>> buckeye broadband support c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, give you a front-row seat to democracy. >> on this wednesday taking up debate and votes on a resolution seeking to block the proposed small business lending role of the consumer financial protection bureau. on the other side of the capital today about half an hour the house is planning to vote again to elect a new house speaker. yesterday the leading republican nominee jim jordan of ohio fail to get the votes to take the gavel. live now to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. pr. eternal god, our mighty

fortress, as our hearts recoil at the horrors of war, we place our trust in you. we trust you because you have invited us to cast our cares on you, to call upon you in our day of trouble, and to comprehend that you are our refuge, hope, and strength. lord, we trust you to do more than we desire, ask, or imagine. as our lawmakers trust you to make a way where there is no way, give them courage, wisdom, and perseverance. we pray for all who are the victims of this tragic conflict

between israel and hamas. we pray in your sovereign name. amen. the presiding officer: 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 clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., october 18, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. and, under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of s.j. res. 32, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 228, s.j. res. 32, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, of the rules committed by the bureau of consumer financial protection relating to small business lending under the equal credit opportunity act, regulation b.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate recess from 3:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. to allower to the all-senators briefing. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, the slaughter of over 1 circumstance 300 people in -- 1,300 people reminds every person in the world of darker, more sinister times. it lay bare, sadly, that the ancient poison of hatred against jews still persists. we must be clear that hamas does not speak for the palestinian people. hamas is a terrorist organization, dedicated to israel's eradication. hamas must be defeated. and the violence of hamas terrorists has tragically put

innocent palestinians in harm's way. i was deeply saddened and shocked by the awful news of the explosion at the al-ahli arab hospital in georgia disappointment the loss of life is a sickening tragedy. my prayers are with the victims, the families, the children and all innocent people who were injured or killed. now, while we await the result tz of a full review to be completed, as the president indicated and as this morning -- people should look at this -- released signal intelligence confirms it appears that terrorist fighters within gaza were responsible for the explosion and deaths, not the israeli idf. it is clear that terrorists in gaza have no regard for civilian human life. as i have said and as the biden administration has made clear, civilian life must be protected. and we must help civilians impacted by the war --

palestinian civilians who have nothing to do with hamas. as the senate considers a supplemental package to help israel fight hamas, we will include robust, humanitarian aid to help civilians appeared make sure that the aid goes to those who need it urgently and not fall into the wrong hands, such as hamas'. when i joined my senate completion in meeting with the israeli government, we promised to do whatever we could to help israel defend herself. in the coming days, president biden will send congress a supplemental request that will provide israel the resources they need to defend themselves and eliminate the threat of hamas. the senate will move this package as soon as we can without delay, with strong bipartisan support. democrats want to act, and i know a lot of republicans want to act. and i was very encouraged to hear my friend, the republican leader, leader mcconnell, express his support, too.

at this moment of crisis in israel and of the chaos in the house of representatives, the senate must step into the breach and stand firmly together to get emergency military and humanitarian aid to israel. in this difficult moment, the senate must act as a steady did i, bipartisan -- steady, bipartisan force. we must show that the work of the first branch of government is continuing. we will not wait for the house. we cannot because the need for this package is too urgent to sit and wait for them to get themselves out of their own morass. i hope the senate, passing a strong bipartisan panel, will importune the thousands follow suit -- the house to follow suit in whichever way they see fit. passing this supplemental and providing israel the tools they need will show the world that the united states stands with power ally now and always.

i expect very soon -- as early as today maybe tomorrow morning -- the senate will act to pass a resolution from senator cardin, ranking member risch, leader mcconnell and myself affirming that the senate stands firmly with israel and firmly against hamas. our resolution has overwhelming, nearly unanimous bipartisan support in the senate. it is cosponsored by 99 senators. senator paul being the outstanding one who hasn't. passing a supplemental and passing this resolution will affirm an unchanging truth -- so long as there is a united states of america, so long as there is a united states senate, the people of israel will not -- will not be alone. the all-senators classified briefing. later this afternoon we'll have an all-senators classified briefing on israel and gaza.

we will be briefly by secretary of state light austin, secretary of state tony blinken, and director of intelligence avril haines. i encourage all of my colleagues to attend today's briefing from our top leaders so we can stay fully updated on the one hand the latest information on the ground regarding israel's security and their efforts to defeat the evil terrorist, horrible organization named hamas. on nominations -- now, with all the conflagration in the middle east, it is really important that we have ambassadors in critical places. it's always important, but a lot of them have been blocked. but now, with the conflagration in the middle east, it's more important than ever that they be there. when we were in israel, the lack of an ambassador was apparent. now there is a great charge d'affaires person, she did a great job, but we still need an

ambassador. i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working quickly this week on getting critical nominees through the senate. last night we confirmed ana escrogima to serve as ambassador to oman. we have more nominees who we need to pass to fill ambassadorships in the middle east. more important than ever. we must do more. it's important that the senate show bipartisan unity right now to get these critical diplomats confirmed, and i hope we keep doing so, like we did with these two ambassadors in the days ahead. now, on what's going on across the way in the house -- thanks to maga republicans, the u.s. house of representatives has now been without a speaker for two weeks, a paralysis in

governing unprecedented, unprecedented, in modern times. hard-right extremists in the house have ground the people's house to a halt at the worst possible moment, a at a time whn ally israel faces its darkest hour. today the house will gavel in to try to break the impassion, though it -- the impasse, though it seems like the chaos of the hard right has exposed the deep, perhaps irrelevance repredictable divisions in the house. no matter who becomes speaker, bipartisan will be the only way things get done in a divided government. is bipartisanship is the only way, when there's a democratic president, a democratic senate, and a republican house, a small band of right wing maga republicans in the house cannot

say it's my way or your way. you're a minority, maga republicans. you're a minority in the republican party. you're a minority with the people of america. you're a minority in this government. certainly, your voices will be raised, and you'll want some say, but it can't be your way or no way. bipartisanship will be required to help israel. it will be required to avoid a government shutdown. it will be required to finish the appropriations process. bipartisanship will be required for just about everything, everything that happens in the congress. so whoever the house elects as speaker will not be able to ignore the realities of divided government, no matter what the hard right demands. as former spear, boehner, ryan, and mccarthy have learned, you cannot let the hard right run the caucus, or you won't last as speaker. even worse, it will lead to more chaos at a time when the american people need unity and

help and stability. now, at the a.i. insight forum, next tuesday, the senate will hold our second in a series of bipartisan -- let me underscore bipartisan, a.i. insight forums, focusing on our north star for a.i., innovation. our inaugural a.i. forum last month was one of the most informative discussions ever held in the congress. it was illuminating, the discussions were candid, unvarn ird -- unsprarnished. direct -- unvarnished. next week we turn to transformational innovation that creates new vipsas, unlocks -- vistas, unlocks cures, protects national security, but also to sustainable innovation, which is the kind of guardrails needed to prevent the negatives in a.i., necessary to prevent against a.i.'s risks and minimize the chance this technology becomes

unmanageable, or worse. we're going to focus on both these types of innovation, both of which are needed. congress has taken leaps forward in the past few months, learning more about the benefits and risks of a.i., from the world's leading experts, getting some of the companies that do a.i. to sit down with some of the critics so we can begin to fashion the kinds of guardrails that are necessary. our committees continue to lead the way, having hosted more than 15 hearings on a.i. this year, and the bipartisan a.i. gang is working to supplement the committee's critical work with our a.i. insight forums. but there's still so much more to learn and to do on a.i., which is rapidly changing as we speak. so, these forums are designed to ensure that the senate is asking the right questions, having the right debates and getting to the heart of this complex issue. i urge everyone to attend next week's bipartisan forum, and i thank my colleagues senator

rounds, senator heinrich, senator young for helping organize this discussion. to repeat, our a.i. forum will be -- i'm trying to get the date here -- i don't have it. i believe -- well, we'll get everybody the date right away. i believe it is on the 24th of next week at 3:00 p.m. in the kennedy caucus room. i yield the floor. note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: barbaric terrorist attacks of october 7 have elicited two sorts of reactions in the west. most reasonable people have responded to the slaughter of innocent israelis with utter horror, fervent prayer, and strong support for israel's right to defend itself. the overwhelming majority of

americans think the united states should publicly support our closest ally in the middle east. they recognize this moment as a time for choosing. and they see the choice between a democracy's right to self-defense and a terrorist group's obsession with destroying it as an easy choice. the united states must have israel's back as it roots out the terrorists who threaten it. for as long as it takes. i'm proud to stand with this overwhelming majority. but alas, in recent days, we've also seen just how the default

position in some highly influential corners of our society, from national newsrooms to elite college campuses, how quickly they bend to blindly amplify terrorist versions of events. that was especially true of the reporting of a deadly explosion at a gaza hospital yesterday. hamas immediately blamed israel for the blast, and major news organizations took their word for it, running headlines about israeli strike. in the hours since this tragedy, credible evidence has emerged suggesting that the same terrorists who used innocent civilians as human shields were

themselves responsible. well, the media can revise its headlines, but the shameful anti-semitic change of our society has already heard what it wanted to hear. unsurprisingly, the woke incubators of the ivy league have been at the epicenter of this anti-israel outbreak. one coalition of 30 student groups at harvard declared that they, quote, hold the israeli regime entirely responsible for gaza's hamas terrorism. held israel responsible for hamas terrorism. now, student radicals taking extremist stands is kind of par for the course.

the more important question was how university administrators, the supposed grownups on campus, would respond. and the answer, mr. president, is not good. as former harvard president larry summers rightly senated, his institution's initial silence ceded the field to campus extremists in defining harvard's response. when harvard's leaders did respond, they failed the most basic test -- distinguishing the victim from the aggressor. the university's response professed heart break at the war in israel and gaza now under way, as if there were even a shred, a shred of moral equivalence between terrorism and self-defense.

the presidents of columbia and dartmouth expressed regret at, quote, the ensuing violence, and, quote, the escalating violence, respectively. not to be outdone, notre dame didn't even assign pro funkry blame -- per furvegry blame to the -- per furveghtry blame to the -- blame to the terror ipe'ss. instead, they called for the end of violence. i'm reminded of a retort the late great bill buckley deployed in a debate when his opponent tried to have both sides of the cold war. he said, quote, that's like saying that the man who pushes a little old lady into the path of a bus is morally equivalent to the man who pushes her out of its path because they both push little old ladies around.

if you want to know where this leads, take the american bar association. the organization that acredits our nation's law schools. at first the aba presidents called, quote, on both sides to show restraint and urged israel and hamas to, quote, settle their disputes in a peaceful and legal fashion. alas, but yesterday aba denounced israel's self-defense as, quote, collective punishment , forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing. mr. president, terrorism and self-defense are not morally equivalent. they're not morally equivalent. and you think the leader of america's higher education would

understand that. some leaders in higher education have argued in recent days that schools should not weigh into political disputes. it is said doing so picks winners and losers on campus. northwestern's campus observed of his students and faculty that, quote, for me to speak for them displaces their own freedom to speak. that may actually be a wise policy, but it's certainly not one a lead academia has been known to practice in the past. it doesn't take long to find the impassioned stances universities took following the murder of george floyd or the ending of daca. so why the new policy? let's be clear, some

universities' leaders have displayed admirable conviction. our former colleague, ben sasse, at the university of florida described the attacks of the israeli children as sickening and dehealth and human services -- and dehumanizing. emory's president said the attacks must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. princeton's president called it among the most atrocious of terrorist attacks and placed the blame of the coming war entirely where it belongs, on l hamas' shoulders. so, mr. president, i request unanimous consent to submit all these statements, the good, the bad, and the ugly for the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i can only hope that the leader of america's universities recognize what time it is in america. this is a siem for moral --

this is a time for moral clarity, not a time for antisemitic hate dress. leaders cannot afford to be silent. terrorism is evil. anti-semitism is despicable, and israel has a right to exist. it shouldn't take a phd to understand that, but it also shouldn't be so hard for a ph.d. to acknowledge it. on an entirely different matter, today the senate will vote on a republican resolution to chip away at yet another example of the biden administration's runaway regulatory states using the congressional review act. the junior senator from louisiana, senator kennedy, has put forward a measure that would block a proposed rule as a

consumer financial protection bureau that would require financial institutions to collect and report personal information on small businesses loan applications, including data on race and sex. apparently as if the radical progress ivism on campus wasn't enough, washington democrats want to attach small business loans to diversity quotas. small businesses are the lifeblood of the american dream, and i'm grateful to my colleague from louisiana for giving the senate an opportunity to stick up for them. i would urge each of our colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution later today.

mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

i've always believed you and needs to be handled. i can't comment on hypothetical resolution. the message made by president obama after it worse resolution had been modified and that was the worst resolution. >> i understand that but there is always a dynamic and the

united nations human israel is presently vilified, the central focus of the country's liberal have rights violations untouched so you will not be at the un. >> but will help input so trying to understand where you come from the mark upon confirmed to be ambassador to israel, will have a single focus on how i approach these questions different from the focus you have. i will be an advocate for doing something the united states should do to protect israel including the un. >> what do you see your role is

confirmed as it relates to the challenges of the palestinian people, hamas is a terrorist organization for their barracks. the question about that and israel must wipe them off the face of the earth. having said that, palestinian people in and of themselves are not hamas so what you see your role as president as a relates to the future i am keeping focus not to come today but where we go after the conflict, war ends. we have to be in place where questions are about how you sustain, security for israeli, my heart goes out with it it is atrocities on that saturday or innocent civilians living in

areas where hamas is hiding in their killed because of collateral damage. it has to end with his your security and it's a difficult moment to remember we will get beyond this current state of affairs and hopefully coming out there will be more willingness and able to have conversations about building a better future. we need to worry about refugees and the progress in the last 24 hours getting food and water to people. i think hamas is using palestinian to make their cause heard but they are hurting people. >> thank you for being here today but i need to touch on this. he said on record both written

and verbal and july you said i would not have access to u.s. financial institutions, a special license to allow access to u.s. dollars in new york too, about 5.7 billion into iranian accounts and euros. the report found institute of about 200 -- opec encouraged banks, the two banks decided to put the u.s. treasury encouraged to do this. then treasury put on 200 roadshows across the world

encouraging u.s. banks to do business with iran and also trying members downplaying potential future penalties stating 95% of the time they take no action. out west at least one european commented foreign financial institutions felt pressure to go with the remaining company. department officials collectively contacted foreign financial institutions information about the sanctions release and one example proactively contacted or in connection with the additions to make sure they understood karen sanctioned lease and it's confusing because they had no business with iran up until the so we sent you a letter asking

you about this in the united states will not work on behalf of iran to enable access to u.s. dollars oscar in the financial system including dollar payments also the u.s. we asked for the letter in march which i asked to be entered into the letter and you responded on may 11 you said we are not planning and we will continue to enforce sanctions that remain including hiring sanctions that private banks from clearing rest dollars in the financial system and the rest. how is your response and i asked may 11 so we wrote you back your disappointed providing

assurances the u.s. will not work to enable access to u.s. dollars and you responded and assessed to be clear the department of treasury is not working on behalf of iran to enable access to u.s. dollars also in the financial system beginning access to payment systems the u.s. financial system. the administration is not planning to grant access to the financial system. basically, the way i described this is were not providing access to the financial system, a special license not published, non- supposed to find out about to gain access and asked to banks to convert the funds, they chose not to the.on 200 roadshows encouraging banks

around the world to be part of this will don't worry about sanctions or penalties, 95% of the time it's a warning letter, no action and we reached out according to the report proactively reached out and said we don't do business with iran and when we write you not once but twice you deny or mislead what's happening these are the facts, you dispute any of these facts? i understand licenses, the bottom line is you did what you said it's not supposed to be doing and how people in the state department saying i found facts including e-mails saying we are concerned succeeded our power under the deal so how are we supposed to do that and somehow confirm this important

post when you deliberately misled me and congressman what was happening behind the scenes? >> may i have a moment just to respond? >> you make. >> i don't think the facts are exactly as you described. it's important to distinguish between the technical details and implementation of jc poa bradley walkman iran into u.s. financial community. i took no action that would do that. i don't think your description of what officials were doing is the same as my memory of what i had people out there doing. i have banks and government coming to me saying we want you to do what we described. we didn't do that.

we told him what sanctions were lifted and what sanctions were in place and told him to be careful. iran got the message we were telling people not to do them and that's why they sanctioned and we give them nothing more than what promised. we can agree or disagree that members of this committee sanctioned by iran, i am proud. >> for the record, that's not my allegations, i'm reading out of the report and i do think this needs to be entered. >> thank you, mr. chair. congratulations on this nomination. i want to read some quotes i found interesting, reactions from israeli officials to the news of your nomination, the

current foreign minister in september tweeted out welcome ambassador, you have been nominated u.s. ambassador to israel, a country you know so well. look forward to working with you in a follow-up interview he said a true friend of israel and expect to work with him based on shared values. michael oren, israel investor to united states remote as potential nobody he said jack lew is a lead candidate, a true statesman, passionate jew greatly sizes printer outstanding different u.s. israel alliance. human rights activists in 2015 this, who worked days and nights through to make sure jews would be released and older five stem.

others for the efforts to release from israeli official in 2015 called without the help it would not happen except these are comments fall powerful, there is need for speed acting on his nomination and encourage my colleagues to do all we can to get to the floor quickly we confirm in this moment. a supplement the package has aid for israel, or eight and disaster assistance were stated by weather emergency would help the senate can show in a bipartisan manner would support this. i think about send a powerful message to israel as well. i want to ask, the most controversial issue was the jc

poa. there are people in his body will not bite you out of the penalty box there are some opposed to separate the sum you will not get out of the penalty box but i think four of the members have been sanctioned but you have been sanctioned by iran. tell the committee why iran sanctioned you. mr. president. mr. president, israel and the world are still reeling from the surprise attack by hamas on october 7 that left somewhere around 1,400 israelis and at least 31 americans dead. in scale and scope, the attack carried echos of our 9/11, and as on 9/11, life changed in an instant. i came down to the floor yesterday to talk about these

attacks and the united states' commitment to standing with the israeli people against terrorism. and i'd like to talk about another important thing these raise -- the pons of our national defense and military readiness. mr. president, it has been said that -- and i quote -- only the dead have seen the end of war. end quote. we live in a fallen world, and as long as we live in a fallen world, there will be evil men bent on aggression. and if we wish to continue living in peace and freedom, we must be always ready to defend against such men. military preparedness is an essential and constant need. there is never a time where we can guarantee our peace and safety and so there's never a time when we can afford to be ill-prepared to defend our peace and safety. as citizens of the united

states, an immense country with a reputation for military strength, it can be easy to become complacent and to assume that we will always be able to deter or defeat attacks. but that is a dangerous assumption. as strong as we are, we are not invulnerable, and we are not the only great power out there. and if we don't make the necessary investments in our military to back up our reputation of strength, we may find our ability to deter hostile countries quickly waning. and the fact of the matter is, mr. president, our military preparedness is not where it should be. thanks to budgetary impasses and increased operational demands by 2018 our readiness had eroded to the point that the bipartisan national defense strategy commission released a report warning that we might struggle to win a war against a major power like russia. or china. and while we have made progress

since then, we are still a long way from where we need to be. we have military services that are struggling to meet recruiting targets. there's a persistent pilot shortage and in number of cases we have too few mission-capable aircraft. and we are not doing an adequate job of maintaining the kind of supply we need of munitions. that's not an acceptable situation for us to be in. and it could have very serious consequences. to give you just one example, recent u.s. war games envisioning a u.s.-china conflict following an attack on taiwan have had grim results, showing enormous military and economic costs on both sides. one story on these war games noted -- and i quote -- and while the ultimate outcome in these exercises is not always clear, the u.s. does better in some than others. the cost is clear.

in every exercise, the u.s. uses p all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground." end quote. let me just repeat that last line. in every exercise, the u.s. uses up all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground. that's not a promising scenario, mr. president. and had highlights our -- and it highlights our serious readiness shortages, shortages that other countries may not share. china, which is investing heavily in its military, is outpacing our military's capabilities like hypeerson psyche missiles and has amassed a larger navy. while russia is currently expending its military resources in its war of aggression against ukraine, it, too, does not hesitate when it comes to military investment.

mr. president, we have serious work to do on the readiness front, and as i said, we have made progress since 2018. but we still have a long way to go to ensure that our military is fully prepared to meet and deter 21st century threats. and this is a priority we need to address now. not when we're waking up one morning reeling from an attack on our country or on americans abroad, but right now. investing in our military after we're threatened or attacked is too late, mr. president. we can't scale up defense capabilities in an instant or suddenly produce an adequate supply of munitions out of thin air. we need to get and keep -- and keep -- our military where it needs to be on the readiness front society that we can deter -- so that we can deter threats, if needed, with overwhelming force. and boosting our strength is

important for our friends and allies as well. we can't and shouldn't send troops into every conflict and we can't solve all the world's problems. but sooner or later world event dozen affect us. and -- world events do affect us. and we can't allow maligned powers to fill the vacuum. nor can we aafford to concentrate on one threat or area of the world to the conclusion of others. putin's war in ukraine and hamas' attack on israel should be ample reminders that threats can come from both great powers and non-state actors alike. so, mr. president, we need to get to work, and that should start with passing a final version of this year's national defense authorization act and making progress on our annual appropriations bills, including the defense appropriations bill. and we should also take up a

supplemental toll provide the necessary support to our allies and to ensure that we provide any additional funding needed for our own military. october 7 was the latest reminder that we live in a fallen and dangerous world. let's ensure that we always are prepared to preserve the peace and to defend our nation. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum u. quorum call: the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. we know our middle class relies on small business. small business ownership is the second largest source of wealth in this country. only behind owning a home. the presiding officer had the phenomenal success he did starting small businesses.

entrepreneurs need credit. it lets you turn an idea into a small business. that's why credit is so essential to our economy and middle class. trade small businesses -- small business lending takes place in the dark. we don't have good data about how lenders are serving the small businesses in their communities. we don't have good data about who learns might be leaving behind. without transparency, it's all too easy for entrepreneurs in ohio and around the country to lose out. too many small business owners aren't getting a fair shot at a loan for our business. take rural small businesses, we know that rural communities have seen bank branch close after bank branch close for years, drying up access to credit for lots of small businesses in rural ohio. we need the data to understand how to reach these business owners and how to grow

small-town economies. or take small businesses owned about women or people of color. they're more likely to be denied loans and they're more likely to be charged higher interest rates. you don't need reports and studies to know that most ohioans don't get a fair shake from big banks and the financial system. do you need accurate information to fight back. that's why in 23010, congress -- in 2010, congress inquired of the consumer financial protection bureau to get that information. this spring they issued a rule to implement l law and bring transparency to the small business lending market. we're talking about the basic data, application approvals, other critical information, just like we do with mortgages. it's not that complicated and not that difficult and not that expensive. this data will be able to see gaps in the small business lending market allowing programs to expand access to credit for small businesses especially like

small businesses in rural areas. more data means more accountability, ensuring that lenders reach minority communities and root out discrimination. we've seen this model, mr. president, work before. as we began publishing data some years ago, more of all races and backgrounds were able to achieve homeownership. borrowers are not required to submit information if they don't want to. big bangs are -- big banks are putting up a fight. whenever there is something new, they say it's too expensive. it helps them serve the community better. i'm not going to help wall street avoid accountability. there's been too much of that. when i took over the chairmanship of this committee, it was the senate banking committee. we -- the colloquial name is the

senate housing and banking committee. our charge is to build more homes, to make them more affordable to build -- to help with transit systems in places like atlanta, denver, and cleveland and to look out especially to help small banks in communities. that's why we're going to hold them accountable. i want to see small businesses grow, we're not going to let the banking lobby stand in the way as it all too often has. i hope my colleagues will stand up for small businesses, stand up for entrepreneurs, will vote no on this resolution. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

way you respond to that was coming back as soon as you can. this is not where people concentrate on the shape of the discussion the day after that my view is the way you prevent terrorist organization by winning his you don't get terrorized, you stick to your national interest and work hard. it was always going to be a challenging negotiating. it will barely now be more challenging because of the company in many places will be a different level after this war and the role we could play in the united states and have often played is to bring people together the conversation going. otherwise you given to the worst

of man, i think coming out of this will be an understanding that this has to be dealt with and the shape will be the same as it was before the conflict that will have to be done in a way that gives israel the ability to defend itself and protect people from future attacks like this and we have to do it with our eyes wide open. we do have forces like iran that want to destroy israel so it is easy but saudi arabia and israel made a decision this was worth pursuing and i hope we can get that conversation going again. >> i hope members of this committee who are determined in a bipartisan way to contribute before my time, my senior senator was ranking member on the subcommittee on investigations and for those

pressing you and troubled, he refused to sign it. he found conclusions in his estimation were partisan effort attacking the previous administration policy rather than specific conclusion about you and your conduct. public statements speak for itself what those wrestling with that, i encourage them to talk to my colleague as evenhanded balanced served in the modern era so i don't know if there is anything you want to say in response to that. >> i appreciate you bringing back to the attention. >> and q. it is my hope would take on your confirmation. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the attacks and atrocities one

of the darkest days in history. we saw reports of babies and toddlers beheaded, women raped and bloodied through the streets. kidnapping including children and it's not something confined to israeli numeral 31 americans killed and we heard about hostages that include not just australia but potentially americans as well. hamas continues to block gaza so they can use palestinians, children and civilians and gaza as human shields. in harm's way for twisted propaganda. hamas represents the worst of humanity and u.s. must stand shoulder to shoulder with israel.

we need to stand as they declared war on hamas to fight this war. in that context when i hear cease-fire or de-escalation, is the war israel needs to prosecute and we need to get his room weapons and they need to be able to do it, interceptors of the dome, batteries and respect innocent israelis from these attacks. obviously there is intelligence failure to detect this attack and time will come to dig into what happened but even worse the failed policy on event enabled hamas to inactivate this in the first place and hamas would not be able to do this without broad support so failed to enforce oil

sanctions for her.from ranking member earlier and provide tens of billions of dollars used for terrorist and proxy. an attack with hamas and the biden administration negotiated a deal to free up its billing dollars for rent. deal behind our back even while trying to negotiate. you were one of the members in the iran nuclear deal. iran wants to annihilate israel.

wipe them off the face of the earth. rent deal subsets with rent on path to continue to have a nuclear weapon. as a certain irony the u.s. prohibition drone activity which iran was violating to expire today. billions of dollars in sanctions you oversaw and reviewed support to carry out like the ones we saw 11 days ago. it was so bad prime minister netanyahu came to speak out against it. you decide and we will get that in a second. rebecca of the policy under the obama administration out of this biden administration. the biden administration is a

complete overhaul in a way we see rent and how we deal with it. my fear is you are more of the same, continuation of the policy so i have questions and these are yes or no questions, i want to clarify. do you believe the biden administration continue to restart the jc poa? >> this is a moment for us to negotiate with iran, i believe deeply to not have nuclear weapons would be a good thing. the personal finance president and mr. was not as good as one hoped and it was both directions. it's as much the prime minister

in but i saw going out. is that an accurate quote? >> it is something i said to students and about statement criticizing my own president as well. >> in the 2015 speech, did you criticize what you ignore? >> create a partisan division over u.s. support for israel which is 35 years, bipartisan. you believe israel should continue to be recognized? >> the capital of jerusalem, there's no discussion of changing that. that is the policy.

>> thank you very much, appreciate it. >> if i could say one thing if i can, you said the way this administration was negotiating, they were negotiating and they were kept captive and iran. this could be moved in a way iran could use them as a prior administration agreed to. >> it's very different to get around 20. >> do you believe it was appropriate -- basically pay? >> i tell you america's home

safely will be one of my highest priorities. our americans being held hostage in gaza and i don't know but i will wake up everyday asking to bring americans from. >> what you do believe is appropriate? >> not familiar with it, i don't know all the trade-offs. bring americans home safely. >> i am glad we have a president who cares about bringing hostages home. one individual was connecticut resident with family and my home state knowing he is back home, i'm thankful we have a president who cares about the. this committee for political demonstration support for israel

hamas unspeakable act, thank you for leading us through the last week and a half and thank you for your commitment to serve. i want to come back to the question of sanctions policy during the period of time and make sure i have it right. it sounds like the system was never on the table as part of any deal and even if it were, is unlikely they would engage in these transactions were obvious compliance risk. iran was pretty upset about that and my understanding never

facilitate their side agreement because they felt we werenu beig too tough. mr. president, the consumer financial protection bureau -- we call it the cfpb -- has struck again. it has made another bad decision, this by an agency that has become famous for bad

decisions. here's what's going on, mr. president. you remember the dodd-frank act, of course, which this congress passed after the financial meltdown in 2007, 2008, and 2009. there was a section in the dodd-frank act called section 1071, fairly innocuous. congress directed certain information to be collected about small business loans. we were curious about small business lending in america. and so we directed in this section 1071, we directed certain covered financial institutions -- i'll call them small banks because most business loans to small business people come from small banks. we directed small banks to start collecting information about

their loans to small business people because we wanted to know, see if we could do something to make their services more efficient. and we, the congress, asked that 13 pieces of information be collected, the sort of stuff is, mr. president, that you would imagine, very routine stuff like, you know, what was the date of the loan, small loan; how much was the loan; that sort of thing. well, the cfpb has taken our work and totally perverted it. the cfpb has promulgated add rule -- promulgated a rule that totally perverts our intention in section 1071 of the dodd-frank act. first, we intended only small

businesses to be covered in providing this information. now, if you look at the definition of a small business, which is -- most people use the definition that has been put out by the national federation of independent businesses. that's the nfib says that a small business is a small business -- a business that has ten or fewer people and sales of about a half a million dollars a year. not according to the cfpb. they want to cast the net as far and wide as they can. their definition of a small business will almost double that, more than double that. they say a small business is a company with $5 million in revenue or less from the previous fiscal year. not $500,000. $5 million.

so this is going to throw the net much wider than congress ever intended. but the second most egregious things that the cfpb has ever done, they took our 13 pieces of information that we asked for in congress and have expanded it to 81. all of a sudden, they want a book. now, here's some examples of what the cfpb is going to require small banks to ask of small businesswomen and small businessmen when this come to a bank and ask for a loan. the bank has to ask the small business person how long it's been in business. that's fair. they have to ask the small small businesswoman or man about its annual revenue. that's fair a but then the bank -- but then it gets a lot

intrusive. the bank has to ask the small businesswoman or small businessman what their race is. the bank has to ask the small business person about their he want nick background -- about their ethnic background. the bank has to ask the small business person if he is a a a male. the bank has to ask the small business person if she's a female. it should be obvious to many, but those questions have to be asked. the bank has to ask the small business person if that person is a less leian. the bank has to ask the small business person if that person is gay u gay. the bank has to ask that small business person if that small business person is bisexual. the small business has to ask the customer -- that small

business person -- if that small business person is transgender. the bank, according to the cfpb, has to ask that small business person has applying for a loan -- just came in for a loan for the business -- if that person is, quote, queer. the small bank has to ask that small business person in the small business person is intersex. and not only does the bank have to ask that -- those questions, those private questions of the person from the small business applying for the loan, the person applying for the loan on behalf of the small business has to bring in every one of its owners who own 25% or more, and the bank has got to start over with those people. are you a male? are you a female?

what's your race? tell me about your ethnic background. are you a lesbian, are you gay, are you transgender, are you, quote, queer, are you, quote, intersex? give me a break a give me a break. and then all of this information that's collected, this private information, has got to be sent to the cfpb, and they're going to put it on their website. are you gay? are you lesbian? what race are you? they're going to put it on their website u now, the cfpb says, well, it's going to be institutional-level data. just top-line data fields. bull. you will be able to take this data, particularly if you're a small bank in a rural area, and

be able to -- the snoops will be able to go on that public website and find out who -- identify small business people in their community, how much money they're borrowing, how they answered the question about whether their gay, how they iraniansed the question about whether -- how they answered the question about whether they were intersex. incredibly private information. and why, why does the cfpb need this information? l with, the truth is, they don't. but i'll tell you why. the cfpb is set something these small business people -- but also these small banks -- up for lawsuits. that's exactly what they're doing. and what happens -- what happens if a small business person goes into a bank and the small banker says, listen, i hate to have to ask you this, but cfpb says i have to ask you. are you gay? the as if that's anybody's

business. -- as if that's anybody's business. and the small business person says, that's none of your business and i am eight no going to answer -- and i am neat going to answer that question. i'm it here to ask for a loan, not to talk about my private life. what i do in the privacy of my bedroom with a consenting adult is my opinion, mr. banker. and the small banker says, you're right. i had to ask. they made me. if the small business person wants to answer -- won't answer the question, the small banker can get in trouble with the cfpb. what in the -- what has the world come to? this is going to cost $400 million per year. why? and that doesn't even include the cost of actually setting up this program. that'll be hundreds of millions of dollars more. and it's not like the yfpb is

exactly -- the cfpb is exactly a wizard when it comes to data consumer yeah, it's going to be on their public website. but in terms of the information, the cfpb says don't worry, we'll protect it. yeah, like they protected it a few months ago. the personally identifiable information of 256,000 consumers which is being held by the cfpb was breached, and you know what at cfpb did? they didn't tell anybody for two months. they acted like a rock, only dumber. we're not talking about wizards here. wizards of financial data privacy and security. mr. president, i hear it all the time. you probably hear it back in your state perhaps, but people tell me all the time, kennedy it

what's wrong with washington, d.c.? why is common sense illegal there? this rule -- this rule -- what has the world come to? so, my congressional review act request is to have the senate tell the cfpb that it is none of their business, none of their business what a private american does with another private adult american in the privacy of their bedroom. we are free to -- so long as it doesn't break any laws -- to express our sexual assault however we -- our sexualality however we want to and it is none of the cfpb's business. with that, mr. president, i ask my senate completion to overturn

this rule.

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: [insuited.] the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title for a third time. the clerk: s.j. res. 32, joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, and so forth. the presiding officer: the question occurs on passage of the joint resolution. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin.

mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo.

mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham.

the clerk: mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven.

mrs. hyde-smith. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy.

mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell.

mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul.

mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt.

mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester.

mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse.

mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- boozman, capito, cassidy, ernst, kennedy, rounds, sinema, and sullivan. senators vetting -- voting in the negative -- baldwin, blumenthal, casey, coons, duckworth, gillibrand, hassan, kelly, klobuchar, lujan, ossoff, schumer, stabenow, warner, and whitehouse. mr. scott of florida, aye.

mr. cornyn, aye. ms. warren, no. ms. hirono, no. mr. booker, no. mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mr. daines, aye.

ms. collins, aye. mr. fetterman, no. the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. mr. welch, no. mr. warnock, no.

the clerk: mr. hawley, aye.

mr. reed, no.

mr. king, aye. the clerk: mr. ricketts, aye. mr. bennet, no. mrs. blackburn, aye.

the clerk: mr. kaine, no.

the clerk: ms. smith, no. mr. wyden, no. ms. cortez masto, no.

the clerk: mr. sanders, no. mrs. fischer, aye.

the clerk: mr. carper, no. the clerk: mr. moran, aye. mr. crapo, aye.

the clerk: mr. heinrich, no. mr. menendez, no.

the clerk: mrs. murray, no.

the clerk: mr. thune, aye. mr. budd, aye.

the clerk: ms. cantwell, no.

the clerk: mr. schatz, no. the clerk: mr. rubio, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, aye.

the clerk: mr. murphy, no. ms. rosen, no. mr. risch, aye.

the clerk: mr. grassley, aye. the clerk: mr. tillis, aye.

vote: the clerk: mr. cardin, no. the clerk: mr. hagerty, aye.

mr. markey, no.

the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, aye. mr. cramer, aye. the clerk: mrs. britt, aye.

the clerk: mr. cotton, aye.

the clerk: mr. romney, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, no.

the clerk: mr. braun, aye.

mr. wicker, aye.

the clerk: mr. johnson, aye. mr. brown, no. mr. manchin, aye. mr. padilla, no.

the clerk: mr. young, aye.

the clerk: mr. barrasso, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. peters, no.

the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, aye. mr. hoeven, aye.

the clerk: mr. schmitt, aye.

the clerk: mr. lee, aye.

the clerk: mr. mullin, aye. the clerk: mr. van hollen, no.

the clerk: ms. lummis, aye.

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye.

the clerk: mr. tuberville, aye. the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, aye.

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye.

the clerk: mr. vance, aye.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye.

the clerk: mr. tester, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mrs. shaheen, no. the clerk: on this vote the yeas are 53, the nays are 44. the resolution has passed. is en madam president. --. mr. lankford: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted

to peek -- speak for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: madam president, earlier this year i was with a bipartisan delegation, traveled around the abraham accords country. we were in morocco, bahrain, uae around israel talking about advancement for peace. there was economic activity, tourist activity, a lot of interaction with development on health care, on enter -- cyber protections, cooperation for energy and water. literally families meeting each other, some of them for the first time in generations, to be able to have a conversation about a future in the middle & an agreement that started in september of 20 to with the signing of the abraham accords and continued to advance. as recently as a month ago there was outspoken public support

from saudi arabia and from israel about advancing a normalization agreement between saudi arabia and israel, what people thought would be unheard of just a few years ago. there was an advance of conversation about how we can increase peace. then on the 7th of october, one day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the yom kippur war, a group of terrorists from gaza penetrated the wall separating gaza and israel, and they slaughtered 1,400 israelis brutally. many in their bed, children, elderly, disabled, it didn't matter whether they were college students at a concert, whether they were people traveling down a highway, or whether it was children literally on their playgrounds. they murdered them where they

stood, and then they took hostages and retreated back into gaza. for some reason assuming that israel and the world would just not notice their barbarism. the world certainly noticeed. and as americans, we obviously all lived in the shock and horror of the event with the israelis and the rest of the world. 31 americans died in that attack and 13 are missing, presumed to be hostages inside gaza. many of those individuals were killed simply because they were jewish. period. the pain of that has struck all of us over the course of the past several weeks now and we watched israel rightly respond to attacks of terrorism as we have as a nation as well when we were attacked at 9/11.

we mobilized our forces, we identified al qaeda, and we identified those that were harboring al qaeda in afghanistan, the taliban, and determined that kind of attack would not happen again. and we as a nation determined we were not only going to stop the capabilities of al qaeda to be able to attack us, but we were going to preemptively respond if we remember attacked again. our first goal, though, was to be able to prevent that kind of attack from coming at us again. israel is entirely right when they have been attacked by a terrorist organization to be able to say that organization cannot do that to our nation again and to our people again. the united states has responded by sending two carrier strike groups to the mediterranean to park off the coast of israel to give a clear signal to lebanon, to iran, do not engage in this. we understand fully, as most of the world does, that hamas is

funded by iran. and while many in the muslim world, in the arab countries continue to be able to speak out on behalf of palestinians, they also understand 70% of the funding for hamas comes from iran. the weapons system that hamas has right now were fully funded by iran and the weapons systems in lebanon by hezbollah, where they have been attacking israel from the north, were fully funded and created and many times shipped directly from iran. iran is the destabilizing force in this entire region, and we as americans have made very, very clear that we understand that iran is the one who funded this, who supplied the weapons systems, who supplied the training and the munitions. iran is the one who continues to destabilize that region. and as americans, we clearly speak out for the protection of all civilians in every nation around the world and in every conflict in the world.

but we're also very clear that israel did not initiate this battle in the last two weeks. hamas did, and they pulled their hostages back into gaza as they continue to be able to hide them among the civilian population. it is a painful piece for us to be able to see internationally. for us in oklahoma, we're like many others that are in this chamber ber as well. it personality f personal -- it affects many families as well. israel is a nation so small that there is no one that has not experienced the pain of a friend, a relative, somebody they work with. they know they know people who have been directly attacked. many people in oklahoma talk about families, friends that live in israel or that travel back and forth. quite frankly, last weekend i worshiped at a jewish

congressing gaition and heard about their family and friends and what they have personally experienced as a family based on this terrorist attack. quite frankly, my state of oklahoma has a very close bond with israel as the united states has a very close bond. close enough that we had many oklahomans that were currently in israel during that time of the attacks and our offices actively worked to help get many of those out since many flights were canceled from tel aviv, we were able to get many of those individuals back home to oklahoma, and they have quite a story to tell as you would assume. the pain of this, though, is something that we should pay attention to. we, as a nation, not only remember 9/11 and our response, but we also remembered 9/11 was instituted by 20 people that were illegally present in the united states.

it should not -- we should not fail to remember that fact as well. recent statistics coming across our southern border identified in the last two years -- just the last two years, we've had 70,000 individuals that have been identified as what they call special interest aliens. these are individuals that came between the ports of entry that were running through to try to evade being captured. they are identified as special interest aliens because they have this designation, they potentially possess a national security risk to the united states or its interests. so they're identified as a special interest alien. as i mentioned, we've had more than 70,000 of those that have crossed between our ports of entry just in the last two years. these are individuals from syria, from iran, from iraq, from pakistan, from west africa,

from locations where terrorism is known to exist and we don't have any criminal history of those individuals. if you're thinking, i'm glad we picked them up between ports of entry, well, let me finish the story for you. most of those 70,000 special interest aliens were identified between the ports of entry and then were released into the country under biden's policy on how he handles immigration currently. those 70,000 individuals that when identity -- that were identified as potentially possessing a national security risk to the united states or its interest are in the united states right now. just in the past week, four individuals from iran were picked up. multiple syrians were picked up between our ports of entry and then released, awaiting a hearing in the future and in

current status right now that hearing will be eight to ten years in the future. they're unmonitored, they're wandering around within our borders awaiting a hearing eight to ten years from now in the future after being identified as a special interest alien. we grieve for israel but for some reason there's some in this body and in the white house that will not pay attention to our own national security issues. and the obvious exposure that literally everyone in the country can see. i can raise this issue with 100 people on the street outside this building and all 100 would say, oh, yeah, that's a risk. but for some reason we can't get serious in this body to be able to take on the same thing just to identify what are we going to

do with individuals that are considered special interest aliens? are we really going to just process them at the border and release them in the country or are we going to enforce our own sovereignty, as just about every other nation does in the world? what are we planning to do on this? i would just say for the basic function of our national security, we should enforce our borders and we should not just release special interest aliens out into the country as has been done for now the last two years by the numbers of 70,000 plus. so i would hope this body would get serious about dealing with issues like asylum, parole and all of the different features used to release these individuals into the country before we fix that -- to fix that before we have another 9/11 in this country. one last thing. all of us are absolutely

heartbroken at a hospital that had a major explosion from a rocket in gaza. the initial reports came out just immediately. this must have been the israelis that attacked a hospital. in many -- and many countries around the world immediately made statements that israelis bombed a hospital. meetings were canceled with president biden while he was in the region because the israelis had bombed a hospital until the facts and information actually came out. now, less than 24 hours later, we have overhead that can identify the movement of different rockets that we can see. we have information that is now out in the public and the president has confirmed that that was not an israeli strike on that hospital. that was a rocket that was launched from inside gaza that t

and landed on a hospital and killed almost 500 people. it was a terrorist attack that instead of hitting innocent civils in israel, it hit innocent individuals in gaza. i would call on all of the nations that condemned israel for attacking a hospital, to immediately address that it was hamas and that it was to launch rockets to kill civilians in israel that actually killed civilians in gaza. for everybody who accused israel for this horrible attack, that they would see the evidence and they would instead turn and try to speak to hamas to stop their terrorist attacks. that is something every nation can do, to stand up for the life

and value of people and of civilians. i would call on them to be able to do that even today. with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: madam president, i join with my overwhelming bipartisan majority of senators and house colleagues in delivering a message of unwavering support for our friends in israel. and i want to congratulate my friend, the senior senator from oklahoma, for his very fine speech just now and to associate myself with every single remark that he made. and i congratulate him on making it so eloquently. we've all seen the devastation from hamas's brutal attacks. we need to send this clear signal from both sides of the aisle and both end of this

building, israel has a right to self-defense just as we in america deserve a right to self-defense, and israel is entitled to our full support. madam president, the weeks ahead will require decisive action from congress and decisive action from the white house. we must ensure our allies are armed to the teeth as they enter what amounts to a hamas fortress across the border in gaza. they must also receive the tools they need to keep hezbollah in the north and the palestinian islamic jihad at bay. and we must stand united against hamas's patron, the islamic republic of iran. israel needs more interceptor

missiles for the iron dome system. they need them immediately. we have he several hundred in inventory and the administration should use its authority to send these missiles without delay. we need to pass the supplemental appropriation bill to supplement the production to israel even as the united states builds our own tamir manufacturing capability here in the united states by 2025. congress should also support the delivery and production of more precision-guided munitions for israeli ground forces as well as expansive intelligence sharing. and there are many questions, madam president, about intelligence failures and shortcomings leading up to this terrorist attack.

this episode again highlights that our national defense is far behind where it should be. some of -- some of us have been raising this point for a long time. i've been making this point long before i was able to become ranking member of the armed services committee. the administration needs to send congress a funding request that fully resources the united states' military for a rapidly worsening threat environment in israel, in the middle east, in ukraine, in europe and in the western pacific. for over seven and a half decades, israel has made every effort simply to be a peaceful democracy in a dangerous area of the world.

hamas wants to end the nation of israel. that is part of their charter. it's in writing. that is their goal. and you know, our fellow american citizens are also victims of the hamas violence. we've lost more than 20 fellow americans to these terrorists, and, of course, we know that some are being held captive. millions of americans are praying today that they come home. the people of israel know that there could be no return to the prewar status quo. the prewar status quo, the pre-october 7 status quo is over. israel must now destroy hamas no matter how long it takes. as it pursues this goal, no nation should give hamas terrorists safe haven. iran should not give hamas

terrorists safe haven. tehran's support for the war makes it clear that we successfully deter bad actors only through unmistakable signals of american strength. we need to return to the maximum pressure policies of the previous trump administration and we can match that financial pressure with a heightened defense posture in the region many we must also examine why iran and its proxies believed they could get away with this heinous massacre. we know, for example, that the biden administration's iran policy, and this pains me to say, madam president, -- the iran policy was led by individuals who were actually part of an iranian government information operation. one of those individuals has been relieved. another of those individuals,

dr. tabatibi inex politic my -- inexplicably remains in the office of defense. 30 senators have joined me in a letter asking for answers on this. we need answers now on why this is still allowed to happen and what steps the administration will take to remediate it. we should support the continued israel peace efforts which president trump initiated through the abraham accords, while i disagree with many of the biden administration's policies, i support the recent saudi-israeli peace initiative. hamas clearly hopes their terrorist attacks will grind this process to a halt. i'm grateful that many of our arab partners in the face of extreme pressure and hardship still see the true nature of hamas today. they understand that hamas is an

iranian-backed terrorist organization who wants to wipe israel off the face of the map. many of our arab partners have fought and defeated similar organizations like hamas within their own borders. so i urge the biden administration today to emphasize the shared arab-israeli interest in hamas's -- and hamas's defeat so israeli peace efforts can progress. finally, let me say this, madam president. i can state with confidence that the people of my state are with israel. my office has received a remarkable support for israel from the people across mississippi. we express that support in word and deed. the three flagship navy corvettes of the israeli battle fleet were built by the skilled craftsmen of our mississippi

shipyards. think about that. mississippi made hulls carrying the flag of the star of david are being used to protect the israeli people from further attack. this is just one example of our common cause. with the people of mississippi and with the overwhelming majority of senators on both sides of the aisle, i call upon all of us to stand united in support of an israeli victory. thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. a senator: madam president, let my message to israel be clear. mr. marshall: america stands with you and your right to defend yourself from this unspebbable evil perpetrated by hamas. from my earliest memories, my

mom, my sunday school teachers told me that we support israel. and as you go through your faith journey, as you go through your education, you learn why your mom, your sunday schoolteacher said we support israel. i had to look no further than my own bedroom wall to see moses' ten commands that my mom had put for me and my brother to look at every day when we woke in the morning. we learned later that moses wasn't even the greatest law giver, but this nation was founded on judea christian values. it's what defines the united states of america in so many ways and to our faith partners in israel, we're grateful for that heritage and culture that they passed on to us. but what i've learned as a congress member i need to pass on to every person in america, how important israel is as an

ally. in so many ways, they be the eyes and ears for america in a very, very troubled land. and no doubt their efforts have prevented the deaths of tens of thousands of americans by thwarting terrorist attacks from our enemies. and we're so blessed to share military technology that is saving american lives as well. indeed israel has been one of our greatest, most staunch allies. today we need to face the truth. we need to tell the truth. hamas is a terrorist organization and it only knows one language, death and destruction. hamas' sole purpose purpose is to radicalize its people, serve as a breeding ground for terrorism and entirely eradicate israel and other freedom-loving people, like americans. and the actions of hamas over

this last week serve as an illustration of their principles. look, hamas has no interest in dialogue, only in destruction. hamas does not want peace. they want punishment. hamas wants war, not coexist tens. hamas is a terrorist army with a track record of unspeakable brutality and a commitment to wiping out not just israel but america as well. this terrorist organization knows only one language, death and destruction. but the head of this snake is iran. that's part of the truth that needs to be told. iran is the head of this snake and hamas is just a puppet fulfilling the prophecy of its leader. hamas fighters and other terrorist groups are inspired, encouraged and empowered by iran to continue committing more brute article and devastating terrorist attacks around the globe. look, i think there is no doubt

in my mind that iran planned, they funded, they armed, they authorized the brutal murders of babies, burning women alive in the streets, and killing 30 americans. look, this blood, the blood of american citizens, is on the hands of iran and hamas. and as we go forward over these next weeks, these next months, we need to realize that all the blood being shed belongs on the hands of iran. i would ask the whitehouse to strongly condemn iran's actions and disavoice their terrorist regime. we need to stop empowering iran. we need to stop encouraging them to develop nuclear weapons and making it possible to do that. we need to turn off their spickets. right now iran is selling a billion dollars of oil every week to pay for wars like this.

under this administration, iran's reserves have gone from $6 billion to $60 billion. we have to stop turning our head to the sanctions. we need to double down on our sanctions. we need to stop the funding from iran, this head of the snake. and then lastly, we need to make sure that all the other puppets of iran know that if they engage further in war with israel, as my dad would say, they'll be -- there will be hell to pay. this seems complicated to many people, but i think that's why it's so important that the united states outline exactly what our priorities are as we undertake these next several weeks. number one, first and foremost, should be a focus on getting american citizens back home safely and to free american hostages. every day that we wait, every day that goes by, american hostages are being terrorized.

they're be tortured by hamas. it goes without saying that we need to cut the head off the snake which is iran. as i really ponder what's ahead of us here in the near future, i think about what one of my boyhood heroes said, dwight david eisenhower, 24th president of the united states. this is what president eisenhower said. i hate war as only a soldier who has lived a can, only one that has seen its brutality, its futility and its stupidity. i too, hate war. this is not going to be pretty for the next several weeks, and i'm afraid months even. we need to be clear about what israel is up against, their opponent -- they are worse than animals. they're using women and babies as human shields and harboring hundreds of hostages. i support israel, and i understand and encourage their

need to fight fire with fire when it comes to decimating this threat. the existence of hamas is a clear and present danger to the united states, to israel, and the entire free world. there's no safe israel. there's no safe world. there's no safe america as long as hamas livers in the gaza -- as hamas lives in the gaza strip. madam president, again, i pledge my support to the people of israel. thank you. i yield back. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, madam president. i join my colleague from kansas and many others who are going to be on the floor today in full and total support of one of our most steadfast allies, the state of israel.

i also stand here today to strongly condemn, condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks perpetrated on israel by hamas. since the initial attack on october 7, we've lost 31 american citizens. other americans remain unaccounted for and are being held hostages. more than 1400 israelis have been killed and countless families have been left without a home or without their loved ones. this is an unacceptable tragedy and recalls far too familiar memories of terrorist attacks in our own nation's history. we remember vividly the devastating and hostile attacks that isis deployed and can clearly see the parallels between their terroristic actions and the wrath that hamas is now perpetrating. now is the time to unabashedly

and unapologetically support israel. and i do. it's also time to support israel's right to defend themselves and their people. the united states and israel has a long, long history of demonstrating mutual respect and allegiance to one another. it dates back to 1948 when president truman baip the first -- became the first world leader to recognize the jewish state. since then israel has displayed unmatched loyalty and provided critical support to our country in the middle east. israel has stood beside us in some of our darkest hours, and now as friends do, we will do the same for them. it is imperative that congress takes action now and provide the support that israel needs in the face of these terrorist attacks. both to properly defend themselves but also to provide

the humanitarian resources needed for those whose lives have been decimated by a group that shows no mercy toward civilians, many of woman are women and children -- of whom are women and children. our country must do all it can to rescue american hostages and return them to safety. this has to be met with increased urgency because time is of the essence. i'm afraid the longer we wait, the sadder the stories, especially for those hostages who are in severe need of medical attention. we must also make certain that the $6 billion in frozen assets that the biden administration planned to send to iran in september remains frozen. it is incomprehensible to me that the biden administration made the announcement they were going to unfreeze $6 billion to iran, that they would do that on september 11 of this year.

additionally, it is imperative that the biden administration finally strengthens and enforces u.s. sanctions on the iranian regime which is raking in a billion dollars -- the iranian regime is raking in a billion dollars in illicit oil sales. it's past time to get tough on iranian oil and stop the regime from skirting our u.s. sanctions. iran is selling $1.-- 1.4 billion barrels of oil per day this year and using these proceeds to fund what we just saw over the last several weeks. these murderous actions of terrorist groups throughout the region. and they fund their own military at the same time. it should surprise no one that iran, the world leader in state-sponsored terrorism was heavily involved in this attack and that they continue to support the unjustifiable actions of hamas. the leaders of the senate foreign relations committee have

put forth a resolution of which i am an original cosponsor and support strongly, as do many of us. this resolution declares that congress will stand with israel. it reafirms israel's right to self-defense. it condemns hamas and iran and calls on the biden administration to further impose sanctions on iran. with the support of 99 senators, once passed this will send a very almost unanimous message to the world that acts of terrorism and violence will not be tolerated or go unpunished. i've been encouraged by president biden's response following the attacks on israel. however, president biden's time in office has been defined by a level of, in my view, passiveness and ambiguity that has emboldened our adversaries and it has lacked the strength that is required of a

superpower. with that being said, this is not the time for us to fight among ourselves. one of our strongest allies is under attack, and a nation as strong as ours must display a united front as well as call these attacks on israel exactly what they are, an act of terrorism. there is no doubt that the continued assault on israel creates a seismic shift in our foreign policy. just a few weeks ago on this very floor, i warned about the uneasy closeness that was cultivating between our adversaries, nations that shun our values and reject democracy are finding refuge with each other and stand in direct opposition to our ideals and our way of life. the connection between these countries, russia, china, iran, north korea cannot be ignored and only further underscores the

importance of strengthening our own military capabilities. we need to be providing military aid for israel that will serve to not only reinforce our ally but also invest directly back in our own defense. as we will serve to reenergize our defense industrial base by restoring the arsenal of democracy that defines our leadership as the united uniteds of america. moving forward, we must act decisively and lead in the way that america has done before in times of emergency and adversity. this is the united states of america, the greatest country on earth. we have the capacity and obligation to defend our allies as they face unjustified aggression from adversaries. these attacks are brutal beyond comprehension and have led to the slaying, as is said before, of innocent families, women,

children. it is incumbent upon us to show steadfast support for israel and to reiterate how military aid from the united states is in the best interest of both of our nations. the world is watching and expecting the united states to lead. i encourage my colleagues to recognize the magnitude of this moment, join together in our unwavering support of israel. with that, i yield back. ms. ernst: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: madam president, i just returned from a mission to the middle east where i had the unique opportunity to lead a bipartisan delegation to the uae-saudi arabia, bahrain-jordan and israel. we had planned this visit long before the heinous attacks by

iran-backed hamas with a goal of strength ening the abraham accords and our relationships in the region. in the uae, i led a discussion with their crown prince and president about increasing cooperation between our two countries to further security, peace,and prosperity. i left feeling more determined than ever to intensify our efforts to advance growth across the middle east and beyond. in saudi arabia, i met with the mohammed bin salman, the crown prince and prime minister of the kingdom. during this visit, we discussed the prospect of an israeli-saudi peace deal to further the dream of a thriving and integrated middle east. the delegation left that very meeting optimistic that the

crown prince was dedicated and committed to this dream, a dream for many us, like myself who served in the region after 9/11, a dream that was rocked the next morning when we heard the news that israel was at war once again. at this moment, there was no question what my bipartisan delegation needed to do. it was our job to ensure our ally israel understood clearly that america is and will always stand shoulder to shoulder with her. our delegation was briefed at the highest levels, and we completed our visit at saudi at the prince sultan air base where we witnessed integrated air

defense missions in action, something my bipartisan defend act helped ensure. we continued into bahrain the next morning to meet with the crown prince and prime minister, and once again a meeting that was intended to be another step on the path to regional security took a very different turn. the crown prince provided his insight into the current situation in israel, and his assessment of the causes and potential scale of the conflict. he also spoke of a peaceful future and highlighted the long-standing relations between bahrain and america, noting the history of bilateral ties and his commitment to the achieving mutual aspirations. our final stops in bahrain included the u.s. naval support activity and task force 59,

which integrates unmanned systems and artificial intelligence to help ensure maritime security and to deter iran's illegal activities in the gulf. the situation in israel continued to degrade, and i made the decision that we were ultimately going to apressure what we set out to achieve. despite all attempts to stop us, i led our bipartisan delegation to jordan in preparation for a cross-border drive into israel e upon our previously unscheduled arrival, we met with his majesty king abdullah ii of jordan where he paint add picture of escalation and the need for stability in the west bank. he was open and honest about his concern that iran would

capitalize on the chaos by using their other proxies to further escalate the conflict. he discussed the tensions within jordan and the need for the u.s. to once again lead an established peace through strength -- and establish peace through strength. the king's clear-eyed insight into the savage nature of iran-backed hamas was chilling and his concern for escalation was felt by every member of our delegation. it was clear that what we were about to walk into was chaotic and uncertain and not for the faint of heart. but in unity our bipartisan delegation pressed on and on october 10 we set foot in israel. we first met with eli cohen, the minister of foreign affairs and received an update on the war.

here we heard for the first time the true nature of the atrocities that the hamas savages were conducting -- rape, beheadings, dragging blood did id bodies into the streets -- dragging blood ied bodies into the streets. and among those dead were american citizens. the israeli foreign minister made it very clear that the threat hamas poses to civilization is no less than what the u.s. faced with isis in iraq, where i served, and in syria. and i couldn't agree more. these terrorists are monsters, and they deserve nothing short of destruction. we then spoke with the family of

jaime perry, an 80-year-old peace activist and father of five who was kidnapped from his home during the invasion. we heard firsthand accounts of the inhumanity of the attack, the destruction of their home, the violence his family endured, and ultimately that one of his sons was murdered defending the family. shaken but not deterred, the delegation carried on to tel aviv where we met with the minister of strategic affairs ron determiner and ultimately prime minister benjamin netanyahu. we heard increasingly graphic accounts of torture and mutilation of civilians. and we ultimately witnessed a nation that was and is truly in

an existential fight for survival against a psychopathic terrorist organization whose stated goal is destruction of the state of israel and killing as many jewish people as possible. madam president, let me tell you, there was no daylight between the political factions in israel on what needs to be done. the complete and total destruction of hamas is the greatest near-term priority for israel. reestablishing detention against all others -- reestablishing deterrence against all others who. the u.s. must not waiver in our commitment to our greatest ally in the middle east. botchnow is not the pipeline fo-

now is not the time for weak-kneed leadership and on going appeasement of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism that risks the lives of americans and our allies at home and abroad. and allowed hamas to wreak havoc in israel e interchange fee now is the time for strong american leadership, one that understands the threat of war waged by iran-backed proxies is to our own national security here in the homeland. with americans still being held hostage by hamas and the death toll of our fellow citizens continuing to rise, this moment demands clarity from our elected officials u -- officials.

not only today but in the coming days and months, as israel fights to secure their most basic human right the right to life, the united states must stand resolute in our support. may god bless the families who have lost a loved one and may god bless israel as she defends herself from hamas' brutal attacks. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. budd: madam president, i rise today to express my total and complete support for the state of israel. on october 7, hamas terrorists attacked israel. the level of barbarism that we

witnessed was nothing short of evil incarnate. the mass slaughter of innocent civilians, unspeakable violence against women, children, and the elderly, the deadliest massacre of the jewish people since the holocaust. these crimes against humanity were also visited upon our american citizens as well. at last count, 30 americans were murdered by hamas and others are currently being held hostage. we pray for comfort for the families of those who were killed, and we continue to pray and work for the safe return of those who are unjustly be held by the terrorists. compounding these atrocities is the reaction in some parts of the world -- and even here in our own land -- like the sickeningening anti-semitic pros in streets and university campuses. these vial celebrations endorsed this violence.

simply put, there can be no place in our country for anti-semitic bigotry. but we have also seen some politicians, some who work in this very capitol, express a cynical moral many baguet, blithely declaring that both sides are at fault, explaining away the motives of the terrorists while preaching restraint from the nation that was attack add. so to those who need a reminder, there's a stark difference between the two sides here. israel is the middle east's only democracy. they've been a force for stability in a region historically beis the by chaos. they've been one of the america's strongest friends in good times and in bad. when faced with attacks, they go out of their way to avoid civilian casualties, sometimes at the cost of their own israeli lives. israel is an unmistakable force

for good, and then you have the terrorists of hamas. their founding charter calls for the destruction of the state of israel e their largest benefactor it iran, lends its materiel and financial support to this cause of destruction each and every day. and they intentionally target civilians, fire rockets into crowded markets and preach the sort of hate that triggered the holocaust. make no mistake. the only word to describe this is evil. unlike the holocaust, we've seen this evil in real time, with our own eyes. evil is surrounding a music festival full of innocent young people and systematically hunting them down and slaughtering them on the side of the road. that's evil. evil is kidnapping elderly women out of their homes and threatening on the internet to murder them. and evil is beheading and burning babies in front of their

mothers and fathers. the line between morality and depraivity, right now it's -- depravity is as bright as it's ever been. as a country, we must not avoid the reality that this is good versus evil. because if we try to turn away from evil, if we try to deny that it's evil or to beg for context to explain away the evil, then we do a disservice to our credibility and we stain the soul of a nation. we must stand shoulder to shoulder with the state of israel. we must provide them with everything that they need to secure the safety of their nation and eliminate the threat of terrorism. so i call on the biden administration to project unequivocal strength to the forces of evil in our world. in this struggle between good and evil, america must lead the

forces of good, and we must not fail. i yield back. mr. hoeven: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: thank you, madam president.

the images that have been emerging from israel in the aftermath of the hamas terrorist assault are shocking, in the extreme. our hearts are with the israeli people in the wake of these atrocities. and all of us here in america need to stand strongly, firmly, and united for our friend and ally israel. here in congress, there is strong bipartisan support to stand with israel against hamas. but what does that mean? what does that mean, to stand with israel? of course, it means providing military aid, and of course it means providing diplomatic support. i'm pleased to cosponsor bipartisan legislation from the foreign relations committee, under the leadership of chairman cardin and ranking member risch, that expresses the senate's support for israel against

terrorism. but today standing with israel also means standing against the largest state-sponsor -- state sponsor of terror in the world, and that is iran. for too long, the united states has negotiated with iran and made concessions, such policies have not brought peace. many of my colleagues and i have warned for years that giving money to iran, letting iran sell oil and giving iran access to weapons would destabilize the entire region, and sure enough, over the last decade, we've watched iran extract conceptions in one negotiation after another, while creating chaos in yemen and syria, in lebanon and beyond. now we see the hand of iran behind hamas and this horrific assault on israel. we must do all we can to support israel, to help israel, to help israel defend itself and ensure that it doesn't suffer another

attack like this at the hands of hamas. but also to stand with israel, we must undercut iran's ability to work through its proxies, like hamas and hezbollah, that pose such a danger to the israeli people, and others as well. concessions and waivers to the iranian regime provided resources for iran to develop an infrastructure of terror across the middle east and the cash flow to iran must be cut off. to start with, we must refreeze the $6 billion that the regime gained access to following negotiations over the release of u.s. citizens from iran. i am part of the legislative efforts to do just that, including bills from senators cotton and senator mcconnell as well as legislation authored by senator marshall and senator tim scott. ultimately, we must return to a policy of maximum pressure. severe sankss -- sanctions, maximum pressure that holds iran

accountable for its as, its as as the largest state sponsor of terror in the world. this means a return to the sanctions without waivers. this means leading a global effort to isolate iran, choke off its sources of financing, and deny the regime the resources required to dominate the region. and this also means making every effort to recognize the rights and the freedoms of the people of iran, including the right of the iranian people, to choose their own future. we must take these steps, and at the same time we must always do all we can to ensure that we provide strong, unwavering support to our closest friend and ally in the region, israel. now, we need to move quickly to provide military support for israel in its fight against

hamas. also our policy on iran needs to change. we need to exert maximum pressure. that means severe sanctions, without wavering. maximum and unrelenting pressure on iran helps israel, helps the united states, and provides the best chance for minimizing bloodshed, both now and in the future. we stand with israel. with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, madam president. i come here to join my colleagues to talk about the events of the past ten or so days in israel, and the horrible attacks. i want to talk a little bit about two visits that i've made there over the past year or so, the most recent in february. i want to start withholding our members accountable here on capitol hill. now, this was posted on social

media, and it reads like false statements we've seen from hamas and other groups who want to foment hate and tet in the region. -- and death in the region, it reads, israel just bombed the baptist hospital, killing 500 palestinians, doctors, patients, just like that. that was within an hour or two of the bombing, before we knew anything, or any of us could have possibly had a secure briefing, before we'd gotten an assessment from the president of the united states or any of our intelligence sources here, before we could go to the scif and understand the details, that statement was made. you think that would come from a member of hamas. but it came from a member of our congress. if that member of congress wants to take responsibility for the protests we now see in bay route, good on you -- in beirut, good on you, and jordan, amann, and egypt.

this leadership or failure of leadership has no place on capitol hill. now i want to talk about why i think hamas is evil and why iran is part of this, and why is not surprising that the very details of this attack took place. earlier this year, in february, i was in -- let me back up. a couple years ago, i was in israel and we went to the gaza strip. we saw a tunnel head. we actually walked into a tunnel discovered by the israelis. we went to a patriot battery, or iron dome battery, that every day is prepared to shoot down missiles, because it almost happens -- before this attack, it happens almost on a daily basis. i've literally been in israel web i'm having -- when i'm having lunch in northern israel, near the golan heights, asking somebody to pass a plate of food. a bomb goes off, and the people living in this kibbutz did not miss a beat. every day they have to live with this stuff. now, down in gaza, we see the

tunnel system. if you go north to the lebanese border, you will see an entire network of tunnels that the israelis identified just in time. it had been a project estimated to be ten years in the making, funded by iran. hezbollah is in lebanon. hamas is down in gaza strip. they had developed these tunnel networks and were prepared to do the same thing in northern israel that we saw in southern israel over the past week and a half. they even want to design those to strike fear and terror in the israeli people. they want them to think, they want their children to think, that they're going to pop out of the ground and kidnap them and kill their parents. this is a part of the terror that they want the israeli people to live in every single day. the iranians were absolutely responsible for funding hamas to build that tunnel network in northern israel, and they do the same thing with hamas in southern israel.

ladies and gentlemen, first off, this has to end. let's work with facts. if israel doesn't abide by the rules of war, then we should hold them accountable. but what we're finding out now from additional intelligence sources is that it does appear as though this was not an israeli strike, that it was probably a failed missile launch from hamas. let the facts lead where they may, but here's what i do know, this congressional member, and others, before they can actually stand up for the palestinian people, who i believe the majority of whom are good people who want to live free and willive in democracy -- and live in democracy, they have to recognize that hamas is evil, everyone of them, from their leadership to their rank and files, to the ones who flew the ultralights in and the ones who came out of the tunnels and murdered over 1200 people. they have to be held

accountable. their funder has to be held accountable. their strategists in iran have to be held accountable. we in the united states have to stand by israel and by freedom-loving palestinians and freedom-loving members of the meter. but we cannot let this go. we cannot let this evil go unchecked. we have to stand by israel, and we have have to make sure we do everything we can to educate the american people on the facts and disabuse them of any notion that this congressional member or anyone else has anyplace in communicating that misinformation to the american people and across the world. the violence that can come from making people believe that, they have to own. thank you, madam president.

mr. murphy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy:today your our fellow citizens, our way of -- mr. murphy: today, our way of life came under attack. thousands of lives were ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. these acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. these are the words of former president george w. bush, speaking to the nation on the evening of september 11, 2001. but they could have been repeated, word for word, by prime minister benjamin

netanyahu in the wake of the heinous terrorist attacks by hamas that left more than 1,400 dead in israel on october 7. as americans, we know the horror of living through the mass murder of our fellow citizens in a shocking terrorist attack. to be overcome with these intertwined feelings of insecurity and fear, fury, and grief. to be filled with the deep, righteous desire for justice and retribution, a need to reconcile the moral universe by making the perpetrators of these crimes pay a heavy price. we know that even as the impulse to avenge may subside, there remains a need to deter, to show your enemies that aggression against us will be met with overwhelming force.

nine days after september 11, president bush presented an ultimatum to afghanistan's taliban government. quote, hand over the terrorists or share in their fate. the united states moved swiftly to mobilize the support of the international community and the only capabilities of the united states military to radar control of sphrag from their -- afghanistan from their taliban host. it was a just mission. neither america's security nor the moral order of the world could have been preserved if the taliban remained in power having made possibly al qaeda's l training and planning to execute the september 11 attack. americans rallied around the invasion of afghanistan. so did the world. in thinking back on those early days in the fall of 2001, america was looking for partners, not second-guessers or critics. we tbhot have taken -- would

not have taken kindly to lectures about how we should go. either you were with us or you were against us. three thousand americans dead, that was our mind set, and it was an entirely understandable one. israel must seek justice for the 1,400 of its citizens murdered by hamas on october 7. israel must bring to justice those who planned and executed the attacks, and it must seek to destroy hamas as an armed group. or at the very least destroy its capability to carry out terrorist violence against israelis. israel must defend itself, just like we had to do in 2001. this is the state's obligation to its people. and i for one will be there to support israel, just like our friends were there for us 20 years ago. and i for one am glad to see

this body, the united states senate, coming together, republicans and democrats who fight over a lot of things, in our joint show of support for israel's defense. but here's what i also believe. i believe that part of the way that we support israel is providing them with funding and with arms in order to destroy hamas' military capabilities. but i also believe that we should be sharing the lessons that we learned from our response to september 11, and the successive two decades of wars waged in the name of counterterrorism. if we are going to be honest with our friends in israel, then we need to admit that we often failed to see beyond our fury and that we made mistakes by not understanding what came

next after the invasion of afghanistan and the decapitation of our enemies my. we had a day one strategy, but we did not have a day two strategy, and we paid a horrible price. after al qaeda fled and the taliban government collapsed, we spent 20 years trying to win without a clear idea of what winning was, how it would be accomplished or how that was actually linked to making america safer. now let me be clear, the challenge israel faces from hamas is different in really important ways, from the al qaeda threat to the united states. and the lessons of america's counterglobal terrorism campaign do not neatly map on to israel's current crisis. for one the physical proximity of the threat is meaningful. hamas does not operate from a safe distance. it exists right next door in gaza. america had no experience in or

with afghanistan before the invasion. not so for israel and gaza. they know each other. they have an intimate history and that history impacts the effectiveness of the fight to come. another key distinction is the disposition of the enemy. hamas is not hiding in the caves of tora bora. they are a political enemy. they live in a tightly packed corridor, more than two million people many having nothing to do with hamas. so there's no perfect comparison between afghanistan and gaza, but there are enough similarities that we should be confident in sharing with our friends in israel the lessons that we learned, the mistakes we made, mistakes that israel could avoid. the first of those mistakes was lacking a realistic conception of success. in afghanistan we set about the total and complete elimination of ungoverned space and terrorist safe havens. but after 20 years of fighting,

of raids, of targeted strikes, we finally came to terms with a really harsh reality. our tactics were often producing more terrorists and insurgents than they were eliminating. we were far too cavalier about p civilian casualties and the humanitarian cost of our pursuit of the taliban, and it ended up simply making the taliban stronger. today israeli leaders talk about totally eliminate every last hamas fighter. it is an understandable objective given the terror that hamas rained down on israel. but is it realistic? can the israeli military destroy an entire movement, not just a terrorist organization or an armed group, but a political entity that administers territory? is there a risk of our fate in afghanistan creating more terrorists than we he eliminate ing,?

another mistake is believing every report we put on paper become reality on the ground. we drew up a viable plan to replace the taliban's klepto crack -- cleptocracy. what was an aveefable outcome was eliminating al qaeda's ability to attack the united states and creating the political conditions growntd -- ground in afghanistan. but of course that outcome didn't need to take 20 years. it was likely available to the united states much earlier in the conflict. if israel does mount a ground invasion, the question is of course what comes next. hamas administers gaza. if hamas is eliminated, who takes their place? does israel reoccupy gaza in the

long run and run gaza directly? that would seem like a recipe for perpetual conflict? does israel imagine the west bank palestinian authority step up and administer gaza? i won't go into a full analysis but there are very few middle east watchers who bet that is a long term viable arrangement. some israeli leaders suggest the future status of gaza are matters to be addressed after israel has, quote, won the war but what we learned in afghanistan is the very concept of winning is meaningless if it's not built around the conditions of a sustainable peace. and what is the realistic possibility of building a posthamas governing structure in gaza particularly when the only immediate alternative would seem to be a renewed and indefinite occupation? if there isn't a satisfactory answer to these questions, the military planning is incomplete. p but make no mistake, america

is going to support israel in its time of need. with funding, with weapons, with whatever they need. but i raise these qoanls becausy because there are important lessons that can be drawn. not perfect parallels, but important lessons that can be drawn from both our successes and our failures. we had to invade afghanistan. we had to take out the taliban. it was the only way to square the moral universe. israel must strike at hamas. israel must destroy their military capabilities. it is the only way to restore the balance of the moral universe. but supporting israel also means helping them learn from our successes and our failures. and to not reflectively repeat the mistakes we made 20 years

ago. friends support friends but friends also level with friends. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. young: throughout their history, the children of israel have known persecution and sorrow. they've lived in compile -- exile and enslavement. they faced bigotry and violence. entire nations and civilizations

sought to extinguish them and vanish, but the jewish people remain. and against all odds, millions of their descendants gathered together in the holy land and founded a nation. today israel is a vibrant democracy in the middle east and a strong ally of the united states of america. many people of faith would say the existence and perseverance of the state of israel is itself evidence of define providence -- divine providence. yet even today, even today israel faces existential threats. on october 7, hamas terrorists carried out the worst attack on the jewish people since the holocaust. the slaughter of 1,400 people, the decapitation of babies, the

execution of grandmothers, and the taking of nearly 200 hostages, including children, women, seniors and american citizens. 30 americans were among the murdered. 30 americans. many of our fellow sphits have friends and family in israel. and regardless of our faith, we're all i know heart broken for the loss, sickened, sickened by the cruelty. and on behalf of the hoosiers i represent, i want to express my deepest condolences to the people of israel as they mourn and pray and bury the dead. as it has since its founding against alliance of far larger nations and armies, this

country, which is four times smaller than indiana, will defend itself. and america will be here for israel and support its right to confront this violence, this barbarism. we'll do this because our values are the same -- dedication to liberty and order, to tolerance , and to human dignity. make no mistake, the days ahead will be difficult as members of this body know too well, israel is still under threat and the risk of additional fronts opening up is real. over the past several days i've been heartened by the strong bipartisan support in the united states senate for the people of israel. during this time of peril, this body cannot succumb to isolation

ism. we cannot abandon israel any more than we can abandon our friends in ukraine or taiwan. on urgent matters of national security, we're stronger when we stand together. and in difficult days ahead, we'll work to support the people of israel. i know we'll continue that spirit. relatedly, i call on the biden administration to consult and closely work with this congress to quickly fulfill, quickly fulfill any urgent israeli requests for assistance and do all we can to fully support israel. colleagues, the constitution of the united states lays out our responsibilities. congress, congress has an

important constitutional role in determining how the united states will respond to any additional acts of aggression. as we support and stand with our allies, we also must be crystal clear about what has happened. the attacks on the people of israel orchestrated by hamas were barbaric, depraved. they were evil. long supported by the iranian regime, hamas' stated mission is to destroy the jewish people. that's right. at the core of hamas burns an age-old sickness, anti-semitism. it was the twisted inspiration for their massacre. this broken thinking, this

horrific ideology liberates not a single life, instead tragically it will cost only more, including those of innocent palestinian civilians. for the past 15 years many peace keeping palestinians in gaza have had their lives upended and exploited by the hamas terrorist group. we acknowledge their suffering, we hope for change. those in our media on our college campuses, or even those serving in government who ascribe to the actions of hamas to anything else other than hatred, those who were so quick to decry injustices elsewhere but place murder and rape and some sort of perspective, those

who provide context for savagery savagery, those who sigh that both sides are equally guilty, to awful you -- to all of you, i say you're providing cover for monsters. the world view of hamas must be added to the roll call of evil ideologies that fail to destroy the jewish people. and that is why we must stand with israel. that is why. but that alone is not enough. you see, the murder of thousands of jews brought reminders of the holocaust and echos of russian pog removes -- pogroms and so

many tragedies. we must stand vigilant against and opposed to anti-semitism, wherever it appears, whatever movement its attached to, whatever banner it marchs underneath. in these difficult days, we echo the old prayer sung across sin gowgs for the -- synagogues for the jewish people. may god have mercy on them and remove them from distress to relief, from darkness to light, from subrogation to redemption now speedily end soon. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: mr. kennedy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. kennedy: i ask that the quorum call be suspended, madam

president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kennedy: thank you. madam president, we have a -- we have an issue in louisiana. i wouldn't call it a problem that i would like to talk about. perhaps some of our sister states can learn from our -- our struggles in my state. and the issue is education. i can't think of a more important subject. that's the future of my state. i think it's true in many other states. i believe that louisiana's future can be present -- better than its present or its past, but the key to determining whether that's going to be the case or not is education. and i'm talking specifically

about elementary and secondary education because that's what counts. in my state, it's not the price of oil, it's what the unemployment rate is, it's not who the united states senator is, it's not who the governor is. it's education. pre-k-12. and it's us from straighting -- it's furs traiting, i know -- frustrating, i know. americans can do extraordinary things. we can unravel the human genome, we can take a diseased human heart and replace it with a brand-new one and make that thing beat. we can -- we can send a person to the moon, but we struggle -- we in america struggle, and we

in louisiana struggle, to teach our children how to read and write and do basic math when we have 18 years to do it. i'm not blaming anyone, but we all share the frustration, and it's not just louisiana. it's all across america. i understand that. but decades ago in louisiana we made a decision. in fact, it was during my first job in government. i was working as legal counsel to a brand-new reform governor in louisiana, and he decided, and the people of louisiana agreed with him, we all agreed on two things, number one, every child can learn. now, some -- it takes some a little bit longer, kids mature at different times, but every

child can learn. and the second thing that we agreed on was this. that which is measured gets done. that's -- that which is measured gets done. we decided to implement, 30 years ago, standards for our elementary and secondary schools. one of those standards was, and i think still is -- that's the subject of my remarks today, i hope it still is -- a graduation exam. we call it our graduation exit 202021gee. when i say gee, i'm talking about our graduation exam. we said we're going to get serious about kids, we can't

have our children graduate if they can't read their diploma, and so we're going to test them. the test is not terribly rigorous. it's four subjects. it's english, it's math, it's science, and it's social studies. and we grade -- and you don't have to pass all four. you've got to pass english and math and either social studies or science. so really three out of four. the grades -- there are five different grades, advanced, mastery, basic, approaching basic, and unsatisfactory. let me tell you what that really means. a, b, c, d, and f. okay. you only have to make a d on

your graduation examination. i'm sorry, madam president. you only have to make a d to pass. not an a, not a b, not a c, a d. so you take four exams, you've got to make a d on english, a d on math and at least a d on either social studies or science. and if you -- if you don't pass, we'll give you another chance, but you've got to pass to get a diploma. and now our border and secondary, we call it besee, has decided to take us back to the dark ages.

by a one-vote margin, supported, quite frankly, by my governor, who is lame duck. he'll be leaving soon. he makes three appointments to the board of the elementary and secondary education, and everybody is entitled to their opinion, but i think my governor and his team are wrong on this. they will send us back to the dark ages. here's the new rule, you have to pass the exit examination in the way i just described unless you fail, and then you've got to go to your teacher and he or she can give you an extra points project. come on. come on. who are we kidding here? now, why do some want to do this. it's not the kids who want to do this, it's the adults. because not only do we grade our

kids, we grade our schools, and if schools have kids that don't pass the graduate exit examination, it's counts against the grade of the school. so this is all coming from the adults. they're putting themselves first and they're not putting the kids first. this is a massive step bark wards. this is -- backwards. this is an announcement to the rest of america that louisiana has given up. that our kids are not smart enough, they're not good enough, even when we give them second or third chances to be able to get a d on the graduate exit examination, and as a result, we have got to give them a special extra-point project so they can get a diploma that's not really a diploma. the people behind this ought to

hide their head in a bag. our kids are better than that. every one of my kids in louisiana can learn. sometimes they need a little bit longer, but it's not going to do them any good to give them a diploma that they can't read, and it's not going to do them any good to give them a diploma that the rest of america and frankly the rest of the world is going to look at and say, that is not really a high school diploma because we know you failed the exam. you just got an extra-points project so the adults wouldn't look bad. i'm embarrassed by this. this isn't the only problem we have in elementary and secondary education. i'll give you one other statistic, 70% of our high schools are graded either a or b, 40% of the schools below that are graded a or b.

70% of my high schools in louisiana are not a or b schools. okay. i wish they were. not when 40% of the lower grades are only a or b. once again, the adults, who don't want to be embarrassed, are inflating those grades too. now they have started on the graduate exit xadges, -- examination, besy, passed this rule change by one vote and by the way, our superintendent of education was against it. this rule change is going in front of the louisiana legislature for an oversight hearing and the senate education committee and the house education committee. and i hope that either the senate or house and hopefully both will say no. no. because this change is

the soft bigotry of low expectations, the soft bigotry of low expectations. it's got no place in this country, and it's got no place in my state. and i'm embarrassed that people -- who are part of the education establishment in louisiana are telling the rest of the world our kids aren't good enough, they can't learn. so we're going to give them a dip plem pla -- diploma that's not really a diploma. thank you for the time today, madam president. i wanted my colleagues to know what's going on in louisiana. we're going to turn this rule back, and we're going to put our kids first in louisiana, not the adults. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

>> without objection. >> now, mr. president, the slaughter of over 1300 people in israel on october 7 reminds world of darker, more sinister times. it made, it laid bare sadly that the ancient poison of hatred against jews still persists. we must be clear that hamas does not speak for the palestinian people. hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to israel's eradication. hamas must be defeated.

and the violence of hamas terrorists has tragically put innocent palestinians in harm's way. i was deeply saddened and shocked by the awful news of the explosion at the arab hospital in gaza. the loss of innocent life is a sickening tragedy. my prayers are with the victims, the family, the children and all innocent people who are injured or killed. now while we await the results of a full review to be completed, as a president indicated, and as this morning people should look at this, release signal intelligence confirms it appears that terrorist fighters within gaza were responsible for the explosion and that's not the israeli idf. it is clear terrorists in gaza have no regard for civilian human life. as i said and as the biden

administration has made clear, civilian life must be protected. and we must help civilians impacted by the war palestinian civilians, who have nothing to do with hamas. as the senate considers a supplemental package to help israel fight hamas, we will encourage robust community in aid to help civilians and make sure that the aid goes to those who needed urgently, and not fall into the wrong hands such as hamas. when i joined my senate colleagues in beating with the israeli government, we promise to do it if we could to of israel defend herself in the coming days president biden will send congress a supplemental request that will provide israel the resources they need to defend themselves and eliminate the threat of hamas. the senate will move this package as soon as we can without delay, with strong bipartisan support. democrats want to act, and in a lot of republicans want to act,

and i was very encouraged to be my friend the republican leader, leader mcconnell, expressed his support, too. at this moment of crisis in israel and of the chaos in the house of representatives, the senate must get into the breach and stand firmly together to get emergency military and humanitarian aid to israel. in this difficult moment the senate must act as a steady bipartisan support, bipartisan force people we must show that the work of the first branch of government is continuing we will not -- we will not wait for the house, we cannot because the need for this package is too urgent to sit and wait for them to get themselves out of their own morass. i hope the senate passing a strong bipartisan package will import to the house to follow suit in whichever way they see fit. passing this supplemental and providing israel the tools they

need will show israel and the world that the united states stands with our ally now and always. and i expect very soon as early as today maybe tomorrow morning the senate will act to pass a resolution from senator cardin, ranking member risch, leader mcconnell and myself affirming that the senate stands fairly with israel and firmly against hamas. our resolution is overwhelmingly nearly unanimous bipartisan support in the senate. it is cosponsored by 99 senators. senator paul being the outstanding one who hasn't. passing the supplemental and passing this resolution will affirm and unchanging the truth, so long as there is a united states of america, so long as there is united states senate, the people of israel will not, will not be alone. now called , the all senad briefing later this afternoon we

will have it all senators classified briefing on israel and gaza. we will be briefed by the top people in the administration, secretary of defense lloyd austin, secretary of state tony blinken, chairman of the joint chiefs general cq brown, and director of national intelligence a avril haines. i encourage all my colleagues on both sites to ten racing from our top leader so we can stay fully updated on the latest information on the ground regarding israel's security and efforts to defeat the evil terrorist horrible organization named hamas. on nominations, now with all the conflagration in the middle east it is really important that we have ambassadors in critical places. it's always important but a lot of them have been blocked. but now with the conflagration in the middle east it's more important than ever that they be there. when we were in israel the like of ambassador was apparent. now there's a great chardonnays

of her person, she did a great job but we still need an ambassador. so, mr. president, for that reason i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working quickly this week on getting critical nominees through the senate. last night we confirmed the ambassador to oman, and earlier this week we confirmed the ambassador to kuwait. we have more nominees who we need to pass to fill ambassadorships in the middle east. more important than ever, we must do more here it's important that the senate show bipartisan unity right now to get these critical diplomats confirmed, and i hope we keep doing so like we did with these two ambassadors in the days ahead. now, on what's going on across the way in the house.

thanks to maggie republicans, the u.s. house of representatives has now been without a speaker for two weeks, paralysis in governing unprecedented unprecedented in modern times. our rights extremists in the house have ground the people's house to a halt at the worst possible moment. at a time when our ally israel faces its darkest hour and the u.s. government would shut down less than a month if we don't act. today, the the house will gavel in to try and break the impasse though it seems like the chaos of the hard right has exposed the deep perhaps irreparable divisions within the house . no matter who becomes speaker, one lesson remains true. whether it's funding the government, avoiding default or helping american families, bipartisanship will be the only way things get done in a divided government. bipartisanship is the only way. when there's democratic president, a democratic senate

and republican house, a small band of right-wing maga republicans in the house cannot say it's the my way or your way. you are my noda, maga republicans. you are a minority in the republican party. you're a minority with the people of america. you are minority in this government. certainly your voices will be raised and you will want some say, , but it can't be your wayr no way. bipartisanship would be required to help israel. it will be required to avoid a government shutdown. it will be required to finish the appropriations process. bipartisanship will be required for just about everything, everything. that happens in the congress. so whoever the house elects as big will not be able to ignore the realities of divided government no matter what the hard right demands. as former speakers boehner, ryan and mccarthy have learned, you cannot let the hard right run

the caucus or you won't last as speaker and even worse, it will lead to more chaos at a time when the american people need unity and help and stability. now, at the ai insight forum, next tuesday the senate will hold our second in a series of bipartisan, let me underscore bipartisan, ai insight forums focusing on our norstar for ai innovation. our inaugural ai for him last month was one of the most informative and distort discussions ever help in the congress. the debate was illuminating. the discussions were candid, unvarnished, direct. next week will turn to ai innovation both transformational innovation, the kind of innovation recreates, unlocks new cures, improves education, protects the food supply at a national security. but also to sustainable innovation which is of the kinds of guard rails that are needed to prevent the negatives in ai

necessary to prevent against ai's risks and minimize the chance that this technology becomes unmanageable, or worse. we are going to focus on both these types of innovation both of which are needed. congress has taken leaps forward in the past few months learning more about the benefits and risks of ai from the world's leading experts, getting some of the companies that do ai to said that with some of the critics so we can begin to fashion the kinds of guardrails that are necessary. our committees continue to lead the way. having hosted more than 15 hearings on ai this year. and the bipartisan ai game is working to supplement the committee's critical work with our ai insight forums. but there still so much more children and to do on ai which is rapidly changing as we speak. so these forums are designed to ensure that the said is asking the right questions, having the right debates, and getting to

the heart of this complex issue. i urge everyone to attend next week bipartisan forum, and i thank my colleagues senator rounds, senator heinrich, senator young call for helping organize this discussion. to repeat, our ai form will be dash to get the date here -- i don't have it. i believe, will we will get everybody the date right away. i believe it is on the 24th of next week at 3 p.m. in the kennedy caucus room. i yield the floor. note the absence of a quorum. >> tragic israel and the world are still reeling from the surprise attack by hamas on october 7 felt that somewhere around 1400 israelis and at least 31 americans dead. the scale and scope the attack carried echoes of our 9/11. and as our 9/11, life change in an instant. i came down to the floor yesterday to talk about these

attacks and the united states commitment to stand with the israeli people against terrorism. today i would like to talk about and though important point attacks raise, the importance of our national defense and military readiness. mr. president, as has been said that and i quote, only the dead have seen the end of war, end quote rise today as a senator, as a former president of a synagogue, as the only jewish mother in the united states senate, as a steadfast supporter of israel, and as a person who stands firmly against hate and terrorism around the world. since october 7, when hamas launched horrific and unprovoked terrorist attack on the israeli people, our hearts -- well, our

hearts have been shattered. and over the past week and a half, we've learned that 1,300 innocent israeli civilians and soldiers have been murdered. thousands more have been injured, and countless families are grieving for loved ones who've been kidnapped, who at this very moment are being held hostage by hamas. young children, women, seniors, some of whom even were holocaust survivors. this past weekend, i met with these families in israel has part of after bipartisan senate delegation -- of a bipartisan senate delegation. meeting with parents whose children -- they're children, they're packers that's how they called them, "my babies, they have my babies," the mother

said. they were ripped away from them by terrorists. hearing those stories, seeing the fear and the pain in their eyes, feeling their heartbreak. it is something is that will stay with me for the rest of my life. and there's one story in particular that i'm never going to forget. a woman whose family member was taken from her by hamas spoke to us, and in speaking about her pain, she said, we no longer live in the same world as you. we no longer live in the same world as you. for her and her family, she said, every moment an eternity. just think about that. think about what they feel every single day they're separated from their loved ones, not knowing how they're doing, not knowing if they're being tortured, it is they're in pain

-- if they're in pain, a if they're even still alivement. and with each passing day, each passing day you these families, they anxiously is await for their loved ones hopefully to be returned to them. and these stories, these stories demonstrate why i'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that these families are made whole again. we know that hamas is currently holding nearly 200 innocent people, including americans, many of them in dire need of medical attention. so, madam president, we cannot stay silent. we must speak out until every hostage is released, every single one of them. and that's why last night i introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning hamas for its brutal, brutal, premeditated

attacks on israel and demanding that hamas immediately release the hostages so they can be reunited with their loved ones. after what i saw, after what i experienced on the ground, i know we need to take decisive bipartisan and immediate action to help israel. let us take action to free the hostages, pass supplemental funding, aid to our ally in its greatest time of need, and supply it with all the support it needs to again itself from acts of terrorism. and -- and, madam president, at the same time, we they need to make sure that -- we need to make sure that plain citizens receive aid and that it does not ever, ever end up in the hands of hamas terrorists.

israelis and palestinians alike have been victims of hamas' terror. we have seen how hamas uses palestinian civilians has human shields, which is lead to the life of countless, countless innocent residents in gaza. so we'll continue to support israel's efforts to eliminate hamas once and for all and limit civilian casualties. and as we do this, let's use the full voice of the senate -- both sides of the aisle -- to send a clear and decisive message to hamas. let us all tell those cowards who kidnap children, who kidnap seniors that the united states will not stand by and let these crimes occur. we will not rest until the hostages are freed, until justice is delivered. so, madam president, i urge all

of my colleagues to support my resolution and send a clear -- a clear and united message to the world. thank you. ms. rosen: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from nevada. ms. rosen: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

only behind owning a home. small businesses make up 40% of our economy. no better example of that as he had more phenomenal success he had starting small businesses. turning it into a business or invest in the company to harm workers. that is why it is so essential to our economy and middle-class. small businesses, small business lending takes place in the dark, we don't have good data how they serve small businesses in their communities. we don't have good data about who it might be leaving behind. it's too easy around the country

to lose out. data we have suggests small business owners are not getting a fair shot for their businesses. take small businesses, rural communities have seen it close for years drying up access for lots of business in a moral ohio. we need the data to understand how to reach business owners and to grow small-town economies. it takes small businesses owned by women or people of color. the data we have suggests they are more likely to be denied loans or higher interest rates. they don't get a big shake from the financial system. you need accurate information to fight back. that is why in 2010 congress required the consumer financial protection bureau to get that

information, to implement the transparency market. we talk about the demographic loan pricing, application approvals, other critical information like we do with mortgages and not that expensive. his data, gaps in small business lending market allowing programs to expand access to credit for small businesses, more data means more accountability, insuring lenders root out discrimination. we've seen this model work before after publishing data about home mortgages, they were able to achieve home ownership. this protects people's privacy, they are not required to submit information if they don't want to. big banks in their lobbies are

putting up a fight. they always do any time there is a rural, they come up with the same song and dance. we have to hire new people and help serve the community better. i won't help wall street avoid accountability. there's been too much of that. it was called the senate banking committee all about wall street. the colloquial name of this is the senate housing and banking committee. our charge is to build more homes and make them more affordable, to help with transit systems in atlanta, denver, cleveland and to help small banks and communities. that is why we will hold wall street accountable. i want to see more small businesses get loans and be successful. we won't help the banking lobby stand in the way as it i'll too often has.

i hope my colleagues will stand up for small businesses and entrepreneurs, vote no on this resolution. note the absence of quorum. >> the consumer financial protection bureau, we call it the cfpb, has struck again. it has made another bad decision. this by an agency that has become famous for bad decisions. here is what's going on. you remember the dodd-frank act of course, which this congress passed after the financial meltdown in 2007-8-9.

there is a section in the dodd-frank act, section 1071. fairly and out us. congress directed certain information to be collected about small business loans. we were curious about small business lending in america. we directed in section 1071 certain covered financial institutions, i will call them small banks because most business loans come from small banks, we direct small banks to start collecting information about their homes to small business people because we wanted to know, to make their services more efficient and we the congress asked 13 pieces of information be collected.

the sort of stuff, mr. president that you would imagine. routine stuff, the small business loan, how much was the loan, that sort of thing. the cfpb has taken our work and totally perverted it. the cfpb has promulgated a rule that totally perverts our intention in tech -- section 1070 one of the dodd-frank act. we intended only small businesses to be covered in providing this information. if you look at the definition of a small business which is most people use the definition that has been put out by the national

federation of independent businesses, that is the nfib, small businesses a small business, it has a few people, sales, half $1 million a year. not according to the cfpb. they want to cast the net as far and wide as they can. their definition of small business will almost double that, more than double that. and the previous fiscal year. this will throw government much wider than congress never intended but the second and most egregious thing cfpb has done, they took our 13 pieces of information we asked for and have expanded it to 81.

all of a sudden, they want a book. here are some examples of what the cfpb is going to require small banks to ask of small business women and small business men when they come to a bank and ask for a loan. the bank has to ask of the small business person how long it has been in business. the bank has to ask the small business woman or small businessman about its annual revenue. that's fair. the bank, it gets a little intrusive, gets a lot intrusive. the bank has to ask the small business woman or small businessman what their race is. the bank has to ask the small business person about their ethnic background. of of a small bank has to ask

of a small business person if he's a male. the bank has to ask the small business person if he is, if she is a female. it should be obvious to many but those questions have to be asked. the bank has to ask the small business person if that person is a lesbian. the bank has to ask the small business person if that person is gay. the bank has to ask that small business person if that small business person is bisexual. the small bank has to ask its customer, that small businessperson, if that small business person is transgender. the bank, according to the cfpb, has to ask that small business person, who is applying for a loan if that person is, quote, queer.

the small bank has to ask that small business person if the small person is intersects. not only does the bank have to ask those questions, private questions of the person from small business applying for the loan, the person applying for the loan has to bring in every one of its owners who own 25% or more and the bank has to start over. with those people. are you male, are you female, what is your race, tell me about your ethnic background, are you a lesbian, are you gaia, are you bisexual, are you transgender, are you, quote, queer, are you intersects? give me a break.

and then all of this information that is collected, this private information has to be sent to the cfpb and they are going to put it on their website. are you gaia, are you lesbian, what race are you? they are going to put it on their website. the cfpb says it is going to be institutional level data. top line data fields. you will be able to take this particularly if you are a small bank in a rural area and be able, the snoops will be able to go on that public website, identify small business people in their community, how much money they are borrowing, how they answered the question

whether they are gay and whether they were inter-sex. private information. and why? why does the cfpb need this information? the truth is they don't, but i tell you why. the cfpb is setting these small business people and small banks up for lawsuits. what happens if a small business person goes into the bank and the small banker says i hate to ask you this, are you gay? as if that is anybody's business. the small business person says that is none of your business and i'm not going to answer that question. i'm here for a long, not to talk about my private life. what i do with consenting adult

is my business and the small banker says you are right, i am sorry, they made me ask. if the small business person won't answer the question, the small banker could get in trouble with the cfpb. what has the world come to? and the cfpb doesn't care about the cost. you know what would cost to implement every year? $400 million. why? that doesn't include the cost of actually setting up the program. that will be hundreds of millions of dollars more. it is not like the cfpb is exactly a wizard when it comes to data security. it is going to be on the public website, in terms of the information, don't worry, we will protect it like you did a

few months ago, the information of 256,000 consumers which is being held by the cfpb was breached and you know what the cfpb did? they didn't count anybody for two months. they acted like a rock only dumber. we are not talking about wizards here, wizard is a financial data privacy and security. mr. president, i hear it all the time, you probably hear it in your state perhaps, people tell me all the time, what's one wrong with washington dc? wise common sense illegal? this rule, this rule, what has the world come to? my congressional review act request is to have the senate

tell the cfpb that it is none of their business, none of their business what a private american does with another private adult american in the privacy of their bedroom. we are free, so long as it doesn't break any laws, to express our sexuality however we want to, and it is none of the cfpb's business. and with that i ask my colleagues to overturn this rule.

mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from south carolina. mr. scott: thank you, madam president. i ask for suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. scott: thank you, madam president. last saturday, october 7, we saw evil personified. we saw the deadliest attack on the jewish state since is the yom kippur war. over 1400 dead israelis.

for context, think of that, if that were america it would be over 40,000 dead americans. on top of that, madam president, we've seen 30 americans lose their lives because of the evil brought upon israel. we saw hamas, an evil terrorist organization, launch an unprecedented, unprovoked, undeniably devastating attack on the jewish state. i can't think of anything more evil than the images that we saw coming out of israel, where grandmothers were taken captive,

where babies were burned alive, and where babies were beheaded. for what reason? for what reason did we see the atrocities and the evil brought upon a people? simply because they were jews. hamas, their goal is to eliminate the jewish state. but that's not where they stop. they want to annihilate every single jewish person on the planet, with more than six million living here at home in america.

but they go one step further. they despise western democracy. they want the elimination, the annihilation of our entire way of life. fighting that war with a single-minded focus is exactly what we should expect from the jewish people, from the state of israel, from the prime minister, prime minister netanyahu. he needs to have a single-minded focus. but that is not the case, because we have seen in the last 24 hours or so the emergence of a different kind of war that they now must fight. it is the war of misinformation, the disinformation, the misinformation war could be just as deadly, if not more deadly,

than the actual attack we saw last saturday, october 7. one might ask the question, why would i say that. well, i would say that because immediately what we've seen since the devastation in israel was prime minister netanyahu sending the signal that they are coming into gaza, giving people, pal stillans, a chance to find themselves -- palestinians a chance to find themselves out of harm's way. but the misinformation campaign takes a different turn, a different spin, a different direction. what it said was that the hospital strike was in fact carried out by israel. that misinformation was carried in "the new york times," the a.p., and other news outlets in

america. that misinformation campaign caused a summit in jordan to be canceled. it caused president biden's meetings to be canceled. it caused protested a embassies around the globe. our embassies around the world filth the devastation of misinformation, of lies, signaling to the world that now israel must fight a different kind of war at the exact time that they have a proportional response, which is and should be wiping hamas off the face of the map. we saw as a result of that misinformation war, hezbollah mobilizing. we've seen very clearly an

attempt to weaken israel and their standing in the world. devastation after devastation, and then on top of that we see the emergence of another deadly encounter. rather than waiting for the facts, these outlets carried the hamas narrative, carrying the narrative an evil, lying terrorist organization. and on top of that, equally as devastating is to see the divide within the house of representatives where the vast majority of republicans and democrats stand firm with our

ally, israel. but there are members in the squad who have decided to continue spreading the propaganda of hamas. congresswoman tlaib has yet to delete the tweet that says israel just bombed the baptist hospital killing 500 palestinians -- doctors, children, patients, just like that. delete the tweet. we cannot have members of the united states congress sending out and being an extension of the hamas propaganda machine. it is despicable behavior from elected representatives of the

greatest nation on god's green earth. those members did not start their antisemitic comments on october 8. this started months and even years prior. there is a cancer that is metastasizing on the radical extreme left that has to be dealt with in america. i said several times over the past several days, psalms 122:6 is so important, that we should pray for the peace of jerusalem. and those who do will prosper. there is no doubt in miert, there is no doubt in my opinion

mind that we find ourselves living in dangerous times in this world. conflicts, eastern europe. now conflicts in the middle east. and real threats in the indo-pacific. we need american mettle, we need american leadership, and we need it to be strong, defiant, clear, and undmieably the strongest force for good on the planet. it's one of the reasons why i made strong comments about the terrible decision, the unbelievable decision to release $6 billion for hostages. i said this during the obama

administration, that paying $40 million for hostages would make more americans less safe abroad and raise the price on every head. and now with $6 billion being paid to iran, iran being the chief funder of hamas after the attacks, hamas thanks iran for the help. we do not need an administration to be complicit with such challenging and evil attacks on the jewish state. that is one of the reasons why i seek, madam president, i seek consent to pass my legislation,

the solidify iranian sanctions act. in 1996 we put in place sanctions on iran. we did so in the sector of their energy sector because we understood that causing pain, causing pain would be an important and necessary component of keeping iran in its place, to slow down if not stop the spread of terrorism. we had to -- i'm thankful, i'm thankful that in 1996 we did act. but that action is set to sunset. it is set to expire.

we must keep those sanctions in place, without any question. i look at the support, i look at the support for my legislation. this legislation predates the attacks on the nation of israel. this bill has the support from both sides of the aisle. it is a commonsense step to make permanent the iran sanctions affect 1996 and support comes from both sides of the aisle, including the only jewish mother in the senate, senator rosen. this is one of many steps we

must take to restrain this regime from developing weapons that threaten safety and security around the world. i believe that if we want to respond to this brutality, if we want to respond to this evil, one of the ways that we can respond is by making permanent the sanctions on iran. i ask unanimous consent that the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration of s. 1390 and the senate proceed to immediate consideration.

i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator -- the senior senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, reserving the right to object. i appreciate the passion with which the senator from south carolina has delivered his remarks today and am also grateful for his willingness to adopt a minor modification, a clause verifying that nothing in this legislation may be construed strewed as -- construed as independently authorizing the use of military force. i'm grateful the senator from south carolina is willing to work with me on that and that he's agreed to do it. the junior senator from kentucky, senator paul, suffered a death in his family

and is away today attending the funeral of his immediate family member. at his request, i'm here to object on his behalf, and on behalf of senator paul, i ofnlt. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. scott: madam president, i am deeply disappointed that common sense seems to be harder to find in washington, d.c. it's just not common enough. i certainly hope that we have an opportunity to see my bill make permanent the sanctions against iran. it is critically important that we show progress sidelining the largest state supporter of terrorism in the world. i yield.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until >> the senate has gaveled out after a small business lending rule proposal from the consumer protection bureau, the vote was 53 to 34. and and antony blinken, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff. follow live senate coverage on c-span2. >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2, exploring people and events that tell the american story. at 7:00 pm eastern the swearingen ceremony of the archivist of the united states, pauline shove and followed buyer

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