affairs department. a boat is planned for later this afternoon. also today we could see debate on temporary funding for highway and transportation projects. live coverage now of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, our gracious father thank you for the gift of

this day. lord, you are the one clear manifestation of love in the midst of lesser powers. today, use our lawmakers to bring more of your love to our world so that your kingdom may come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. may our senators discover the stillness of soul, needed to begin to comprehend what is the height, length, and depth of

your great love. use them as your instruments of righteousness and justice in our world. lord, open their minds to think your thoughts and give them the courage to do your will. we pray in your sovereign name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 488, the emergency appropriations supplemental act dealing with the border crisis. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report.

the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 488, s. 2648, a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2014, and for other purposes. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader the senate will be in a period of morning business until noon with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the republicans controlling the first half, the majority controlling the final half. at noon the senate will vote on robert mcdonald to be secretary of veterans affairs. the senate will recess as we do every tuesday from 12:30 to 2:15 for weekly caucus meetings. at 2:45 there will be a roll call vote on the confirmation of mcdonald followed by several votes to confirm a number of very important nominations for ambassadors around the country. upon disposition of the polaschik nomination, the senate will consider the highway and

transportation funding bill. senators should expect five roll call votes this evening regarding wyden, toomey -- i don't have them all listed here, mr. president. there's carper, there's toomey, there's wyden, and i'm missing one. a republican. lee; i'm sore sorry. we'll be notified when those votes are scheduled. i would note the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: there are two bills at the desk due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bills for the second time.

the clerk: a bill to enhance strategic partnership between the united states and israel. h.r. 3393, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to consolidate certain tax benefits for educational expenses and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i object to any further proceedings with this matter, these two matters. the presiding officer: objections having been heard, the bills will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, almost two years ago, within a few days two years ago, we were in las vegas to dedicate this beautiful new veterans facility. taxpayers' money spent on that was about $700 million, a beautiful facility. it is the second one we've been able to do in southern nevada. we built a nice little hospital. we tried with a joint venture between the veterans administration and the air

force. but with all the wars, especially in iraq, it became overwhelmed with veterans. i'm sorry. with the air force active duty folks as they were going to afghanistan, on their way to iraq, and so there was no room for veterans. so we became really, it became very difficult for veterans. we have a huge veterans population in southern nevada. we have all kinds of military bases. some are stationed there and decided they want to live in southern nevada. we had -- so we built a huge -- actually we rented a huge outpatient clinic, and it was wonderful, mr. president. it was great, except within a year or so, the building, even though it was new was condemned because it was unsafe.

so the veterans in southern nevada really found themselves in a difficult situation. so when they new hospital was dedicated, it took seven years of work to get this done. i worked hard on this as did others to obtain this moment. it was a state-of-the-art facility. 100 inpatient beds, nursing home unit. and a care center. it was a state-of-the-art facility. it was unquestionably probably, without exaggerating, the finest veterans hospital in the country. it was brand-new. but more importantly, mr. president, was the precious resource of veterans throughout the state of nevada. we have a facility in northern nevada. it's been there for many, many decades, and to the credit of mikulski, senator mikulski from

maryland, she came to visit, and we had to renovate. so it is in good shape. the veterans there had a good facility long before southern nevada. mr. president, in spite of all the happy talk about what a wonderful facility this is, veterans have been stunned. why? because they're waiting 50 days. if you're a new patient and you call, they say we'll see you in a couple of months; come on in. and about 2,000 patients have been waiting 90 days or more to even get an appointment. this is just unacceptable. mr. president, it's not just this big, new, fancy new facility in las vegas which is ill-equipped. even though it has all these nice things in it. it is not equipped because we

didn't get the money to get it the way it should have been. but it's not a problem in las vegas. it is all over the country. a nationwide system wide problem with veterans that has been languishing on some, nonexistent waiting list. mr. president, when i learned that bernie sanders from vermont and congressman miller had worked out something on this, i was stunned. i was so happy. i got a call from senator sanders on saturday telling me i think we've got it done. that is wonderful. that is truly remarkable what they've done. i don't need to go through the bill and what it does, but it provides billions of dollars for emergency funding to hire new doctors and nurses. it will offer us 27 new medical facilities around the country, allowing the v.a. to grow as it

needs to grow. so, mr. president, that is wonderful news. that's the way we should be legislating. you couldn't find two more politically different people than bernie sanders from vermont and congressman miller -- chairman miller, i should say. they're different people and different views, but they knew that the war-torn country that we have, in fact we've sent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people to iraq and afghanistan who have come home and they need help. we took care of the war. we gave them the military, every penny they needed to fight those wars. but, mr. president, we haven't been so kind in taking care of the people when they come home from these wars. so, the main point i want to make here, mr. president, is that miller and sanders underwe

owe american veterans. isn't it good we're talking about this rather than impeachment of the president or suing the president? look in the papers today. the american people are totally opposed to this. we shouldn't be off on those tracks of impeachment, suing the president. we should be legislating on exemplary standard and that is what i hope is completed this week when the conference report comes to us from the house to complete this legislation. it is truly a good day for the american veterans and the american people.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: america makes a promise to every man and woman who puts on the uniform. in exchange for their service, our country pledges that they will be well trained, well equipped and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. it's the least we can offer to the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who put everything on the line so that we can live in freedom. it's a solemn pact and that's why the american people were so shocked to read some of the headlines we've seen over the past few months, headlines like "veterans languish and die on a v.a. hospital's secret list."

and then as the obama administration tried to cover its tracks, headlines like this: "veterans affairs spies stone walls on people investigating it." it's a national disgrace. ails veterans being put off for months by a hospital system that should be rushing to their aid and veterans dying while waiting for care. according to the government's own report on these failures, we also know these problems were so systemic that they spread to more than three-quarters of the v.a. facilities surveyed, literally to every corner of the country. -- including kentucky. kentuckians heard shocking news stories like the one about a harrisburg veteran who was being treated at a v.a. facility in lexington. the staff there declared him dead, declared him dead, and yet

when the veteran's wife came to say her final goodbye, she found her husband breathing, with a pulse. i was glad to hear that this veteran is now back home with his family recovering, but no veteran and no spouse should ever have to go through such a horrific, horrific ordeal. and yet i continue to receive letters from kentucky veterans who've been denied the care they deserve, like this one from a disabled veteran in gradyville. this is what he had to say. "i've had some of the most frustrating times trying to receive the quality of health care that anyone deserves. not only has it taken me months to be seen, but i've been told by a primary care physician that he did not need to see me until my six-month checkup. i simply no longer have the time and money to invest in the runaround i receive in trying to

make an appeal. i gave up four years of my life and the proper use of my right arm in this nation's defense. i would have given my life without question to protect a country that i love. it breaks my heart to no longer be part of an institution i so lovingly became a member of, oui became a member of. our nation' nation's veterans zo muc-- ournation's veterans deseo much more. thousandthe obama administratios to use every tool available to address the systemic failures of the v.a., and it needs towor tok with congress on reforms that can help address these chalings, too. initially, the obama administration was slow to respond to the crisis. the white house tried to treat it like some p.r. predicament to

get beyond rather than the true tragedy that it was. a tragedy at that required bipartisan action to investigate and address. ultimately, pressure from republicans and revulsion from the american people forced the white house to take this crisis seriously. audits were conducted, management changes were undertaken, and the necessity of serious reform was accepted -- eventually. i was proud to support bipartisan v.a. reform legislation that passed the senate last month. i'm encouraged by the progress of the kfn conference committee toward cleating the final fine - towards completing the final compromise that can be signed in to law enforcement the compromise legislation would introduce some much-needed accountability into the v.a. system and help increase patient choice. in fact, the compromise appears to include two initiatives that i specifically pressed with the president's nominee to head the veterans affairs department when

i recently met with him. one i said we need to make it easier to fire v. veterans who fail our veterans and we need to allow veterans to seek care outside the v.a. if they seek long wait times or if they do not live near a v.a. facility. the conference report appears to include both. and i want to thank senators burr, mccain be, and coburn for steadfastly fighting for the veterans choice part of the conference agreement that will allow our deserving veterans the option of being a h accessing cn hospitals when v.a. facilities are not available. as for the president's nominee to run the v.a., bob mcdonnell, we all know he has a tough job ahead of him after his confirmation. i made clear my expectation for dramatic change when i met him, but if mr. mcdonnell is willing to work in a collaborative and open marine

with congress -- and i expect he will -- he will find a constructive partner on this side of the aisle. look, we know there is much we can and should do to address this crisis together. so i'm hopeful because when veterans are denied care, it is a prior deserving of bipartisan attention, and the government needs to start living up again to the promises it made to our veterans. we certainly owe them no less. now, mr. president, on another matter entirely, israel's military campaign against the terrorist organization hamas has a clear-cut objective: to restore israel's security by eliminating rockets, shut down these infiltration tunnels from which hamas is launches its

attacks against israel, and indeed militarize gaza. that's israel's objective. this is clearly, clearly justified in the face of more than 2,300 rocket attacks into israel from gaza since early july. and i strongly support israel's recent efforts through operation protective edge to defend itself and to end the threat of additional rocket and infiltration attacks by hamas. operation protective edge also serves a larger purpose, and its resolution has broader implications for the future of the palestinian people. if hamas declares victory by keeping its weapons stockpiles, by continuing to undermine israel's security, and by turning away from egypt's efforts to forge a reasonable cease-fire, the net result will be a relative weakening of the palestinian authority and of

those in the west bank who have worked toward a peaceful resolution of the overall conflict. so, look, i support any effort which brings this campaign to an end in it a manner -- in a manner that increases israel's security. that means, specifically, that hamas cannot be left with large stockpile of missiles and rockets, cannot be left with infiltration tunnels -- they must be destroyed. ma hamas cannot be allowed to refit and build up weapons stockpiles. that weak ngs israel and the palestinian authority. and here's what i oppose. i oppose any efforts -- any efforts by the international community, especially the united nations, to impose a cease-fire on israel that does not meet these military objectives and that, therefore, risks rewarding hamas -- actually rewarding them -- for a campaign of terror and

that steeks to make additional -- and that seeks to make additional concessions to hamas such as easing security along the border. an unfavorable settlement, especially one that left hamas with a stockpile of weaponry, would create incentives for hamas to continue smuggling arms from iran and of course to return to violence. an unfavorable settlement would also undermine the leadership of the palestinian authority, which has attempted to negotiate with israel through peaceful means. so let's be clear here. the terror tactics employed by hamas show contempt -- contempt for human life, whether israeli or palestinian, by employing rockets and mortars as weapons of terror against israel's civilian population or, using its own schools within gaza as weapons depose, hamas has shown

a gross disregard for civilians. the prime minister of israel, i thought, put it very wh well whn he said israel uses missile defense to protect its citizens. hamas uses civilians to protect their missiles. there's no moral equivalency here, none whatsoever. these tactics should be loudly and widely condemned, and israel's right to defend itself should be affirmed. as i noted last week, secretary hagel wrote to the majority leader seeking urgent funding for components of the iron dome missile defense system. i and others support this request, as iron dome has afforded israel some real protection from these indiscriminate rockets. this morning some of my colleagues will further explain the importance of iron dome and the need for israeli defense forces to press on, to finish the job, in destroying the

infiltration tunnels and weapons stockpiles. republicans are united in our support of israel's defense and this morning my colleagues will explain our opposition to any effort to force a cease-fire on israel that does not further its security objectives. in a situation like this, mr. president, israel only has one dependable friend. the united states should not be trying to pressure israel to make a bad deal that leaves hamas in a position to continue these attacks against israeli civilians. and no one has been more active on this issue than my colleague from south carolina, and i see him on the floor now and, therefore, i yield the floor. mr. graham: thank you. mr. president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 12:00 noon with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten

minutes each, and with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: thank you, mr. president. i just want to return the compliment to senator mcconnell from kentucky, the republican leader. i've been here now since 2002, and there's no better friend of the state of israel hasn't mitch mcconnell. he is the former chairman and ranking member of the foreign ops subcommittee on aeption pros that deals with aid -- appropriations that deals with aid to the world, but particularly to israel. and it was his idea to come on the floor today and have voices speak in support of israel at a time that they need friends. you know, friends are a great thing to have. they are hay a wonderful thingn good times. they are a necessity in bad times. and israel is going through some pretty bad times, and so are the

palestinian people. i want to clearly make myself known. i have nothing against the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the palestinian people to have their own country, to live in peace and prosperity by israel, but they have to want it more than i do. and the palestinian people are suffering. children are being killed i kild the most innocent people on the planet are chin. and it breaks all of our hearts see them as cass iewflt war. but now is the time to be clear-eyed and focused as to what the problem really s the problem is very simple in many ways . hamas is a terrorist organization in the eyes of the united states government. hamas should be a terrorist organization in the eyes of any decent person in the world. what do they do? they have as their goal not a two-state solution but a one-state solution. the complete and utter

destruction of the state of israel. if you don't believe me, just check out their own cheamplet they have as their tactics using their own people and children as human shields to win a propaganda war. when israeli children are kill killed, it breaks israel's heart. when palestinian children are killed, it breaks the heart of all decent palestinians, but hamas seiz sees it as a victory. they literally try put women and children in harm's way to marginalize the ability of israel to defend itself against two things: irntion th things, e something new in this fievment 41 tunnels have been discovered that go from the gaza strip. and yesterday five israeli soldiers were killed by an

attack that came from hamas fight theirs penetrated rails through the tunnels. so senator mcconnell, not only are you speaking for republicans when you say "th the senate stas firmly behind israel's right to destroy the terrorist tunnels, i think that's the body's view, democrats as well. there is a resolution that's bipartisan in nature that is before the body and i hope we can pass it before thursday. and in the resolve clause it says that the senate opposes any efforts to impose a cease-fire that does not allow for the government of israel to protect its citizens from threats posed by hamas rockets and tunnels. that, i believe, is the view of the united states senate in a bipartisan fashion. today republicans take the floor to clearly state where we stand in this conflict. we stand with israel's right to

defend itself against a terrorist organization called hamas. we stand with the palestinian people's legitimate aspirations to have a better life. but until that day comes, we're going to be firmly in the israeli camp to defend themselves because what would we do as a nation if a neighboring nation dug tunnels under our border for the express purpose of kidnapping and killing our citizens? what would america do if one rocket came from a neighboring nation fired indiscriminately to kill american citizens? we would respond in the most aggressive fashion and we'd have every right to do so. as the minority leader stated, there is no moral equivalency here. israel tells you they're going a tack. israel calls you before the attack. israel gives you notice about an impending attack.

hamas secretly fires rockets carrying less where they land. their hope is it hits a kindergarten. that's their desire. and the only reason they haven't been successful is because of the iron dome program that's been a collaboration between the united states and israel for many years. there is discussion about appropriating additional dollars for iron dome. that discussion needs to turn into a reality. we don't need to marry it up with controversial topics. israel's under siege. we are the best friend of the state of israel. they need this assistance. every republican stands ready to work with every democrat to pass in the next five minutes additional money for the iron dome program. so in tough times, what is the smart thing and the right thing for america to do? the smart thing for america to do is to pursue a lasting peace, a peace with meaning and not to

repeat the mistakes of the past. insanity is doing the thing over -- the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. israel is beyond that moment. america needs to stand by israel's legitimate right to get to the heart of the problem and not face this threat six months or a year from now. the one thing i can tell you that's not a smart thing to do is give hamas a bunch of concrete. they're not going to build schools with it. they build tunnels. all the aid that the international community has been providing to the gaza strip through the hands of hamas has not gone in to building hospitals and schools and economic improvement of the lives of the palestinians but to create weapons of war. the tunnels are weapons of war. the thousands and thousands of tons of concrete and iron that's been misappropriated to build these tunnels came from people with a good heart.

and how long does it take the international community to wake up to the fact that hamas has a bad heart? a evil, wicked heart. they could careles care less abr own people. they want to destroy israel. mr. mcconnell: would the senator yield for a question? mr. graham: absolutely. mr. mcconnell: we all remember that 10 or 12 years ago, israel, which had previously occupied hamas for the purpose of trying to prevent these kinds of devastating attacks, left, withdrew as a solid statement that we're uncomfortable occupying. and all we ask in return for our removal of our occupation is a peaceful border. and the center from south carolina has just outlined, periodically this is what they've gotten in return for

basically leaving gaza alone and giving it a chance, if it chose to, to have a normal, peaceful existence. and yet they choose to continue the conflict, as the senator from south carolina indicated, because they're not in favor of a two-state solution. they're in favor a one-state solution. mr. graham: well, senator mcconnell is dead on point here. land for peace. give the palestinians land and in return israel gets peace. they gave the gaza strip to the palestinians and what have they got then in return? 2,500 rockets in the hast threee last three weeks, terrorist tunnels. so the idea that leaving an area will lead to peace with the palestinians has not borne fruit. so what to do, very quickly. number one, pass more appropriations for iron dome because it's the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do.

number two, pass a resolution saying that we oppose any cease-fire that does not allow israel to get to the heart of the problem when it comes to the terrorist tunnels and deal with the rocket threat against their country. number three, push back against a united nations that's lost its moral way. the human rights commission, a subcommittee, for lack of a better term, of the united nations passed a resolution 27-1 about the israeli-palestinian conflict in gaza and i want to read the first paragraph. "deploring the massive israeli military operations in the occupied palestinian territory, including east jerusalem, since 13 june, 2014, which have involved disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks and resulted in grave violations of the human rights of the palestinian civilian population, including through the most recent israeli military assault on the occupied gaza strip, the

latest in a series of military aggressions by israel and actions of mass closure, mass arrest and killing of civilians in the occupied west bank." this resolution is 1,600-and-something words and it has a half a sentence about rockets against israel and nothing about the tunnels and never mentions hamas. so the third thing i would like this body to do is either through a letter o of resolutio, let the united nations know that we condemn this one-sided view of the conflict, that we find the human rights commission report objectionable and, quite frankly, immoral. 27-1. we were the only nation that objected to this resolution, which i think should make every decent person in the world fill the shame of the united nations. so to our leader on the republican side, thank you for creating this opportunity for us

to speak. thank you for your long-standing support of the state of israel. and i close with this thought. in times of trouble, try to do the right thing and the smart thing. here they both come together. the right thing to do is to stand by your friends in israel. the smart thing to do is to stand by your friends in israel. the right thing and the smart thing to do is oppose hamas, who has a wicked heart, and allow israel, for once and for all, to fix this problem by demilitarizing gaza, dealing with the tunnels and the rockets. as senator mcconnell said, israel has tried time and time again cease-fires without dealing with the military threat they face. not this time. when israel says, never again, they refer to the holocaust. america needs to stand with israel today and israel should say to hamas, never again will

we allow a cease-fire that allows you to dig tunnels under our borders to kidnap and kill our citizens, and never again will we allow you to rearm and rain holy terror on our people through thousands of rockets being fired at innocent civilians. so now is the time for the senate to say with israel, never again. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: briefly, before senator ayotte takes the floor, i want to commend senator graham for his suggestions. all three of those suggestions should be carried out this week. mr. graham: yes. mr. mcconnell: time is of the essence. and in listening to the litany of the actions of the palestinians that you recounted and that we all remember, going back almost to the founding of the state of israel, i'm reminded of what one of israel's early foreign ministers once said about the palestinians. he said, you know the

palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. mr. graham: sad but true. mr. mcconnell: sad but true. and, you know, i recall when prime minister barock was in office at the end of the clinton years. the administration brokered a deal that israel at that time was willing to offer and the palestinians said no. probably a deal they couldn't have gotten today. so we've seen these litany of opportunities wasted over the years. and the people who suffered as a result of it, obviously, have been the palestinian people. mr. graham: absolutely. and with that, i would like now to turn over the debate to a good friend, senator from new hampshire, senator ayotte, who has truly been one of the leaders on our side on foreign policy and is a steadfast ally of our friends in israel. ms. ayotte: i want to thank my colleague -- the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank my colleagues, the senator from south carolina, for his leadership and also for

our leader, the senator from kentucky, for the incredible work that he has done in supporting our great friend, israel, and also on -- in reading in this body in terms of the issues that he has brought forward not only in supporting important protection, like the iron dome system, but also in ensuring that america remains safe and strong. so thank you very much, senator mcconnell, for your leadership. i rise today because i had the privilege in march of traveling to israel and i went there not only to meet with the leadership in israel but i had the opportunity to meet with some of the palestinian leadership as well, but to actually go down -- go to storogh, a town in israel. and i was very much struck about

what the israelis are facing every day and the threat they face from hamas, a terrorist organization. you know, you go to a town like storough, and everyone in their household has a bomb shelter. and i met with mothers there whose -- whose children feel traumatized because they ever know when the next potential rocket may be coming toward their town, and it's very much affected their children. so much so that actually when you go to the playground where the children play, the playground itself contains a bomb shelter. so there's a caterpillar that looks like something that maybe your kids would play in but it's actually a bomb shelter because this town in israel has been facing rockets from hamas. and that is what we need to understand in this conflict, that hamas, a terrorist organization, has not only used

its own civilians, the palestinians, as human shields but they've also continued to threaten the children of israel. so much so that their bomb shelters, that their playgrounds have bomb shelters. and what is happening right now in this conflict is that israel is trying to defend itself, to defend itself against this threat of rockets from hamas that threatens their children and threatens the palestinian children who, unfortunately, have been put in harm's way by this terrorist organization, hamas. but they're facing a new threat. can you imagine if we were faced with the threat that terrorists could pop up through a tunnel and suddenly terrorize the people in this country what we would do to address that threat? and that is the threat that the israelis are facing right now. they need to eliminate these tunnels to ensure that their

people can be protected from this threat. and how did they build these tunnels? they actually built some of these tunnels using concrete that the israelis let them have, the palestinians, for building things like schools and instead hamas has taken this concrete and used it to build terror tunnels to allow them to either kidnap or kid israeli citizens. and so we -- kidnap or kill israeli citizens. and so we stand with the people of israel and their right to defend themselves against this terrorist organization, hamas, and the terror that it has brought upon not only the country of israel but also the terror that it has brought to the palestinian people and how hamas stands in the way of peace in the region overall. and we also stand against the hypocrisy that we have seen on many levels and that hypocrisy and double standard has been

most apparent in the u.n. human rights council and the recent resolution passed by that council. i have to wonder why that council exists in the united nations because you have countries like china, cuba, russia and venezuela issuing a resolution condemning israel for what is happening in this conflict but in no way even mentioning hamas or what hamas is doing to use civilians as shields, to use civilians as basically targets so that they can try to get support for the international community, and the opposite is happening in terms of what israel is doing. it's such a contrast. israel is taking steps to notify civilians if there's going to be a missile coming in their area.

they have warned civilians to leave areas. they have taken extraordinary steps to protect civilian lives in contrast to what hamas is doing in using civilians as shields. so we condemn in this body very clearly what the human rights council has done. and the notion that we're going to follow what china, cuba, venezuela and russia would tell the world their view is on human rights that doesn't even mention the actions of a terrorist organization that is at the root of the conflict that we see right now in gaza, talk about the situation where the cat is watching the hen house, that's what's happening with this human rights council. frankly, this council, in my view, should be eliminated

because it is the opposite of standing for human rights. it is standing up for terrorist organizations like hamas. and i stand with the recommendations of my colleague from south carolina and our leader that we need to absolutely condemn the human rights council. we need to reaffirm this week before we leave in this body our support for israel's right to defend itself and to eliminate the threat that these tunnels present to the israeli people and, frankly, also to the palestinian people as well. and to allow them to finally address this threat from this terrorist organization hamas, because until this threat is eliminated there can be no peace in this region. there cannot be peace for the israeli people and there cannot be peace for the palestinian people. and so it is my hope that we will take this up this week, leader, and make sure that we clearly send a message to israel

that we stand with israel, that we clearly send a message to the u.n. that we're not going to accept the hypocrisy of the human rights council. that we clearly send a message to hamas: we know who you are. you're a terrorist organization. stop using civilians to try to accomplish your purpose. and we stand with you. and with that, i would yield the floor to my colleague. mr. mcconnell: before senator ayotte loses the floor, i wanted to just commend her on her contribution to this discussion, particularly the stories with regard to your last trip to israel. and also add i'm sure the senator from new hampshire agrees with me that the last thing the american government needs to be doing right now is trying to pressure israel into a bad cease-fire that doesn't allow this terror to be stopped.

it at times appears to me as if the american administration is trying to push the israelis and to stop them before they finish the job. and we all know based on past history that unless this operation is completed, the challenges will continue. i just wanted to see if the senator from new hampshire shared my view on that. ms. ayotte: i would fully share your view. and really in order to end this threat, we need to support israel and its right to eliminate the tunnels, to address the missiles and eliminate the missiles and the stash that hamas has that they are targeting israel with, which, by the way, would have had many more civilian casualties but for the iron dome system that we have supported and worked with israel on. and finally, we need to get to a

point where the gaza is demilitarized and they're put in a position where this threat cannot continue. that's what we need to get at thinking about, but we need to allow israel to deal with the threat of these tunnels and the missiles so that the children in storogh will not continue to be targeted, so that children, not only israeli children but also palestinian children can live in peace in the region and that can't happen when hamas continues to be a terrorist organization that threatens all children in the region. thank you. mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i'd like to echo what my colleagues, senator mcconnell, our leader, senator graham, senator ayotte and appreciate senator mcconnell's leadership in making sure what is at stake here, pushing hard

to make sure the united states senate is doing its job in support of israel, making sure they are able to defend themselves and funding for the iron dome which has been so effective as a defense mechanism against these rocket attacks is funded in a way that allows them to continue to use it and that capability. as you look at the situation in gaza, mr. president, i want to start by taking a step back and looking at this conflict in both its historic and regional context. in israel, we have the only, the only functioning democracy in the middle east. israel is a nation that emphasizes human rights and tolerance. its population includes religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. in jerusalem, you can hear the muslim call to the prayer, the bells from catholic and greek orthodox churches and the prayers of the jews at the wailing wall all at the same time. there is no other place like this on earth. this democracy, however, is situated in a region of intense

brutality and extremism. historically that's meant seemingly endless conflicts with israel's neighbors intentionally targeting civilians in order to maximize casualities. one need only look across the border into syria to get a glimpse of this brutality. when syrians made the first attempt at striving for democracy the assad regime began slaughtering opponents including gassing civilians with chemical weapons. as that violence spread into iraq, radical terrorist organization isis began killing not only shia opponents but sunni clerics. communities with ancient traditions such as christians and mosul who ten years ago numbered 60,000 have been forced to flee for their lives. mosul has been completely emptied of christians for the first time in 1,600 years.

mr. president, it is in this context that the people of israel have built their nation. and it is in this context that we now view the conflict in gaza. the current conflict in gaza is one that israel did not start. it startd with hamas firing over 2,300 rockets from gaza into israel, specifically targeting civilian populated areas to maximize potential casualities. in response, israel has conducted a methodical and forceful response just as you would expect any nation to do. first, israel locates the source of the rocket. then an attempt is made to call the residents by phone and tell them to evacuate. in many cases a flare is sent on to the roof as a warning that the location is about to be hit before that location is ultimately destroyed. in a region where neighboring leaders indiscriminately drop

barrel bombs on residential areas for the sole purpose of slaughtering civilians, israel goes out of its way to save lives. these are not just civilian lives israel is saving because they know by their efforts they're giving aggressors the chance to escape as well. after hamas continued to launch rockets in israel, even when israel agreed on multiple occasions to cease-fires, tunnels were used to insert combatants near israeli settlements. israel responded with a ground assault to destroy the tunnels and eliminate hamas' is to be pile of weapons. attacks and rocket launches continued, it is underrable israel would want to destroy the stockpile of weapons to keep the cycle from being repeat add few months from now. like my colleagues on the floor today i want to see peace in the middle east. specifically i want to see peace in gaza and the west bank. i want to see peace in such a way that the palestinian people

can live with the prospect of a better life. but as we've seen, peace is not possible when a terrorist organization continues to pursue its cause of annihilating israel. peace cannot be achieved while hamas rejects cease-fire agreements and continues to fire rockets. mr. president, as violent as the current conflict in the gaza strip is, it would be far worse, it would be far worse if israel did not have the iron dome. in any conflict civilian casualities are a tragedy. and if israel did not have the sophisticated purely defensive weapons system that allows it to shoot these rockets out of the school, the number of civilian casualities would be far greater. hamas does not drop leaflets telling civilians to evacuate. hamas does not send flares to

warn residents to get out of harm's way. if not for israel's iron dome, civilian casualties in israel, mr. president, would be staggering. the united states must continue to support israel by ensuring that iran dome missile defense systems remain an effective deterrent to even greater civilian casualties. for as long as israeli men, women and children need to run to bomb shelters ahead hamas rocket attacks, we must support israel's ability to defend itself. mr. president, the united nations council of human rights, other countries around the world can choose to do things that are consistently at odds with the facts and with reality. but here in the united states, we need to do, as my colleague from south carolina said, the

right thing and the smart thing. in this case the right thing and the smart thing are one and the same. so i hope that my colleagues here in the united states senate will make a priority providing the necessary funding for the iron dome and for standing united, united behind our ally and our friend, israel, as they defend themselves from these attacks. mr. president, i see my colleague from texas is here, and i would simply ask him if he sees -- what role he sees the united states playing in both supporting israel and in providing support for the iron dome. mr. cruz: i thank my friend from south dakota. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: and i'm pleased and saddened to stand here in support of my colleagues as we stand united in support of the nation of israel. in the last several weeks over 2,500 rockets rained down on the

nation of israel. 80% of the population has had to flee what they're doing and run to bomb shelters to hide. moms, dads, children. when the alarm goes off, they have sometimes 10, 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter. mr. president, i want you to imagine if the same thing were happening here in america. imagine if 80% of this country in the last several weeks had run to a bomb shelter. imagine if 240 million americans in the last several weeks had been sitting at work or in the doctor's office or having breakfast and had to grab their children and run in a panic towards a bomb shelter. imagine what our country would be doing in response. mr. president, in recent weeks we have discovered that hamas has opened up a new chapter in

the annals of terrorism. it's not just raining rockets down from on high, but it's now attacking from below. some 32 full-scale terror tunnels have been discovered, dug under the ground, under the border. and coming up in kibbutzes inside israel along gaza. some of the tunnels come up inside kindergartens and we discovered in recent weeks a terrifying plot that was underway for hamas terrorists on rosh hashanah to come through those tunnels, hundreds of them, to emerge in kindergartens to kidnap or murder vast numbers of young jewish children. mr. president, imagine right now

if enemies of this country had dug tunnels into this country that were coming up in our schools. imagine in iran or china or some other hostile foreign nation had tunnels where your children or my children were at risk of being kidnapped or murdered. and right now today in gaza, we see massive civilian casualties that are the direct consequence of the violence of hamas. you see, mr. president, these human casualties are not an unintended side effect of the conflict. they are the objective that hamas seeks. dead palestinian children and

women and men. we know this because hamas is engaging in a war crime right now, not that the united nations human rights council would ever say anything about it. but hamas is engaging in a war crime of using human shields, deliberately using human shields. they place them in schools. they place them in private homes. they place them in mosques, deliberately they surround their rockets and their terror tunnels with innocent civilians. israel right now is engaged in something unprecedented in the annals of modern warfare. it is undertaking more humanitarian effort to spare civilian death than any military has in recorded history. before attacking israel sends

out texts. when they discovered a rocket battery that they need to take out because it is firing rockets targeting innocent civilians, they send texts saying, clear out of the area. they try to save the palestinian civilians. they drop from the sky pamphlets on an area that is about to be bombed to take out the rockets that are coming from that area. and the pamphlets say to the civilians, get out. get out because we're going to take out the rockets, and you're in harm's way. not only that they have a practice of sending an initial knock bomb. that means the first bomb lands on the roof and makes a knock. doesn't explode. just makes a loud knock. they do that for a reason, so that the people inside the building can look up, can hear the knock and can flee the building, so the second missile can take down the building and

the rockets that are housed inside that are being used to try to murder innocent civilians. prime minister netanyahu a few weeks ago summed it up very powerfully when he said, israel uses missile defense to defend our citizens. hamas uses its citizens to defend its missiles. now, israel is trying to warn palestinian civilians, don't be located where the missiles are because we're going to respond as any sovereign nation will to protect our nation. what does hamas snai hamas tells the palestinians, stay there. mr. president, picture that for a second. israel is warning civilians, clear the area because we're going to take out the rockets. we're going to take out the tunnels. and the response from hamas is, no, stay there.

why? because what they want to see is palestinian children, palestinian women killed so they can put the pictures on the sunday night news, because they know the world, many at the united nations, many in the media will behave like useful idiots, will point to the civilian casualties, that are hamas' fault -- when you put children on top of rockets, when you tell the children do not leave, when you know the rockets are going to be taken out, it is hamas, the terrorists, who are responsible for those children's death. but yet the international community puts the pictures on the evening news and blames the nation of israel. i am i'm proud this week to hae joined my colleague senator gillibrand from new york in filing bipartisan resolution in this body condemning hamas' use

of human shields, condemning it as a war crime, condemning it as an outrage, condemning it as the direct reason that we're seeing so many civilian deaths. and i have to note that one of the reasons civilian deaths have been mitigated in israel is because of the incredible success of the iron dome missile defense system. ronald reagan's star wars is today's iron dome. we see unfolding in recent weeks in israel the product of presidenpresident reagan's visin he proposed the strategic defense initiative, or s.d.i. now, critics at the time dismissed it as star wars. you and i will recall, we were both teenagers at the time.

you'll recall learned experts, so to speak, going on television saying, f.d.i. was a -- s.d.i. was a fool's errand. you cannot hit a bullet with a bullet was the analogy. it cannot work. well, run the clock forward three decades and we see an iron dome, the strategic vision of president reagan playing out in realtime. there is a wonderful video on youtube that i would encourage anyone who's interested to google and watch. it is a video called "iron dome wedding." if you google it, you will discover a video from a wedding in southern israel. it's an ordinary wedding video, just like i suspect you a understand i both -- you and i both have from our he had withings. in the midst of it, rockets

beginning coming through the sky. the night sky -- you see rockets come across the sky. then you see iron dome interceptors come up and explode the rockets. and one after the other after the other is fired and explodes, and the whole thing looks like fireworks. and in the background you hear the wedding music and the celebrations and sounds of celebration, and you think, were it not for these interceptors, these iron dome interceptors, those missiles might be landing on that wedding and causing carnage and death and destruction. but because of the potential, the power, the actuality of missile defense, instead they're intercepted. now, there are indisputable differences between the intercontinent ballistic missiles that s. diwas designed

to target and the low-tech missiles that is are being fired by hamas. that is why iron dome is one of a three-tier system that includes david sling and theater row 2 and 3 systems which are designed to guard against more sophisticated weapons such as the longer-range missiles that are being provided to hamas by syria and iran. and they would also defend against nuclear ballistic missiles of the sort being developed in iran. and it's worth underscoring even as the fighting in gaz gaza gras the headline, we have to keep our eyes on the threat of a nuclear-armed iran. it would make hamas and their rockets sliej child's play and our support for iron dome should be understood in the context of support for the continued development of these systems, which not only protect our friend and ally israel but they

protect us. this is a reason why hamas and iran refer to israel as the little satan and the united states as the great satan. because their intention with both is the same terror, the same murder, the same death and destruction. israel is currently working to carry out the griengdzing work to eradicate these terror tunnels that have been built under schools and kindergartens designed to kidnap and murder young children. and i would note it is an enormously difficult task, one that might approve impossible were it not for the success of iron dome limiting the effectiveness of those rockets. and so i would encourage this body to stand together united as one, republicans and democrats. may be issues on which we disagree.

there may be a great many issues. but we ought to be able to stand in one and speak in unison that we support the nation of israel and that we will work with the nation of israel immediately to re-plenish their iron dome supplies so that they can protect the citizens there and they can do what is necessary to eradicate the hamas rockets and terror tunnels that are being used to commit war crimes. that should be a unified bipartisan voice in this body. it is my hope by the end of this week that's exactly what it will be. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: what is the parliamentary situation? as i understand --

the presiding officer: the senate is in a period of morning business. ms. mikulski: how much -- may i proceed, or does the other party wish to -- how much time is remaining on their side? the presiding officer: the minority has three minutes. the majority has 47. ms. mikulski: with the concurrence of the minority party, i would like to proceed. i know they haven't yielded back their time, but if that is agreeable -- and i note no objection -- i will proceed, if i may. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today as the chair of the appropriations committee to talk about several challenges facing our country. first, i just want to real estate spond by -- to the

comments made by many of the senators this morning on the compelling need to pass a supplemental appropriations to help israel re-plenish the rockets it's used up in its iron dome missile defense system. i am an unabashed, unrelenting supporter of that effort. for many years, as united states senator on the appropriations committee, on the defense subcommittee, and also as a member of the intelligence committee, i know how important the israeli missile defense system is. iron dome, david slain, others that were absolutely crucial. i worked hands-on with senator inouye, the late, great senator, a congressional medal of honor winner, to make sure we fund the missile defense system for israel and to work on a bipartisan basis. senator stevens, senator

cochran, we have been working together. and thank god it worked. and also to implement a bipartisan agreement signed -- or an agreement signed by president bush with the government of israel that we would always help israel maintain its qualitative edge. and, you know what? we've done it. and i'm proud of it. and now, more than ever, an antimissile defense system that has worked, needs to continue operation. we know that the technology works, but they need to make sure that they have the tools to make the technology work, these additional rockets. we know that israel is under attack. it's always been under attack since its very founding. this is not an existential threat. this is not an abstract threat. it is a daily threat. and we know that israel is trying to defend itself against

the grim, unrelenting attacks by hamas, a self-avowed terrorist organization that has sworn in its documents not to allow israel to continue. they absolutely oppose an independent israeli state. mr. president, it is this week that we're going to be -- this month that we're commemorating the warsaw uprising. the prime minister is a member of the group we affectionately call the polish caucus. those of us who have a relationship with the polish government, one of our greatest supporters in the nato alliance. we recall that 70 years ago people were willing to fight back against the not subsidies, rise-- -- the nazis, rising out of the sewers of a warsaw ghetto, to be able

to fight them off with sticks and stones and out-of-date weapons, to be able to liberate, to liberate poland from nazi oppression and miles away in places like dacau, auschwitz and others, there were the death camp.we're one year away from commemorating -- commemorating the liberation of the death camps. we know that as those people marched out of those death camps, they made their way into palestine, which became the state of israel. we were the first nation to recognize the necessary and rightful place for israel to exist as an independent government, and forever and a day the homeland for the jewish people so that they would be safe from terrorism and what occurred. so i am for this whole iron dome supplemental, and we need to do it. but it cannot be the only thing

that we nut the supplemental. we have neighbors right now hurting in our own country, our western states, with wildfires raging over hundreds of thousands of acres, land being depleted, local resources, first responders ex-hausted, local funds being worn down. we have to -- we have to be able to respond to the western borders. and then there's the crisis at our border, which -- and if the crisis is at our border because of the crisis in central america. so when we move on this supplemental, let's look out for the great state of israel, let's look out for our neighbors who are facing wildfires and let's look out for what is going on at our border. but, mr. president, i came to the floor to, first of all, compliment senator sanders for the outstanding job he did

working on a bipartisan basis to pass the veterans access, choice and accountability act of 2014. what a great job they did out of a scandal, a terrible scandal affecting our nation's veterans, where they had to stand in line simply to see a doctor in the very country that they fought to defend, now found that they had to defend themselves against v.a. bureaucracy and in some places duplicitous action. well, the sanders bill goes a long way, again, working on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the dome. gosh, when we do this, this is why i wanted to be a senator. i know this is why many others wanted to be a senator. coming here, working on concrete problems, shoulder to shoulder, bipartisan basis, hands across the aisle, hands across the dome and they did it.

they now -- when that sanders -- when this bill is passed, we will reduce the long wait times for veterans, we will increase doctors and nurses and specialty providers. it will allow veterans to see local providers if they've been on a wait list for an extended period of time or have to drive 40 miles to be able to get to a v.a. clinic. boy, do i know that when i look at some of the rural areas. and we're going to pay for it with $10 billion in mandatory emergency funds, mandatory emergency funds. that's the way to do it. the sanders bill will go a long way in increasing personnel and also in expanding a number of clinics, 27 new clinics. so i think it's great. but, mr. president, as important as that bill is, it's an important step but it cannot be the only step that we take this week. mr. president, i am so excited

that shoulder to shoulder again, if we work together, we could do a fry feck to for our -- trifecta for our veterans. we could pass the veterans choice, access and account ability act, new opportunities for health care where veterans don't have to stand in line. also, we could -- we're going to vote today on robert mcdonald, to give the v.a. a new secretary, a new c.e.o., new leadership, hopefully new energy, new vitality and new ways of doing business, bringing the practical know-how of the private sect to her meetinprivar mission. but those two, as important as they are, i also come as the chair of the appropriations committee to say, why don't we take a third step that really will do the job? let's pass the v.a. mil-con appropriations bill so we can actually put next year's funding

in the federal checkbook, rather than just putting v.a. on autopilot. we can actually make a big difference with the new accountability expansion of care bill, but that will take days, weeks, months to put in operation. right this minute we could pass the v.a. mil-con bill, as well as giving no -- as well as giving new leadership. i come here because i really do want to move the v.a. mil-con. mr. president, the appropriations committee works through its subcommittees and, wow, have i had two great subcommittee chairmen and ranking on v.a. mil-con, two outstanding senators. senator tim johnson of south dakota, senator mark kirk of illinois. they have worked so assiduously

on coming up with a bill for funding our veterans for fiscal year 2015, and it is an outstanding bill. and -- but when we look -- but right now we're out there in the wilderness. we've moved it through the subcommittee, we've moved it through the full committee. it passed unanimously. and we're out in the ethers waiting to come to the floor. johnson and kirk, mikulski, shelby -- we're like people with our nose pressed against the glass on the floor. we see it within our grasp but we can't get through. and all we want to do is help to complete the job that we're trying to undertake today. you know, as much as the bill will be -- that senator sanders worked out, that without the v.a. mil-con appropriations bill, the veterans will lack key

tools to expand care, important support personnel that allows the doctors and nurses to do their job, important technology to run contemporary institutions and, by the way, the bill that we're going to be working on, the sanders bill, is focused on health care. but we on the appropriations committee dealt not only with aspects of that but on also the terrible backlog on veterans' disability. mr. president, veterans' disability. not only do you have to stand in line to get health care but you're standing days, weeks, months, to get your disability claim. you've lost an arm or a leg or you can't breathe or you have ptsd, and we can't get your disability processed. this is unacceptable. what we do in the v.a. bill is come up with the funds to really modernize the v.a.

first of all, just in terms of health care, to complement the sanders bill, we're going to -- we have money in there to develop state-of-the-art technology so that the doctors can provide medical health care, to make sure that we have the modern equipment and the modern i.t. systems. right now we need to be able to have d.o.d. talking to v.a. because veterans come from d.o.d., but we have an interoperable system. we work to fix this. we also deal with this backlog. you have no idea, mr. president. my state of maryland and my office in baltimore has not had a good track record. i vowed to my veterans that i would try to break that backlog. and you know what? working together we've been able to do this. in the fiscal 2015 bill, we fund an appeals process, we train

additional claims processors, we require the management at the benefit administration to deal with the backlog working with the new administrator. we have -- we have not only great ideas but we actually put the money in the federal checkbook. and johnson-kirk did it. and do you know how they did it? yes, talking to the v.a., reviewing tons of g.a.o. and inspector general reports, and guess what else they did, mr. president? they talked to the veterans. they talked to these wonderful volunteer service organizations. so, mr. president, i'm going to propose something later on today or later on this week. i don't want to be the chair of a committee that's got her face pressed up against the glass looking longingly at the senate floor with a bill i know will help the veterans administration with the heavy lifting to deal

with the health care and disability backlog. i'm going to ask -- and i'm just -- because i believe in no surprise and no stunts and no s. later on today or later on this week, i will ask unanimous consent to bring up the v.a. mil-con on third reading to be able to complement what we are doing here today. and i want to be able to do that and i hope that no senator will object to it. now, just again, in the spirit of full disclosure, because i truly have pledged to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle i would never be a surprise chair and i would never be one that pulls gimmicks or stunts. i'm going to ask that consent. i want people to know about it so they can discuss it, chew on it, talk at their respective luncheon -- their lunches. when i ask unanimous consent, i'm going to ask that it be brought up on third reader.

why am i doing that? because under the rules of the senate, if you bring up a bill on third reader, there's no amendments. so the question would be, senator mikulski, are you trying to stiff-arm again? no, i'm trying to get the job done. i'm not trying to be stiff-arming the opportunity to offer amendments, but we have 72 hours left before we take this really long break, really long, long, long, very long -- did i say "long" -- break. i don't think when you need health care for veterans, when you need to modernize technology, when you need to crack the backlog, while we're kind of basking in the sun somewhere, i don't want them in line. so either this afternoon or sometime tomorrow i will bring this -- i will ask unanimous consent, that i will turn to my 99 colleagues and in the spirit of really meeting compelling

needs of our veterans, i will ask that that bill come up so that as we move through the other two aspects that we're going to do to help veterans, we can do the v.a. mil-con bill. so, mr. president, i'm going to come to the floor today to talk about how we support a treasured ally, how we look out for our neighbors in the west fighting our wildfires, and how we deal with wit the crisis in central america where children are being victimized and brutalized every day so they're making that long march across the terrain and territory to come to the united states of america. so, mr. president, i hope in the short time the senate's going to be in session this week and this month and even this year, that we could use this week to meet the needs that are confronting us, but most of all, i would hope that we do not just do part of the job for our veterans, we do this trifecta that i'm

recommending, passing the veterans accountability act, the health care act, give us a new c.e.o., and have a chance to pass the v.a. mil-con bill. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to associate myself with the remarks of the chairman of the appropriations committee, my chairwoman, senator mikulski. i would add perhaps one particular point and that is, this senator will be basking in the sun in illinois during the recess and i invite the senator from maryland to come join us any time she'd like to. but it won't be in a vacation -- ordinary vacation climb, it will be in my home state and i'm sure you're going to be spending a lot of time your own as well. ms. mikulski: well, if i could respond to the gentleman from illinois, yes, i'm staying in maryland because i'd hoped that we would even be working on conference reports and so on. but while you're in illinois and i'm in maryland, most of all we don't want our veterans standing

in line for their health care or their disability benefits. so shoulder to shoulder, forward together. mr. durbin: thank you, senator mikulski. this supplemental appropriation bill is important. it's timely. one of the provisions in it is an additional $225 million for the iron dome defense. the iron dome defense is a joint effort by the united states and israel to protect israel from rocket attacks. imagine you're living in your hometown and a neighboring state or a neighboring town just fired 2,000 rockets into your hometown. these are not 4th of july rockets. these are deadly rockets that kill. you want some protection, and the iron dome provides protection for israel. this joint effort by the united states and israel has been successful. despite 2,000 rocket attacks, the casualties on the israeli side have been minimal, relatively minimal, and it's

because of the iron dome defense. what attacks does israel face today? well, they face hamas attacks from gaza. hamas is an organization which the united states characterized as a terrorist organization almost 20 years ago. we know hamas. we know their tactics. what they're doing is putting rocket launchers in civilian neighborhoods near hospitals and apartments and homes and they're launching these missile attacks on israel and daring them to fire back into civilian populations. iron dome protects the israeli population from the missiles being shot by hamas in gaza and now the israelis have invaded gaza to go to the source to stop these rocket attacks. sadly, during the course of this effort in gaza, there have been casualties. some on the israeli side, of course, but hundreds, maybe a thousand on the side of the

civilian population in gaza. this is because the strategy of hamas is to put their armaments smack dab in the middle of civilian populations. as has been said in israel, they use weapons to protect civilians and in gaza they're using civilians to protect weapons. that has to come to an end. we have to have an end to the hostilities between gaza and israel. no nation, no nation on earth would sit still for 2,000 rocket attacks into their population. and that's what israel is faced over the past several weeks. but the people of gaza also need much better than they're receiving when it comes to hamas. hamas, sadly, is engaging in tactics using human shields at the expense of the human population. when they are told about the civilians that are dying in gaza, leaders in hamas say they're martyrs to the cause. i'll have to tell you, it would be very difficult for me to understand and explain to a

family that's lost a child that they love that their child has just become a martyr. this has to come to an end. it has to end with the hostilities between gaza and israel and it has to end, i hope, in some negotiation and peaceful resolution. maybe it's wishful thinking. but i do believe we need to make the effort. i commend secretary of state kerry for his effort in trying to engage egypt and others in this conversation. the supplemental bill before us today provides more money for interceptor missiles for iron dome to protect israel. money requested by our secretary of defense, money which i support. as chairman of the defense appropriation subcommittee we added some $350 million for iron dome defenseness the next fiscal year which begins october 1. this money is needed now because of the hostilities between these two countries and i certainly -- he i certainly support it. a second part, the major part of this supplemental appropriation deals with the

humanitarian refugee crisis we have at our border. it's not often that the united states faces a refugee crisis. think back in history. the only refugees who came to our shores are usually from nearby countries, haiti, cuba, occasionally we have refugees coming after the vietnam war, the hmong people who were allies in that war but we're not like most countries in the middle east that has a steady stream of refugees. the united states does not engage in refugee crisis alleviation because of our location and geography and our history. seldom have we been challenged but today we are challenged. we're challenged because in the first months of the year, 57,000 unaccompanied children -- children -- presented themselves at the border with mexico. they were not trying to sneak in. they literally walked across the border and presented themselves to the first person in uniform. they were told to do that by their families. why did they make the trip to the border as kids?

by themselves, to present themselves? because in three countries in central america, there is a state of lawlessness. guatemala, launched -- honduras, alsalvador and 80% of the children came from those three countries. they're not just coming to the united states incidentally. there has been a 700% increase in refugees to adjoining central american countries from those three countries. this has been going on for some time but for the past two or three years, it's gone from bad to dramatically worse. we recent renal met last week with tasks from these three countries and talked -- recently met last week with the ambassadors and talked about what created this. a lot has to do with drug gangs, drug gangs transporting drugs through those countries for sale largely in the united states. these become powerful and rich, well armed and notorious for their barbaric tactics.

they recruit young people into their drug gangs at the point of a gun. they mutilate those who even hesitate to join the drug gangs and god forbid it is your daughter because they have a reputation of raping young girls and if they're not satisfied with their responses, killing them on the spot and leaving them in plastic bags by the highway. that's why many families are sending their kids away from this deadly violence. two weeks ago i went to a shelter in chicago, a transitional shelter. where 70 children from the border are being held until they can be placed with their families in the united states or with some trusting family that takes up foster care. i saw these kids firsthand, and your image of them may be different than what you actually see. my wife said to me why don't they show pictures of these kids? well, they try to protect their identity, confidentiality by not showing photos but if you could see them you would see children of all ages.

there were five women who walked in the dining hall of the transitional shelter. they didn't look to me to be 14 years of age and each one was carrying a baby. they were the victims of rape in honduras. they were carrying these newborn infants in their arms as they had during the eight-day bus journey to get to the border. i asked the staff at this transitional shelter, i told them, that many of the families before they send their young girls on this dangerous and sometimes deadly journey give the girls birth control pills. because they anticipated that they'll be -- anticipate they'll be attacked during the course of this journey. they said it's true. what desperation would you have to reach before you turned your daughter loose under those circumstances? these families are literally trying to escape a burning home and sending their kids to the only safe and secure place they can think of. what do we need to do? first we need to get to these

countries and tell them stop, stop these deadly journeys, these journeys which sadly lead to harm and even death for some of these children. don't threat lett this happen anymore and we've got to work the governments of those countries to make it clear this is the wrong thing to do. it's wrong because once these kids get into america they're not entitled to be say and be citizens unless perhaps they qualify for asylum. they're going to be sent back. and after they're sent back to these countries if if they ever try to reenter the united states they can be found guilty of a felony. this is serious. the notion they can stay here if they wish isn't true. that's the first thing we need to do. the second thing is to stop the smuggling and the coyotes that are bringing these kids into the united states. they're charging these poor families in central america thousands of dollars they don't have to bring these kids to the border. we've got to work with mexico to hold these coyotes and smugglers accountable. and third -- and i want to tell you i think this really is key to our discussion here -- this

is a test of who we are as a country. how many times in our history has the united states rallied for families and children around the world? do you remember just a month or two ago in nigeria when 300 girls were kidnapped by islamic are extremists? members of the senate from both parties came to the floor to protest the outrage that 300 young teenaged girls would be kidnapped by these extremists. we engaged at every level to let the world know america cared. it wasn't the first time. there's a long history of it. we have stood up for families and children around the world for humanitarian purposes throughout our history. look back to the refuseniks, the russian jews. the united states was one of the leading nations in the world to stand behind those families and those children, bringing them to the united states so they

could escape anti-semitism and communism. when you looked at the victims of the haitian earthquakes, the united states was providing foreign aid because we are, in fact, a caring nation. that's who we are. throughout our history we've shown it and we need to show it again with these children. some extreme american politicians have said it's not our problem. put them on a bus or a plane and dump them back wherever they came from, not our problem. god forbid bid that is the verdict of history that the united states when it saw vulnerable, helpless children didn't care. i think more highly of this country and i think in our history we've proven over and over again that we do care. there have been some extraordinary statements made about this crisis by many people. the one that caught my eye was from a friend who happens to be the governor of the commonwealth of massachusetts. deval patrick was born in chicago and maybe that's why i'm mar sham but deval patrick spoke

up about these children and he recalled moments in history. here's what he said. my inclination is to remember what happened when a ship full of jewish children tried to come to the united states in 1939 and the united states turned them away and many of them went back to their deaths in nazi concentration camps. went on to say i think we are a bigger hearted people than that as americans. i agree with governor patrick. president obama has asked for resources here to care for these children, to place them, to give them the right of seeking asylum if they can make that established legal claim and if not, to return them humanely to the countries they came from. two of the three ambassadors we met with incidentally said they could not guarantee the safety of the children in honduras orle salvador if they came back. let's provide the resources so these children are treated humanely, ultimately given

their hearing, ultimately returned in mows cases to the country they came from. how will history judge us? how will we be judged if when these refugee children came to our border, are turned away and sent back to harm, violence, or even death? don't want want that to happen. that isn't who we are as americans. we care and we show it and our government should show it as well and the senate will get an opportunity to do that very soon, we hope maybe this day or this week as we wind down this session. the last point i want to make is a tribute to two of my colleagues who have done an extraordinary job when it comes to the veterans administration. i'm referring to john mccain, my friend who came to congress with me many years ago, former republican candidate for president, conservative from arizona, teamed up with of all people bernie sanders of vermont , self-styled independent socialist democrat. how about that, sanders and mccain set saturday down to solve the challenge facing the

v.a. god bless them, they did it. they're reporting a bill to us when is a dramatic improvement over the current v.a. system. we are now overwhelmed with veterans administration disability claims. 45% of the veterans coming home from iraq and afghanistan have filed a claim. we have tens of thousands of these claims pending, many of them for posttraumatic stress disorder and we've said we're going to help owl veterans. some 400,000 veterans from other wars are making ptsd claims. in addition to that we have those who served in vietnam, exposed to agent oranges with nine different diseases being treated, those who were victims of gulf war syndrome being treated, homeless veterans now being got brought in, counseled to get their lives back on track. it's an overwhelming responsibility which the v.a. has today and the sanders-mccain veterans bill is going to address it. by providing more resources for

veterans, more medical professionals, which we need. remember and we all should, every single day, we said to the men and women who enlisted in our military and who volunteered if you'll raise your hand, swear allegiance to this country and risk your life, we'll stand by you when you come home. we're going to keep our word. we promised, we're going to keep our word. and this bill, this veterans bill that's going to come before us this week does exactly that. sanders and mccain met with the house conferees, worked out an agreement, an agreement which is going to benefit heinz v.a. in chicago with an additional facility which they need, an amendment to help facilities all across this country serving our veterans, an amendment which says if you happen to live too far away from a veterans hospital we'll make sure you get timely care near your home. it's the least we can do and we owe it to our vets so i tip my hat to my colleagues, republican and democrat alike. i'm looking forward to voting

for this this week. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i agree with my distinguished colleague, the senior senator from illinois. i think that senator sanders and senator mccain showed that things can get done around here. i think of the tremendous work the senator from illinois did last year and helped us get an immigration bill through this body. we had a large majority of the senate vote for it, republicans and democrats alike. how i wish the leadership in the house had allowed them to vote on it. i think we'd be in a far better position to deal with these problems from the dreamers on to those seeking to come in our country. i applaud the senator from illinois for never giving up. mr. durbin: if the senator from vermont would yield one moment, i want to thank him, as

chairman of the judiciary committee he's made a point the dream act has had a fair hearing on more than one occasion, reported by the committee. it was part of that comprehensive immigration bill. i want to say for the record one republican senator has said he wants to deport all the dreamers. he's in for a fight because these young men and women are proving over and over again they can make a valuable contribution to this country. i thank the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'm going to speak on another issue, and i see my distinguished going from utah, senator lee, on the floor, and it's one that he's worked with me on and we've tried to join together. it was more than a year ago, not only here in the united states but the whole world some

very startling details about the massive scope of the national security agency's surveillance programs. and since then, the american people and actually all three branches of government have been debating the same fundamental questions about the extent of government power the framers considered when they crafted the constitution. many of us had been arguing those same issues, whether in the judiciary committee, intelligence committee and others, but it was hard to get anybody's attention. suddenly, the whole world was list b listening. -- was listening. an obvious question is when and how should the government be permitted to gather information about its citizens? how do we protect our country while we preserve our fundamental principles, constitutional liberties? and these questions are more relevant, more complex as

technology develops rapidly and more data is created every second. mr. president, nobody questions questions -- the government cannot just walk into your house and rifle through your drawers and your filing cabinets and your cupboards to see what you might have there without due process in law and search warrants, but there is nobody keeping our data anymore. it's on computers. by the same token, they shouldn't have the right to do it there either. and if they collect all this data, should the government be allowed to collect and use all of it? to what extent does this massive collection of data improve our national security? what cost to our privacy and free expression? if we pick up everything, do we actually have anything? the senate judiciary committee considered these and other important questions during the course of six public hearings

held over the past year. those hearings helped to demonstrate the need for additional limits and our government's surveillance authorities. just this week, two new reports highlight the cost of not placing reasonable limits on government surveillance, not just the significant economic costs if you don't put limits, but the impact on journalistic freedom and also our right to counsel, our right to counsel, something that we just assume is an inalienable right, and it is, and it is being undermined. that is why the technology industry and the privacy and civil liberties community are unified in support for this bill. it's actually now time for congress to act. that's why i'm introducing the u.s.a. freedom wact of 2014. it builds on the legislation

that was passed by the house of representatives in may as well as the original bicameral, bipartisan legislation introduced by congressman jim sensenbrenner ten months ago last october. i continue to prefer the original version of the u.s.a. freedom act, but we're running short of time in this congress. since passage of the house version in may, i have been working to address concerns that the text of the house bill, although clearly intended to end bulk collection, did not do so effectively. i have worked with both republicans and democrats, house members and senators. i spent the past several months in discussions with the intelligence community and a whole range of people who are stakeholders in this. obviously, other senators and privacy, civil liberties groups, our u.s. technology industry.

and the bill i'm introducing today is a result of those hundreds of hours of negotiations and meetings. first and more importantly, this bill ensures that the ban on bulk collection is a real ban on bulk collection, that it's effective. it ensures the government cannot rely on section 215 of the u.s.a. patriot act, the so-called device statute, or the national security letters statutes. to engage in the indiscriminate collection of americans' private records, yours, mine or anybody else who may be watching this debate. under this legislation, when the government uses these authorities to collect information, it has to narrowly limit its selection based on a specific selection term that identifies the focus of the collection. the bill specifies the term cannot be a broad geographic

area such as a city or state or zip code or area code, nor can it be simply a service provider. the bill enhances transparency regarding the government's use of surveillance tools. that is one of the best checks on a runaway government. it requires the government to report to the public key informing about the scope of collection under the whole range of national security authorities, including the number of queries about americans it conducts in databaseses collected -- databases collected under section 702. it allows private companies more lee way to disclose the number of scores and national security letters they receive. i saw the senator from minnesota, senator franken, come on the floor. i want to thank him particularly for his leadership in helping to draft and improve these transparency provisions. i want to thank senator

blumenthal for his work on the bill's key reforms to the fisa court. the bill requires the fisa court and the fisa court of review in consultation with the privacy and the civil liberties oversight board to appoint a panel of special advocates to have advance legal positions supporting individual private sis and civil liberties. in other words, it won't be just one voice that's heard. you actually have dissenting voices. and approve the judicial review procedures for nondisclosure orders that accompany section 215 and national security letters. these have -- and i have reviewed a number of them -- have been so overused. i'm using this 215 letter. i am going to take all your records from your company. i am going to basically stop your company, but you can't tell anybody why it's been stopped.

that's not the american way. and these changes respond to decisions by federal court and find these provisions violate the first amendment. now, it doesn't fix every problem in this bill, and we know there is more work to be done. in particular, with regard to section 702 of fisa and the other broad government surveillance authorities that go to the privacy rights of americans. we can spend the next 20 years waiting to get 1,000 percent of everything we need. i'd like to get most of what we need and then work on the rest. the bill provides for public reporting on section 702. that will help set the stage for reform where transparency alone is not enough. and i will continue to work with both republican and democratic senators and other outside

experts to continue our work on these issues. for developing the legislation, i consulted closely with the office of the director of national intelligence, the n.s.a., the f.b.i., the department of justice. i'm grateful for their receptiveness to the public's concerns. i'm grateful for their participation. but ultimately, we, we senators and our colleagues in the other body have the responsibility to the american people to do what is right and to protect the privacy of the american people. that's why we have worked hard with everybody to ensure the bill enacts meaningful reforms. the intelligence committee will still have the ability to safeguard this country. nobody is suggesting they don't. but ability, a real ability, not something that let's do --

collect everything -- we have nothing, but let's collect everything and we can all pretend we're safe. that was the mistake made before 9/11 where we had the information that could have stopped the attack on 9/11 but they failed to look at it all. so i'm glad the executive branch supports our bill. i'm glad the president agrees it should be enacted as soon as possible because it will be the most significant reform. this is the thing to remember, mr. president. we can enact this bill, get it signed into law to represent the most significant reform of government surveillance authority since congress passed the u.s.a. patriot act 13 years ago. it's an historic opportunity. we would be derelict in our duty to this country if we passed up that opportunity. and i think of people like senator lee and senator durbin, senator heller, senator franken, senator cruz, senator blumenthal, senator tom udall,

senator coons and heinrich, markey, klobuchar and whitehouse who have joined on this. this is not a partisan bill. this is not a democratic republican bill. this is a good bill that protects america. i want to note in particular the contributions over many years of senators wyden and mark udall. they worked tirelessly. we cannot let this opportunity go by. this is a debate about americans' fundamental relationship with their government, about whether our government should have the power to create massive databases of information about its citizens or whether we are in control of our own government, not the other way around. i think we have to, i believe we have to impose stronger limits on government surveillance powers. i'm confident that most

americans agree with me. i will just close with one quick story that i have used before. about the only thing i have actually saved from a newspaper written about me, i liked it so much i framed it. it's -- as the distinguished presiding officer knows, i live on a dirt road. a place where my wife and i celebrated our -- our honeymoon 52 years ago. the adjoining farmer has known me since i was a little kid. the whole story in the paper goes like this. man in out of state car saturday morning drives up and sees the farmer on the porch and says does senator leahy live up this way? he said are you a relative of his? no, i'm not. are you a friend of his? well, not really. is he expecting you? no. never heard of him.

we like our privacy. i ask consent that the text of the bill be printed in the record at this point. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: and i ask that the remaining time be divided between senator lee and senator franken. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. lee: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, first i'd like to thank my distinguished colleague, the senior senator from vermont for his leadership on this issue. i'm pleased to join him as cosponsor of this legislation. as the lead cosponsor of this bill, i attest to the fact that this is an issue that is neither republican nor democratic. it is neither liberal nor conservative. it is simply american. it's a fundamental concept of liberty that we have to control the government. the government and the immense

power of government has expanded over time with advances in technology. our country certainly has changed to an enormous degree over the centuries since james madison penned our bill of rights. but the protection of liberty afforded by the fourth amendment has only become more important, not less important. as the government's ability to collect information has advanced. this legislation which has broad-based bipartisan support is absolutely necessary, and it could be implemented in a way that will still allow the government to protect us. it will also protect us from the risk of overreach by the government. we have to remember, madam president, that it's not just the government that we have in place today. even if we assume for purposes of this discussion that everyone who works for the government, every government agent who participates in the collection of this information is doing what's right, we can't always assume that will be the case in the future. madam president, i see my time is expired.

i once again thank my senior colleague -- my colleague, the senior senator from vermont, senator leahy, for his sponsorship of this legislation, and i urge my colleagues to join us in this effort. thank you. mr. franken: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: first, madam president, i'd like to ask unanimous consent that my counsel detailee helen gilbert be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: madam president, i rise today to talk about the transparency provisions in the u.s.a. freedom act. i am a proud cosponsor of chairman leahy's bill, and i am particularly proud to have written the key transparency provisions with my friend, senator dean heller of nevada. senator lee is right -- this is not a republican bill, this isn't a democratic bill, this isn't a republican issue, this isn't a democratic issue, and i thank senator lee for his leadership, and of course we are all indebted to senator leahy

for his leadership on this issue. because of time constraints, i'm not going to be able to -- to give the speech that i wanted to, so i will try to ask time for tomorrow. i know today is -- today's floor is very busy. so i just want to say it's really important that americans have -- that there is enough transparency in our n.s.a. surveillance that americans can judge for themselves if we are striking the right balance between national security and our civil liberties. thank you, madam president, and i will be back. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the time until -- under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: