that supports our important allies. let's not let these allies down. again, i come back to i understand there is some friction here on other issues, but the vote right now is do you or do you not support the allies and the civilian population of syria, who are being slaughtered in the fashion that they have. my fellow senators, i urge an affirmative vote. on this good piece of legislation. . and you, mr. president. i healed the floor. -- i yield the floor. >> mr. president, what is before us today is senate bill one, and watching or will watch this later, and are senateng what the is doing coming down here and giving speeches, we are trying to discuss a bill on senate bill number one, and that is the to respondfort

specifically not just to events happening in the middle east but in particular the decision made a few weeks ago that the united states will be leaving syria and our presence there. and at the time when that decision was made, i said it was a bad idea. a lot of people agree. there are a lot of reasons why does a bad idea, although i do think it is important anytime we ask the american people to send our young men and women abroad, special operators working alongside tens of thousands of kurdish and syrian democracy forces, democratic forces, any or sendsend money americans abroad and risked their lives, the american people deserve for us to go to them and justify why it is we should do it or continue doing it. that is certainly the case with syria. so i do not agree with the decision, but i do think that it has given us in an opportunity, and those of us who disagree with that decision, an opportunity to go out and tell people why it is that it is important.

that is a broader topic, and i will have more to say on that in the days to come, but one of the reasons why it is important is the u.s. withdrawal from syria will have a dramatic impact on the security of israel. time that wey asked the american people to support another country, with money or diplomatic support or anything it might be, weapons, we should justify. we should never take it for granted why it is that it is important that we should support the other country. in the case of israel, support for israel at a time when very few things enjoy bipartisan support, support for israel has ine bipartisan support here congress and across the country, and rightfully so. our support of the state of israel is found in both on morality and on our national interests. the state of israel is very unique. it was founded for a very specific purpose. in the aftermath of the holocaust, in which millions of

jew's lost their lives, it was that a that never again with the jewish people lack a place for peace and security, and the state of israel is set to be that land for the jewish people. so it was given first by an international organization. unique in the world by that regard. the second reason we should support israel is because it is in our national interests. israel is everything we wish more countries in the middle east and around the world would work. they are a free enterprise democracy. would behat the world like, how much easier our foreign policy would work if there were more countries in that part of the world that were pro-american, free enterprise democracies. we have one -- the jewish state of israel. and that is why we should support it. birth, israel's

fate rests to its very existence. gravest theyhe have had to confront in nearly half a century. the of but this from that comes from mainly one place, and that is iran, a country, who almost as a matter of course chant "death to america," and "death to israel" on a regular basis see fit to destroy the state of israel, but they are not just words, they are actions. map here of iran, and as you first notice, israel is a this map.w area on at its narrow point, israel is nine miles wide. it is unreal how much of the world and international organisms and international debates focused in on this one tiny country, but there it is. the very small nation that you see right there in yellow, and

there is iran, clearly larger, and in terms of on the map and in reality. not simply a rhetorical enemy of israel. it has taken action to encircle threaten security. it begins with its engagement and its missile program. iran is developing and has developed ballistic missiles with a range that reach every part of israel iran can that ballistic missiles can reach any a series in israel, right now, which is why their nuclear ambitions are so dangerous. some point in the future iran is able to attach a nuclear warhead to one of those bliss missiles. a country, that are a regular basis, its leaders chance "death to israel," that is a proposition no one wants to see come about. that is why iranian position to have nuclear weapons

is so dangerous. they hide behind surrogates in the region who do their bidding. surrogates some of many years, have been found in southern lebanon among hezbollah -- i will talk about them in a moment. they are a surrogate who basically works of the behest of the iranian government, and that conflict to have walls between israel and hezbollah, in which there have been massive military attacks coming from lebanon, rocket strikes into israel, and israel's response, the last one in the 2005, 2006 time period, and it could happen again. conditions arek right for it to happen again, and it could happen at any moment. that is another speech. suffice to say it is a dangerous proposition. how does hezbollah get this weaponry? they get this weaponry from iran , and it is shipped through

syria. through syria. the u.s. disengagement from syria will make it easier for whichand the irgc, belongs to -- from these iranian government and has blood, to strike at israel at some point in the future. in addition to that, i is also present on the ground in israel, so not only does iran have has hezbollah and iran are in syria on israel's very border, in the same region in the south. a u.s. withdrawal will make it easier for iran to grow their presence there. israel faces a threat from hezbollah, from southern lebanon, a threat from iran in syria. we also see that the iranian influence has grown in iraq. ,he second leading party political movement in the current iraqi parliament is a shia group, directly aligned

with iran, with growing political influence. they want to get america out of there, and believe me, they want to turn iraq into another place of operation in which israel can be targeted. down here in yemen, the houthis are an agent of iran. you might say all, that is kind of far -- it is not. missiles can reach them. it also allows them to shut off transit at the bottom of the red sea, which could directly impact, ultimately, the ability of trade and commerce for israel and for the region, writ large. obviously, the growing iranian presence in bahrain, in kuwait. suffice to say, iran growing its influence and it circle, who would use as its enemy against but more than anyone else against israel.

often called by some the west bank, but also down in gaza, where there has been an uptick in violence. in southern lebanon, hezbollah routinely builds tunnels from lebanon into israel, the purpose of which to sneak fighters from the tunnels right into israel so they can conduct commando raids and kill civilians. not military personnel, civilians. the threat is growing every day. i want to talk specifically for a moment about the missile threat to israel. here is the range of the rockets. there was an israel-hezbollah war. the next one will be far deadlier, and it will be deadlier for a couple of regions. hezbollah can now build these rockets. they no longer need to ship them all in. for the last decade and a half, they have built the capability to construct these rockets themselves. the second is they have more of the. that matters, because israel has

a very good defense system, but you can overwhelm a missile volume.system with meeting you launch 100 rockets, you knock down 99 of them, but one of them gets through, hits a population center, and kills 10,000 people. hezbollah now has that capability. these rockets are also precision guided. they are not just locking and loading and it hits where it hits, they can launch precision guided missiles, that targets specific areas within israel, and the ranges are starting. tells youple, this how many seconds it can take from launch to impact, meaning 10 seconds to 25 seconds before they could hit, for example, the area of nazareth. moving farther down, you can see 35 in the time you hit 50 seconds, farther down, tel aviv, 75 seconds. jerusalem, south of that, probably another 10 seconds added, 85 seconds.

120 seconds, 165 seconds. imagine for a moment if you are visiting israel or living in israel or studying there, whatever it might be, and one of these launches come in, a barrage of a 1000-rocket launch, you literally have 35 to 50 seconds, less than two minutes. there is no country in the world that can mobilize people to get out of the way into minutes. these are the population centers. this is the threat that faces them right now, and that is just from lebanon. imagine having the same could ability that i just described also existing in syria, and imagine them all being launched from syria, from lebanon, and from iran, and now you can see the construct of a plan to destroy this tiny nation and why it is so critical that the united states supports them and fighting for their existence. the threat is extraordinary. you talk about there is one more

element to it. there is now a boycott the investment in sanctions, bds, that is designed to wage economic war on israel, and that companies toe boycott israeli companies and people who do business in israel until they stop, to pressure investment funds and banks to no longer do investments on anything related to israel and to pressure governments around the world to sanction israel. that is what it is about, to undermine them economically as well, to destroy them. it is economical warfare. and it is working. people are adopting this throughout the world, and there are some that are doing it here. a have seen in the news number people who have decided not to do business with israel because of the pressure from that movement. they are not just boycotting the economy. concerts, they want

the israeli sports teams, additional sports including soccer, the olympic committee, they boycott cultural events, the boycott universities, they are pressuring universities to cut ties with any universities in israel over this. to destroyfort israel culturally, economically, and in a way that works in combination to destroy it physically. it is a very real threat. so we have tried to confront both of these issues in bipartisan legislation. i have up here a chart, and i will talk about in a moment, because 26 states in this country have tried to do something to condemn bds, but i will get to that in a moment before i tell you the what. i just told you why it is so important that we stand with israel. components with it. one deals with the human rights violation in syria. we will discuss that further, perhaps tomorrow. the second component of this bill deals with jordan, one of

the neighbors of israel, that is critical to its security. thatf the best deals happened to israel security is the deal with jordan and egypt that allows them to at their periphery to have countries that are not threatening to destroy them, but jordan faces their own address, and add to that isis. we took these two bills that ,ave bipartisan support cosponsored by republicans and democrats, combined with the hasr two bills that also support, into one bill, and that is senate bill 1. we view this as an opportunity for the united states in and for congress to weigh in on foreign policy at a time in which all of these are made worse by the decision to withdraw from syria. today, i want to talk about the two component that impact israel directly.

the third is basically the united states-israel security authorization assistance act, a fancy title for the bill that i co-authored with senator chris coons of delaware, who sits on the other side of the aisle, but i told you, this is a bipartisan bill. 72. it passed overwhelmingly. we did not even have to have a voicell boy, just rollcala vote. on september 12, and then it was hotline for a potential voice vote 2011. what did this bill do? it lays out a statement of policy. let me tell you why that is important. they matter in the region, because one of the things i would encourage hezbollah or any israel's enemy is the belief that the united states is no longer committed to israel's security as we once were. miscalculate, they

read these headlines about one or two people in america saying something negative toward israel, and they think somehow we are we getting in our resolve. silly to askounds him about the people over there, it has not, they read into it, they make errors, and a .iscalculation here to us to maket very clear that our commitment to israel is unwavering. it is especially important in light of the decision to withdraw from syria. a lot of these countries, including iran, are reading into this that the united states commitment to the middle east is no longer very strong. and not only are they not committed to being involved in the region, they are actually withdrawing any of the outfits that they are using to be supportive to the region. so the statements on policy are important. this lays out a statement on

policy does as "it should be the policy of the united states to provide assistance to the government of israel in order to provide funding for cooperative programs to develop, produce missiles, rockets, and other capabilities to help israel mean security needs and to enhance united states defense capabilities." what that means is this is a cooperation. israel might be developing some of these technologies, because they have immediate need. we benefit from that technology, too. nextrael develops the missile-defense system, we would use that, too. also authorizes u.s. security assistance and foreign military financing at no less than $3.3 billion a year for the next decade. that is simply the language from a memorandum of understanding that was signed by the obama administration and israel. we put that into statute and authorized it. this is really important. it extends a stockpile authority and extends loan guarantees to

israel through 2023. israel has never defaulted on u.s.-backed loan guarantees, and this provides ready the insurance on israel's stability, given the many threats it is facing. it also allows the president to transfer precision guided munitions and related defense articles and services to reserve stocks for israel as necessary for legitimate self-defense. what this means is they would be put on reserve status, assuming they do not impact our readiness, and they will be made available to israel in case a war broke out in their reserves are depleted. they start running out of rockets, defense apparatus, munitions, and the united states is ready to rapidly send to them so they can defend themselves, but at least they know it is sitting there. we do not have to scramble to find it, it takes two weeks to get there, and by then, the week is over. provideident should

procedures for rapidly acquiring need tooying what we support production of these precision-guided munitions for u.s. counterterror mission's. it requires the president to report no later than 120 days to the appropriate committee on israel's eligibility or strategic trade authorizations. strategic trade authorizations exceptions to certain export control licensing, including reasons as to why israel has not been listed in the list of countries eligible for trade operations. this is also critical, a new threat that is emerging, it authorizes the president to enter a get into a cooperative agreement, meaning it benefits them and us, to develop counter unmanned aerial vehicles and the threat they pose. is isason why that because unfair or a temp of last year, an iranian drone was shot down by israel, and everyone believes these unmanned aerial

vehicles are the next president will be deployed in the battlefield and essentially by terrorists. work with israel, who faces an immediate threat, to develop counters for that. today, we do not have good counters for that. above all, it makes one clear policy statement, which has been a linchpin of our support for israel, and that is that the policy of the united states will israel maintains its ability to avert any threat from a state or from nonstate actors while sustaining minimal damages and casualties through the use of superior military means, possession sufficient quality, including weapons, command, control, and capabilities that in their technical characteristics are superior. of capabilities of those such other individual coalition state or nonstate actors. here is what this means. it is the policy of the united states to make sure that israel's weapons and systems are better than anyone else's in the

region. whatever anybody else have come a we will allow them to access and acquire something better, so that they always have an advantage. because if anyone in that region believes it could be is real in a war, they will try to beat israel in a war. that is the history from the very birth. that isthe history, and the lesson in 1967 and 1973. we do not want that to happen again. that is what this bill does. that is why it has so much support. that is why it is so important for us to move to debate on this issue. but it also tackles this economic warfare. what is included in this is a bill we saw last year with senator manchin, called the combative bds act. by the way, last year, the , and thehairman regular member, senator brown of ohio, they did not even require a committee. they tried to pass by voice

vote, and they were not able to because of one senator for trying to block it. let me thank them for trying to advance this last year. the hezbollah sanctions law last year, known as the has law financing preventio. -- the hezbollah financing provision. what it does is it basically says that any state or city in america -- first of all, let me tell you what it does include. it does not outlaw bds. an american company and you want to divest from israel, it does not make it illegal. it does not stop you from doing it. the only thing is if there is some city or county or state in this country who wants to support israel, they have a right to say we are not going to buy services or goods from any company that is boycotting or divesting from israel. that is what it does. it gives them the opportunity to have their elected officials to

respond to the people, the cities and counties that elected them, that they will not do business with people who do business with israel or boycott israel. in essence, it allows us to boycott the boycotters. something that is an infringement on the first amendment, but let me tell you, the first amendment protects speech and actions that function in the form of speech. this is not an effort to silence speech, nor is this an effort to silence speak, per se, it is an effort to defend the right to counter speak. you have a right to express your views on something. you have a right to boycotting country, and people have a right to boycott you, and that is what this law allows you to do. it is that simple. by the way, this is not some domestic debate. they are not trying to influence some law that we are passing here in bds. they are not trying to influence your opinions on a topic.

they are trying to influence the foreign policy of another country. this is not traditional free speech. the courts have given congress and the executive reached extraordinary discretion on the setting of foreign policy, and when a company weighs in on bds, they are not trying to influence domestic debate in the u.s., they are trying to punish a nationstate so that that state changes its policies in another country. there is an open question about whether the first amendment even covers that, but notwithstanding anything in the bill, nothing in the bill should be construed to invade or to hurt anyone with that first amendment right. so anyone who hides behind the idea that this was designed to silence speech is not being truthful. this does not outlaw bds. you want to boycott or divest from israel, you can. that is not illegal. we are not preventing that feared that would be an infringement. all we're saying is if you

boycott israel, people have the right to boycott you. that includes cities and states who do not want to buy from you. that is why this enjoys bipartisan support. some have asked me to take it out of this bill. at least that is what i have heard earlier. now there is another region. it is absurd. vote against it. if you are trying to shield the boycotters, that is a supportive thatan in my opinion, and is why it is important to pass that. i emphasize again, this was not overly controversial two weeks ago. look at the people who support this bill. the majority leader, the minority leader, the foreign relations committee chairman, of theking member foreign relations committee, the senate finance committee chairman, democrat and republican leaders support this bill.

and yet, somehow, we cannot even proceed to debate on this bill. you may say wait until the shutdown is over. that is the argument being used now. we should not move anything until we deal with the shutdown. i do not like the shutdown. but this is not just any other issue. there is a credible argument to be made there is a time sensitivity to this because the enemies of israel are not sitting around waiting. this could happen at any moment. these are not the kinds of things that build up. hezbollah's desire to destroy israel is long-standing. and what they choose to do about it will not wait for the u.s. senate to deal with the other topic. this is an immediate threat. it is right before us, and it deserves our immediate reaction. and this could rapidly escalate. i'm not going to take up another 30 minutes and describe all the scenarios in which that could happen. but i will give you one which is not out of the realm of possible. now that they know the u.s. will

be withdrawing from syria, the israelis decide, and i believe rightfully so, that four of their own defense they need to start attacking more in syria the supply lines iran is using. militiase they see forming anywhere near the border, they will hit them. they will step up those attacks now because we are not there anymore. and iran will fill that void. so they will have to step up their attacks. iran and/ort, hezbollah or both will react to those attacks with attacks of their own at which point israel will respond with even bigger tax. and then the cycle of escalation begins. before you know it, very quickly in this region, we could have a shooting war. not a war of words. rockets and missiles being fired

at one another from lebanon, from syria, into israel. israel responding back into syria and lebanon. israel has said lebanon is on since hezbollah and the president of lebanon have created a political alliance. you have all these other countries running around inside of syria including russia. the troops could get caught in a firefight eliciting a response back to israel. before you know it, we have an all-out war in the middle east. the possibility of that happening is not for fetched. -- far-fetched. and i say this to you with no pleasure. there will be another israel/hezbollah war. that is just a matter of time. in the next one will be far deadlier. it is incumbent on us to do what we can. there are things we cannot do and there are things we can.

it is impoundment -- incumbent on us to prevent that. one of the things we can do to help prevent that or extend the time before that happens is to make it clear to hezbollah, iran, and everyone else that if you take on israel, we will support them. we will support them. that is what this bill is designed to do. not just to send that message, but to put in place that reality. given the tinderbox that is the middle east and the unpredictability of the various actors involved, particularly those who hate israel, why would we not move immediately to address something like that? why are we not capable of voting on something that will probably get 80 votes here and still deal with the government shutdown? because the last time we had a government shutdown, we were still voting on bills that had nothing to do with the shutdown. when the other party was in charge, we were doing that. there is no precedent for doing it.

i believe it is possible for us to do both. and that is what we should do. this is not tax reform or health care reform. this is something that is urgent and immediate and requires our attention because of the unpredictability of foreign events today, because of the unpredictable he of this part of the world -- unpredictability of this part of the world. i note the speaker will bring up a motion to proceed to begin debate on the bill. nothing else is going on around here. unless we continue to meet about how to get out of the shutdown, but don't shut down the senate on the topic of this importance. because these events will not wait for us. it is important for us to act. please do not go around asking to theto stand up foreign policies of this administration we do not agree

with. when we try to do it or offer a counter or something to diminish its negative impact, and the response is obstruction. not just obstruction because of policy. obstruction in order to make a political point or avoid a vote that three or four senators might not want to take. i don't think that makes a lot of sense. i think when it comes to national security and foreign weicy, on those issues, should try to the extent possible to remove them from the daily grind of american politics because the repercussions are dramatic. that is the one thing that makes national security and foreign policy different from domestic policy. you can always go back and change a bad tax law. you can always go back and change a bad health care law. you can always go back and make changes to a bad banking law. you cannot undo history. you cannot undo wars when they have started. you cannot undo cartage --

carnage when it has occurred. foreign policy is often irreversible. mistakes are made, you have to do the best you can with the hand you're dealt. that is why i hope on this one we stop playing games and we get on this bill and passed it so even as the debate about the shutdown continues, we make clear to the world and her enemies that we stand with israel. we always have, and we always will. across party lines. we may bicker and fight about many things, but a link -- when it comes to the support of in supportare united of our strongest ally in the region and one of our strong east allies in the entire world. mr. president, i yield the floor. senateier today, minority leader chuck schumer issued a statement saying he intends to force a vote to block the trump administration's recent action to relax sanctions

against three russian companies. he said in part -- and "the hill" adds -- under that law, the house and senate must act by january 17. the announcement comes days after treasury secretary steven mnuchin briefed house leaders on the decision to ease sanctions. >> the government shutdown is now in its 23rd day, making it the longest in u.s. history. watch the house monday live at noon eastern on c-span and the senate live at 3:00 eastern on c-span2. >> the senate confirmation hearings for the next attorney

general of the united states begin tuesday. in december, president trump nominated him to replace jeff sessions. counselbarr is now of at a law firm and served as the u.s. attorney general for president george h.w. bush. watch the confirmation process for attorney general nominee william barr tuesday on c-span3. wednesday, democratic virginia governor ralph northam delivered his address to the legislature. during his speech, he proposed a budget plan based on expected last year's tax overhaul and wanted lawmakers to consider his plan to reduce gun violence through universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.