authors discussing their latest nonftion books at 8:00 p.m. eastern, over businessweek national correspondent joshua bob agreed with his book the rebels, he describes economic populism on the left of the future of the democratic party and 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, podcast cues with visible, and of politics and he argues that the - t move toward the colorblind approach to politics and race interviewed by the above except writer another hamas chatterton williams and westbrook tv every sunday on "c-span2 for the full schedule in your program guide or watch anyte a booktv.org. >> coming up, maryland democratic senator chris van holland combined his proposed amendment to the foreign aid bill which obeys military aid to israel, hundreds compliance with humanitarian and international law and the sinner just over half an hour.

>> i come to the floor today to discuss national security act which has many important components including support for ukraine, or israel and foreign countries in the indo pacific. as well as humanitarian assistance to help respond to crises around the world. including in ukraine, gaza, the west bank, sudan, and elsewhere. it also includes funding for the nonprofit security grant program to better protect those nonprofits here in the united states including places of worship, face elevated risk from hate crimes. i have spoken many times on this for about the imperative providing the people of ukraine with more desperately needed, military assistance to protect our sovereignty, and protect their n democracy. we must not abandon them to

putin's brutal onslaught in the ukrainian people are putting their blood in the lives of the line to defend the freedom and the lease that we can do the lease that we can do, is to provide them together with our allies, they weapons and the other support they need to do that read and it is not only the freedom of ukraine that is at stake, abandoning the people of ukraine to push and we destroy our credibility, with our allies and our adversaries and it would undermine our word with both friend and foe. not only inpe europe, but around the world. let there be no doubt, the president she is keeping when i what happens in ukraine, as he keeps the other i trained on

taiwan and to my senate colleagues,t you cannot say that you want to deter president xi from attempting the forcible takeover of taiwan and if you are prepared to wave the white flag in face of any cannot say that you work tough on china if you are week on russia and putin. this bill also provides important security assistance, the partners in the indo pacific region and to protect their sovereignty and support are common vision of a free and open indo pacific. as the chairns of the senate foreign relations committee on east asian and pacific, i worked hard in a bipartisan basis to advance that goal. and today autofocus the remainder of my remarks onsi the provisions in the supplemental to provide more u.s.u. security assistance to israel.

the horror of the october 7th hamas terror attacks, against israel cannot and must not and will not be erased or forgotten. about 1200 people were brutally murdered 240 people were taken hostage and as i have said many times, in the aftermath of that heinous attack in those kidnappings, israel not only has the right but the duty to defend itself and to take the actions necessary to prevent any future october 7. never forget, and never again. and i said vastly with the people of israel pursuing that objective and securing the release of all of the hostages. the terrible news of the death of his many as one fifth of the remaining hostages, the urgency of bringing the roast home could not be more clear.

and madam president i also believehi that while it is a jut war, and a just war must still be fought. justly. and is president of biden sec. lincoln, secretary austin and many others have repeated, how a war is conducted, it matters senate matters forot both moral and strategic reasons and americans we remember the collective english we've experienced the 911 terror attacks we are also acutely aware of the unintended consequences of strategic overage spinning from shared anger and pain and these were important lessons, lessons that apply today. we all recognize that hamas is despicable tactic of operating from among the civilian population and it makes more difficult to target the enemy

but that does not absolve the benjamin netanyahu government of the duty to take necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties. as were back second, last year secretary austin said and i quote, protecting palestinian civilians in gaza is both a moral responsibility, and a strategic one" pretty the sentiments were reckoned by secretary antony blinken in december of last year, when he said that it is imperative that israel putting premium on civilian productions. in the secretary of state's emphasize the point repeatedly since then. nor does the horror of the october 7 attack justify the humanitarian catastrophe in gaza. i catastrophe that began when. d total sees other people and then

very t narrow strip of land. and that has continued as the pollution places unnecessary obstacles in the way of getting vital desperately needed lifesavingra assistance to innocent civilians there. over 2 million palestinian civilians who have nothing to do witham hamas, or on the verge of starvation any help to survive. that is why sec. antony blinken emphasize the importance of getting more you now humanitarian assistance of people so desperately needed in gaza. and meta- president, the situation is awful and it is getting worse by the day and to those who say that the state is being diverted to hamas, let me just say, that is factually untrue i don't want to read a statement that i received, not that long ago from ambassador

satterfield who is our humanitarian alternator in charge of humanitarian assistance to gaza. his statement reads in a quote today i've not received any allegations, evidence or reports of any incidents of hamas diversion or theft of u.s. or other assistance or fuel from you and deliver assistance from any of our partners, or from the government of israel something humanitarian assistance resumed in gaza on october 21st. and i ask that his full statement be placed in the record. >> without objection. >> unfortunately, madame present the urgent pleas from biden administration and mostly falling on deaf ears heard and

we have benjamin netanyahu collision in just a w few days ago, we saw secretary antony blinken meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu urging that israel not take military action and rough and what is it, it is a city in gaza that is rightit on the egyptian gaza border every four the war started, there were about 300,400,000 people in gaza and today you have about 1.4 million people crammed into gaza because over million people have been displaced from other partsa of gaza, went to rough because they was olives a safe place to go. but despite what secretary 13 said despite the other day john kirby national security spokesman said that the united not support major

operationra in there neverthele, with an hours of secretary anto, benjamin netanyahu said that they were going to go into rough is one of many many examples of where our request have been rebuffed. we have made some incremental progress from time to time for example, after many many regimes we saw while back, a delay reopening of the crossing to allow some more trucks into gaza. the reality is that the number of trucks and the motivate getting into gaza, is nowhere near what is necessary to meet the dire humanitarian situation. and here we are, four months

into this work and over 27000 palestinians have been killed and over two thirds of them are women and children. and that does not include those who are still buried beneath the rubble. who helped lead the targeting against isis has written about the unacceptably high levels of civilian casualties and gaza. nas unanimous consent the place is off ed into the record. >> withoutit objection. >> is only the extremely high so million death toll, is he over 27 he sees me over 67000 wounded in the over 1.7 million displaced,n and is a huge damage to civilian infrastructure including the apostles, schools, moss and churches it is a toll from humanitarian aid workers,

killed and journalists killed. ... is simply inhumane. for just one small but still powerful example, i urge my colleagues to read "the washington post" story from last friday, a week ago, about a 6-year-old girl, hindu, who is trying to get to safety in a car with her aunt, her uncle and her five young cousins. the car was hit by tank fire and all of those who were in the car with hindu died. she was severely injured. and she got on a phone to try to call for help. and there are recordings of her calls for help. as her family members lie dead around her in the car.

the last recording on the phone call she made to paramedics who were unable to reach her were, quote, come and take me. she was killed. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that this article be placed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: millions of palestinians are desperately trying to cling to life as we speak here. i've met with the leaders of international humanitarian organizations who have operated in conflict zones around the globe for decades and decades. every one of them has stated that their organizations have never -- never experienced a humanitarian disaster as dire and terrible as the world is witnessing in gaza. that's why five weeks ago senator merkley and i traveled

to the rafah border crossing between egypt and gaza to see for ourselves what was happening, to talk to people on the ground. what we saw and learned indicated that palestinians -- palestinian civilians are on the verge of starvation, that injured children are having their limbs amputated without anesthesia, that sewage continues to spill into the streets and contaminated water supplies, and health officials are warning of the imminent outbreak of cholera and other diseases. diseases like disen-terry are -- disentary are already rampant. that's why many wrote to president biden last week urging to do more to push the coalition, to allow more desperately needed as soon as possible to reach innocent

civilians in gaza. we outlined five specific measures that need to be taken immediately. that was not the first time many of us wrote to president biden to express our concerns about the conduct of the war in gaza. we wrote to the president over three months ago posing a series of questions, including what mechanisms are in place to ensure that u.s.-provided equipment is used in accordance with international humanitarian law. we did that because the united states is not a bystander in that conflict -- in this conflict. israel is the largest annual recipient of u.s. security assistance, totalling more than $39 billion over the last ten years alone. and right now bombs and artillery made in america and paid for by americans are being

used in gaza. so the united states government and the united states senate has an obligation to the american people to ensure that their tax dollars, our tax dollars are used in a manner that alliance with our -- aligns with our values and aligns with our interests. that is why 19 senators filed an amendment to the national security act -- the supplemental national security provision that's before the senate now and soon will be considered. that's why we filed an amendment to ensure that all recipients of u.s. military assistance in that bill, whether ukraine, whether israel, or whether it's one of our east asian partners, use these u.s. taxpayer dollars -- use them in line with our values and our interests. our amendment is designed to create an accountability

structure, to ensure that countries that receive u.s. security assistance promise to adhere to humanitarian law and other applicable law. it is designed to ensure that recipients of u.s. assistance promise to help facilitate and not arbitrarily restrict the delivery of u.s.-supported humanitarian assistance in conflict zones and our amendment included a provision to maintain accountability by requiring reporting be presented and provided to the congress on whether or not the recipients of u.s. military assistance were in fact complying with those commitments on international law and allowing humanitarian aid to flow to conflict zones. and, importantly, madam president, the reporting requirements in our amendment also require information and assessment about whether

recipient countries, countries receiving u.s. military aid, are employing best practices to prevent civilian harm. that's what our amendment does, and we filed that amendment to this bill just a few days ago. in the meantime, since we first proposed this amendment in december, we've remained in regular communication with the biden administration. and i want to thank all my colleagues who've cosponsored this amendment. including the original cosponsors, senator kaine, senator durbin, senator schatz, but also 15 other colleagues, including the presiding officer, who joined together in this effort to call for an amendment

that made sure that we better align our military assistance with our values. now, our amendment applied these requirements to every country receiving military assistance in the supplemental national security bill, but our intention all along has been to expand this world-wide, to make sure that, as the united states uses taxpayer dollars to provide security assistance to countries around the world, that we can tell those taxpayers that their money is being used and the military equipment purchased with their money is being used in a manner consistent with our values. and we begin that conversation with the president's team at the white house. we had a chance to talk with them about our goals and the purposes of the amendment.

and at the time we introduced this amendment, we said our goal is to get these provisions implemented, whether through amendment or through other means. and, madam president, i want to salute the president of the united states, president biden, because just last night at 8:30 p.m., the president issued an historic national security memorandum, national security memorandum number 30o i'd like to have that included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection u --. mr. van hollen: what this does is effectively implement the terms of our amendment. it makes the terms of that amendment effectively the law of the land.

and it does other things as well. i not only want to salute president biden, i want to salute his national security advisor jake sullivan, the entire nsc team and the entire white house team for taking this very important, deliberate, historic action. it is a very big deal. what does it do? well, as our amendment pushes forward in a number of big areas. first, it requires that every recipient of u.s. military assistance promise in writing before receiving that military assistance that they will comply with international humanitarian law and, as applicable, other international law. they have to promise in writing to do that before the delivery of u.s. military assistance. number two, that every recipient of u.s. military assistance must

promise in writing to facilitate and not to arbitrarily restrict the delivery of u.s.-supported humanitarian assistance into conflict zones where u.s. weapons are being used by the recipient country. that promise also has to be made before the delivery of that military assistance. and this national security memorandum has enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance and to make sure that the united states government has the tools to take action in cases of noncompliance. it focuses in the first instance on countries that are currently in armed conflict and using u.s. weapons. that would include israel, it would include ukraine, it would include other countries that today are using u.s. weapons in

conflict zones. and it indicates that if those countries do not make these assurances -- make those programs within the next 45 days, u.s. security assistance will be suspended. it also has a provision that says the secretary of state will inform the president of the united states if there's any information that the recipient countries that have made these promises are not keeping those promises to the american people and the american taxpayer. and when the secretary of state makes any such notification to the president, the congress will be informed. the national security memorandum also has the robust reporting requi requirements included in our proposed amendment to help monitor compliance with the promises made by the recipient countries.

their promises to use u.s. military assistance in accordance with international humanitarian law and other international laws as applicable. their promises to facilitate and not arbitrarily restrict the delivery of humanitarian assistance. the report will tell the congress whether or not those countries are in fact doing those things and provide an a. ssessment -- and provide an assessment of what's happening. the report will also include other provisions called for in our amendment. one of them very importantly is that the report must assess and analyze whether or not the recipient countries that are engaged in armed conflict are deploying and using best practices to prevent civilian harm. i'll say that again. this report will require an assessment and analysis of

whether countries that are receiving u.s. military assistance, engaged in armed conflict now, whether or not they are employing best practices to prevent civilian harm. the national security memorandum prioritizes reporting on countries that are currently using weapons -- using u.s. weapons in armed conflict. for those countries, the first report will be due in 90 days. those countries include ukraine, include israel, and any other countries that are using u.s. weapons in armed conflict today. and very importantly, madam president, the reporting period that is covered will be a reporting time frame starting january of 2023. so congress will receive a report in 90 days on whether or

not the recipients of u.s. military assistance are in compliance throughout last year and on into this year with those requirements set out in the national security memorandum, requirements that we had in our amendment. so, madam president, this really is an historic moment. this is a transformational moment in making sure we align u.s. security assistance with american values. it's a very sweeping memorandum. as of 8:30 p.m., it is the law of the land. -- in the united states of america. and it will give the president of the united states many more tools and more leverage to better ensure that countries

that are using u.s. military assistance comply with the commitments they now have to make in writing. whether it's ukraine, whether it's israel, whether it's another country. and i spoke a little bit earlier about the fact that despite repeated requests from the biden administration of the netanyahu coalition to reduce the level of civilian casualties, to allow more humanitarian assistance into gaza, that for the most part, with some minor exceptions, those requests have fallen on deaf ears. and so we hope and believe and are quite confident that the this national security memorandum, which adopts our amendment, will provide the president with the leverage, additional leverage needed to close that gap between our request and reality. and i urge the president and his team to make effective use of

these new provisions. and i urge the president's team to do that not just with respect to israel but any country receiving u.s. military assistance because american taxpayers must be assured that the united states government is doing everything in its power to make sure that as we provide assistance to partners around the world, that they are complying with their values and complying with the principles of adherence to international humanitarian law, international lawmakers that they will help facilitate and not obstruct the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in desperate need. so, madam president, i want to again thank all of the cosponsors of this amendment, because there were many people who opposed this amendment.

but i never understood the opposition to the straightforward principles that u.s. taxpayer dollars and u.s. military assistance should go to countries that commit to us that they will use that help that we are providing in accordance with international humanitarian law and commit that if they're engaged in an armed conflict using u.s. weapons, that they will support u.s. efforts and other u.s.-backed efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who are caught up in the crossfire through no fault of their own. these seem like very straightforward principles, and it's about time that we took what has previously really been the sentiments of the united states and turn it into substance, to take rhetoric and make it more of a realty.

and so i want to thank all my colleagues, including the new presiding officer who helped make that happen. and i want to thank the president of the united states. i want to thank president biden who has said from the beginning that the united states must continue to be a beacon of hope and that we must have a foreign policy based on values, based on the rule of law, based on human rights. if we want to do that, we need to make sure that our laws match those ambitions. we need to make sure that we have requirements on the books that achieve those aspirations. because aspirations that are not backed up with real leverage sound good, but they are not made real in the worldt