Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Relating to ``Update of Commission's

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 2 years ago, I spoke to a gathering of friends of Israel. At the time, I was working to advance pro-Israel legislation to combat the BDS movement. This was a far-left effort to create worldwide anti-Israel boycotts. I was struck, at the time, by the opposition to the bill from the far left, and I said the Democrats had to stand up to the growing chorus of anti-Israel voices in their own ranks or we would all come to regret it.

Well, fast-forward to today. Our friends in Israel are now in their second week of a difficult counterterrorism campaign. They are responding to unprovoked rocket attacks raining down on their people. Predictably, the radical fringe has leapt to excuse the acts of terror and, of course, blame Israel, as usual. But, now, disproportionate pressure is not only being placed on Israel by far-left activists. Now, sitting Members of Congress are actually joining in. One Democratic House Member has lately called Israel an ``apartheid state.'' Another said it is guilty of ``terrorist acts.''

For a long time, Republicans and Democrats have stood together in standing with Israel. I am proud of all of the work we have accomplished together, like improving Israel's Iron Dome defenses, providing precision-guided munitions and Joint Strike Fighters, and collaborating on counter-tunneling technology to thwart terrorists. These bipartisan efforts have paid dividends for Israel and for the United States.

As recently as 2014, during the last major conflict between Israel and Hamas, most Democrats stood unhesitatingly with Republicans to unequivocally condemn Hamas and support Israel. But, now, rather than having Israel's back, senior Democrats have actually pressured Israel to end its defensive operations. They have called for a ceasefire and urged leaders to strive for peace through a negotiated two-state solution--as if Israeli Prime Ministers from across the political spectrum haven't made good faith efforts in the past toward peace.

Of course, in this case, Israel is not fighting the Palestinian Authority. They are not up against the Palestinian Authority. They are not at war with the Palestinian people. They are fighting Hamas. Everybody around here surely knows by now that Hamas is a terrorist group that opposes a two-state solution. They want Israel destroyed. That is who this fight is between--Israel and Hamas--not the Palestinian Authority, not the Palestinian people. It is between Israel and Hamas, Israel versus terrorists.

So let's dispense with this ``both sides'' nonsense. Only one side has taken credible steps toward peace, and even when rocketed by terrorists, Israel takes extraordinary pains to avoid harming civilians. This includes giving advance warning to Palestinian civilians in the places they are about to strike. It calls them up in advance and says: Get out of there. We are about to strike.

Frankly, Israel is taking more care to protect Palestinian civilians than is Hamas, which intentionally hides behind innocent people in violation of the laws of war and then exploits their deaths to advance the cause. Hamas doesn't represent Palestinians any more than it represents the rest of the region's Arabs, which is to say, not at all.

For decades, administrations mistakenly assumed the road to Middle East peace led through agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and that nothing else could be addressed until this was resolved. In reality, the previous administration facilitated the Abraham Accords--a historic step that helped Israel normalize relationships with majority- Muslim countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan. Morocco normalized its relationship as well. This progress toward peace, based on shared geopolitical and economic interests, came in spite of intransigence from leaders in Gaza.

Now the Biden administration wants to deny this historic progress. A few days ago, the President's spokeswoman argued incredibly that with respect to the prior administration, ``We don't think they did anything constructive''--really?--regarding ``the longstanding conflict in the Middle East.'' Really? The recognition between Israel and four Arab countries is not progress? Give me a break.

Now, as Israel battles terrorists, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee indicated this week that he might try to obstruct the supply of precision technologies that helps Israel avoid civilian casualties. How does that make sense? And remember that Chairman Meeks only chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee because the far-left primaried the previous chairman--a staunch Democratic supporter of Israel--right out of his seat in Congress. You can see where the far left is trending. This effort to block arms sales is basically the same play that some Democrats ran with Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Let's just think about that. Fortunately, the latest reports suggest the chairman may be backing down from this. I certainly hope so.

Yet the White House still can't give a straight answer on whether and when we will help Israel replenish the Iron Dome system that protects its citizens. Leading Democrats are even talking about easing sanctions on the Iranian regime, which helps fund terrorist proxies like Hamas and keeps their rocket arsenals full. They come from Iran--and the administration still proposes to cut our own U.S. defense funding after inflation.

So, listen. Israel's enemies are watching--make no mistake--not just Hamas but Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We cannot send the signal that terrorist attacks on American allies will be met with mealy-mouthed attempts to blame both sides Abortion

Now, Mr. President, on a completely different matter, when President Biden nominated Xavier Becerra to run the Department of Health and Human Services, it was clear what the Nation was getting--a hardened culture warrior with no health or medical expertise. Where Secretary Becerra did have experience was in trying to impose a far-left social agenda.

He fought and fought in Federal court to make religious nonprofits pay for things that violated their consciences until he finally got creamed in the Supreme Court by a ruling that was 7 to 2. Before that, he had fought and fought to force crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortion, trying to coerce a certain kind of leftwing speech out of private groups. The Supreme Court slapped him down then as well. That was the resume Secretary Becerra brought to his current position.

Last week, in a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Secretary either forgot about Federal law on abortion or revealed that he just didn't care what was on the books. When a Member of Congress used the common term ``partial-birth abortion,'' the Secretary coyly suggested he didn't know what that meant. He tried to get the Congressman to use the more clinical verbiage that helps the far-left conceal this grotesque subject. Then, when pressed, Secretary Becerra claimed ``there is no law that deals specifically with the term `partial-birth abortion.' ''

Well, the Secretary may wish that were the case, but it isn't. That is completely false.

U.S. Code, title 18, section 1531 is the Federal ban on partial-birth abortions. It uses the exact term seven times. It defines the banned practice in all of its barbaric detail. Back in 2003, I was proud to join with almost two-thirds of the Senate when we passed this mainstream law. Our Federal ban on this awful procedure remains widely popular with the American people. It is the bare, bare minimum. Yet President Biden's HHS Secretary is either ignorant of the Federal law or wants to pretend that it actually doesn't exist.

Remember, the far left has kept America one of just seven countries-- seven--in the world that allows elective abortions on demand after 20 weeks. Countries across Europe, like France, Spain, Germany, Norway, and Denmark, all limit elective abortion to before 20 weeks. The far left wants America to be an outlier on the global fringe, and President Biden's HHS Secretary either doesn't know or won't admit that the phrase ``partial-birth abortion'' even appears in Federal law. A misstatement like that is embarrassing enough, but the radicalism that lies behind it is even worse. Protests

Mr. President, on one final matter, after careful consideration, I have made the decision to oppose the House Democrats' slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January 6.

As everybody surely knows, I repeatedly made my views about the events of January 6 very clear. I spoke clearly and left no doubt about my conclusions. Federal law enforcement has made at least 445 arrests and counting relating to crimes committed that day. Hundreds of those people have been charged. Law enforcement investigations are ongoing, and Federal authorities say they expect to arrest at least 100 or so more. Bipartisan investigations are also underway and have been for months at the committee level here in the Senate.

There is, has been, and there will continue to be no shortage of robust investigations by two separate branches of the Federal Government. So it is not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another Commission could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress.

The facts have come out, and they will continue to come out. What is clear is that the House Democrats have handled this proposal in partisan bad faith, going right back to the beginning, from initially offering a laughably partisan starting point to continuing to insist on various other features under the hood that are designed to centralize control over the Commission's process and its conclusions in Democratic hands.

I have been an outspoken critic about all of the episodes of political violence that our Nation has seen over the past year. I support the strong existing investigations and justice for any American--any American--who has broken the law.

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