Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act

Floor Speech

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The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fetterman). The Senator from Maryland.

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I was scheduled a couple days ago to come here to the Senate floor to talk about what measures the United States could be taking now to help relieve the suffering in Sudan, and I plan to get to that topic. But since I planned to come talk about that, we have seen this disaster unfolding on Capitol Hill, where an agreement that had been reached in a bipartisan manner between Democrats and Republicans, between the House and the Senate, to prevent a government shutdown and to support critical priorities around the country, how that bipartisan agreement got blown up because of a tweet from Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.

And we don't know if he has just decided that he is going to be sort of the kingmaker on Capitol Hill. All I do know is that that was shortly followed by tweets from the President-elect and other members of the Trump family. Who is leading whom here, we don't know. All we know is that the end result is very bad for the American people because Federal employees provide all sorts of vital services, from air traffic controllers to nurses and doctors in veterans hospitals, to the people who look out for the safety of our food. Some of them will be prevented from coming to work. Others will be asked to go to work without their salary during that period of time. All of that will disrupt the country, and all of that was avoidable. In fact, if the Speaker of the House had just stuck to the agreement that he had reached over a period of weeks, we would not be in this situation, sort of heading toward a government shutdown, with last-minute demands made by tweet.

In my State of Maryland, we had a provision to deal with the disaster of the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore City. We all know the story there: A big ship hit the pylon and brought down the bridge. We lost a number of souls who had been working on that bridge.

We worked to get the debris out of the bottom of the river so that we could reopen the port, but the next step is to replace the Key Bridge. And just as the country came together to support the people in Minnesota after the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge, the Maryland delegation is asking the same of our colleagues. And we were heartened by the fact that Republicans and Democrats did come together in the spirit of ``all for one and one for all'' to help Maryland, just as we are helping other States--red States, blue States, purple States. And the bottom line--the important thing--is they are red, white, and blue States, and we are helping the people in all those States in their hour of hurt after disasters hit their States.

I heard our colleague from North Carolina, Senator Tillis, who has worked very hard to get relief for the people of North Carolina, talking about how he doesn't plan to support any continuing resolution that doesn't include relief for the people of North Carolina. And that is the sentiment we should all share, not only because it is the right thing to do but because we recognized it was the right thing to do when we negotiated that bipartisan agreement.

So this moment should be a wake-up call to everybody as we look to the next 4 years because this Republic will be on very shaky grounds if one or two tweets can throw the whole place into disarray and lead us toward a government shutdown.

I will also point out that the fact that the President-elect asked for an early increase in the Nation's debt ceiling sent a very clear signal as to what his priority is. His priority is to cut taxes for very rich people and very big corporations. And to make that easier, they want to raise the debt ceiling now, rather than take responsibility for it themselves down the road. So this is a preview of what the priorities of the incoming administration are and the lengths that they are prepared to go to bring this place to a halt to achieve their goals.

And, by the way, I am sure that the richest guy in the world will just get even richer with those tax cuts that will be coming down the line.

So I really urge our Republican colleagues in the House to keep their word and stick with the agreement that we reached. It is a compromise agreement. It has things in it that I would not have put in it, if I were to draft this myself, and it leaves things out that I would like to see included. That is the nature of compromise in divided government, which we have right now.

So I really hope that smarter, cooler heads will prevail and not, when they get a tweet that says, ``Jump,'' say, ``How high should I jump?'' but to really think about whether that is the way to govern in the years ahead. Sudan

Mr. President, now I do want to turn to the matter that I had planned to talk about before this latest disruption, and that is the terrible, ongoing killings, starvation, and humanitarian disaster in Sudan.

Two weeks ago, I came to this Senate floor to discuss this same issue and to explain why I had filed what is known as a joint resolution of disapproval, or a JRD, to block the Biden administration's request to send offensive weapons, including advanced rockets and missiles worth $1.2 billion, to the United Arab Emirates.

I was joined in filing the joint resolution of disapproval by my House colleague Congresswoman Sara Jacobs. She filed that on the House side.

And as I said when I introduced that joint resolution of disapproval, it was based on credible reports and investigations, including by the United Nations, that found that the UAE has been transferring arms to a group called the Rapid Support Forces, in Sudan, further fueling this terrible conflict that has already claimed thousands and thousands of lives and created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

And it is my view that the United States should use all of our leverage to help bring peace and stability to the people of Sudan. It is the right thing to do from a humanitarian point of view. It is also in America's interest to stop the fighting. And, certainly, the United States should not be rewarding any country--any country--that is fueling the conflict.

That is why Congresswoman Jacobs and I filed that JRD, because we want to use our influence to prevent the United Arab Emirates from sending weapons to the murderous RSF. And after we filed the joint resolution of disapproval, we wrote a letter to President Biden, dated December 2, 2024, outlining our goals--and, again, stressing the fact that the objective was not to end arms transfers forever to the UAE. The objective was to use our leverage to get the UAE to stop sending weapons to the RSF, which the United States has charged with war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Sudan.

So I am here on the floor, 2 weeks later, to say that, yesterday, we received a letter from the Biden administration--specifically, from the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk--stating--and I am going to quote here from the letter:

[T]he UAE has informed the Administration that it is not now transferring any weapons to the RSF and will not do so going forward.

The letter goes on to say:

The administration will work with relevant departments and agencies to monitor for indicators of the credibility and reliability of these assurances provided by the UAE. By January 17, I commit to providing you with the executive branch's up-to-date assessment in that regard.

Dear Senator Van Hollen: Thank you for your letter dated December 2, 2024, concerning the Joint Resolution of Disapproval you filed on November 21, 2024, with respect to certain sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in relation to reports of UAE's support to the Rapid Sudan Forces (RSF) in the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

The United States has been a global leader in trying to end this crisis, leading negotiation efforts twice in Saudi Arabia and once in Switzerland via the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS). As you know, the UAE has been a partner in ALPS. The UAE used its influence to bring the RSF to the negotiations in Switzerland while the Sudanese Armed Forces boycotted the talks.

The UAE has also been a humanitarian contributor throughout the war and other conflicts worldwide. The UAE continues to be a dominant humanitarian actor in Gaza, as one of the only countries operating on the ground, providing as much as $828 million since October 2023, 42 percent of total aid provided in Gaza in that time period.

Despite reports we have received suggesting the contrary has occurred to date, the UAE has informed the Administration that it is not now transferring any weapons to the RSF and will not do so going forward. The Administration will work with relevant departments and agencies to monitor for indicators of the credibility and reliability of these assurances provided by the UAE. By January 17, I commit to providing you with the executive branch's up-to-date assessment in that regard. Sincerely, Brett McGurk, Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, because we have achieved our objective, which is to get the UAE to provide those assurances to the Biden administration and to get the Biden administration to assure us that they will monitor compliance with those assurances, we will not be insisting on a vote on the JRD at this time, which is our right, because it is a privilege motion that can be brought up at any time.

But I want to thank the Biden administration, I want to thank the White House, and the National Security Council for working with us to achieve what I know are our mutual objectives, which is to prevent the RSD from getting arms from any party.

If you look at what is happening there, you will find the situation getting worse and worse. Since the brutal conflict in Sudan began between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces back in April 2023, a staggering 11.8 million people have been displaced within Sudan or fled to neighboring countries.

More than half the population--that is 25 million people--face acute food insecurity. And while the total casualty numbers have been difficult to determine, a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Sudan Research Group estimates that more than 60,000 people have died in the Khartoum region alone between April 2023 and June 2024.

And in a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee--a committee on which I serve--the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, suggested that the total death toll could be as high as 150,000 people.

Both the RSF and the SAF have worsened this crisis, with both parties credibly accused of using starvation as a weapon of war by intentionally blocking humanitarian aid by reaching those most in need.

The United States has determined that both the RSF and the SAF have committed war crimes. The State Department has also concluded that the Rapid Support Forces have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

I want to remind my colleagues that this organization--the Rapid Support Forces--traces its roots to the Janjaweed militias and is led by a man known as Hemedti, who, along with others in the RSF, participated in the genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s.

So these are bad people, and we should not be helping any country or sending arms to any country that is aiding and abetting their actions in Sudan.

And yet, that is what credible reports have shown. In January, a U.N. Panel of Experts documented credible allegations that the UAE was violating a Darfur arms embargo, which was first established back in 2005 to stop the genocide in Darfur. These findings have been corroborated by credible human rights organizations and an independent investigation by the New York Times, which found that the UAE smuggled weapons to the RSF under the guise of humanitarian aid.

That is why it was important that we act. The United States is trying to reach an end to the conflict. We should not be sending any weapons to any country that is helping fuel that conflict.

So I appreciate the administration's willingness to work with us to obtain such assurances from the UAE and to create an accountability mechanism to monitor its compliance with those commitments.

And I want to thank and remember my colleagues here, Senator Cardin, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, my colleague from Maryland; Senator Schumer, the leader, and their teams for working with us and the administration to get those assurances from the UAE and to create that accountability structure to monitor compliance with those assurances.

And while I will not be seeking a vote on the JRD today, if, in January, the administration determines that the UAE has not been compliant with those promises, commitments, and assurances, then, of course, we retain the right to refile the joint resolution of disapproval in the new Congress to block arms sales from the United States to the UAE--that $1.3 billion sale.

As President Biden said in September of this year, ``The United States will not abandon our commitment to the people of Sudan, who deserve freedom, peace, and justice. We call on all parties to this conflict to end the violence and refrain from fueling it, for the future of Sudan and for all the Sudanese people.''

And that is why our message has been that any country that is supplying any actor in this brutal civil war must stop doing so. That is why Congressman Jacobs and I filed the joint resolution of disapproval against the proposed arms sales to the UAE because they have, based on credible allegations, been sending weapons to the murderous RSF. That is also why we will not seek a vote now on that JRD--because the Biden administration received those assurances that I just read out loud on the Senate floor from the UAE and has committed to monitoring them.

So let's hope this puts an end to the chapter of the UAE sending weapons to this murderous organization, where so many were responsible for the genocide in Darfur 20 years ago and who, today, according to the U.S. Government, are committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.

We should do everything in our power as a country to end that suffering. That is why we took the measure we did. That is why I am grateful that the administration worked with us to reach this point, and it is why we will continue to monitor this situation--to make sure that those arms shipments do not happen in the future.

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