuals involved in that horror must be held accountable, and even though the netanyahu government has not provided unrwa with the underlying evidence, unrwa immediately fired the alleged perpetrators.

the u.n. secretary-general also took swift action and announced the launch of a fullindependent by the u.n.'s highest investigative body, into the allegations. and that is ongoing. at the same time, president biden suspended all u.s. contributions to unrwa, pending the outcome of that investigation. a number of other countries followed suit,s did the e.u. but, mr. president, since then two things have changed.first, has not shared the underlying evidence with unrwa, nor, as reported by" has it shared the evidence with the united states. in fact, i urge every one of my senate colleagues to read the

classified report prepared by the dni, and i especially urge my colleagues to read the intelligence assessments about the many other claims the netanyahu government has made against unrwa. and there have been many. i'm sure that many of my completion are unaware of the fact that unrwa has long provided both israel and the united states with the names and identities of all its employees for full review and vetting. now, israel of course has far more extensive intelligence capabilities than unrwa, but apparently they have never previously raised complaints about any of the unrwa employees on the second, mr. president, the e.u. and many countries that initially suspended their financial support for unrwa have

since restored their contributions because they have acknowledged the didesperation gaza and the irreplaceable nature of unrwa. in fact, even prior to these allegations, unrwa had asked the u.n. secretary-general to convene an independent review group to assess whether unrwa is doing everything in its power to ensure neutrality. so again, unrwa in gaza is an organization with a 13,000 people. it is delivering essential life-sustaining food and aid to over two million people. what t e.u. and these other countries recognize is that it is inhumane to cut off assistance to 2 million people because of the atrocious alleged acts of 14. punish the 14. don't punish two million

innocent gazans. and that is why i believe that president biden should restore this assistance now. now, mr. president, the notion that unrwa front group for hamas is a total lie, pure and simple. the individual dispatched by president biden to be the u.s. humanitarian coordinator in the region is diplomat, ambassador david satterfield. he has repeatedly debunked claims made by members of the netanyahu government that humanitarian aid provided by unrwa has been diverted to hamas. specifically had he said the followin quote -- i have not received any allegations, evidence, or records of any incidence of hamas diversion or theft of othm

u.n.-delivered assistance from any of other partners or from the government of israel since the humanitarian assistance resumed in gaza, october 21. not a single report from israeli government officials or anybody else about hamas diverting aid that was being by unrwa or other u.n. agencies. my colleagues, you should know that the individual overseen operations on the ground in gaza today is an american named scott anderson. he is a 21-year army veteran from south dakota. he is a no-nonsense guy. i urge every senator to talk to him. the notion that scott anderson is p■2ar front organization for hamas is patently absurd.

the truth is that befe the started, prime minister netanyahu did not pretend that he wanted to dismantle unrwa on the grounds proxy for hamas. he has long wanted to eliminate unrwa everywhere it sports education for palestinian schoolchildren, like in the west bank and jordan. as i said, he's been trying to year 2017. and now he has republicans in congress joining him and calling for the defunding of all u.s. sport for unrwa -- support for unrwa not only in gaza but regi. attempts to discredit unrwa and the u.n. have gotten so bad that 18 heads of all major u.n. humanitarian and refugee agencies together with ngo's

like save the children and care signed a statement calling for, quote, a halt to the campaigns■@ k to discredit the united nations and nongovernmental organizations doing their best to save lives, unquote. it is making it harder them to save lives. mr. president, if you want to take a combustible situation in the west bnd make it even worse, then close down schools for kids there. ke away any chance of an education. snuff out any hopes they may really?r a brighter if you want to create instability in jordan, shut down unrwa schools and services there. why do we all think that king abdullah warned us about the consequences of shutting down unrwa? and here's thera thing about this moment -- prime minister netanyahu has seized on the lies

about unrwa being a proxy for hamas in gaza t achieve his long-term goal of shutting down unrwa everywhere. and what adds insult toinjury, mr. president, is that unrwa has not perpetuated hamas in gaza. prime minister netanyahu himself has done exactly that. let me explain. you know, there's a lot of talk here in the united states senate about the maligned actions, actors who have supported hamas over the yes. one of them is a very maligned actor -- iran. iran did not create ran exercis control over hamas. but it does support hamas because, like iran, hamas has the despicable goal of

eliminating israel. that's has supported hamas. but what we rarely, if ever, ust until the unexpected horror of the hamas attack on ne saw it as in minister his interest to keep hamas in control in gaza. don't take my word for it. he told us in his own words back in at a likud party meeting where he said, quote, anyone who wants to prevent the creation o support strengthening hamas. this is part of our strategy to divide the palestinians between those in gaza and those in judea and samaria, unquote.

prime minister netanyahu. anyone who wants to prevent the creation of a palestinian state needs to support strengthening hamas. mr. president, i'd like to enter into the record apeared in haraf last year entitled arief history of the netanyahu hamas alliance. i ask unanimous consent that it be entered in the record. the presiding officer: without objection.o long as hamas was in control in gaza, how could anyone ask israel to accept a palestinian state that includednd the west bank? it's a fair question. so what are some of the ways in which prime minister netanyahu has enabled hamas to maintain its control in gaza? well, another thing we've heard a lot is the money from qatar that went to

hamas. it is well established every penny of that money flowed from qatar to hamas with the concurrence of prime minister i. that has been the testimony of witnesses in both the senate foreign relations committee and the banking, housing, and urban. it has also been well documented in numerous news sources. mr. president, i'd like to enter into the record a cnn article entitled, quote, qatar sends millions to gaza for years --is. i ask unanimous consent that be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: an enter into the record a "new york times" article from december of last year entitled, and i quote, buying iet: inside the israeli plan that prop up hamas.

subheadline -- prime minister netanyahu gambled on a strong hamas, in too strong, would increase the pressure for a palestinian state. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: prime minister netanyahu's roleaza did not end. mr. president, i would like to enter into the record a "new york times" piece from december found the hamas money machine years ago. nobody turned it off. endut objection. mr. van hollen: and i want to quote from mr. levy, who is quoted in that article, the massad chief of economic policy who says, and i quote, i can tell you for sure that i talk to netanyahu, about this. but he didn't care that much about it. unquote. the article goes on to point ou

shut down mr. levy's team the task force called harpoon that focused on flowing the money into groups, including hamas. so, mr. president, let's go back to why i prime minister netanyahu and his extreme right wing allies like ben-gvir wanted to keep his place in gaza. their primary goal was to avoid the establishment of a palestinian state. so long as they could keep the palestinians divided, they could avoid a unitedl movement for such a state. and so long as hamas was in control in gaza, it proved a useful foil againstng a palestinian state that included the west bank and gaza

until the horror the corollary to not threatening hamas' control of gaza has been to systematically weaken palestinian authority of the west bank. the irony is while helping to perpetuating hamas, prime minister netanyahu and his allies have undermined the palestinian authority and the since the oslo accords, have recognized israel's right to exist and have coexist with israel. their strategy? keep hamas in place. undermine the palestinian authority. in fact, even today during the war in gaza, finance minister smotrich is withholding an even greater share of the p.a.'s own funds and since coming to power

the netanyahu government advanced even more settlements and allowed even more outposts deeper in the west bank. and of course that further undermines the legitimacy of the p.a. in the eyes of the palestinian people by exposing their total inability to stop those actions. even as they, the p.a., help provide israel with security in certain areasf the west bank. so prime minister netanyahu has advanced the strategy, weakened the palestinian authority, and facilitating hamas in order to prevent palestinians from being able to live in dignity in a state of their own. and thereason, the reason prime minister netanyahu and the far right extremists in his government, like smotrich pales west bank, is that they want it all for themselves in what they

envision as greater israel. if you have palestinians in the west bank or state in the west bank, you can't implement the vision a greater israel. their version of one state. so, mr. president, full circle. unrwa is established to be a bridge to provide services like education to palestinian refugees after they we displaced. and i am sure its founders did not expect it to be around for so long. but that is because they likely neve >r envisioned that 74 year later the conflict that gave rise to unrwa would remain unresolved. but it is unresolved. and now prime minister netanyahu is openly opposed president biden's call to resolve it ultimately by enact real two-state solution that would include normalization of relations between israel and saudi arabia and the other arab

countries yet to recognize israel. important security needed for the and at the same time that prime minister netanyahu wants to tor pea do a two-state solution to resolve the conflict, he wants to pursue his long-term goal of ending the organization that was born out of that unrwa, and limiting the services -- eliminating the services it provides to palestinian refugees. mr. president, the united states should not be complicit in this scheme. we should not be a party to defunding unrwa in gaza, which is right now playing a critical role in the delivery of desperately needed food and humanitarian assistance to starving people. noroa we be complicit in defunding the essential services unrwa provides in places like the west bank and jordan and

other i support reforming unrwa, but not eliminating it. the question of defunding unrwa is at this very moment the biggest unresolved issue in the foreign operations. i call upon responsible members in the house and senate to ensure the united states ds[ not members of congress who argue for the elimination of unrwa have never bothered to drive from jerusalem to visit an unrwa school and hear children talk about their dreams to be doctors and educators like some of us have done. there is hope in these schools, not hate. and frankly, that's what we should able to do here in the united states senate. we should b on the side of hope. we should not be a party to more people starving in gaza. we should not be a

closing of schools for palestinian students in the west bank, jordan, and other countries. and the united states should not be a creating even more instability in the middle east. mr. president, like many of colleagues and like president biden, i believe the only way to create some light at the end of this dark tunnel is to find a the israeli people and dignity and self-determination for the palestinian people. that is why i stand with our colleague, senator schumer and his important and timely comments this morning that rejecting the idea of palestinian sovereignty is a, quote, grave mistake, unquote, for regional security, and especially for th. prime minister netanyahu has said atwo-state solution would

be a reward for hamas. but the opposite is true. hamas one plan, the destruction of the state of israel and replacing the jewish democratic state with one of their own. they want one state. a two-state solution is contrary to everything hamasll it seeks . so far from being reward, it would be a denial of their goal of state under hamas control. we all know that the road ahead will be long and it will be hard. in the aftermath of the horrific hamas attacks of october 7 and the current humanitarian disaster in gaza, it is hard to imagine a time of peace and stability. that will only come when palestinian leaders who fully

embrace the right of israel to exist in security and israeli leaders who recognize that palestinians must have a viable state make the necessary risks for peace. so, mr. president, let us push for an immediate cease-fire and a release of all the hostages and then let us create a flicker of hope in this moment of darkness. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from sou■8thcarolina. mr. graham: thank you, mr. president, very much. at a later date, i'll respond to my colleague from maryland about unrwa, but just to let people know who are following this debate, i'm the ranking republican on the state forgns , and i work very well with senator coons and senator van hollen is on the co bill for

unrwa in my bill that i support, period. that's just not me. that's senator collins. she's the ranking member who worked veryy murray to get the supplemental moving. why is that? because we believe unrwa isromi. i will come and show you the textbooks that unrwa uses in the palestinian community to teach the destruction of the show youe in charge of unrwa on the ground celebrating october 7. the case has been made over here that unrwa is no longer a credible organization worth american taxpayer dollars to fund. not one penny for unrwa helping the palestinian people begins with changing the way they're taught in school. so after we defeated the germans and the japanese, it took us a long time to deradicalize the

population that was taught from birth to be radical. so what i hope will happen over the course of time, that new people in charge of palestinian community and the west bank in gaza will stop teaching the death of the jews trying to give the palestinian children a more hopeful life. i hope that happens one day soon. the reason i came to the floor is i've been asked probably like you have, mr. president -- -- mr. van hollen: will the senator yield. we should debate because i don't know a evidence at all for your -- regarding schools in jordan, for example. okay. mr. graham: we'll come ut everything i said. let me finish my thought. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina has the floor. mr. graham: we'll have a very vigorous discussion about how

wrong you are to empower this group that wants to -- that has been perpetrating all the wrong things, not the right ■0things. now, having said all that -- let me finish myought. senator schumer who i've worked on many things, i've -- the president 6 the senate has been one of my best friends trying to find a way forward to get saudi and israel to recognize each other. that would be a big blow to iran. i've been asked like everybody in the body what youhink about senator schumer's speech. i'm dumbfounded. i've also respected him. i disagree with him policically. what he said today was earth shatteringly bad. the majority leader of the united states senate is calling on the people of israel t overthrow their government. whether you like -- the question is it appropriate for anybody in this body telling another

country to take their government down. we're going to have an election here. i hope we take thegh the election process, but that's for us to decide. and this has been very hurtful. i've been on the phone almost all day trying to explain to people what happened, and i don't have a good explanation. we're trying to get saudi arabia to recognize the one and only jewish state. that's no easy thing for the crown prince to do given this environment. we're trying to get israel to take a leap of faith here that it doesn't have to be this way all the time, to do some things that would allow palestinian community to reorganize. 75% of the israeli people do not support a two-state solution now. they've been terribly wounded. there is no support by any politician in israel, anybody to unilatally t

palestinian state. five presidents of the united states have said that if there's ever a palestinian state, it will come through negotiations without conditions between the parties. and the trump administration jared kushner plan to establish a palestinian state that prime minister netanyahu actually agreed with. the point here is that what should america doing now? america should be helping israel without qualification. we should be trying to find a way to palestinian people. and the best way to do that is to destroy hamas. the reason so many palestinians hamas uses them as human shields. we live in a world that's literally upside down. we're havingmembers, people i respect, calling on the israeli people to take their government down. i can't believe it. i thought it was a joke.

i thought somebody was pranking me this morning. this is a departure and a veryn a very serious way about how the united states interacts with its allies. i think it's done enormous damage to very delicate negotiations. i hope that senator schumer will revisit this. i don't know who he's trying to please by saying that, but they're not w pleasing. because i don't know who you're trying to please by saying that the israeli government needs to cease to exist as it is today and the israeli people need to find somebody better in the eyes of senator schumer. i'm not asking the israeli ct somebody i like. i'm asking them whenever you have an election, elect somebody that you like. the people of israel to bow to my view of how to settle this matter after the largest loss of jewish life

since the holocaust. i want to give unconditional, unqualified support to the people of israel to destroy hamas. after world war ii, mr. president, if anybody had suggested to america that we need to take gas when it came to destroying the nazis and the japanese, you'd been run out of town. osc? a film called "oppenheimer" talked about how the atomic bomb was creatj and used by our country to destroy two cities in japan to end the war. you have to understand, and you do, mr. you have done your homework. you have to understand that october 7 to the israeli people is pearl harbor and 9/11 on steroids. it's not just a tat for tat with -- t tat with hamas. it was an attempt to break the

back of the jewish people, to brutally rape and murder in a fashion they want the world the on what to do is similar to what we thought we should do after world war ii. total, complete victory. everybody mobilized. do what you have to do to end the war, to take the nazis down destroy it unequivocally. millions of people were killed in world war ii. war is literally hell. but when you've been attacked the way we were on pearl harbor and 9/11, you have to respond. you have to make sure it never happens again. and the only way israel can do this is to destroy the military so why did this happen, mr.

president? i believe that the great satan which is iran wanted this to happen to prevent the reconciliation between saudi arabia and the state of israel ending the israeli a nightmare for the ayatollah who said the arabs and jewishce leaving them behind. so israel has signed agreements with six of their arab neighbors under leadership when i go i meet with everybody because it's not about bb, it's not about gants, it's about our relationship. i know them all. i've known bb for 25 years. it's about what should we do to help our friends in israel. nog more to find a way to end this war

sooner rather than later and get back on track forhe process. but we cannot expect israel to stop now. it's like putting 80% of a fire out, the 20% is going to start it all over again. we're down to six brigades. organized military units tha hamas has to wreak havoc on the palestinian people and the state of israel. it's nonnegotiable, mr. president, hamas will be am hopl this chaos we can still find a way for saudi arabia and israel to normalize, and that would be the ultimate death blow, i think, to the iranian in the region. and part of that deal, as you know, mr. president, would be the palestinians would have a better life eventually, that

saudi arabia and uae would invest heavily in the gaza and the west bank, new, younger, less corrupt people running the place trying to find a pathway forward where they -- the palestinians and israel can coexist in a way that's beneficial for all. that can never happen until hamas is destyed. if hamas is still in place, they will kill everybody that wants to make peace with israel. they did it before. they have no desire, as senator van hollen said, of recognizing the jewish state. but i will close wherebegan. what senator schumer said on the floor of the senate has taken the country and the senate down the wrong road. this is not something any of us should be saying, calling on a government to be toppled basically by its own people.

at the end of the day bb's not theoblem. the problem is radical islam wanting to kill every jew they can find. the pro iran that has its mission to destroy the jewish state and to purify islam. i could spend hours talkingou5, empowering the ayatollah. but that's not for today. so what i would say as to what senator schumer said today, my response to senator schumer, i'm disappointed. you've done a99 lot of damage, friend. and you need to fix this. with that i yield. the presiding officer: the president pro tempore of the united states senate. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. we have now at long passed our first six funding bills for

fiscal year 2024 and while we are now still working around the clock on the final six bills, i'm hopeful we will pass them in a timely bipartisan way very soon. but i do want to take a moment to step back and dive into the six bills that we did pass last week and what they mean for my home state of washington. i come to work every day f i ca to help folks back home. when i sit down at any negotiating table, i bring with who is struggling to afford child care or groceries or rent, every farmer and fisher whose livelihood depends on our kropgs, our salmon -- crops, our salmon and our environment. everyn the next big breakthrough. every mayor focused on improving our infrastructure. and every young person concerned about climate most basic rights. i take those voices that i hear

at home in washington state, the people i meet, into every room i enter, and write their concerns into every bill i negotiate. it's a responsibility i take very seriously,sp the appropria committee. i'm thrilled to say the legislation we passed last friday, the bill i wrote with m billion dollars i helped secure for local projects and programs in washington state. and it deliv $3 billion investment for the hanford site clean-up. i have practically been a broken record in saying the federal gome has a moral and legal obligation to properly fund the clean-up at hanford. our work is far from done,ric $ investment we are moving in the right direction. and as long as i'm appropriations chair, i'm going to make sure we keep up that momentum no matter what.

we're not going to shortchange the vital clean-up mission at now, mr. president, we are facing a housing crisis, and it has been especially hard on families in washington state. that is why i fought hard to make sure that bill protected and strengthened programs that help families afford the cost of housing and help keep families in their at the federal level here, that means homeless assistance grants, eviction prevention grants, and native american housin grants, rental assistance programs, programs that help people develop economic independence and kids and vital investments to maintain our nation's affordable housing supply. but it's not just efforts that washington state. i am especially proud to have secured funding through congressionally directed spng aurora senior housing development for seniors in seattle, which will have 90

housing units. that is a great start, but i know we have a lot more work to do when it comes to tackling the housing crisis, and i will keep pushing for progress with my colleagues every day. over their heads, families need food on the table. i held a roundtable in seattle a few weeks ago talking with experts and even a mom who depended on wic. as i told them, i take this personally. i remember what it was like whe and we had to rely on food stamps. making cuts that leave our kids hungry was never an option i fo and nail to make sure that bill fully funded wic, which serves over 130,000 moms and kids just in my home state of washington. and we fully funded the brand-new permanent summer program i established, summer evt, which will help feed

half a million kids in washington state alone this summer. plus, i secured 1.8 million for the help line, this is a resource for struggling families to help expand food distribution. in the richest country in the world, there's no reason to leave our families hungry. it is really that simple. families in washington eed for state, like in every other state, is child care. crisis every■/ere i go.care mr. president, we are still negotiating the bill that funds the actual federal investments in child care, but guess what -- for pts child care, we need physical child care centers close to where people live. a big priority of mine last package was working with local organizations to help them build or expand their child care centers, and so throughirected spending we're going to be constructing an early learning center in the mer iddian school

district and another in lewis county to serve 80 students a year, build being 17 -- build be 17 -- building 17 early education classrooms in tacomúi and relocating a head start facility for the spokane tribe of indians. we also provided new funding to design child development centers to expand access to child care for military families, something i know we need more of. i remain focused on protecting child care development block grant now as we negotiate the next set of bills. and i will always president, to care for working families act, but i will keep fighting alongside that for every step of progress we can addition to inv support our families, i worked hard to pass funding for local projects that support our cities and communities, congressionally directed spending i secured will help grant county upgrade

security at its district court, bainbridge build a brand-new visitors center at the japanese american exclusion. and rebuild a community hub to offer everything from small business support to early learning services. funds i secured also help cities to improve public safety and make our justice system work better for everyone. fo first time ever, the funding bill includes $10 million for a new grant program to increase access to sexual assault nurse exams. i worked very hard, mr. president, alongside washington state advocate lea griffin. she bravely shared her story with me about her sexual assault, and we worked together to pass a new law and fund programs to help survivors get the care and exams they need to office with, to a conversation i

of advocacy and coalition building on the hill together, to passing a new law, and now funding a new program to help survivors. it is so important to me, mr. president, my constituents know anyone can make a differen. lea's voice and story made a difference. i am so proud of her. i also worked to secure local funding for projects like a public safety network and mental and therapeutic court programs in spokane, stevens county. i was just in tacoma talking about the partnerships they're building around mental and beh behavioral health care. i'm overjoyed to help and tell them the good news that new federal resources are on the way to support efforts. as another example, i secured a half a million dollars for

choose 18 0shgs choose 180, an organization focused on mentoring youth to stay out of trouble and build a brighter future for themselves. i to hear firsthand from amazing young adults who participated in that program. this organization is changing lives for the better, and i'm so proud of the work that they are doing. infrastructure, critically important. passed last week, there are many, many important investments to help build our cities, update their infrastructure, make the streets and downtowns work better, for pedestrians, commuters and families. that includes safety and accessibility improvements and funding for infrastructure washington. in pierce county, in spokane, in seattle, in the heights vancouvr and walla walla as well as projects by the lumi nation and

lakah indian tribe. we cannot forget about investments in public transit. i am thrilled to say i secured new funds for sound transit's light rail extension projects, to ballard, west seattle and lynnwood. house republicans wanted to cut funding for public transit in their bill, to a level where the lynnwood link simply would not have had the federal dollars to get done. i made sure we stood firm on funding the capital investment grant program. because of that, we're now going to deliver the full federal funding this program needs to get across the finish line. there's also funding in this bill for shelters in pierce county, regional transis facility on -- transit facility on woodby island. when it wasn't easy enough under the top lines on this bill, they were tough, i secured millions in additional funding for the

federal passenger f grant program, and include for the first time ever language to make sure washington state ferries can apply for the rural ferry . i can't talk about ferries without talking about our harbors and ports and waterways. this package includes an 2.77 billion for the harbor maintenance trust fund and new language i worked hard to get in to make sure washington state ports get their fair share for those funds. there are also other crucial investments in our waterways and water infrance and repairs to the locks at lake washington ship canal, better known as the ballard locks, and at tacoma harbor, to say nothing of the bipartisan infrastructure law funds pouring into our communities. so important to allf us. there's also funding for waste water treatment projects at soap lake, and to help the discoverye

clean water to the columbia river. i also worked to protect our state's incredible natural beauty andesources by fighting off devastating cuts in policy riders that house republicans wanted to make to critical environmental and conservation programs. this bill we passed will help our state conserve new public lands, including in san juan islandat park, the wilapa national wildlife refuge to protect the maw watershed. mr. president, i also secured funding for essential federal wildfire programs and■@ protect a hard-earned pay raise for our brave federal firefighters. of course, there are protect a restore our salmon populations, because everyone knows how essential salmon are to our

economy at home and our in washington state. i fought hard for investments in this bill to support salmon, on ton of -- on top of everything i mentioned. i managed to protect our build on federal investments in puget sound restoration efforts, the yack imyou a basin, the -- the northwest straits initiative, the hatchery operations, and pacific coastal salmon recovery fund. last year, i joined leaders from the jamestown tribe, local environmental advocates evasiven green crab. this is something i never heard of before the last few years, but they'reashington waters. i learned more about the threat that they pose to our native species. i'm very glad to say we now have funding to help fight thaten cre calling for a coordinated federal approach to this threat.

another crucial inve much-needed 50 million down payment for the fish passage project at the howard hanson dam. i'm glad year 25 budget that came out requested $500 million to build that fish passage facility. be o fund that request and finish the job in next year's funding bills. of course, how we manage our water resources doesn't matter to just our fish. it is also critical to our communities and farmers, which is why i'm pleased we also funded, put funds in this bill to improve drinking water systems in dupont and matawa and bridge adams and grant county as part of the odesa groundwater replacement project, critical to irrigation for our farmers our state's eco. i fought hard to secure other critical investments to support our farmers as well. last year, i visited the ground

making of a new plant sciences building, at the forefront of responding to challenges washington state farmers face i'm thrilled to build on that progress which delivering investments in this bill to support researchers at u-dub and the usda center as they tackle issues like little cherry disease or livestock resiliency, pollution from tires, crop quality and more. when it comes to cutting edge search, agriculture is just one of the many fields where i'm very proud to see washington state researchers leading the way. whether, clean energy in the tricities, or aerospace work in kent and across western washington this bill will propel the innovation that is happening in my state. and through congressionally directed spenng, t

will help fund new scientific equipment at gonzaga's center for innovative scice and■v engineering and western washington university's advanced technology laboratory. not to mention funding for the upgraded elect ron and -- upgraded microscope, and the tidal powered ocean observation project in tacoma. mr. president, i couldn't leave the floor today without talking about the critical investments in this bill that we made for our veters as chair of the milcon v.a. subcommittee and proud daughter of a hard to make sure our funding bill lived up to our nation's commitment to every man and weapons of mass destruction who serves in uniform. this bill fully funds the medical care and delivers record investments to tackle veteran

homelessness, mental health services and women veterans health care needs. i worked hard to get funding and build storage tanks in point manchester, update puget sound naval shipyard and other projects across bases like equipment, maintenance, and training facils. i also made sure that our bill reall reallocated millions of dollars for military families stationed at naval station everett. and i am proud to have gotten this through our final bill help address a major need. go comes to help forur v.a. facilities, i pushed to make sure that this bill provides funding to help the american lake v.a. medical center upgrade its facilities so they can provding

for the tahoma national cemetery and its work to ensure we honor the veterans we've lost. i just covered a lot of ground so i'll wrap things up. the bottom line is while these first six funding bills are not the bills i would have they do absolutely critical programs and make needed investments in washington state and every state in america. be clear -- we are not done yet. i am working to make sure we see similar results for people in washington state and across the country in the remaining six bills that we are working on right now this minute, and i'm going to keep bringing the concerns i bring with me t every negotiating room from my constituents and work to get solutions to help them with every bill that ail pass. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i was shocked to hear the comments of the senate majority leader this morning excoriating our closest ally, the only democracy in the middle east. you know, we don't appreciate it when other countries tell us how we ought toov country, and i'm sure that feeling is reciprocated by our israe■li here's what the ambassador -- former ambassador of israel said on social media. he fosaid, my opinion of netanyahu and his fitness to serve, senator schumer's call for new israeli elections is deeply disrespectful of our democracy and sovereignty. israel is an ally, not a vasil

state. we are one of the few countries that have never known a nondemocratic government and the only democracy never to have known a moment of peace. deserv. i think ambassador orin isthe m this morning was deeply disrespectful of our ally, which is indeed, as i said, a sovereign nation and a democracy. i traveled and saudi arabia and jordan in january with five other members of the senate intelligence committee. we met in jordan and then in saudi arabia with mohamme

salman. war involves collateral damages to innocent people, but the people responsible for initiativing that war -- initiating that war in israel was hamas, a proxy of the iranian regime of many. and for somehow to say now five months after that horrible attack o 7 that israel ought to stay its hand and allow hamas potentially to reconstitute in gaza is not only deeply disrespectful, it undermines the ability of th israelis to do what they must do, which is destroy that threat. i know three months after the attack on october when i was

in israel when i heard some of my colleagues say, well, we need too have a cease-fire -- we need to have a cease fibersing well, i know if hamas had not started the shooting that israel with a not have started and we would not find ourselves with all oft. but we know that iran is the head of the ous reach far and w. i know we've all learned more about world geography and how the world works in recent years since america, we thought we were safe on our own continent and we had an ocean to protect us■ on each side. but 9/11 was a reminder that not even americans are safe from the nd terrorists. and iran is the number-one state sponsor of terror, no doubt about it. sponsor the houthis i

yemen. they help shia militias in■ i s. they help hamas in gaza an