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“I want the Senate to pass this bill today. Wildfires are getting hotter, bigger, and more dangerous because of climate change. This bill makes it easier for towns to set small, controlled fires that clear out dry brush before a major fire starts, without facing clean air penalties for the smoke. It also helps towns set up safe indoor places with clean air for people who have trouble breathing during bad wildfire smoke.”

“Mr. President, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that is certainly true when it comes to wildfires and smoke. And as climate chaos makes the fire season longer and hotter and more dangerous, wildfires are ravaging States across our country, certainly including my home State of Oregon. This year, at the beginning of fire season, the risk maps showed that the State of Oregon was the epicenter of the highest risk for the most time anticipated. Unfortunately, that crystal ball prepared by the experts turned out to be right. We had a record 2.5 million acres burn this summer. Well, we broke the 2 million acres last summer and the 2.5 million acres this summer. It wasn’t that long ago when 1 million acres would have been an extraordinarily horrific fire year. Forests burning, grasslands burning, more lightning strikes, more wind, more drought, more dryness, hotter temperatures--all of it combined to create that extraordinarily destructive summer we have just gone through. I will never forget 6 years ago the Labor Day fires, at the beginning of September, when we had a combination of lightning strikes and wind that brought, basically, a force up from the east, wind over the top of the Cascade Mountains and down every valley, and every valley was burning. We had six cities burn to the ground, and we had another six that were badly scorched. When you saw those cities, it looked like a bomb had gone off. I mean, everything was reduced to ashes, with maybe a cast-iron tub over here, with maybe a metal staircase or a pipe dangling over here, then on the ground a pool of metal when the wheels on cars would melt and run across the ground. It was just devastating to go to the fairgrounds--where thousands of refugees were headed--and hear of their harrowing escapes. Sometimes their cars were starting to melt and smoke as they drove through the fire. Others were seeking refuge in the streams. These fires? They are terrible, and they fill the air with toxins-- toxins from the burning buildings and the burning homes and burning vehicles that are filled with plastics and electronics. Who knows what else is in that smoke? That smoke is incredibly dangerous as well. That is why we need to pass the bipartisan Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act on which I am so pleased to partner with my colleague Senator Curtis from Utah. This bill prepares our communities in two different ways. First, it makes it easier for communities to do prescribed burns. Now, if I turned the clock back about 16 years, communities would say to me: We don’t want those prescribed burns. We don’t want that day or two of smoke. But after the 2020 Labor Day fires, communities are like: We want to do the prescribed burns. We want them carefully monitored so that they do not escape and cause a larger fire, which has happened on rare occasions. We want to make sure they are done on days when there is enough humidity and so little wind and so little risk of wind that they can’t possibly become something other than the prescribed burns. They have to be meticulously planned, carefully controlled, and then they reduce so much fuel on the ground and provide a lot of protection thereafter. So prescribed burns are--along with thinning and mowing-- significant ways to reduce the fuel load and reduce the devastation when there is a fire. But here is the thing: a prescribed burn produces smoke, and that smoke may become a penalty under the Clean Air Act for our communities. So this bill solves that problem so that smoke from a prescribed fire does not create a penalty under the Clean Air Act. Second, this bill helps communities prepare for smoke, to have locations that are safe for people, particularly people with lung problems, with asthma or emphysema or so forth or people who are particularly allergic to the content of the smoke to be able to get to places that have clean air through filtering. So that is essential. And this bill incorporates the Smoke-Ready Communities Program based on the Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act that I introduced before. It gives communities the tools and the resources to prepare for wildfire smoke and unhealthy air. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is a pretty good foundation for a bill--a bill, the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act, that will give our communities the tools they need to prepare for wildfires and smoke pollution, and I would encourage that we adopt this bill today. I yield to one of my colleagues.”

“I want the Senate to pass this bill. Western states face worse wildfires and toxic smoke every year. Controlled burns are the best way to prevent huge fires, but states worry the government will punish them for smoke if they use them. This bill makes it easier for states to use controlled burns without hurting their air quality ratings.”

“Mr. President, colleagues, I am proud to join our colleagues from Utah and Oregon in bringing up this bill. I can’t overstate both the importance and the urgency of the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act, which is a result of more than a year of bipartisan negotiations and a measure that recently passed unanimously out of the Environment and Public Works Committee. As my colleague from Oregon has begun to paint the picture, Western States--including Oregon, California, and others--are confronting a crisis of wildfires that aren’t just growing larger and larger every year but more destructive every year and emitting massive amounts of toxic smoke. Now, there is no silver bullet for solving the wildfire crisis, but we know that prescribed fires--experience tells us and the data tells us that prescribed fires are the most effective tools in reducing hazardous fuels and preventing catastrophic wildfires. Will they continue to happen--fires? Yes, but if we can prevent them, that is ideal or at least let’s mitigate their size, their scope, and the damage that they cause however we can. But the problem that brings us to this measure is that while the EPA regulations have allowed prescribed fires to qualify as exceptional events since 2016, the Agency has never actually approved one, leaving States worried that using this critical tool--this provenly effective tool--to protect communities could jeopardize their air quality goals. By trying to do good and prevent fires or mitigate fires from a public safety standpoint, you are penalized on the air quality side of things. So this bill creates a narrow, targeted pathway specifically for prescribed fires while preserving existing air quality standards for other exceptional events. I want to thank my colleagues from Utah and Oregon for their partnership in this important bill, and kudos to Chairwoman Capito and Ranking Member Whitehouse on the committee who helped craft this measure as well.”

“President Trump is spending over $2.5 million in taxpayer money on TV ads that promote himself. That money came from border security funds that should be used to stop drugs like fentanyl. I want the Senate to pass my resolution telling the president to take these ads down and stop using public money for them.”

“Mr. President, President Trump, who has failed to lower people’s costs, last week launched a nationwide television advertisement campaign promoting himself. On televisions across the country right now, people are being inundated with all kinds of political ads. But the ending of these ads is unlike any other. If someone is watching this ad, right at the end, on the bottom of the screen, you find out that this publicity stunt isn’t paid for by President Trump or one of his PACs or even one of his billionaire friends--no. This ad is paid for by you, the American taxpayer. Estimates show that this ad already costs more than $2.5 million. New reports today reveal that the source of this Federal funding is U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a part of the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security should be working to tackle the enormous national security threats we face, like stopping fentanyl, not bankrolling a vanity project for the President. I am glad that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have come out and said that these political ads should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars. Sadly, it takes strong bipartisan pushback as well as the loud and clear voice of the American people to get this administration to reverse course when it is breaking the law or doing something wrong. Today we have an opportunity to start that process by sending such a message to the President. I have introduced a resolution that is quite simple. It just tells the President that he is wrong, that these ads need to be pulled down, and that they should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars. The American people want their tax dollars to go toward helping them and keeping them safe, not propaganda campaigns for a President. He is welcome to run whatever ads he wants with his own riches; but with taxpayer dollars, money that people have worked hard to earn, he needs to follow the law. At minimum, people deserve to know where their Member of Congress stands on this issue. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, therefore, that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 921; further, that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.”

“I want the White House to stop using tax money to pay for television ads. These are political campaign ads for the President, not public service messages. Republicans blocked my resolution to stop this spending, but the President should still stop using our money for his political ads.”

“Mr. President, it is really disappointing that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have blocked a resolution that simply says these plainly political television ads should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars. One of the ads is literally one of the President’s campaign ads from 2024. It is clearly a campaign message, but he is making all of us pay for it at a time when he has sent grocery costs, rent costs, and gas costs soaring. Any American who watches this ad can see that it is not a PSA like the White House claims. What is the public service message here? People know the difference between a PSA and a political ad. Moreover, if we are going to talk about which side of the aisle is supporting communism and socialism, it is this President, who had the U.S. Government take a share--an interest--in a privately held company; it is this President, who welcomed the leader of the largest Communist Party in the world to the White House, fawning over him, having the military on their hands and knees straightening out a red carpet for him, while banning the free press from the White House and welcoming the communist press in. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle should stand together in opposing this clearly unlawful and wrong use of taxpayer money. This is an incredibly wealthy President with a huge war chest that can afford to fund whatever political messages he wants. It should not come at the cost of hard-earned American tax dollars. So, despite the fact that we can’t pass this resolution today, I hope that the administration listens to the bipartisan pushback on these ads and reverses course immediately. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Virginia.”

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“I want the Senate to pass my bill on data centers instead of the Ratepayer Protection Act. The bill coming up tomorrow gives states two years to consider rules, with no penalties if they do nothing. That will not protect people from rising electric bills and water shortages. My bill requires data centers to report their water and power use and to follow environmental and distance standards. If they do not, they will lose big tax breaks.”

“Mr. President, I have spent the last couple of years trying to learn as much as I can about artificial intelligence and its upside, and still long AI in terms of innovational brain. I think there are some real challenges. I have to acknowledge, I did witness this afternoon something that was a little bit surreal. The President had brought together some of the leading leaders in the AI industry. And in a closed, quiet room, I guess they reached some level of moral agreement--whatever that means-- that they are going to try to make sure things are safe. As a matter a fact, they even went so far as to say all of the President’s critique about concerns about AI being a hoax or about data centers not a problem are suddenly being solved because the President has renamed AI, ``SI’’--superintelligence. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry to think that the greatest innovation in my lifetime--I was in the tech business before I came to politics--it will be bigger than my old industry, wireless, bigger than the internet, bigger than cloud computing is--and with all upsides, there are downsides--they are suddenly going to be solved by the name change. But that is kind of the status of our political debate. Earlier today, I came down with two of my Democratic colleagues and said: As we get all these warnings from industry, from businesses that use AI tools, from national security, wouldn’t it be a good idea to put some basic safety precautions in place? We stripped away all of the others and said let’s just have a safety board hearing. I know the Presiding Officer has interest in this topic. I think I have yet to talk to a Member that doesn’t think some level of safety with this enormous innovation is appropriate. Well, that is not going take place before we finish before the elections. So I am back again this afternoon to talk about another piece of the AI debate that certainly needs congressional action, and that is the whole question about how we build out and ensure consumers don’t get stuck with the build-out of data centers. Now, this is something I know a little bit about. Virginia is the capital of data centers in our country, and there is enormous concern from neighbors and communities. Many of the worst examples of data centers were built 15, 20 years ago, but the industry has moved forward. I give credit there. But the angst about data centers--what I think is also reflective of the angst, generally, about AI--is not going away, no matter what the President wants to say. I would urge him to travel anywhere across Virginia, for that matter, anywhere across Kansas or Texas or anywhere else these data centers are being proposed because communities actually want to have a say in what happens in their backyard, what happens with their utility rates, what happens with their water usage, what happens with local communities signing nondisclosure agreements so the community doesn’t even know what they are getting until after the deal is cut. So I guess tomorrow, the Senate will turn their focus on the so- called Ratepayer Protection Act, which is supposed to answer all of these concerns about cost, about computing. The challenge is--and it could be a starting point. But here is what the bill does. It says: States can consider adopting a Federal standard that would hold data centers responsible for rising electricity bills, and then they get 2 years to consider that. Candidly, they could do that today. We have already taken some action in Virginia. And what happens if nobody takes up that offer? Anything happen to these data centers? Anything happen to those communities? Well, nothing. So I think we need real legislation on this. We need legislation that actually has some boundaries. This should not be optional. We have seen communities hit by skyrocketing electrical costs. We have seen communities where a lot of their water usage has gone up dramatically, and they are concerned about the water table. We have seen these data centers sometimes literally intrude right into neighborhoods. And I have heard the pushback from communities all across our Commonwealth. As a matter a fact, even the community that has got the most, that has received the most economic benefits, they recently--Loudoun County--they recently put a pause. I don’t think we can pause. I don’t think we can put the genie back in the bottle. But I would urge the Senate not to take this flimflam, do-nothing bill but actually take a look at my Data Center Tax Accountability and Disclosure Act, which I didn’t dream up in the last couple of days but put forward much earlier this summer on an issue that I have been working on for a couple of years. What we can’t rely on is simply the good will of these hyperscalers and these companies. Some are well-intentioned; some are not. So we need to make sure we have got accurate information about power usage, water usage, setbacks, backup power, get rid of nondisclosure agreements. My legislation will require--not invite--but require that information to come forward and put a penalty in place at a relatively small amount if they don’t submit that. But the real bite and the only thing that is really going to change this behavior--and, frankly, earn back some of the communities’ trust-- is if there is a tool. And, frankly, I have had ongoing discussions with most of the hyperscalers who are building out these data centers who, frankly, think my piece of legislation makes some sense. So the second half of my legislation would say: If you don’t meet Gold LEED or Platinum LEED standards, which are already established--if you don’t show how you are bringing your own clean power or power, if you don’t have criteria on water usage--and that has gotten better because more of these data centers now have circulatory systems, if you don’t have setbacks from neighborhoods, if you use nondisclosure agreements, what it would say is: Well, if you are going to do all that and not meet those standards, then you shouldn’t get bonus depreciation. I am not going to raise anybody’s taxes, but we have given these hyperscalers, we have given these data center builders enormous tax benefits and bonus depreciation where they can write off the cost of these very expensive centers all in the first year. I don’t want to take that away. I am not raising anybody’s taxes, but I am saying you shouldn’t get all the benefits upfront if you don’t provide to the community some guarantees about water, power, setbacks, community involvement. If the community then wants to go over--a hyperscaler wants to come in and say: We will help provide--I think in Louisiana--some additional benefits to your schools, have at it. But you have got to set a Federal baseline so that communities don’t feel they are getting suckered, and the ability to make sure we don’t give away these tax benefits without that minimum guarantee, I think, has a lot of benefit. Just today, we learned that Microsoft saved about $10 billion in taxes on using accelerated depreciation, a bonus depreciation; Meta saved about $16 billion, $15.9 billion from using bonus depreciation. I have reached out to these companies. They understand that the game has changed. They have to be more engaged. I think many of the hyperscalers would meet these new standards, but unless we put some consequences, I think we are going to completely miss the boat. It is kind of like saying, even though the AI companies themselves are saying: Gosh, we are really worried about safety, none of the responsible ones realize they can simply say: Just trust us. The idea that these largest companies in the world--and I know the CEOs and many of them are good people. But the idea, after we all have experienced some of the ups and downs of social media, we are going to turn the same power over to the same group of CEOs and say: We are going to trust you to figure this all out on your own without any public input. I keep thinking back, would I ever climb on an airplane that hadn’t had a safety inspection? That is what we are thinking about on overall AI safety and these models being released. But at least tomorrow, if the Senate takes up this Ratepayer Reduction Act, I hope and I would--I am not sure what I am going to do on the vote tomorrow. But I would say the Ratepayer Production Act is a figleaf. I know people will say, my colleagues might say: Well, why don’t you take half a loaf? You know, I am pretty involved in every bipartisan action. You know, take half a loaf means you can keep working on it. But the underlying bill isn’t half a loaf; it is the promise of maybe one slice of that bread 2 years down from now. The anger in my State and in every State across the country on this issue is not going to wait 2 years to have some kind of optional-- optional, no penalty, but optional review where frankly the pitchforks are out already. So I hope that I can encourage my colleagues to join me in passing the Data Center Tax Accountability and Disclosure Act, one that I have already socialized within industry, one that would put some mandatory requirements but also put some real teeth in this very important issue. I know my colleagues coming want to raise other issues. I will yield the floor, but these issues are not going to disappear. And simply punting or saying to industry: Trust us--and I come from the tech industry--is not going to satisfy the concerns of the American people. The sooner we get to work on serious business, the sooner we can make sure that we benefit from all of this AI innovation that I do think lies in wait--because if we have a mistake or we have a challenge and something happens, all of this innovation could go away because the American people are already enormously suspect about AI. They are already enormously concerned at a 90-10 ratio about data centers. It is time for us to act and not simply punt. I yield the floor.”

“I want the Senate to pass this resolution. It makes the State Department give us a report on human rights in the West Bank, especially about attacks on Americans there. Israel is our friend, but its leaders have ignored our private warnings about violence against Palestinians and Americans. Friends need to be honest with each other, so we must vote yes.”

“Mr. President, I rise to speak on the human rights reporting resolution that will be before the body within about 90 minutes. I am a cosponsor of the bill. Because this resolution is a little bit unusual, I thought I would describe sort of the procedural context and the reason for the statute and then describe why I strongly support a resolution to direct the Department of State to give us a human rights report about Israeli activities on the West Bank, violence against folks on the West Bank and in particular violence against Americans on the West Bank, for which there has been as of yet little or no accountability. This is a provision that is called a 502B resolution. Like some other resolutions that I brought to the floor in the last year, it is a privileged resolution, and the ``privilege’’ means that a single Senator can file it seeking a human rights report on any nation. The resolution cannot be locked up in committee. Within a certain number of days, it ripens, and it is guaranteed a floor vote with a simple- majority passage threshold. The theme that seems to unify these privileged resolutions is it is an effort of a Senator--even a single Senator--to shine a spotlight on and demand accountability from the Executive. Whether that is on the declaration of an emergency or the transfer of arms or the initiation of war or, in this case, the provision of U.S. aid, a Senator has the right to force a vote on the Senate to explore in this case the human rights record of any nation receiving U.S. aid. This is not the first such resolution I have brought to the floor. I brought one to the floor 6 or 8 months ago to seek a human rights report on El Salvador because El Salvador was receiving all these deported individuals from America--not Salvadorans--and imprisoning them in a notorious prison. In that case, I sought information about the conditions of imprisonment. What was the deal between the United States and El Salvador? What is the human rights record of that prison? Can someone in the prison from the United States demonstrate that they are the wrong person, that they picked up the wrong person? So this is the second such resolution I have helped bring to the floor, and I have about two dozen others that I have filed and that are pending--all the nations into which the President is sending folks pursuant to these third-country deportations. I believe it would be important for Congress to get the information about the transfers, about the cost, about the agreements, and about the human rights records. So this is part of a larger strategy that was put into statute to enable Congress to test the human rights record of nations that are receiving U.S. aid. In this instance, this resolution, which was initially cosponsored by Senators Van Hollen, Sanders, and I but now has a number of cosponsors, is specifically to seek a State Department report on the Israel human rights record about the treatment of folks on the West Bank. It lists a number of circumstances in which U.S. citizens--mostly Palestinian American but U.S. citizens--have been killed or injured on the West Bank, and there has been no accountability for that by the Israeli Government. The circumstances on the West Bank are pretty dire. If you just go based upon Israeli media or Israeli human rights organizations, there have been significant public instances of attacks on Palestinian communities on the West Bank for which there has been no accountability. But the notice of these particular attacks has not just been limited to Israeli press or Israeli human rights organizations; international organizations have raised the same issue, but also, importantly, so have U.S. officials serving in Israel during multiple Democratic and Republican administrations. For example, I have attended briefings where U.S. military officials posted in Israel have described instances of violence on the West Bank committed by Israelis and in some instances even Israeli security forces or Israeli IDF reservists. So the violence is not just private- on-private violence, but some of it is being facilitated and even encouraged or participated in by members of the Israeli Government, and that is reporting from the U.S. military. Recently, President Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, whom I knew as Governor Huckabee because we served as Governors together 20 years ago, has similarly complained about violence against folks on the West Bank perpetrated by Israelis--in this case, Israeli settlers--and the lack of any accountability for that violence. Obviously, that should raise serious, serious concerns, but when the violence is also perpetrated against Americans who are there on the West Bank to study, there on the West Bank to visit their families, there on the West Bank to be human rights observers or journalists--when the violence is committed against Americans, we need to take specific steps to make sure we understand that there will be accountability. That is what this resolution would do. It would require the Department of State, within a set period of time, to issue a human rights report that specifically addresses the questions that are listed in the resolution and particularly those questions that bear upon violence committed against Americans and what Israel can or will do about it. Anything dealing with United States-Israel relations or the Middle East, frankly, is controversial because it is such a challenging area. And let’s be clear, Israel is a friend. Israel is an ally. That friendship is between the American people and the Israeli people. It is between the American Nation and the State of Israel. That friendship is a friendship that is really important regardless of which leaders are in place. This is a relationship that goes back to the United States’ decision under President Truman to immediately recognize the nation of Israel once the U.N. decided in 1947 that there would be an Israel for the Jewish people and a Palestine for Palestinian people. President Truman immediately recognized the nation of Israel, and that is one of the reasons why Truman is one of my favorite Presidents. However, ``friendship and partnership’’ are not the same as ``complete agreement.’’ In fact, if you are not candid with your friends and if you can’t have a friendship that can survive being candid with one another, it is not really a friendship. A friendship is only tested when you are candid with each other and find out whether the relationship lasts through disagreement. This is an area of pretty profound disagreement between many of us and that nation of Israel. As I conclude, I would say that the reason this resolution is on the floor is because of a deep perception by many of us in this body that despite that friendship, we are not being listened to. We are not being listened to. Many of us in both parties and administrations of both parties have raised this issue of violence against Palestinians on the West Bank over and over and over again with those in the Israeli Government that we have interacted with. I know I have, in my visits to Israel over the years as mayor and Governor and Senator, in sessions we have had with Israeli leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and in discussions we have had with Knesset members and others--I have specifically raised in person and by letter and now in joining in this resolution this issue of violence against people living on the West Bank and what needs to be done about it. I will be blunt. Despite raising this issue privately in the way that you would maybe first want a dialogue with a friend--raising the issue and seeking assistance--and raising it multiple times, I have come to the conclusion that I am not being listened to. I have come to the conclusion that even though this is a friendship that matters and even though the United States is Israel’s most important security partner, they are completely ignoring us when we raise important human rights issues such as this one. So when a friend is speaking to you as a friend and urging you to do better--that is what friends do for one another--and the friend is being ignored, you end up making resolutions like the one we will vote on later a necessity. So it is my hope that we will get a robust vote on the need for the State Department to fully lay out the human rights record and particularly what will be done to stop violence against all on the West Bank but especially what will be done to stop violence against Americans on the West Bank. For that reason, I am very happy to join my colleague Senator Van Hollen and others, and I urge a ``yes’’ vote on the resolution when it comes up later. I yield the floor.”

“I object to this resolution. We already punish Hamas and send them no money. This resolution treats the Palestinian Authority the same as Hamas. It would cut off the money we use to work with Palestinian security forces to stop terrorism and protect Israelis.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, if the Senator from Kentucky wants to bring a bill to the floor to condemn the horrendous terror attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Israel of October 7, we will make common cause. We have done that as a body. Every single Senator in this body has made clear that Hamas committed despicable acts. Like many others in this body, I have met with Israelis and Americans who lost loved ones on that horrible day. I have met with American citizens and Israeli citizens who whose loved ones were taken hostage that terrible day. And that is why this body has condemned Hamas. Our government recognizes that they are a terrorist organization. I think the Senator knows that not one penny of U.S. taxpayer dollars goes to Hamas, obviously. In fact, what the U.S. Government does is use all its powers to sanction Hamas. One of the reasons some of us on the Democratic side were concerned about some of the cryptocurrency bills is because the method that Hamas uses to evade sanctions is cryptocurrency, and the bill that was brought to this floor did not close that loophole used by Hamas. But make no mistake, the U.S. Government--Members of both sides-- recognize that Hamas is a terrible organization. And, of course, not only do we not provide any U.S. assistance, we go after them with every sanction in the book. So let’s be clear about that. Let’s be clear about what government entity has allowed some funds to flow to Hamas, and it was the Netanyahu government. It has been well documented. I have raised this issue within the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Senator from Kentucky is part of. It is Netanyahu who allowed moneys to flow from Hamas to the Qatari Government, and the Qatari Government only provided those payments with the approval of the Netanyahu government. So I would be happy to join the Senator from Kentucky not only in condemning Hamas but also in condemning any country that allows funding to go to Hamas. Now let’s talk about the Palestinian Authority. Now, obviously, there are some in the rightwing in Israel that want to suggest the PA and Hamas are the same. I think most Members of this body recognize the PA, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, that it has pursued and wanted to pursue a two-state solution for self-determination for Palestinians as well as for Israelis. But I would be happy again to join the Senator in requiring a human rights report on the conduct of the Palestinian Authority. They have also engaged in abuses against their own people, the Palestinian people. And, in fact, we do do that, and the Senator from Kentucky just quoted from the State Department’s human rights report with respect to the Palestinian Authority. But what his resolution would also do is cut off all U.S. assistance in any form to the Palestinian Authority. And again, the Congress has already taken action to cut off economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority through the Taylor Force Act. There is one area where we actually do have cooperation with the PA and that is through counterterrorism efforts. Counterterrorism efforts where the U.S. Security Coordinator for the West Bank actually works with the Palestinian Authority security forces to prevent terrorism in the West Bank. I don’t know if the Senator is proposing that we cut off that assistance. Just a few years ago, there was a bipartisan resolution to actually raise the level of the military rank of the U.S. Security Coordinator. It used to be General Fenzel, who did a really good job coordinating antiterrorism activities with the PA to prevent terrorist attacks on Israel. But what the Senator is saying is, he wants to do a human rights report on PA conduct. Fine. Bring it up. I will support him on that. But that is not all this bill does. His bill essentially would cut off U.S. cooperation--antiterrorism cooperation--with the PA, something that would actually endanger Israelis and others on the West Bank. So it really makes no sense. I agree that we should follow where every U.S. taxpayer dollar goes, and I can assure folks that not one penny goes to Hamas, and yet we sanction them. And as I said, there are already big restrictions on the flow of U.S. taxpayer assistance to the PA. There is a carve-out for antiterrorism cooperation. So if the Senator from Kentucky wants to come back with a resolution condemning Hamas for maybe the second or third time, I am all in. If the Senator wants to require a more in-depth report on the conduct of the Palestinian Authority, I am all in. But this resolution is written in a way that conflates Hamas with the Palestinian Authority. I think every Member of this body--even recognizing the shortcomings of the PA--recognizes that they are not a designated U.S. terror organization so I object.”

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“I want the Senate to pass this resolution. Over the last four years, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed nine American citizens in the West Bank, and other Americans have been beaten and locked in military prisons. No one has been held responsible. We give billions of dollars to Israel every year, so Congress has a right to the facts. This resolution makes the State Department report on these deaths, on jailed Americans, and on the abuse of Palestinian children.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to call up S. Res. 852, a resolution to require the State Department to provide Congress with information on the growing violence and human rights abuses taking place in the West Bank, including against American citizens. I want to thank Senator Sanders, Senator Kaine, and 23 of our fellow Senators who are cosponsoring this effort; and I want to thank Senator Sanders for bringing that 502B resolution to the floor of the Senate back in January of 2024. In just over 4 years, nine American citizens have been killed in the West Bank by violent Israeli settlers or members of the Israeli security forces, and there has been zero--zero--accountability, with no justice for their families and no one held accountable. The U.S. Government has repeatedly said that our No. 1 priority overseas is to protect American citizens. Yet, as violent Israeli settlers continue to terrorize civilians in the West Bank, American citizens have been killed time and again--in many cases with the complicity of the Government of Israel, the Netanyahu government. It is long past time that we shined a light on these killings and all of the human rights abuses taking place in the West Bank to get answers. We need to get answers because we need accountability, and we need accountability to make sure that these killings end. They will continue so long as nobody is held to account. I want to take a few minutes to tell my colleagues about these nine American citizens who have been killed by Israeli settlers or Israeli security forces in just over the last 4 years. In January 2022, 70-year-old American citizen Omar, who ran a grocery store in Milwaukee for 40 years, was stopped at a checkpoint in the West Bank when Israeli soldiers dragged him from his car. They bound his hands behind his back, they gagged him, they blindfolded him, and they left him lying on the ground outside. He died of a stress-induced heart attack. No one has been held accountable. In May 2022, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who lived in New Jersey as a child, was reporting near the Jenin refugee camp when she was shot in the head and killed by Israeli security forces. Shireen was known to millions as the ``voice of a generation.’’ When she was killed, she was wearing a bright blue vest, clearly identifying her as a journalist. No one has been held accountable. In January 2024, a 17-year-old American citizen named Tawfic, who was born and raised in Louisiana, was shot in the head and killed while driving east of Ramallah. Reports indicate that an Israeli settler, an off-duty Israeli police officer, and an Israeli soldier were involved in the shooting. Nobody has been held accountable. Just weeks later, another 17-year-old American boy, Mohammed, who was born in Florida, was shot twice in the head while driving near the town of Biddu. Israeli forces were reportedly responsible for his killing. No one has been held accountable. In September 2024, 26-year-old American citizen Aysenur Eygi, who was raised in Seattle, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier from approximately 200 meters. No one has been held accountable. In April 2025, 14-year-old Amer from New Jersey was shot and killed by Israeli security forces at the entrance to the village of Turmus Ayya. Reports indicate that, when he was shot, he was shot 11 times by two different weapons. No one has been held accountable. In July 2025, 20-year-old American citizen Saif, who was born and raised in Florida, was visiting family in the West Bank when he was beaten to death by violent Israeli settlers during an attack on the town. Eyewitnesses reported that settlers and Israeli security forces blocked an ambulance from reaching him for more than 2 hours. Ambassador Huckabee called Saif’s killing a ``criminal and terrorist act.’’ He even said: ``There must be accountability.’’ So why has there been no accountability? In August 2025, Khamis, who was a 40-year-old American citizen who lived in Chicago with his five children, died of smoke inhalation after violent Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars during an attack in Silwad. No one has been held accountable. And, in February of this year, Nasrallah, who was a 19-year-old American boy born in Philadelphia, was shot and killed by violent Israeli settlers during an attack on Palestinian farmers near Ramallah. No one has been held accountable. Omar, Shireen, Tawfic, Mohammed, Aysenur, Amer, Saif, Khamis, and Nasrallah--nine American citizens dead and no accountability. Their families have waited months and years for answers. Many of us have been calling for action from the executive branch and for accountability from the Netanyahu government, year after year, with no results. In March of this year, 30 Senators and I wrote to Secretary Rubio following some of the killings I just talked about. That was the second letter we had sent to this administration in 7 months regarding the killing of an American citizen in the West Bank. In response to our earlier letter, the State Department told us: ``To help prevent future tragedies,’’ we call for accountability--no accountability in any of these nine cases. It is clear that these calls for accountability are empty promises because what we are seeing is a consistent pattern in which Americans are being killed by violent Israeli settlers or Israeli security forces, with no justice and no accountability from any party, despite promises to take action by American officials. This failure is not limited to the current administration. Many of us called upon the Biden administration for answers, just as we have pushed the Trump administration for answers and action. Back then, as now, we were met with statements of concern and told that the United States supports accountability. It just never insists on it, because concern is not enough when nine Americans are dead and not one person-- not one--has been held accountable. How many more Americans must die in the West Bank before this administration takes serious, credible steps to secure accountability? before the U.S. Government does its job and follows through when it says its top priority is to protect American citizens overseas? Last year, Senator Merkley and I traveled to the region, where we met with families of American citizens--most of them under 18--who had been killed by violent settlers or the Israeli military. We sat across from parents and family members who had lost their children and loved ones. None of them--not one--had received any meaningful answers about what had happened to their loved ones who had been killed. We also met the father of Mohammed, who was the 16-year-old American boy from Florida who had been jailed without charges for more than 6 months at the time of our meeting. Mohammed was ultimately held in pretrial detention for 9 months, where he was beaten, tortured, and denied contact with his family. He was finally released on Thanksgiving Day last year, but the mistreatment and detention of American citizens continue to this moment. In June, 20-year-old Palestinian-American student Sama, whose family lives in Florida and Massachusetts, was detained during a series of raids targeting students at Birzeit University. She remains in an Israeli military prison. In July, Adam, a 16-year-old Palestinian American whose family lives in Chicago, was arrested. His family paid his bail, and he was moments away from being released when Israeli authorities decided to hold him under an entirely new case. He remains in an Israeli military prison. There are other cases of American citizens being held in Israeli military prisons as we speak. Reports from these prisons have revealed abusive and traumatic conditions for those detained, including children and teenagers. In fact, under the Israeli military court system, 16- and 17-year-olds are sentenced under provisions written for adults, while Israeli citizens and children living in those same territories are tried in Israeli civilian courts and under Israeli juvenile law. Beyond those detained, many Americans continue to face violence and destruction throughout the West Bank, as Israeli settlers and soldiers act with impunity. Just in August, 82-year-old Palestinian-American Khamis was hospitalized after Israeli soldiers attacked him. After the attack, the soldiers then confiscated bystander footage of the incident to cover up their violent actions. You can see the video for yourself. Just this week, Israeli settlers attacked the home and destroyed the vehicles of a 78-year-old Palestinian American, Mustafa, and his wife. Even those who have not been attacked or detained are living in fear, like Loui, a 46-year-old Palestinian-American businessman who traveled from Ohio to visit his family members in the West Bank after their home was surrounded and besieged by Israeli settlers. The American Government has absolutely failed in its duty to secure any kind of accountability for the killings of and the arbitrary detention of and ongoing violence against these American citizens. If nothing changes, more American citizens will die. After all, the administration told us that one reason for accountability is to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Yet there is no accountability, and without accountability, it will happen again. The failure of the United States and Israeli Governments to hold anyone responsible for these abuses has only paved the way for more abuses and more killings to follow. If American citizens can be killed, harmed, or locked up with impunity, imagine what the conditions are for Palestinians in the West Bank who don’t hold an American passport, including Palestinian children. Hundreds of Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted through the Israeli military court system every year. Those imprisoned can be as young as 12 years old, which is the age of criminal responsibility in the Israeli military legal system, but children as young as 5 years old have been temporarily detained, and a child as young as 3 years old was once arrested. As of December 2025, the Israel Prison Service reported that it was holding 351 Palestinian children. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli authorities have continued to bar the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention facilities, despite the fact that international humanitarian law requires--requires--that the ICRC have access to Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody. Human rights organizations have documented widespread reports of physical beatings, sexual violence, harassment, threats, and other cruel and degrading actions toward these children. We have seen violent Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian civilians with impunity. They are pushing Palestinians off their land, burning cars and buildings and mosques, destroying crops and water systems, and assaulting residents in their own communities. Many members of the extremist Netanyahu government have encouraged this activity. When Senator Merkley and I visited the West Bank last year, it was clear that the situation had worsened considerably, just since our previous trip in 2023. We saw more trailers and illegal settler outposts springing up across the West Bank. We saw more checkpoints and gates and walls imprisoning Palestinian communities. In the mostly Christian town of Taybeh, we heard directly from residents about settler attacks and harassment, including an attack that happened on the day of our visit. We visited the historic church that settlers had attempted to damage. These are not isolated incidents. According to the United Nations, last year alone, there were 1,828 settler attacks against Palestinian residents resulting in bodily injury or property damage. In 2025, the Netanyahu government approved a record high 54 new official settlements, established 86 new outposts, and advanced plans for nearly 28,000 illegal settlement housing units. The question is: When will the U.S. Government--whether the previous White House or the current White House--stop giving Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government a blank check to let this continue? Secretary Rubio has said the United States is ``concerned’’ about escalating settler violence in the West Bank. Concern is not enough when nine American citizens have been killed. Concerns are not enough when we have American citizens in military detention. Concern is not enough when violent settlers are attacking Palestinian communities with impunity. Just last night, violent settlers attacked a village of Palestinians, setting their homes on fire and destroying their property. The State Department’s response today? Babble. Meaningless, empty statements when they are not accompanied by any demand for real accountability. They continue to call for accountability, but we never see it. And that brings us to the resolution today because this resolution requires the Secretary of State to provide a report with all credible information available to the State Department concerning the killing of nine American citizens, who are named in the resolution and whose stories I share today. It also requires an accounting of American citizens currently held in Israeli military prisons, including why they are being held, whether the American Embassy officials have visited them, the conditions of their detention, and whether there are credible reports that they have been mistreated. Basic information, that is what we are demanding in this resolution. The resolution requires they examine the detention of Palestinian children, including how many are held, the charges against them, whether they have access to legal counsel, whether they have experienced torture or other mistreatment, and how the standards governing their detention compare with American juvenile detention standards. And above all, the resolution requires that the State Department tell Congress what the United States has actually done to protect U.S. citizens, to prevent further violence, to promote respect for human rights, and hold the perpetrators of these abuses accountable. These are basic questions that Congress has both the right and the responsibility to ask of the executive branch. The United States provides billions of American taxpayer dollars to the government of Israel every year. We have a duty to make sure that those funds are being used in accordance with our laws and our values. Some of my colleagues may disagree with my assessment of the Netanyahu government’s policies, although the record is clear regarding the fact that they have engaged in complicity in what is happening in the West Bank. And some may disagree about other aspects of what is happening here. But what this vote is about--what this vote is about there should be no disagreement about because it just requires the State Department to provide facts. That is what this administration does. And if the State Department believes that everything is just OK, that their investigations that are being conducted by the Government of Israel and that their expressions of concern are actually being acted upon, the administration should have no problem answering those basic facts and demanding the kind of accountability they say that we should call for. So if the killing of nine Americans does not justify a report from our own State Department, I would ask my colleagues: What would? How many more Americans must be killed before the executive branch does its job? These families deserve answers. The American people deserve answers. And the Palestinians who face these attacks every single day deserve an end to the violence and impunity once and for all. I urge my colleagues to support S. Res. 852. I yield the floor.”

“I want the Senate to pass this resolution. At least 17 Americans have been hurt or killed in the West Bank, and others are being held in prison without charges. Our government needs to protect its citizens and demand answers when they are harmed.”

“Mr. President, I rise in support of this resolution. I want to thank my colleagues Senator Sanders and Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Senator Van Hollen, for your leadership on this particular resolution. The situation in the Middle East, in Gaza and the West Bank, is deplorable. And before I start about what is occurring here in the West Bank, I just want to remind the American people that the dire situation in Gaza is getting worse. Mr. President, 92 percent of the people in Gaza, their shelter is a tent or a plastic cover. They still lack water. They still lack access to regular food, and the kids are not going to school. And this is a Palestinian community that was very proud of one of the highest literacy rates and education rates in the world, despite the very difficult circumstances they face. That is really unacceptable. But today we are here on this resolution that is about protecting Americans, 17 Americans who have been the victims of violence in the West Bank. And, today, this resolution is about the obligation that our State Department has--our government has--to protect American citizens abroad by demanding a report, by getting information, and by insisting on accountability. So whatever one’s position may be with respect to the hostilities in the Middle East, what this resolution is requiring is that the State Department do the job with respect to American deaths in the West Bank--the same request that we would make if this were another government, not Israel, and American citizens were the victims of violence in other countries. It is the basic responsibility of this U.S. Government to protect U.S. citizens. That is what this is profoundly about. The failure for the State Department and our government to do the basic responsibility of citizen protection and accountability has to be wired up into the policy of this administration to look the other way when these things are happening. It has been the policy of the United States to support a two-state solution. It is the policy of the Netanyahu government to occupy and ultimately annex the West Bank. And the result of that, there is, in many cases, settler violence towards citizens in the West Bank, in some cases Americans who are there. It also is the reason why, in many cases where this violence is occurring is very much in front of the eyes of the Israeli military, they are looking the other way and doing nothing to protect the victims. This is not an argument that is made by folks like Senator Van Hollen and Senator Sanders and me, who are concerned about that violence. It is something that was recognized by our own Ambassador Mike Huckabee. In July of 2025, Mr. Saifullah Kamel Musallet, a 20-year-old American from Florida--an American from Florida--who was visiting his family in the West Bank was beaten to death by violent Israeli settlers during a settler attack on the town of Sinjil. Eyewitness accounts report that settlers and Israeli forces impeded ambulance access for more than 2 hours. And to his credit, Ambassador Huckabee called the killing of Mr. Musallet a ``criminal and terrorist act,’’ and stated ``there must be accountability.’’ We agree. I want to mention a couple of other cases. Shireen Abu Akleh, she was a journalist, a prominent reporter, a well-known reporter. She was shot. It was not a combat situation, but was shot by a sniper from nearly 200 meters away. She was standing calmly with other reporters wearing a press helmet and a press vest. She was shot in the head. Another reporter Dylan Collins, a constituent from Vermont, a very accomplished photojournalist. He was not in the West Bank, but he was reporting from the Israeli-Lebanese border. He was also in a group of journalists, prominently stationed on an open hillside. They had the usual identification of ``press’’ vest, blue helmets, in a vehicle clearly marked ``press,’’ where they were clearly visible. They were fired on by an Israeli tank and heavy machinegun fire. There has been no significant investigation on the part of the Israeli Government to get to the bottom of how that happened. Also, as we know, the Israeli Government now is detaining without charges dozens of Americans, as well as thousands of Palestinians--some of these include minors. One of those was a 17-year-old young man, American, Abdalkareem, who is pictured here. He has been held under ``administrative detention,’’ and that means that under Israeli law authorities can hold him indefinitely without charge or without trial--without any intention of bringing him to trial. We have been in touch with his father, who tells us that Abdalkareem was 17 when he was detained around 3 a.m. on June 29. He was in the process of completing high school exams. He has since turned 18. This is a young man who had never been detained or arrested before. He is now being held in the Ofer prison, which has a terrible reputation for attending to the well-being of those who are imprisoned there. His detention is also based on undisclosed ``secret’’ information that has not been shared with his lawyers or his family. Embassy officials, who were finally allowed on July 23 to visit, and Abdalkareem reported being beaten during interrogation, and prison authorities would not even let the U.S. Embassy give this young man vitamins, scabies medication, or his schoolbooks. And he has not been allowed family contact. The real question here is not what Israel is doing, but what the United States Government is not doing on behalf of its own citizens, some of whom have been killed, others of whom have been detained. So this resolution is asserting the will of Congress that our government do its job to protect American citizens. When they have been injured or they have been killed, to demand accountability and an investigation. And it is certainly within the power of this government to use its influence so that Israel does comply with our law. I urge all of our colleagues to stand up for the rights of all of our citizens to have the full protection of the U.S. Government. I yield the floor.”

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  Reasoning 33 of 100

  This statement drew 6 conclusions, but gave no reasons for 4 of them.

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