Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the challenges facing America and our allies today are not an a la carte menu of projects we can address at our leisure. No. The most dangerous threats we face are all linked together--all linked together. Take it from the author of the last administration's National Security Strategy. Russia, Iran, and China ``see the U.S. as weak and in decline'' and are willing ``to put aside their differences to collude against American interests.'' They are extraordinarily willing. Finland is investigating a case of suspected sabotage by a Chinese ship against an undersea communications cable and gas line connecting the newest member of NATO to Estonia--one of the alliance's most stalwart backers of Ukraine. Putin's Russia is reportedly helping Iran develop a space launch vehicle--a critical step toward building intercontinental ballistic missiles. In return, Iran isn't just sending Russia kamikaze drones to kill Ukrainians; it is helping build an entire drone factory--a drone factory--on Russian soil. A Russia state energy company is reportedly providing China with highly enriched uranium. China is swarming social media platforms with pro-Hamas propaganda and protecting both Iran and Russia in the U.N. Security Council. America doesn't have the luxury of facing these threats individually. Our ability to contend with complex, simultaneous threats is exactly what our adversaries are testing: a Russian war in Europe, Chinese aggression in Asia, Iran-backed terror in the Middle East, and a southern border that is dangerously lacking in credible enforcement. This is the reality we face right now. The Biden administration's supplemental request falls short of adequately addressing all of these linked threats. Let me explain again what this moment actually requires. In Europe, the administration needs to provide a clear strategy for a Ukrainian victory. That means prioritizing the lethal military capabilities Ukraine needs right now--no more half measures, no more hesitation. As former Secretary of State Pompeo put it last week, Americans should be ``accelerating the flow of weapons and ammunition to Kyiv'' because abandoning Ukraine would bolster our adversaries. We should be empowering Agency inspectors general to continue the unprecedented oversight and accountability work we have built into U.S. assistance since the beginning of Putin's escalation last year. We should continue to invest in expanding America's defense industrial base both to replace capabilities Ukraine is using with newer for our own use and to ramp up production of the ones Israel, Taiwan, and our Indo-Pacific allies and partners need. In Israel's case, it is especially important that we take stringent measures to ensure no humanitarian assistance bound for the people of Gaza can be intercepted by Hamas terrorists. I have said before, for any of this supplemental security funding to pass the Senate, we will also need to implement serious policy changes at the southern border. Senate Republicans will not rubberstamp the Biden administration's bailout for a problem it created. We are focused on policies to slow the flow--slow the flow--of illegal migration and secure the border. America's strategic goals are crystal clear: degrade Russian military strength and prevent major war in Europe; reestablish credible deterrence against Iran and its terrorist networks; grow our defense industrial base to equip our military and our allies in the Indo- Pacific to raise the costs of Chinese aggression; and restore real border security right here at home. That is exactly what the Senate should be focused on.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 44 years ago last week, shock troops chanting ``Death to America'' and ``Death to Israel'' led Iranian revolutionaries across Tehran, overran the U.S. Embassy, and took 66 Americans hostage for 444 days. Iran's war against America, the ``Great Satan,'' and Israel, the ``Little Satan,'' has continued ever since. The regime has supported Shia terrorists, Sunni terrorists, and secular terrorists. It has underwritten violence across the world, from the 1983 marine barracks bombing in Beirut, to the 1992 Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires, to the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, to hundreds of attacks, masterminded by Qasem Soleimani, on U.S. forces in Iraq. Tehran has invested its time and resources into cultivating the terrorists of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic jihad. The Iranian regime bears responsibility for their savagery. It is also responsible for more than 100 attacks on U.S. personnel and interests in Iraq and Syria just since President Biden took office. These attacks have spiked since October 7. Two weeks ago, an Iranian-made suicide drone hit a U.S. military barracks in Iraq. Thankfully, the drone's explosive payload failed to detonate. But the message it sent about the state of President Biden's deterrence of the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism was as clear as day. In recent weeks, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted at least another 38 times with lethal force, and more than 40 servicemembers have been injured. Let me say that again. Iran-backed terrorists have attacked U.S. forces at least 38 times since October 7. U.S. personnel are, of course, not the only targets of the Iranian war on Western influence in the Middle East. America's Arab allies have endured repeated attacks as well. This ongoing siege is not the behavior of an adversary that is being effectively deterred. How we got here is no mystery. When the Biden administration took office, it rushed to restore a failed nuclear agreement with an Iranian regime that had long since proven it wasn't to be trusted. When Iran- backed Houthi rebels killed three people at an airport in the UAE and aimed two ballistic missiles at its capital last year, the administration responded with silence. In response to the latest wave of attacks on U.S. forces, the President authorized a strike on an ammunition facility. His Secretary of State felt compelled to reiterate that ``we are not looking for conflict with Iran.'' Clearly, Iran is looking for conflict with us. The Iranian regime is working hard to kill Americans, undermine our influence, and sow chaos among our allies, and so far, you would have to say they are succeeding. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad perpetrated the deadliest day of violence against Jews since the Holocaust. Hezbollah stands ready, at Iran's behest, to escalate this conflict into a two-front war. Years of careful progress toward normalized relations between Israel and more of its Arab neighbors has been stalled. Demanding that Israel cease fire against Hamas would lock in these gains for Iran. It would grant amnesty for both the terrorists and their sponsors. We have a responsibility to reject these demands not just on behalf of our ally Israel but because amnesty for terrorists would embolden the Iran-backed threats to U.S. interests in the region. As I have said before, effective deterrence requires both capabilities and credibility. It requires that a global superpower actually act like one. In practical terms, deterring Iran and its web of terrorists means meeting attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria with swift, lethal, and overwhelming military force. It means working with allies to deploy crippling economic sanctions and inhibit Iran's support for terror. It means finally taking the advice I offered President Biden when he took office: Set aside the failed nuclear deal; work with Republicans; and build an Iran policy that can endure long after he leaves office.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, as Israel continues to root out the Hamas terrorists who savaged innocent civilians on October 7, the political left here in America appears to be engaged in a loud public debate with itself over how, exactly, to differentiate indiscriminate slaughter and lawful self-defense. Last week, an especially radical House Democrat repeated to her followers a call to eliminate the Jewish State ``from the river to the sea.'' Then she attempted to explain away the undeniably genocidal connotation of this longstanding anti-Israel slogan as ``peaceful coexistence.'' Apparently, Jews can live in peace with Palestinians as long as they vacate Israel. Unfortunately, the shameful moral equivalence that has been creeping across elite and influential corners of the left has now been embraced by a former Commander in Chief. Just a few days ago, President Obama used the same breath to express his horror at both Hamas violence and a supposed Israeli ``occupation'' of Gaza. In reality, the only force that has occupied Gaza since 2007 is Hamas, not Israel. The former President also said ``all of us are complicit to some degree.'' That is simply false. Responsibility lies with the terrorists. So perhaps President Obama has forgotten the bloody campaign to defeat ISIS over which he presided or the destruction of cities like Mosul and Raqqa in pursuit of medieval Islamic tyrants who terrorized innocent civilians. I don't recall President Obama doubting the righteousness of American efforts to support local partners in rooting out terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Where is that moral clarity in the face of Hamas? Unfortunately, that brings me to the growing number of many of our Senate colleagues who have called for a ceasefire in today's terrorist war. I would remind our colleagues that Israel had negotiated a ceasefire with Hamas over the summer, and we all saw where that led on October 7. Returning to any such arrangement right now would be amnesty for these butchers--the butchers of innocent Israelis and Gazans alike. Once again, let's remember who the aggressor is. Hamas is blocking citizens from leaving Gaza City. Hamas has intentionally put its weapons caches inside schools, hospitals, and mosques, and its firing positions in the midst of civilian populations. Hamas has poured countless billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance into its terror tunnels. These people are not freedom fighters. They do not want peaceful coexistence. They are savages--savages--cut from the same cloth as ISIS and al-Qaida. There is no room for moral equivalency. The distinction between good and evil here is blindingly obvious. Fortunately, some do recognize this. The Vice Chancellor of Germany, a member of his country's Green Party, didn't have any trouble finding the moral clarity this moment requires. In an address to the nation last week, he said: Hamas does not want reconciliation with Israel, but the extermination of Israel. And this is why it is pivotal to make it clear that Israel's right to exist must not be relativized. Israel's security is our obligation. American politicians who cannot bring themselves to acknowledge the same should really be ashamed of themselves. This weekend marked 44 years since Iranian revolutionaries overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage. Today, Americans are once again held hostage by forces aligned with Iranian tyranny. Many more Israelis are held alongside them, and Israel deserves the time and space and support it needs to bring these terrorist captors to justice. In the days immediately following October 7, I warned that President Biden would be pressured to withhold this support, and that familiar and morally bankrupt calls for ceasefire would threaten Israel's ability to see its defensive operations through. And so here we are, nearly a month later, watching the movement to grant Hamas amnesty reach the highest levels of our government. War is a bloody business. That is the reality Israel faces. We should be careful before second-guessing their efforts to get innocent Israelis--and Americans--home safely and to destroy Hamas's ability to wage war.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, America's status as a global superpower comes with global interests and global responsibilities. We have a direct interest in a stable and peaceful Middle East, and we have a responsibility to stand with Israel, our closest ally in the region, and to impose real costs on those who seek to harm U.S. personnel. We have a direct interest in preserving free commerce and deterring aggression in the Indo-Pacific, and we have a responsibility to future generations of Americans to win this century's long-term strategic competition with communist China. And we have a direct interest in stability and security in Europe, not only because we have treaty obligations to NATO allies but also because Europe is our largest trading partner, largest source of foreign, direct investment, and a critical engine of our own economy. As I have explained repeatedly, the emergency funding we have appropriated in response to Russia's war against Ukraine isn't charity. These resources are helping a Western-oriented country degrade the military strength of a major U.S. adversary. Ukraine is blunting Putin's tools of aggression and disrupting his imperial ambitions in Europe, and all without involving American servicemembers in the fight. But let's be honest. Aside from the funds we have appropriated for U.S. military training and logistic support in Europe, the bulk of America's security assistance is being spent in factories right here at home. Some of it goes to purchase new weapons for Ukraine, but far more of it is going to replenish our own arsenal. Our investment is growing American military strength to meet the challenges that come with global leadership. Since Putin's brutal escalation last year, the United States has invested $24 billion in replenishing our--our--arsenal with brandnew capabilities. We have poured $692 million into new munitions and tactical vehicles produced in Missouri, almost a billion dollars in Alabama, and more than a billion dollars in Wisconsin. But our investment is also expanding our production capacity. That means more factory floor space, new production lines, and new shifts of workers--all to help meet future threats. State by state, we are breathing new life into the arsenal of democracy. And, crucially, America's allies and partners are following suit. They are investing historic sums in their own industries, their own militaries. They are expanding their own defense industrial bases, and many are also choosing to ``Buy American.'' Poland has invested $3.75 billion in new Abrams tanks from Michigan, Alabama, and Ohio; Estonia has spent half a billion dollars on HIMARS rocket systems from Texas; and Slovakia and Romania have spent a combined $350 million on new tactical vehicles from Wisconsin. And it isn't just European allies who recognize the need to modernize. Japan has allocated $1.3 billion for new E-2 command and control aircraft from Florida. Australia has put $6.3 billion toward new C-130 aircraft from Georgia, and Indonesia has invested $14 billion on a new crop of F-15 fighter jets from Missouri. All told, America's allies and partners have invested $120 billion and counting since February of 2022 to rebuild their defense capacities right here in America. They are buying American because they appreciate our cutting-edge technologies because they understand the importance of an interoperable combined force. But, most of all, they are buying American because of American leadership. It has been the United States' example that has helped our allies wake up from years of neglecting their commitments to defense. It is confidence in our leadership and military edge that is driving their historic efforts to start sharing more of the burden of collective security. And let's get something absolutely clear: This will not continue if America loses its resolve. We don't have the luxury of closing our gates and hoping for evil to leave us alone. America's allies are waking up to that fact. Now is not the time for the leader of the free world to go to sleep.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have spoken frequently about the clear links between the biggest national security challenges facing our country and about what we need to do to address them, but let's not lose sight of a few overarching points. America's adversaries don't ease up when we lose our resolve. In fact, they press their advantage. How many of our colleagues would disagree that withdrawing from Afghanistan caused America's friends and foes to question the credibility of our commitments? How many would disagree that failing to respond decisively to hundreds of terrorist attacks against U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq has weakened our deterrence against Iran? How many Senators would disagree that the Biden administration shouldn't have withheld lethal assistance to Ukraine in the summer of 2021 or that they should have shipped lethal weapons more quickly as Russia's preparations became glaringly obvious that fall and winter? How many would disagree that the President's caution and hesitation to provide critical weapons--like HIMARS, Patriots, tanks, and ATACMs-- has prolonged the conflict in Ukraine? Over and over again, history has taught us that the costs of disengaging from the world are far higher than the costs of engaging. And just as the threats we face aren't isolated, neither are the benefits of investing in American leadership. So here is the plain truth: The overwhelming majority of the resources approved by the Senate as security assistance for Ukraine has, in fact, gone directly--directly--to American manufacturers, supporting American jobs, expanding the American industrial base, and producing new weapons for America's military, with almost $70 billion in investments spread across at least 38 different States. The production of artillery rounds alone has distributed multiple billions into facilities from Arkansas to Virginia and Texas to Ohio--all to improve our ability to equip the United States and our allies for the growing challenges we face. These investments are not just replacing what is being used to destroy Russia's military strength; they are expanding production capacity to meet the soaring demand from allies. NATO countries have invested $90 billion in capabilities produced here in America since last February, and they are helping equip U.S. forces for our own long- term competition with China. Take the Patriot interceptor. This air defense system is arguably the most in-demand weapon in the United States' arsenal. It has saved thousands of American and allied lives. It is deployed across Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. It is produced in Tucson, AZ, with components coming from all over our country; and the supplemental resources we are working on could expand production capacity by nearly 20 percent. Or take the 155-millimeter round. It is relevant in nearly every conflict imaginable. More than 75 percent of our investments marked for this munition has gone toward capacity expansion. Today, U.S. manufacturers are able to produce double what they could before our response to the Russian aggression last year. With the further investment of so-called Ukraine spending, American production would reach 1 million rounds per year. The notion that this money is distracting from America's other security priorities is nonsense. Anyone making this claim doesn't understand how critical production lines work. The truth is the investments we have made in expanding production capacity to respond to Putin's escalation are helping American manufacturers produce more of the weapons Israel and Taiwan need. I have spoken at length about America's clear national security interest in helping Ukraine demolish Russian military strength and in a secure and peaceful Europe. I have spelled out the glaring and immediate threats we face from Iran-backed terror and of the importance of supporting our closest ally in the Middle East. I have emphasized the gravity of strategic competition with China and the urgency of the threat facing our friends out in the Indo-Pacific. But, as foolish as it is to deny the clear link between America's adversaries and the threats we face, it is every bit as dangerous to pretend that, as a global superpower, our Nation cannot or should not face each of them down. We have the means to lead the free world and ensure our own security. In the face of coordinated aggression from our adversaries, we have the clearest possible objective: We win. They lose. Border Security Now, Mr. President, on a related matter, as I mentioned last week, illegal crossings at our southern border are setting alltime records. In just 3 years, under the Biden administration, the CBP has recorded 6 million border encounters--6 million. And yet, in the face of these astonishing statistics, the Secretary of Homeland Security continues to say: ``Our approach to managing the border . . . is working.'' The White House Press Secretary has reiterated this insanity, saying: It's not like someone walks over [the border]. . . . That's not how it works. Well, of course, we know that is exactly--exactly--how it works. The Border Patrol has been tracking 1,000 known ``got-aways'' per day-- 1,000 ``got-aways'' per day. The facts on the ground send a clear message: The Biden administration's handling of the border crisis is a complete and utter failure. Yesterday, Senator Cruz and Senator Barrasso both shared an encounter they witnessed on the border, over the weekend, of a 10-year-old girl and a man claiming to be her father. They described the terror on the girl's face as the man attempted to use the Biden administration's family unit loophole to cut the line at the border. As Senator Cruz put it, ``the cartels are renting children to grown men.'' The crisis that has unfolded on President Biden's watch is inhumane and dangerous. Fiscal year 2022 was the deadliest year on record at the southern border, and fiscal year 2023 set an alltime record for terror watchlist encounters. We are watching a humanitarian crisis that has become a glaring national security vulnerability. The solution is pretty clear. The solution isn't billions of dollars to make it easier and faster to process illegal immigrants or ``money for a welcome wagon,'' as Senator Barrasso put it yesterday. The solution is a clear and commonsense policy that forces the Biden administration to enforce the law and treat the border with the legal consequences that it demands. So I am grateful to my Republican colleagues who are working hard on a policy proposal to deliver actual border security and drawing on ideas put forward by Senator Lankford, Senator Cruz, Senator Grassley, and others. Washington Democrats have proved that their border security approach is simply not working. President Biden's border supplemental request is just more of the same. It is time to wake up and embrace policy changes that will keep Americans safe. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on a related matter, I spoke recently about alarming reactions to the October 7 attacks coming from America's top universities. We have seen student radicals spew outright hate and campus leaders respond with agonizing, equivocating statements. But it appears that neither thick-headed, young activists nor mealy-mouthed administrators can hold a candle to university faculty when it comes to moral obtuseness. Here are a few examples: After a student group at Columbia published a letter describing Hamas's savage attacks as the--listen to this--``struggle for freedom'' of ``occupied peoples [who] have the right to resist occupation,'' over 100 faculty members signed a letter of their own expressing a desire to ``preserve Columbia University as a beacon for fostering critical thinking and opening minds to different points of view.'' Needless to say, I am a staunch supporter of the First Amendment. People are entitled to different points of view, but they aren't entitled to different facts, and the only group that has occupied Gaza since 2007 is Hamas. Besides, America's higher education system has a long way to go when it comes to protecting free speech and fostering diverse viewpoints. Just ask any right-of-center academic. But, of all places to start on their journey toward freedom of expression, they choose to celebrate terrorism--terrorism? Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania is facing a donor revolt over campus protests and an anti-Semitic literary festival that predated October 7, but that didn't stop the local chapter of, essentially, its professors' union from issuing a six-page letter denouncing the university administration's pro-Israel views. The school's painfully nuanced attempts at moral equivalency are, apparently, an ``erasure'' of Palestinian voices. Donors' outrage at radical calls for a pogrom are ``coercive threats'' that demand their removal from all university boards. Let us remember who is doing the aggressing here. There is an open FBI investigation into online threats encouraging the murder--the murder--of Jewish students at Cornell. The university has had to bring in police to help protect the kosher dining hall on campus, and many Jewish students are opting to stay in their rooms for safety. Until recently, the tenured leftwing apparatchiks of America's elite universities might have expected donors to keep on writing checks no matter which sort of unhinged, post-modern hate they ginned up. Well, not anymore. At Penn, one alumnus's call to boycott the school has spread like wildfire, precipitating a crisis that, by one account, could put a $1 billion hole in the university's books. At least a dozen CEOs have pledged not to hire any members of the Harvard student groups who blamed Israel for the murders of its children. And elite law firms have started rescinding job offers from law students who regurgitate terrorist talking points. Some are even competing with each other to fund relief efforts in Israel. So activist professors are entitled to their own opinions. But money is also protected speech, and they aren't entitled to donors' pocketbooks. That is not how the real world works. America and our allies have woken up from a ``holiday from history.'' American business and philanthropists are starting to do the very same thing. Let's hope it continues. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the brutal terrorist attacks of October 7 poured gasoline on the flames of anti-Semitic hatred around the world. Take the alarming reports this weekend out of Russia, a country with a long, troubled history of anti-Semitism. After weeks of pro- Hamas propaganda spewed from the Kremlin, an angry mob overran a provincial airport and surrounded a plane that had just arrived from Israel. Chillingly, the mob went person to person, checking passports and asking if they were Muslim or Jew--a modern-day pogrom in Southern Russia. Vladimir Putin is usually quick to accuse other countries of imagined atrocities, but he has issued no such condemnation of Hamas for the very real savagery inflicted on innocent Israelis. In fact, as this latest despicable episode of anti-Semitism unfolded on Russian soil, Putin's regime welcomed a delegation of Hamas terrorists to the Kremlin. The Russian Government's policy is to demand that Israel agree to a cease-fire--a de facto amnesty for the terrorist aggressors who slaughtered children in their homes a few weeks ago. In that regard, street protestors across the West have found common cause with a Russian dictator. No major power has done more to turbocharge Iran's terrorist network in the Middle East than Putin's Russia. The Kremlin's intervention in Syria allowed Tehran to establish a massive corridor of resources to terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas. So it should surprise no one that Iran has happily provided Russia with a kamikaze drone to fire at Ukrainian cities. Russia, Iran, and China do not share an ideology, but they do share interests. They see themselves in conflict with the West and especially with America. Russia would love to see Iranian-backed terrorists in the Middle East weaken America and our allies. Iran would love to see a Russian victory against Ukraine that divides the West and deepens its own defense cooperation with Moscow. China, for its part, would love to see America's resolve to stand with European and Israeli allies and reestablish actual deterrence against Russia and Iran crumble. So at the risk of repeating myself, the threats facing America and our allies are serious, and they are intertwined. If we ignore that fact, we do so at our own peril.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Congress also has an opportunity to force the administration to start treating our southern border like the sovereign, legal boundary that it is. The southern border crisis is not a problem of insufficient resources. It is not the zero-sum alternative to deterring our adversaries overseas. It is the direct result of misguided policies that have incentivized record illegal migration. It doesn't take tens of billions of dollars to fix this problem; it just takes common sense. I would urge our Democratic colleagues to show some common sense by working with Republicans to stop the border crisis, rebuild American military strength, and stand with our friends in Ukraine, Israel, and Asia.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Biden administration's defense budget requests have systemically ignored these growing threats. The President's supplemental request to address multiple crises that have unfolded on his watch is a recognition of this failure. So our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee now have a chance to provide critical resources that our military and defense industrial base needs to keep pace with growing threats and support our partners.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I was devastated to hear the news last night of a deadly shooting in Lewiston, ME. I know the entire Senate stands behind our colleagues Senator Collins and Senator King as they help their State marshal its response. We pray especially for the victims of this senseless violence, for their families, and for the law enforcement personnel working tirelessly to save lives and bring the suspect to justice. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson Mr. President, now, on an entirely different matter, yesterday, I spoke with the newly elected Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. I congratulated him on his victory, and I expressed my support as he begins to steer the House Republican majority. We have a lot of work ahead of us. House and Senate Republicans need to work together on a number of urgent priorities, beginning with supplemental appropriations for a number of our national security priorities. So I look forward to meeting with the Speaker soon to begin this important work. Israel Mr. President, every day brings new harrowing details of the terrorist attacks of October 7, and we continue to learn more about the role Iran plays in aiding and abetting terror. Just yesterday, new reports indicated that hundreds of terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad traveled to Iran last month for specialized combat training with Tehran's murderous Quds Force. Of course, waiting for specific evidence of tactical involvement really misses the point. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror. It has spent decades supporting proxy terrorists who share their hatred for Israel and America precisely so Tehran can maintain plausible deniability. We cannot lose sight of this savage charade. Evil will continue to target the United States and our allies, whether we pay attention to it or not. And the threats our adversaries pose are all connected. Iran doesn't just underwrite terrorist attacks on Israel; it outfits Russia with drones to help kill Ukrainians. China doesn't just menace Taiwan; it helps Iran circumvent international sanctions by trading consumer goods for oil. And Russia isn't just pummeling a sovereign neighbor; it has joined China for joint naval exercises in the Sea of Japan, as well as off the coast of Alaska. Our adversaries' ambitions are not local. They have been showing us for years that they are determined to challenge American leadership, undermine our interests, and weaken our alliances. But on every front, the Biden administration's response has fallen short. The President was hesitant to deter Russia's aggression in the first place and has dithered about helping equip Ukraine to defeat it. He has prioritized engagement with China on climate policy over building resilient supply chains with trusted allies. And just listen to his administration's jaw-dropping naivete after 3 years of squandering leverage on Iran. In early October, the President's National Security Advisor wrote a self-congratulatory article assessing the administration's foreign policy. Here is some of what he said about the Middle East: In the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy. He went on: U.S. troops were under regular attack in Iraq and Syria. . . . Such attacks, at least for now, have largely stopped. Finally, he claimed that the President's approach ``frees up resources for other global priorities'' and ``reduces the risk of new Middle Eastern conflicts.'' Well, at least that was the account that went to print before 1,400 Israelis were murdered on a Saturday morning and before Iran-backed terrorists injured two dozen servicemembers in numerous attacks in Iraq and in Syria. The incongruity between the administration's spin and the reality has since been scrubbed from the article online, but the Biden administration's naive approach to terror remains woefully inadequate to meet the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism--from Afghanistan to Yemen, to Iraq and the Levant, to the Sahel. Abandoning Afghanistan, obsessing about closing Guantanamo Bay, removing the Houthis' designation as a terrorist organization, turning the other cheek when terrorists attack Americans and our allies, squandering leverage over Iran--weakness in one theater begets weakness in another. The United States is a global superpower, and it is high time we started embracing and properly resourcing the responsibilities that come with that role. Now is the time to invest deeper in our alliances and partnerships. It is time to restore credible deterrence with hard power. That is why I will oppose Senator Paul's resolution to compel the withdrawal of American servicemembers from Niger later today. Radical Islamic terrorism in that part of the world is on the rise, and we should be working more closely with local partners, not abandoning them. We should be conducting more surveillance flights, not blinding ourselves by abandoning strategic airfields in Niger. Russia and China are working overtime to displace American influence in Africa. We should not be making their job any easier. Beyond today's vote, the Senate should recognize the opportunity before us to shape a supplemental appropriations bill that equips our military, our defense industrial base, and our allies and partners to meet the growing threats that we face--from our southern border to radical Islamic terrorism, to authoritarian aggression. We have a chance to demonstrate the American leadership our people, our allies, and our interests require. We should take it. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, government funding is set to run out in 23 days. We have a responsibility to keep the lights on and to avoid the disastrous effects of a shutdown. We also need to make serious headway toward the full-year funding process the Nation actually deserves. This week, thanks to a lot of hard work from Senator Collins, Senator Murray, and our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, the Senate will finally take an important step in the right direction. As we continue to review the President's request for urgent supplemental appropriations--and make necessary changes--Senate Republicans stand ready to vote on a robust package of amendments to this full-year appropriations measure and pass it quickly out here on the floor. Israel Mr. President, now on another matter, it has been 18 days since the brutal terrorist attacks of October 7, 18 days since savages confronted the world with the depths of human depravity, since one of the oldest forms of hatred in human history reared its ugly head, since radical Islamic terrorists reminded us they pose a persistent threat to the civilized world. In our shock, the West vowed solidarity. We pledged not to look away from the horrors Israel was grieving. We reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself, and we promised to stand with our ally as it fought back against pure evil. But in the last 18 days, silence, amnesia, cowardice, and outright hate have begun to take their toll. All too quickly, the West's resolve has shown signs of weakness. First, we saw the most elite corners of higher education rush to blame Israel for the deaths of its own children. We saw college administrators tie themselves in grotesque moral knots to avoid acknowledging reality, even in the face of alumni revolts. Last night, for example, at George Washington University, here in the Nation's Capital, student activists projected anti-Semitic messages on the side of the campus building named for a pair of Jewish benefactors. They issued a call to ``free Palestine from the river to the sea.'' For anyone unfamiliar with Israel's geography, that is a call for the destruction of the Jewish State. But, just a few blocks away, the Biden administration is in denial. After protestors in Time Square displayed the Nazi swastika and an Israeli student at Columbia University was beaten with a stick, the White House Press Secretary replied to a question about rising concerns of anti-Semitism that ``we have not seen any credible threats.'' That is the White House Press Secretary. Even more absurd was how, in the very next breath, without even uttering the word ``Jew,'' she pivoted abruptly to condemning Islamophobia. Seriously, after thousands of Jews have been tortured and murdered, after hundreds have been taken hostage, after the sight of Jewish bodies paraded through Gaza was met with rejoicing from Arab capitals to London--after all of this--President Biden's Press Secretary reverted to the disgraceful ``both sides'' talking points. Of course, as I have discussed before, the media organizations who engage with her deserve their own share of shame. Some in the press are already indulging the same tired language designed to sap the free world's sense of moral clarity. Headlines are already warning about the indiscernible ``cycle of violence'' and amplifying morally bankrupt calls for a cease-fire. For anyone who needs a reminder, a cease-fire is what Israel thought it had with Hamas and with Palestinian Islamic Jihad earlier this summer. A cease-fire today is an amnesty for Hamas, a free path for terrorists from the same savage tribe as ISIS and al-Qaida. So less than 3 weeks after the deadliest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, too many prominent corners of our society already need a reminder--a reminder--of the terrorist horrors that actually started the war. Yesterday, I welcomed a group of important visitors to my office, among them were family members of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas. Two had survived the attacks and witnessed the terror firsthand. I would like to share with our colleagues two of their stories. First was Netta, a 20-year-old student who lived in a kibbutz in southern Israel. Netta told me that he woke up on October 7 to the sound of sirens. He talked about how he armed himself with a kitchen knife, barricaded himself in an interior room, and leaned against the door as terrorists ransacked his apartment. Netta told me about how he realized hours later, when his mother stopped replying to his texts, that his parents had been taken hostage by Hamas. I also heard from a young woman named Maya who was at the music festival that morning with her friends. Maya described to me yesterday the sounds of rockets interrupting the party at sunrise. She described how she cried the first time she saw a victim lying in the road as she fled, not knowing if he was alive or dead. She recalled how she turned left on a road in search of safe haven while many of her friends--two of whom would be murdered--turned right. She told me how she called her father to say, ``I love you, and I don't know if I will make it out,'' and how she waited hours in a kibbutz shelter, assuming that her ``time was coming.'' She remembers how news spread in message groups about which of her friends had made it out alive, and how friends witnessed bodies blown apart by grenades. Maya told me she is haunted by the images her friends shared of Hamas desecrating bodies and by how they seemed to enjoy it. She said she feels guilty for encouraging her friends to join her at the music festival that Saturday. This is why Israel fights. The attacks of October 7 confronted the world with the sort of horrors Jewish communities have no choice but to remember for generations. From European villages caught in pogroms to the horrors of Nazi Germany, to Israeli kibbutzim burned and bloodied by Hamas terrorists. For decades, the free world refrain has been: ``Never forget. Never again.'' God help us if we do not mean what we say. There is no room for false moral equivalency. Let me repeat that: There is no room for false moral equivalency. We must not forget who is responsible, and we must hold them accountable. Terror and self-defense are not the same thing. One side started the war, but the other side will finish it. And the United States must give Israel the time, space, and support to bring innocent people home and bring murderous terrorists to justice. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, over the weekend, the southern border crisis set a sobering new record. In the past year, CBP conducted more border apprehensions than in any year on record. Officials reported more than 2.4 million apprehensions since last October, and this number doesn't even count the illegal entries that actually evaded authorities. Most alarmingly, this news isn't actually new. Last year was the third straight year we set an all-time record for border apprehensions. In other words, every year that President Biden has been in charge of border security, his administration hasn't simply failed; it has failed to a historic and catastrophic degree. America has had functionally open borders for years. Along with millions of illegal aliens, we have allowed Chinese fentanyl and other lethal drugs to literally pour into our country and kill thousands of Americans every year. So the Democrats' border crisis isn't new. What is new is their supposed desire to finally do something about it. Now that blue State mayors and Governors are starting to feel the consequences of this catastrophic policy failure, the Biden administration says it now wants to take action. Of course, the administration mostly just wants to throw money at the problem and at its friends in local government. Apparently, the preferred response to a border crisis is a blue State bailout. Meanwhile, a particularly dangerous consequence of the President's border crisis is making history of its own. In the past year, southern border apprehensions of individuals on the terror watchlist broke an alltime record, the record that was just set the year before. Even President Biden's Department of Homeland Security has admitted in its 2024 ``Homeland Threat Assessment'' that ``record encounters of migrants arriving from a growing number of countries have complicated border and immigration security.'' The American people have watched the Biden administration spend their way into plenty of problems, but they haven't managed to spend their way out of a single one yet. Our country deserves real law enforcement and real borders. Border security is national security. And on that front, the Senate has a lot of work to do.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. There is evil in the world, and for the better part of the last century, America and our allies were squarely in the crosshairs. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that. On September 12, 2001, George Will coined a phrase, saying that the free world's ``holiday from history'' was over. When Russia escalated its lawless invasion of Ukraine last year, many observers, including former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, invoked the same idea. The West is at a crossroads. Increasingly, fringe voices on the left and right are insisting that it is not America's business to lead. They seem willing to accept American decline and to assume that their lack of interest in history means history won't be interested in them. Meanwhile, many of our allies are waking up to their own commitments to collective defense. As the world was reminded last February in Ukraine and again on October 7 in Israel, some of our friends and fellow democracies have never had the option of taking a holiday from history. Israel has no choice but vigilant self-defense because murderous theocrats and terrorists have vowed to wipe it off the map. Ukraine has no choice but all-out resistance because an authoritarian thug with delusions of Soviet glory has spent years butchering its people and carving up its sovereign territory. Half a world away, the free people of Taiwan have no choice but to stare down the threat from a communist superpower intent on bringing their island to heel. It is hard to ignore the growing strategic alignment between these authoritarian forces. They share an interest in one another's violent pursuits and in undermining the West--especially America. Take the growing strategic partnership between Russia and Iran. The Obama administration foolishly welcomed Putin's intervention in Syria, and it gave Russia influence in the Middle East it hadn't had since the 1970s--mostly at America's expense. Iran and its terror proxies were glad to see Putin prop up Bashar Assad. Under Russian protection, Syria became a training ground and logistics superhighway from Tehran's terror network. And as terrorists challenge America and Israel in the region, Russia is the beneficiary. It is a symbiotic relationship for the bad guys, and it has only continued to grow. Russia defends Iran at the U.N., and Iran is now providing the same lethal drones its terrorist proxies use to attack American forces in Syria and Iraq directly to Russia for use against Ukraine. The world's largest state sponsor of terror--with American, Israeli, and Arab blood on its hands--is also sponsoring Russia's war against our friends in Europe. As one good analysis put it recently, ``When Hezbollah terrorists, Hezbollah mercenaries, and Iranian theocrats chant `Death to America' after murdering Israelis, they're not confused.'' And it is hardly surprising that Putin has aligned his regime with this terror, given the devastation his forces inflict on civilians in Ukraine. Meanwhile, China isn't just keeping a close eye on the West's resolve to resist Russian aggression and Iran-backed terrorism; they are actually getting more directly involved. Just yesterday, for example, a summit of the PRC's so-called Belt and Road Initiative--a massive influence operation aimed at bringing more parts of the world under Beijing's thumb--featured Vladimir Putin as the guest of honor--yet another sign that Russia and China are serious about their ``friendship without limits.'' Beijing has released a flurry of statements responding to terrorist savagery by condemning Israel's self-defense operations and conspicuously avoiding any mention of Hamas. The PRC is stepping up its coordination with and support for Iran. It is no surprise that the regime that wants to break the will of the free people of Taiwan is eager to see its fellow travelers in Tehran and Moscow do the same to Israel and Ukraine. Our adversaries know the challenges they pose to us are linked. The belief that we can abandon allies in one part of the world and not hurt allies elsewhere simply doesn't hold water. In fact, it is naive and dangerous. The people of Israel have a right to defend themselves, and the United States has an interest in our closest ally in the Middle East rooting out terrorists like Hamas. Ukraine has a right to sovereignty, and the United States has an interest in Europe--our largest trading partner and strongest ally--not facing an emboldened thug at its gates. Taiwan and other Asian democracies have a right to self- determination, and the United States has an interest in helping Asian partners stand up to Chinese aggression. We need to remember America is a superpower. Our interests are global, and with global interests come global responsibilities. Our alliances matter. Our credibility matters. Our friends on the frontlines of authoritarian aggression and terrorist savagery don't have the opportunity to take a holiday from history, and America can't afford to either. In the coming days, it will be the Senate's responsibility to take strong and decisive action to put maximum support behind Israel's self- defense, equip Ukraine for victory as it defines it, and help Taiwan deter growing threats. The prosperity America has known for the better part of a century is the direct product of our leadership. Preserving it means standing with our friends and investing in our own strength.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Now, one final matter, I would like to take a minute to thank an all-star member of the Senate community as she departs on a well-deserved retirement. For the past 25 years, recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of the U.S. Senate has been Betty Koed's top responsibility. As Senate Historian, Betty has immersed herself more than pretty much anyone in the lore of this remarkable institution. Betty joined the Senate as Assistant Historian in 1998, in time to witness history with the impeachment trial of President Clinton. And her intelligence and determination came in handy immediately as the Historian's office phones rang off the hook with questions about the complex rules, procedures, and precedents that surrounded the first such event in more than a century. But as much as Members of this body are prone to make history, Senators also tend to like consuming history. I myself am no exception. So back in 2009, when former Senate Historian Richard Baker retired, I invited Betty to start visiting the Republican conference lunches to deliver weekly presentations on Senate history. By all accounts, Betty's ``History Minutes'' were the highlight of many a lunch. In fact, they were always so popular that we asked her to turn these stories into a book, and I am glad to say that an impressive volume illustrating some of the most dramatic and significant events in the Senate's history was actually published earlier this year. Over her time in the Senate, Betty has been a fierce advocate for the preservation of Senate records. Her colleagues describe her as a role model and mentor who is highly knowledgeable, considerate, and persistent. It would be no exaggeration to call Betty Koed's tenure as Senate Historian a historic milestone in its own right. So I would like to thank Betty, with heartfelt thanks for her loyal service to this institution, and I know our colleagues join me in wishing her all the best. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the barbaric terrorist attacks of October 7 have elicited two sorts of reactions in the West. Most reasonable people have responded to the slaughter of innocent Israelis with utter horror, fervent prayer, and strong support for Israel's right to defend itself. The overwhelming majority of Americans think the United States should publicly support our closest ally in the Middle East. They recognize this moment as a time for choosing, and they see the choice between a democracy's right to self-defense and a terrorist group's obsession with destroying it as an easy choice. The United States must have Israel's back as it roots out the terrorists who threaten it. For as long as it takes, I am proud to stand with this overwhelming majority. But, alas, in recent days, we have also seen just how the default position in some highly influential corners of our society--from national newsrooms to elite college campuses--how quickly they have been to blindly amplify terrorists' versions of events. This was especially true of the reporting of a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital yesterday. Hamas immediately blamed Israel for the blast, and major news organizations took their word for it, running headlines about an ``Israeli strike.'' In the hours since this tragedy, credible evidence has emerged suggesting that the same terrorists who used innocent civilians as human shields were themselves responsible. Well, the media can revise its headlines, but the shameful anti-Semitic fringe of our society has already heard what it wanted to hear. Unsurprisingly, the woke incubators of the Ivy League have been at the epicenter of this anti-Israel outrage. One coalition of 30 student groups at Harvard declared that they ``hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible'' for Hamas's terrorism--that Israel is responsible for Hamas's terrorism. Now, student radicals taking extremist stands is par for the course. The more important question is how university administrators--the supposed grownups on campus--would respond. The answer is not good. As former Harvard President Larry Summers rightly noted, his institution's initial silence ceded the field to campus extremists in defining Harvard's response. And when Harvard's leaders did respond, they failed the most basic test: distinguishing the victim from the aggressor. The university's response professed heartbreak at ``the war in Israel and Gaza now under way,'' as if there were even a shred of moral equivalence between terrorism and self-defense. The presidents of Columbia and Dartmouth expressed regret at ``the ensuing violence'' and ``the escalating violence,'' respectively. Not to be outdone, Notre Dame didn't even assign perfunctory blame to the terrorists. Instead, they bemoaned ``the outbreak of war in the Holy Land'' and calling ``for an end to the cycle of violence.'' I am reminded of a retort the late, great Bill Buckley deployed in a debate when his opponent tried to have both sides of the Cold War. He said: That is like saying that the man who pushes a little old lady into the path of a bus is morally equivalent to the man who pushes her out of its path, because they both push little old ladies around. If you want to know where this leads, take the American Bar Association, the organization that accredits our Nation's law schools. At first, the ABA's president called ``on both sides to show restraint'' and urged Israel and Hamas to ``settle their disputes in a peaceful and legal fashion.'' But yesterday, the ABA denounced Israel's self-defense efforts as ``collective punishment, forced displacement, [and] ethnic cleansing.'' Terrorism and self-defense are not morally equivalent. They are not morally equivalent. And you would think the leaders of America's higher education would understand that. Some leaders in higher education have argued in recent days that schools should not wade into political disputes. Stanford's president said that doing so means picking winners and losers on campus. Northwestern's president observed of his students and faculty that ``for me to speak for them displaces their own freedom to speak.'' That may actually be a wise policy, but it is certainly not one elite academia has been known to practice in the past. It doesn't take long to find the impassioned stances universities took following the murder of George Floyd or the ending of DACA. So why the new policy? Let's be clear. Some university leaders have displayed admirable conviction. Our former colleague Ben Sasse at the University of Florida describes support for the terrorists who murdered Israeli children as ``sickening'' and ``dehumanizing.'' Emory's president said the attacks ``must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.'' Princeton's president called it ``among the most atrocious of terrorist acts'' and, importantly, placed the blame for the coming war entirely where it belongs--on Hamas's shoulders. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all of these statements-- the good, the bad, and the ugly--be printed in the Record.

Mr. McCONNELL. I can only hope that the leaders of America's universities recognize what time it is in America. This is a time for moral clarity, not a time for anti-Semitic hate dressed in faculty- lounge jargon. Leaders cannot afford to be silent. Terrorism is evil. Anti-Semitism is despicable. And Israel has a right to exist. It shouldn't take a Ph.D. to understand that, but it also shouldn't be so hard for a Ph.D. to acknowledge it. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Mr. President, now on an entirely different matter, today, the Senate will vote on a Republican resolution to chip away at yet another example of the Biden administration's runaway regulatory state using the Congressional Review Act. The junior Senator from Louisiana, Senator Kennedy, has put forward a measure that would block a proposed rule at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would require financial institutions to collect and report personal information on small business loan applications, including data on race and sex. Apparently, as if the radical progressivism on campuses wasn't enough, Washington Democrats want to tie small business loans to diversity quotas. Small businesses are the lifeblood of the American dream, and I am grateful to my colleague from Louisiana for giving the Senate an opportunity to stick up for them. I would urge each of our colleagues to join me in supporting his resolution later today. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.