our air traffic controllers it puts the efficiency and safety of our aviation system at risk fortunately there are some actions we can take together to improve the health of our air traffic control systems. now, mr. whitaker, yes or no, do you support efforts to ensure the faa is hiring and training as manyma controllers as are needed each year to address existing shortages? >> yes, sir that will be a top priority. >> mr. whitaker, yes or no to support efforts to fix the way we calculate the number of air traffic controllers that our aviation system needs -- >> we are leaving this hearing here as the u. s. senate is about to gavel in. senators are expected to vote on the nomination of michael whitaker to be the administrator of the federal aviation administration. also this afternoon work on the nomination of jessica to be the head of the labor department wage and hour division. live coverage of u.s. senate here on c-span2. nomination of .

whitaker, of vermont, to be administrator of the federal aviation administration, for a term of five years, the yeas and nays are ordered under the rules. 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. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan.

mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. 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 -- baldwin, bennet, britt, budd, butler, cantwell, capito, carper, casey, cassidy, cortez masto, cotton, daines, duckworth, enters, heinrich, hickenlooper, johnson, lee, lujan, markey, marshall, mcconnell, menendez, mullin, murray, paul, ricketts, rosen, schatz, sinema, smith, stabenow, tester, thune, tillis, tuberville, van hollen, vance, warner, warnock, warren, whitehouse,ern wicker. -- and wicker.

nor senator voted in the affirm r -- voted in the negative. mr. peters eye. mr. risch eye. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. wyden, aye.

mr. boozman, aye. the clerk: mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. kelly, aye. mr. hawley, no. mr. hawley, aye.

the clerk: mr. cramer, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. mr. blumenthal, aye. ms. hassan, aye. mrs. -- mr. ossoff, aye.

mrs. hyde-smith, aye. ms. lummis, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. ms. hirono, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mr. hagerty, aye.

the clerk: mr. rubio, aye.

the clerk: ms. collins, aye. the clerk: mr. kaine, aye.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: mr. manchin, aye.

the clerk: mr. durbin, aye.

the clerk: mr. sanders, aye.

the clerk: mr. rounds, aye. the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye.

the clerk: mr. moran, aye.

the clerk: mr. king, aye. mr. schmitt, aye.

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye.

the clerk: mr. young, aye. the clerk: mr. brown, aye.

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye. mr. booker, aye. mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. braun, aye.

the clerk: mr. reed, aye.

the clerk: million welch, aye. mr. welch, aye. .

the clerk: mr. cardin, aye. .

the clerk: mr. barrasso, aye.

the presiding officer: the nays are zero. the motion is agreed to.

test:

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that all postcloture be considered expired at 5:00 p.m. today. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: for the information of the senate, members should

expect two roll call votes starting at 5:00 p.m. mr. president, much has been said and written about the horrific hamas attack on israel on october 7. the wanton slaughter of more than a thousand israelis and estimated 200 hostages still being held is hard to fathom. one fact tells the grim story -- more jews died on this day than at any time since the holocaust. it was not just another bad day in the middle east. it was a premed taipted slaughter of -- premeditated slaughter of historic proportion. the crisis that followed has touched many in my home state of illinois, who have family in israel. on friday, i was relieved to learn of the release of natalie and judith raanan from evan ston, being held as hostages by hamas in gaza. another two women thankfully were released yesterday. now the terrorists must release

the remaining hostages captured on october 7. i pray every moment for their safe return. mr. president, throughout my career in congress, i have supported u.s. assistance to help israel defend itself from those bent on its destruction. i'm not naive. i know the creation of the nation of israel was controversial in its time. it still is to many today. and yet, it struck me that the people of that region deserved an opportunity to live in peace, to find one refuge in the world they could count on, and i've always supported israel because of that. i will strongly support the president's proposed supplemental request to help israel, ukraine, and other urgent humanitarian needs. the mosque attack, which had nothing to do with solving the problems between the jewish people and palestinians, was

really not advancing a two-state solution or even seeking long-term peace. it was a reminder there are still those in the region who refuse to accept israel's right to exist. literally their right to exist. and will take any as to destroy it. in acknowledging israel's understandable rage and pain, i believe president biden gavewise counsel -- gave wise counsel. to learn from america's mistakes made after the similarly traumatic mistakes on 9/11. i remember that day. i was in this building, just outside the chamber. 9/11/20 01. i couldn't imagine what would happen to our nation, as we were evacuating the capitol to stand on the lawn and pray another airplane was not it directed toward the capitol or white house. it changed america, in some ways for the better. we were united, we were

determined, we were really in focus with one another to try to make this a safe country for our kids and grandkids. and it divided us as well. we made some decisions which were thoughtful, wise, and stood the test of history, and some that did not. hamas, just like al qaeda in those days, must be destroyed. but israel should be wary of the kind of overreach we found after 9/11. you could not want -- you do not want an ill-thought occupation of gaza to become your fallujah. you do not want to dehumanize the innocence on the periphery who are not your enemy and will have to be your neighbors in the future. hamas is a terrorist organization that has a long and cynical history of hiding its military assets among and around innocent civilians. they dare their enemies to attack and realize that the collateral damage is going to be devastating.

that makes any effort to root them out and rescue hostages extraordinary difficult. but let us be clear, the palestinian people are not hamas. as a democracy, israel must follow the rules of war and not target civilians or conduct disproportionate or indiscriminate attacks. we're already seeing a distressing humanitarian crisis building in gaza, which has the potential to become worse. as such, i joined several senate colleagues in calling for the u.s. humanitarian assistance to the palestinian people, a move president biden made last week. the suffering of the palestinians cannot be ignored. tom friedman said it even better last week when he said, hamas has not only taken israelis hostage, it's taken gaza civilians hostage as well. the passions and pain from these events are not limited to the middle east. they are manifest all over our nation, even in ni state of illinois -- my state of illinois.

ten days ago, a 6-year-old palestinian american was murdered in a suburb of chicago, in a mindless, heartbreaking act. almost every hour of every day, there's been a photograph of this beautiful little boy in a happy birthday hat standing, smiling, looking at the camera. it's hard to imagine that he answered his door and simply because he was of palestinian dissent, he was attacked by a crazed man, who killed him and then attempted to kill his mother. i was glad president biden mentioned wadea last week in his address to the nation. i have that family in my thoughts and prayers as they grieve their little boy and mother. there's also fears of a bomb threat in a insin -- in a synagogue outside chicago. president biden was eloquent in reminding us that such hate must stop and we are all americans.

i have my differences with george w. bush, but i think one of the most profound things he said or did after 9/11 was to announce publicly that he did not believe those who believed in the muslim faith were wrong at the heart, he believed it was a religion of peace, and some were trying to corrupt it. those were so critical, those statements, at the time, when hatred could line up at any moment. anti-semitism, islam phobia and anti-arab hate have no place in america or anywhere in the world. in congress, i've been a advocate for a two-state solution, one that provides safe and secure nations for both israeli and palestinian people. there have been attempts at peace and two states that offered hope, israeli peace with egypt and jordan and the oslo accords. some leaders paid with their lives for pursuing peace, but for too long spoilers on both

sides have undermined a peaceful two-state solution. they pursued narrow, selfish, political goals, too often determined to stay in power above all else. settlements have expanded amid continued eruptions of violence. regional powers claimed to care about but only paid lip service to the palestinian people. the palestinian authority has been mired in corruption and a lack of new leadership or vision for more than two decades, too often at the very expense of the palestinian people. i know it will be hard, but i hope out of the ashes of the pain of this crisis there will be a new renewed focus on a two-state solution. one of the tef stating -- out of the devastating yom kip your war came the -- the yom kippur war came a historic peace treaty that still endures. with the right leaders on both sides, it can be done. we here in the united states have a responsibility for renewed push forward towards

finding a solution that allows israel and the palestinian children to, once and for all, live together safely, in peace and dignity. mr. president, i yield the floor. test test

, test.

test.

that element, i think, does make sense. as much sense in my estimation is we are not doing anything to also put pressure on the australia he's not to take the actions that would extend this war. this might drag us into a very, very bloodied or with no clear exit strategy. >> to that point we have seen military hardware. how much more could possibly take place if it does escalate when it comes to the u.s. contribution?

>> one of the things that u.s. officials have been telling israelis and others is that israeli land invasion able to pe troops if there is such an invasion. it means the united states fully recognizes that a land invasion will trigger attacks on u.s. troops in the war. on the one hand it makes sense to try to make sure that those troops are as safe as possible by adding more protection to them. what does not make sense is why not also try to avoid the very act that would trigger these attacks. what is really important to recognize is the confidence in the u.s. government itself that such a land invasion is successful. president biden who pulled out of afghanistan just two years ago who invaded our country

occupied it for 20 years. they are still in power. the idea did these types of solutions, these type of actions are sums form of a solution i think needs to be much more scrutinized. >> if you want to ask questions, 2,027,481,004 republicans 8000 for democrats and independents 2,027,488,002. you can texas at 2,027,488,003. is it in the united states best interest the dismantling of hamas? >> you have to ask yourself why they exist in the first place. if we think that it can just be dismantled, we have gone through several cycles in which we see palestinian radical groups as they pop up and are destroyed. they pop up because of the occupation continuing. we say that we are in favor of dissolution but we have moved on beyond the two state solution

had the trumpet administration in particular we move forward normalizing relations between israel and the arab states. part of the planning of all of this is that we are now moving beyond. essentially saying we do not care about this two state solution. still having to accept to live indefinitely under occupation. that has proven to be a tremendous mistake because it did lead to violence which many of us have predicted that it would be at we simply cannot put millions of people under occupation and expect something could look like that. if we truly want to get rid of the radical organizations with the change of radical situation that is giving birth to their existence. >> how so? as long as you have people, we on our own are saying the two state solution doing nothing to provide that forward and people have lost hope in the idea that a diplomatic move forward

actually can deliver. this is what president obama said yesterday in his notes. that will make people move towards violent and much more radical and horrible pathways in which that is exactly what we saw on the horrific attack against israeli civilians and militia people. >> you said initially that the u.s. should work towards another way to prevent escalation. what are some of those avenues that you think exist are workable. >> first of all, we do need to have a cease fire. an indefensible position. increased concern of what it would do to civilians in gaza and israel. the president should really put out top of his agenda making sure that this does not escalate into war that drives united states not pushing for cease-fires. standing in the way of efforts to bring about the end. dramatically increasing the risk

of the united states. >> it was sunday where the defense secretary talked about what the military aspect when it comes to the united states contribution. >> recently we have seen rocket and uav attacks against housing our troops in iraq and syria. we are concerned about potential escalation. in fact, what we are seeing is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region. because of that, we will do what is necessary to make sure that our troops are in a good position. they are protected. and that we have the ability to respond. this additional deployment sends

another message to those who would seek to widen this conflict. as president biden said earlier and as you've heard me say, if any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict, take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is don't. >> well, i think secretary austin is quite correct. this is a very significant risk. going back to what i said, it is quite logical and makes sense to do everything we can to protect the troops and other u.s. interest in the region by making sure that there is a stronger element. however, a strategy that is only based on deterring one side but not doing anything to deter the other side is not likely to succeed.

as a result, it will lead us to the very nightmare scenario the secretary is warning of. if the objective truly is 2-inch avoid this scenario, then it does not make sense to only rely on that deterrent while not doing anything to report was strained the israelis from taking the very steps that we know are likely to trigger those attacks. >> let's take some calls. this starts off with rudy in chicago. go ahead. >> good morning ando thank you. there are two issues that are overlooked. his birthday cake but unlike previous birthdays the candles kept burning because omair was not there to burn them out. omair is more than one of the

200 people taken hostage by hamas. the grandson of holocaust survivors he is an avid athlete and loves the new york n -- kni cks. on the day of the attack, he was working as a ten commander defending the gaza border. he was last seen being forcibly removed at the hands of hamas terrorists. since omair's abduction, my office has been working with his family. we're doing everything we can to secure his safe release and the release of all the americans who are still unaccounted for in israel. i'm grateful that the two american hostages released on friday are doing well. but there are still several american citizens, many of whom may be injured or unwell who remain in captivity. we must not stop fighting until all of them are safe. on thursday i met with the

family of three-year-old abigail moore edan. her family told me the harrowing story of her and her two siblings. abigail's brother michael and her sister omalia locked themselves in a closet while their mother was slaughtered in their home. abigail was with her father who was shot while holding on to her. his body was later found but abigail is still missing. i also met with the family of keith and aviva segal, grandparents kidnapped from a kibbutz. keith is an american citizen and he was seen being abducted with his wife. the family of etih penn has been in conduct with my office too. etih is a 19-year-old born in

new york and serving in the idf. he was supposed to return home to his family in a few days to celebrate his brother's bar mitt have a. -- -- bar mitzvah. another hostage named sadikal is a u.s. citizen last seen fighting off the terrorists. his pregnant wife and two daughters survived while hiding in their family's safe room. i've also heard from the family of judy weinstein who was born in new york. she and her husband were on a husband when the air raid sirens blared. the cum -- couple hid face down in a field while rockets rained overhead. at some point judy called an ambulance because she and her husband shot but the ambulance was unable to reach them and the couple is now missing. none of these people, these innocent people deserve to be

abandoned. they are americans. we must fight for them as if they were our own sons, our own daughters, our own grandmothers and grandmothers and grandfathers. these people are our family, our lifeblood, our hearts and soul. my commitment to these families is that we will not give up on them. we will go to the ends of the earth to bring their loved ones home, and my message to terrorists is we will not give in. your darkness and your evil will not destroy us. we will keep our hope alive and rally around these families. we will light our loved ones' candles and never blow them out. i yield the floor.

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

they stopped paying attention to what was going on in palestine

and gaza. as a result it looked like this was the beginning of a new war that came out of nowhere. obviously, the occupation has continued and it'd been a very dire situation. that is not a justification for that type of an attack. the narrative has been that this came out of nowhere. we did not pay attention. that does not mean that it came out of nowhere. the biden administration followed up on the trumpet administration which was it was trying to push aside the palestinian issue and go forward with normalization with israel and other out-of-state. putting in a tremendous amount of political capital normalizing relations between israel and saudi arabia. even offering an expense tax which means the biden administration set u.s. service men and women to die.

which was unprecedented. all of that based on this idea that would bring about peace. but with that assumption you could just simply ignore the palestinian people. part of the reason why this disbelief came apart is because it is true, the arab world by and large stops focusing as much on the palestinian issue because of all the civil wars in syria. a lot of eyes were turning inwards. the assumption that that was a permanent shift is a very questionable assumption. that was a temporary shift. the idea as a whole forgotten about the palestinians was never true. it was never true that the palestinians had forgotten. some of these assumptions, very problematic.

>> this is carl. carl in florida. democrat line hi. >> i am very interested in what you have to say today. i would like to know, is there any chance that there is a small group of palestinians within gaza that may be willing to ally themselves with the israelis after this terrorist attack by hamas in order to throw or eliminate them so that palestinians may have a better chance of getting the two state solution. i will hang up and listen to your answer. thank you very much. >> a very brutal reign in god's. the opportunity emerged, they have not really existed. there has been some attempts and

there has been some very brutal repression. however, i find it extremely likely that they would be siding with israel because that is presuming that it is just the existence that has been the problem in the conflict. right now they are also bombing the west bank where they do not exist. most of the violence was actually in the west bank in which israeli settlers were having many different palestinian attacks against the settlers. it is a simplistic view that they are that the entire problem that is not correct. they actually were not created until the 1980s which was decades after the occupation started. early on, the israelis actually supported. they wanted to see hamas emerge as a competitor which back then was seen as more problematic.

this is a very complex history. there are not easy answers to the solutions. >> some of the united states officials talked about iran. what do you think that they were involved in. >> i don't think that there were any operational involvement. there has been no evidence that has emerged by either. but there is no doubt that the iranians have supported and continue to support. particularly militarily. when it comes to funding, i am sure that there is no funding going. that is not the strength given their own problems. but they have been training. there is a reason why has the law has become such a quoted for israel because of the training they have provided. same thing with hamas and gaza. israelis were very surprised and shocked to see the efficiency of that horrible attack that hamas

engaged in. there operational involvement is something completely different and there is no evidence of that if this war continues and if they stepped in from the u.s. perspective, it will be seen as a direct involvement. if the militia starts attacking u.s. bases in troops in iraq, it will be seen as if they are behind it. that can lead to a direct military confrontation between the united states and iran. just as a reminder, iraq was a horrible war. it cost the united states a tremendous amount. it costs the iraqis far far more a much more potent military. again, under these circumstances , a crisis in ukraine, a potential crisis in taiwan and the philippines with china right now, the idea we would walk into another war in the middle east is just absolutely horrible.

>> one of the issues is emerging as the freezing of the money. concerns not only for u.s. but members of congress. what do you think of that. >> i think it was more of a political issue. a mechanism that had been put in place to make sure that that money cannot be used for anything else is actually a very solid mechanism. they had to send it very, very ferociously suddenly shifted on that position and now it seems like it has shifted back. that money would never go to iran. the u.s. decides what the iranians can and cannot buy and then the u.s. constructs them to pay the vendors. money never touches iran. a very solid mechanism. >> this is from indiana. we will hear from walt. republican line.

go ahead. >> the quincy institute for bringing this in terms of what is going on in the middle east. i adamantly oppose the invasion of iraq because i. that the united states would get more and more deeply involved in the middle east. that they would ignore the lesson in history. mainly the romans wrecked themselves with the involvement. they poked their eye out in terms of dealing with the northern border. the rest is history. i pray to god that we do not get involved with another war in the middle east. mainland china. communist china. that is where the real game is. you get into another big war in the middle east, you will undermine the interest.

>> mr. president, do you think that the biden administration has an overall strategy for the middle east. >> strategies that they did have is what i explained early on. really focusing on the same committees on the idea of securing a normalization agreement between saudi arabia and israel. politically i can see why that was extremely attractive to the administration. strategically i did not see any basis for it working or leading to the peace that they envision door portrayed. the idea in addition to that that will -- we would be offering the saudi's a defense act as well as technology, just raises significant? about what is to gain in all of this to offer something as drastic as that. the united states does not have any such agreement with any other state in the middle east except for turkey it was a member of nato.

we have a non-status in qatar which is the highest level that currently exists. that is nowhere near the type of agreement that was being discussed by the united states and the saudi's committing the u.s. to disband the saudi dictators. >> from lori in ohio. >> good morning, gentlemen. i am just second by everything. my question is, why does the united states not cut off aid to israel until the apartheid in and gaza and the west bank and they come to a solution. i feel that the only way that the israelis will stop this apartheid and now it's genocide of the palestinian people, it has got to stop until a solution

is met. that is it. what are your thoughts on that. >> i think the likelihood of the u.s. cutting funding is not particularly significant. right now they are considering proposing to congress a significant increase. but i do agree that we need to have a major reorientation when it comes to this issue to actually bring it to a solution. the peace process and the two state solution in essence has been dead for more than a decade we are still pretending that it is alive. the situation on the ground has gotten much much worse and now we are seeing the consequences of that in a very, very horrible way. we need to completely rethink. one that goes back to the fundamentals of the international law. we have set aside international law excessively on this issue.

even today, the united states, the biden administration is encouraging the israelis to make sure that their attacks are in line with international law. much of what is happening right now is in violation of international law including the collective punishment through the blockade and the stopping of fuel and food. these are things that ultimately will backfire on u.s. interest as well. the united states has ended up in an isolated position internationally. the veto by brazil, a strong ally of the united states devoted everyone in the council except for the united states and the united kingdom. other states voted in favor of it including france. we have to rethink our approach to this because we are getting isolated and the rest of the world is shaking their heads because we talked a lot about

the rules -based order. they are wondering what happened to all of those rules. >> i was going to ask about the influence of the united nations. >> certainly could. what happened after the russians vetoed the resolution condemning their illegal invasion of ukraine was that a new mechanism was put in place and it could be moved to the general assembly at the calendar -- council members chose to detail. will this egg she'll actually be moved to the general assembly. if that were to happen i think that we will see the position against the cease-fires it will be very difficult to defend. it is not a majority position in the united states either. therefore, 80% of democrats believe that there should be a cease-fire. only 12% support the position of opposing. even amongst independents it is

a strong majority position. 66% believe that there should be the cause and cease-fire. i suspect that a lot of that is because of humanitarian concern. not wanting to see more die, but also because of the fear that not having a cease-fire will lead to a war. >> one more call. this is from aaron in virginia. democrat lined. >> hi. good morning. i heard you mention turkey. as turkey designated as a terrorist organization, i believe that they have not. i believe president trump praised the president of turkey. my main question is to ask, there is a lot of u.s. support for israel and trying to root up hamas from the neighboring areas

a lot of that support is coming from people that are said to be pro-life. what are your thoughts on the support of israel even in light of so many casualties of civilians including children that are on the ground. we have seen the video so i will listen to your answer off-line in your thoughts about that. >> thank you very much. no. thomas comes out of the egyptian muslim brotherhood which is also , it is also related to the party in turkey. turkey right now is being a role to be a mediator in this conflict. toughening its stance a little bit against hamas. not only because it disagrees with that of notion, also

because it does not want to eliminate its ability to potentially play a mediating role. this is what turkey has done in the u.s. and russia as well. on the issue of the support, i first want to point out to say that i think blind support is not support. for a lot of israelis, the idea that the united states stands by israel is of tremendous importance. but to support a strategy that will likely lead to a worse situation is not really supportive. even the president heads at this at times. he pointed out that after 9/11 we engaged in a lot of excessive 's that were completely counterproductive. no one of our friends were telling us that perhaps we should restrain ourselves and think a little bit longer term before we engage in some of those activities. the president has said these things.

the extent to which that is being received by the israelis, privately the president is more firm. that, in my view which truly support israel to make sure that it does not engage in something that we know based on our own experience will not making it. >> what i'm really worrying about is if there is a land invasion and what that will trigger. also if there is an intensification of the air containment against gaza. there is a likelihood that that will trigger some form of reaction. it also could lead to the writing of war. what will happen elsewhere in the region and some have already started to shoot. >> quincy in ft.org.

league executive vice president for the quincy institute for responsible

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: i ask that we dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. last week the biden administration proposed a spending package that included funding meant for humanitarian relief. $3.5 billion for migration and refugee assistance in ukraine,

israel, and gaza. $5.7 billion for the u.s. agency for international development. the biden administration says that our money will pay for, and i quote, lifesaving humanitarian programming in israel and areas impacted by the situation in the west bank and gaza. end quote. we have two problems to address. first, the united states government is scared to call the terrorist attack a terrorist attack. second, this is just one more embarrassing example of the biden administration's two-faced approach to the people of israel. i have spoken at length about the money pipeline between iran and hamas, but there is a similar pipeline that appears to be running between hamas and the u.s. taxpayer.

every dollar we send that is earmarked for gaza or the west bank is another dollar hamas can put into their pocket. last week i spoke about the u.n. relief and works agency and how this false humanitarian mission has been corrupted by hamas and terrorist sympathizers. this has been confirmed by multiple ngo's, the media, joe biden's own advisors, and whoever published and then deleted this post from the twitter account. hamas stole those supplies and unra. this is a body that pulls 93% of its funding from global government. in 2021, unra took $338