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Floor Speech

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Mr. BRAUN. Madam President, I was on that trip with Senator Scott back in, I believe, August of 2019.

What struck me about that visit, as we went to almost every perimeter in Israel, is 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 locker by one of the homes that showed all of the unique ways--and 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 had fallen short, but it gave me the impression that there was never a moment of real security.

Then we saw how, within those villages, you had to be on guard almost 100 percent of the time and scurry into a safe room that would disrupt the normal pace of your life. Imagine if you had to live under those conditions. And here, it has been a long time since anything of this magnitude has come along--probably nearly 50 years--but it shows that it never ends there.

When something like this does happen and when we have had legislation that looks like it was intended to prevent this and it went through--I think, according to the Senator, unanimously--this should be a slam dunk in that we would 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 was 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 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 puts in specificity what we all should be for.

With President Biden's 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.

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