Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Proposed Export of
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from Vermont.
Several weeks ago, several Senators joined me in meeting with the Ambassador from Israel. It was an effort to discuss many of the things which we are discussing this evening.
We asked him why Israel was not providing humanitarian aid in Gaza. He said: That is not true. We were providing it, but Hamas was stealing it from us and using it to buy weapons and to make them stronger.
Then he went on to say--when we asked him about the children starving, the images we had all seen on television, he said: That is not true. That is a United Nations' narrative.
Then we asked him basically: If there is such a difference of opinion about what is happening in Gaza, why don't you allow international journalists to come into this area and report to the world what they actually see?
He said it was too dangerous for journalists to even witness it.
Mr. President, I want to tell you, that was an incredible statement and, I believe, totally wrong.
At the outset, Cindy McCain and others told us there is no diversion by Hamas of the humanitarian aid. It just isn't coming into Gaza.
They went on to say that these children--of course, we see them on television. You can't avoid it. That is the reality of the situation.
Furthermore, when it came down to it, we had to stand up and acknowledge the obvious--that Israel is part of this.
Children in Gaza are starving and dying. The question is, What will the United States do about it?
I thank the Senator from Vermont for offering these resolutions this evening. It is painful for many of us who devoted our congressional careers to supporting Israel, standing by them through difficult times. It is impossible to explain or defend what is going on today. Gaza is starving and dying because of the policies of Benyamin Netanyahu.
It is time for us as a nation to say that our taxpayers are not going to support this effort. I will be joining the Senator this evening in supporting this effort.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Slotkin) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 27, nays 70, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 454 Ex.] YEAS--27 Alsobrooks Baldwin Blunt Rochester Duckworth Durbin Heinrich Hirono Kaine Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Reed Sanders Schatz Shaheen Smith Van Hollen Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse NAYS--70 Banks Barrasso Bennet Blackburn Blumenthal Booker Boozman Britt Budd Cantwell Capito Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fetterman Fischer Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hagerty Hassan Hawley Hickenlooper Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Padilla Paul Peters Ricketts Risch Rosen Rounds Schiff Schmitt Schumer Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Warner Wicker Wyden Young NOT VOTING--3 Gallego Kelly Slotkin
The motion was rejected. Vote on Motion to Discharge S.J. Res. 34
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Slotkin) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 24, nays 73, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 455 Ex.] YEAS--24 Alsobrooks Baldwin Blunt Rochester Duckworth Durbin Heinrich Hirono Kaine Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Sanders Schatz Shaheen Smith Van Hollen Warnock Warren Welch NAYS--73 Banks Barrasso Bennet Blackburn Blumenthal Booker Boozman Britt Budd Cantwell Capito Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fetterman Fischer Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hagerty Hassan Hawley Hickenlooper Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Ossoff Padilla Paul Peters Reed Ricketts Risch Rosen Rounds Schiff Schmitt Schumer Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Warner Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young NOT VOTING--3 Gallego Kelly Slotkin
The motion was rejected.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source