Stand again in support of our great ally israel. The terror and devastation unleashed on israel by iranbacked Hamas Terrorists has rightly horrified the world. What im about to describe is difficult to say and uncomfortable to hear, but it has to be said on the senate floor. We cannot make this stuff up. The world must know the atrocities that occurred in israel. On the morning of saturday, october 7, 2023, as families rose to start a new day, make breakfast or slowly wake up in their beds, terror approached. Innocent families were murdered in their homes. Babies were killed, innocent little babies were murdered and some were ruthlessly beheaded. Children were burned alive. Teenage girls were raped and then burned alive. And a wheelchair bound woman later identified as a holocaust survivor was brutally dragged through the streets of gaza. Children who witnessed the murders of their parents being kidnapped are now being held hostage by hamas. More than 250 young people were savagely murdered while attending a Music Festival in israel. Many shot in the back as they tried to run away. At least 31 americans, 31 americans have been killed and more than 1,400 innocent people were killed in israel, and we have no idea how many are being held hostage by iranbacked terrorists in gaza. The images seen will never leave our memories. I visited a kibbutz at a trip in israel in 201. At the time it was full of happy families and children. It is now silenced, completely silenced by brutality and death. This week i talked to the individual that gave me the tour of the village or the kibbutz. It was a beautiful place. Nice people, happy. Shes only alive because she was not there. She told me the family that lives next door to her on the right were murdered. The family on the left were murdered. The family down the street were murdered. I was told Hamas Terrorists set fires to force people out of their homes in safe rooms, savagely murdered innocent israelis, many shot at close range. She told me that she was talking to her sister who was in a safe room and Hamas Terrorists were trying to break in. Fortunately they werent able to. Children were shot in front of their parents and some kidnapped to gaza. Iran backed Hamas Terrorists slaughtered innocent babies in their beds. I met so many people there i met so many happy people there a few short years ago, and i fear a lot of them are going to be dead. We saw fox a fox new correspondent report bodies littered the town. You could see its complete and total destruction. All the houses are destroyed. It looks like many were blown up with rpgs or other explosives. People were shot and killed in their beds, executed at pointblank range. This is are the most horrific thing ive seen. Thomas hand, the father of emily, an eightyearold girl killed, had to wait two days to find out that emily was killed. Im a father of two daughters. Im the grandfather of seven grandchildren. Watching this father speak on television about the murder of his daughter is heart wrenching. He said to cnn, they just said we found emily, and shes dead. And i went, yes. And i smiled this is what he said. He said i smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that i knew. She was either dead or in gaza. And he saipped if you know anything about what they do to people in gaza, that is worse than death. Do you know why they murdered emily and more than 1,400 other israelis and 31 americans, these iranbacked hamas . Simply because they were jewish. They killed them because they hate jews and want to kill every jew. Its unimaginable what these families have suffered. We cannot look away. Lets remember these were israeli and american families. The atrocities are too numerous to fully recount but these stories and images we have all seen will never leave our memories. Not since the holocaust has the world witnessed such a brutal attack on the jewish people. Sadly, the jewish people have endured thousands of years of hate and persecution, but this will not be the end of israel or the jewish people. Israel is surrounded by terrorist groups that want it wiped off the face of the earth. Ive seen this firsthand during my five visits to israel which gave me a clear perspective on israels proximity to its enemies, hamas, hezbollah, isis and iran. Hamas and hezbollah are not in quest for civil liberty or justice. They are killers. They are killers who seek to eradicate jewish people from this earth and they are funded and supported by the evil Iranian Regime. In august 2021 the senate voted 990 for my amendment to a budget bill to ensure United States tax dollars do not benefit terrorist organizations such as hamas. The vote was 990. Everyone in this body agrees american taxpayers should never fund Hamas Terrorists. Unfortunately the final text of the bill did not include my language. Heres why we need to stop taxpayer funding of terrorist acts. In 2021 bidens state Department Said, quote, were going to be working in partnership with the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to kind od in a manner that does its best to go to the people of gaza, end quote. The official went on to say, quote, as weve seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees. But were going to do everything we can to ensure this assistance reaches the people who need it the most, end quote. We all know hamas controls gaza. Every dollar that goes to gaza comes under the control of hamas who decides what its going to do with it. So i heard from the Biden State Department in 2021 is that the administration cant guarantee the american taxpayer dollars arent going to fund terrorist in hamas. The Biden Administration thinks of risk of resources going to Hamas Terrorists is okay because, quote, in life, theres no guarantees. I reject that. And i will not leave anything to chance when it comes to preventing u. S. Taxpayer money from being sent to the brutal terrorists that have slaughtered so many israelis and americans. And we know for a fact that hamas uses humanitarian aid to support its terrorist acts. Look at this one. This is a humanitarian package. Its a humanitarian unicef bag found among the troops used to carry iran backed Hamas Terrorists into israeli towns where they murdered israeli families and burned homes to the ground. I guess there was no guarantee. I talked to a lot of rabbis in florida and they told me theyve seen lots of pictures on israeli tv of humanitarian rice bags that when people open them, there are bullets in it. The Administration Must do better and fully control where american taxpayer money is going. We can make sure american taxpayers arent funding terrorists. Thats why im again asking that we pass the stop taxpayer funding of hamas act. Im proud to have the support of senator cindy hydesmith, mike braun and senator cramer on this bill. What this bill says, its common sense, no funds will be authorized for the territory of gaza until the president guarantees these funds can be spent without benefiting terrorist organizations. It also ensures u. S. Funds are not authorized for the territory of gaza unless the president can certify it is not teaching antiisrael and antisemitic ideas and propaganda. Finally this bill mandates the president certify there are no hostages. We know theres hostages in gaza. That theres no hostages held in gaza for any terrorist organization. Just this morning President Biden announced 100 million of sucht aid to gaza for gaza and the west bank. When airnl backed hamas activities continue attacks against israel, i cant think of a more critical time to pass this bill. Let me finish with something that i was reminded of today. I know a family in florida that they lost their sister in law, her husband, i think their two sixyear olds and a threeyearold. Heres the way it works. They lost their loved ones, but their government is going to tax them to give money to the Palestinian Authority, that gives money to terrorists that died killing their family. You cant make this stuff up. So if this is a simple bill. Let me now turn it over to my colleague from indiana, senator braun. The presiding officer the senator from indiana. Mr. Braun i was ons trip with senator scott back in i believe august of 2019. What struck me about that visit, we went on to almost every perimeter in israel, and how they had to be on guard constantly, constantly to keep from having something flying into one of their towns or villages. When we did visit the one that rick referred to, what struck me is they had like a big lockerbie one of the homes locker by one of the homes that showed all the unique ways i think it was the village nearest to the gaza strip of how many attempts that were made over time. Thank goodness most of them falling short. But it gave me the impression that there was never a moment of real security. And when we had to see how within those villages, you had to be on guard almost 100 of the time to scurry in to a safe room that would disrupt the normal pace of your life, imagine if you had to live under those conditions. And here its been a long time since anything of this magnitude has come along, probably nearly 50 years. But it shows that it never ends there. And when Something Like this does happen, i think youve got to, when weve had legislation it looks like was intended to prevent this, and it went through, i think according to the senator, unanimously, this should be a slam dunk that wed want to make sure that nothing can leak free out of any other type of aid that would help Something Like this either persist or happen again. If the report in the wall street journal is accurate, iran is closely involved in the planning and execution of the horrible terrorist act on israel. If that is the case, then it appears the 6 billion in cash unfrozen for iran, freed up resources to aid the attack. We should suspend those funds immediately and permanently. We almost we must also take extra steps to make sure the United States is not inadvertently funding terrorist activities. This bill, a simple one, the stop taxpayer funding of hamas act, would do just that. Under this bill, the president will have to certify that no u. S. Funds are able to go to hamas or members of hamas. It would also make sure that funds are not benefiting organizations controlled or influenced by hamas, palestinian, Islamic Jihad, or any other terrorist organization it simply put in specificity what we all should be for. With President Bidens announcement today that he intends to send 100 million in aid to gaza, we need this legislation to become law immediately. The American People need to feel confident that their tax dollars are not going to fund the mayhem we saw in israel at the hands of Hamas Terrorists. I yield the floor to the senator from North Carolina. Mr. Budd madam president. The presiding officer the senator from North Carolina. Madam president , on october 7, Hamas Terrorists launched an unprovoked and bar bayeric sear barbaric series of attacks inside israel. 31 americans were killed and dozens remain missing or held hostage. In the wake of such a despicable series of attacks, we must ensure that our taxpayers here, that our peaps are not our taxpayers that their dollars are not sent to aid the terrorist killers. Two years ago one of the state Department Officials in the Biden Administration and the Biden Administration acknowledged that the possibility of aid to the palestinians could find its way into hamass hands. Thats unacceptable. And thats why senator rick scotts stop taxpayer funding of hamas act is so critical right now. It simply states that no u. S. Taxpayer dollars would be authorized to gaza until the president certifies to us, to congress, that there are measures in place to prevent any taxpayer dollars from benefiting terrorist organizations. At the end of the day, we should be Standing Shoulder to shoulder with the state of israel to give them everything that they need to destroy hamas. I urge the senate to pass this without delay. I thank my colleague from florida for his leadership on this issue, and i yield to him. The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Scott to pass this important legislation. The individual that gave me the tour of the kibbutz, she was telling me they were half a mile from gaza and before hamas took over the gaza area, she used to be able to walk all the way to the beach and it was safe. So the i think most people in america no one is against gauzians, but to take any chance to go doesnt make any sense. We shouldnt allow a single dollar to get into the hands of terrorists. We should be table to i look forward to my colleagues joining me today. I ask unanimous consent that the foreign real Estates Committee be dis Relations Committee be discharged from consideration of s. 49. I further 489. I ask that the florida scott substitute at the desk be considered, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there an objection . Mr. Sanders reserving the right to object. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders madam president , i listened carefully to what senator scott and others have said about the barberrist act committed by hamas against innocent men, women, and children. The mowing down by machine guns by young people who were doing nothing more than attending a dance, the murder of babies. This is a horrific, horrific act precipitating a worldwide crisis, and the United States of america, all of us condemn this act. And in my view, the state of israel has the absolute right to defend itself against hamas and terrorism in general. No debate on that. But what i ask my colleagues to also consider is that while we fully appreciate the horrific attack by hamas against innocent people of israel, i ask you also to understand that right now there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children in gaza who have lost their homes. Theyve been thrown out of their homes. They have no food, they have no water, they have no fuel. And i will remind my colleagues that half of those people are children. Half of the people in gaza are children. So, yes, we are united in doing everything we can to destroy hamas and their terrorism, but i implore you, do not take hamass inhumanity and brutality and terrorism against children who are 3 or 5 years old. I ask you to think for a moment. Think about it. I have a state, i represent the state of vermont, 630,000 people. A Million People, most of them are poor. They had nothing to begin with before this whole business. Gaza was one of the most desperately poor places in the world. Youth unemployment 75 , many of their people dependent on the u. N. For basic survival. So what im asking people to take a look at is to understand what our country is about, and what our country must not be involved in is making the horrific and miserable situation in gaza even worse. Many of the families, and again, these are people thrown out of their homes. They dont know where theyre going. They dont know who will accept them had they dont know if theyre ever going back to their homes and theyre poor to begin with, and do we really want to deny those people aid from the u. N. And other agencies to feed the children to provide water for them. Is that what we are really all about . So, of course, it goes without saying that we have to do everything that we can to make sure that not one nickel goes to the murderous hamas organization, but at the same time we have got to stand with the innocent women and children in palestine who are suffering today and are facing an almost unprecedented modern humanitarian disaster. So, madam president , today in the midst of this crisis u. S. And u. N. Assistance in gaza is aimed squarely at deafg the basic addressing the basic needs of the Palestinian People including humanitarian aid. The u. S. And u. N. Goes to great length to make sure that the aid goes the people who need it and not diverted. The Israeli Government itself recognizes the importance of this u. N. Humanitarian aid and has long supported it. Today in the myth of this horrific crisis, the United States and the International Community are working to secure humanitarian access and what media reports i have seen recently, we may be making some progress in that. So that the u. N. Can get food and water and fuel and medicine to the million or more people in gaza who need essential supplies. That should be our focus. There are people now facing hunger, they are facing incredible desperation and we cannot, cannot turn our backs on them. If you think this is going to be good for israel, if you think the suffering of the Palestinian People long term is good for israel, i think you are sorely mistaken. The world is looking at us and the world understands that what hamas did is terrible but they dont want to see our great country turn its back on innocent women and children. That, in my view is not what this country is about. This is a tough issue. There have been four wars in the last 15 years. It aint going to be solved tomorrow, but while we do our best to support israel and destroy hamas, please, let us not turn our back on the suffering people in gaza. This is not what we should be doing, not what congress should be doing and therefore i object. The presiding officer the obje