Highway Trust Fund

Floor Speech

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Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I don't believe that foreign aid should go to countries that persecute Christians. I also don't believe that foreign aid should go to countries that host terrorists within their government. I have had this belief for some time, but I have met with a great deal of resistance in the Senate.

Last week, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I introduced an amendment which said that any country that persecutes Christians by law--Pakistan has a Christian woman named Asia Bibi; she is on death row for the crime, some say, of blasphemy. Others say she never said a word. She is really on death row for being a Christian. She has been there for 5 years. I say Pakistan shouldn't get any American money and that no taxpayer money should go to countries that are persecuting Christians.

In the Sudan, another country that receives money from the American taxpayer, Meriam Ibrahim is on death row for the crime of changing religion. She married a man who is a Christian. She is now being detained. She tried to escape recently. She was redetained.

The only thing that is consistent about foreign aid is that it continues to flow, regardless of restriction, regardless of window dressing to say, Oh, if a country does this, we will take it back. It never happens. Our foreign aid, our hard-earned American tax dollars continue to flow to these countries, no matter what their behavior is.

So two weeks ago I came to the floor and I said, in Israel Hamas is now joining with the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is a terrorist group that does not recognize Israel and attacks Israel on a routine basis. Now that they will be part of a unity government, they will be receiving foreign aid from America. So I said, for goodness sakes, would we not want restrictions on this aid? Would we not want to say that our money shouldn't flow to Hamas?

They should have to recognize Israel's right to exist. They should have to renounce violence. On a daily basis they lob missiles from Gaza into Israel. Yet in the Foreign Relations Committee only one other Member had the guts to vote against this foreign aid, because foreign aid is so entrenched in our national psyche that it goes on regardless of the behavior.

Now, some will say: There are rules. If Hamas becomes a big part of this government, they won't get any money. Guess what. Hamas can read. They have read our legislation. They are purposely setting up their unity government to evade our restrictions.

There are already people who say the President has a waiver. So in my legislation, the Stand With Israel Act, we would get rid of the Presidential waiver and say that if Hamas joins a government with the Palestinian Authority, they should get no American taxpayer money. I said this two weeks ago. The Democrats said: No, President Obama doesn't want to give up the authority to continue sending money to these countries.

A week ago we had another disaster. In Israel three young teenagers were killed: Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrah, and Naftali Fraenkel, who was also an American citizen as well--killed in cold blood.

Do you know what the response of Hamas was? To stand up and cheer. In fact, I can give you the direct response of Hamas. Khaled Meshal, their political director, said: ``Blessed be the hands that capture them.'' They stood with glee and cheered when these three teenage boys were killed in cold blood. These were not soldiers, these were civilians.

The news reports are that Hamas has joined this unity government precisely because they are bankrupt. They want to get our money. That is why they are joining the unity government.

What is ours? Ours is the tepid ``oh, please don't behave that way.'' But we have no teeth. The same thing has happened in Egypt, the same thing in Pakistan, country after country. The only consistent is the money never stops and the behavior never changes.

Some will argue that foreign aid is a way to project American power. Well, if it is, we ought to be projecting American values. We should project what America stands for. We should not be saying: Here is some money. Do with it what you will.

So this has real teeth. This act is called the Stand with Israel Act. It says: No money to terrorists, no money to Hamas unless they are willing to give up the war and begin to find peaceful means of coexisting.

So this evening I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. 2265 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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