Floor SpeechNeutral2026-04-15

PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED FOREIGN MILITARY SALE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL OF CERTAIN DEFENSE ARTICLES AND SERVICES--Motion to Discharge

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Context

On 2026-04-15, Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) delivered a floor speech titled "PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED FOREIGN MILITARY SALE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL OF CERTAIN DEF" in the Senate. The speech addressed immigration and also covered healthcare, the economy. It referenced legislation including S1775, S1779, S12, among other bills.

Full Text

PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED FOREIGN MILITARY SALE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL OF CERTAIN DEFENSE ARTICLES AND SERVICES--Motion to Discharge

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 66 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S1775-S1779] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED FOREIGN MILITARY SALE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL OF CERTAIN DEFENSE ARTICLES AND SERVICES--Motion to Discharge Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, pursuant to section 36(b)(1), I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S.J. Res. 138. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows: Motion to discharge from the Committee on Foreign Relations, S.J. Res. 138, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval of the proposed foreign military sale to the Government of Israel of certain defense articles and services. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont. Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me begin by thanking Senator Kelly not only for his remarks and his work as a U.S. Senator but for his service to our country in the military, and I very much appreciate his support for these resolutions. Mr. President, 60 percent of our people here in the United States live paycheck to paycheck. They are struggling to pay for groceries, for housing, for healthcare, and, increasingly, the ability to fill up their gas tanks in their cars in order to get to work. We also have a $37 trillion national debt. Bottom line: The American people--whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, conservatives, moderates, or progressives--want to make certain that their tax dollars are spent responsibly. And in strong and growing numbers, they do not want us to continue spending billions of their taxpayer dollars in support of the illegal, horrific, and expansionist war policies of the Netanyahu Government in Israel. Since October 7, 2023, the United States has provided over $21 billion--$21 billion--in military aid to Israel. And today, we are saying loudly and clearly: Enough is enough. We all know that on October 7, 2023, Hamas, a terrorist organization, attacked Israel. They killed more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and children and took hundreds of hostages. I believe that there is no disagreement in this Chamber that like any other country on Earth, Israel had the absolute right to respond to that barbaric Hamas attack. But Israel did not have the right to violate international law and wage an all-out war of unspeakable destruction against the entire Palestinian people in what experts have correctly concluded is a genocide. Israel did not have the right out of a population of 2.2 million to kill more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wound over 170,000. That is more than 10 percent of the population. If that happened here in America, that would be over 30 million Americans dead or wounded. And in Gaza, a strong majority of the dead and wounded are women, children, and the elderly. By the way, that number is likely an underestimate as to the tragedy as bodies are literally being pulled out of the rubble every single day. Israel did not have the right to destroy virtually all of Gaza's infrastructure, including its water and sewer systems and its supply of electricity. They did not have the right to demolish every one of Gaza's 12 universities, along with hundreds of schools, dismantling their entire educational system. A vast majority of the children in Gaza today are not in school. Israel did not have the right to indiscriminately bomb civilian neighborhoods and damage or destroy over 90 percent of the housing units in Gaza--over 90 percent damaged or destroyed--resulting in the vast majority of the population there now sleeping in tents. That is where they are today. Israel did not have the right to bomb over 90 percent of the hospitals in Gaza--hospitals--and kill 1,700 healthcare workers. And Israel did not have the right to impose a blockade which prevented food, water, and medicine from entering Gaza, resulting in thousands of Palestinians being diagnosed with malnutrition and hundreds actually starving to death. But, today, we are not just talking about Gaza. In the West Bank, in direct violation of international law that protects Palestinian territory, Israeli soldiers and settlers, since 2023, have killed over a thousand Palestinians, including 233 children. During that period, they have demolished more than 6,000 Palestinian homes and established more than 200 new illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian territory. And let us be clear, because I think there is some confusion about this. These actions are not just the results of some extremist, out-of- control settlers who are just doing whatever they want. Those actions are consistent with Israeli Government policy. Netanyahu's Security Cabinet has approved the most sweeping changes to the West Bank's legal status since 1967, removing nearly all constraints on settlement expansion. Netanyahu himself declared: There will never be a Palestinian state. And I say that to some people here who still say: Well, we are in favor of a two-state solution. That is not Mr. Netanyahu's position. He said: ``There will never be a Palestinian state.'' His Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, bragged that new settlement construction in the West Bank would ``bury''--that is his word-- ``bury'' the idea of a Palestinian state. But it is not just Gaza and the West Bank. We now know that Netanyahu convinced President Trump to start an unprovoked and unconstitutional war on Iran. For 40 years--for 40 years--Netanyahu had wanted the United States to participate with Israel in a war against Iran, and, finally, after 40 years of effort, he finally found in Trump a President willing to go along. He couldn't get Democratic Presidents in the past and couldn't get Republicans in the past. In Trump, he finally found a President willing to go along. This war, in violation of international law, has resulted already in the deaths of thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children in Iran and Lebanon, including 26 Israeli civilians who are now dead and 13 American soldiers who have lost their lives so far in this conflict. All over the world, certainly including the United States, hundreds of millions of innocent people are suffering the economic consequences of this war, with higher prices and growing scarcity of basic goods. I believe that in Vermont, now, the price of regular gas is about $4 a gallon, and in parts of the country, it is even higher than that. But for Netanyahu, Gaza was not enough. Attacking Iran was not enough. Netanyahu is now waging a full-blown war of expansion against Lebanon. That war in Lebanon has not only killed more than 2,000 people but has resulted in Israel occupying 14 percent of Lebanese territory. Let me repeat that. The war in Lebanon has not only killed more than 2,000 people but has resulted in Israel occupying 14 percent of Lebanese territory. The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has announced that all Lebanese border villages will be demolished--will be demolished--his exact words, following ``the model in Gaza''--demolish border villages. Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, has warned that Dahieh, a suburb of South Beirut, will look like Khan Yunis, a city in Gaza that Israel reduced to rubble. In other words, what they did in Gaza is now what they intend to do in parts of Lebanon. And these are not threats. They are promises. For all of the reasons that I have given and more--and you are going to hear more from some of my colleagues, in a few moments--support for Israel in this country has plummeted. Today, according to a recent Pew poll, 80 percent of Democrats now have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, and 41 percent of Republicans share that view. And the numbers in all parties, among young people, are even higher. Young people, whether they are young Democrats, progressives, or conservatives, do not want us to continue to fund the horrific war policies of Netanyahu. A recent Quinnipiac poll also found that 60 percent--including three- quarters of Democrats, two-thirds of Independents, and 37 percent of Republicans--I say that to my Republican [[Page S1776]] colleagues: 37 percent of Republicans do not want the U.S. sending more military aid to Israel. And that is why I am offering, today, two joint resolutions of disapproval, the only formal mechanism Congress has to block an arms sale. The first resolution would block the sale of $151 million in 1,000- pound bombs. The second would block $295 million in bulldozers, the machines used to demolish homes in the West Bank and Gaza and make a Palestinian state physically impossible. The time is long overdue for Members of the U.S. Senate to start listening to the American people and not to AIPAC. The time is now for us to end all U.S. military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government, and a ``yes'' vote is an important way forward. Mr. President, with that, I yield to my colleague from Maryland, Senator Chris Van Hollen. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the two resolutions offered by my colleague Senator Sanders that would bar the transfer of certain offensive weapons and equipment to the Netanyahu government. Specifically, these resolutions would block the transfer of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs and 132 armored bulldozers, valued at more than $446 million and funded entirely by American taxpayers. We cannot continue to provide a blank check to the Netanyahu government as it continues to use U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. and international law. As I have long said, Israel was justified in its war against Hamas after the horrific attack of October 7, 2023. But the Netanyahu government is not justified in imposing collective punishment on all the people of Gaza. As Senator Merkley and I wrote in our r

Referenced legislation: SJRES32, SJRES138

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PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED FOREIGN MILITARY SALE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL OF CERTAIN DEFENSE ARTICLES AND SERVICES--Motion to Discharge Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 66 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S1775-S1779] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED FOREIGN MILITARY SALE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL OF CERTAIN DEFENSE ARTICLES AND SERVICES--Motion to Discharge Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, pursuant to section 36(b)(1), I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S.J. Res. 138. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows: Motion to discharge from the Committee on Foreign Relations, S.J. Res. 138, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval of the proposed foreign military sale to the Government of Israel of certain defense articles and services. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont. Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me begin by thanking Senator Kelly not only for his remarks and his work as a U.S. Senator but for his service to our country in the military, and I very much appreciate his support for these resolutions. Mr. President, 60 percent of our people here in the United States live paycheck to paycheck. They are struggling to pay for groceries, for housing, for healthcare, and, increasingly, the ability to fill up their gas tanks in their cars in order to get to work. We also have a $37 trillion national debt. Bottom line: The American people--whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, conservatives, moderates, or progressives--want to make certain that their tax dollars are spent responsibly. And in strong and growing numbers, they do not want us to continue spending billions of their taxpayer dollars in support of the illegal, horrific, and expansionist war policies of the Netanyahu Government in Israel. Since October 7, 2023, the United States has provided over $21 billion--$21 billion--in military aid to Israel. And today, we are saying loudly and clearly: Enough is enough. We all know that on October 7, 2023, Hamas, a terrorist organization, attacked Israel. They killed more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and children and took hundreds of hostages. I believe that there is no disagreement in this Chamber that like any other country on Earth, Israel had the absolute right to respond to that barbaric Hamas attack. But Israel did not have the right to violate international law and wage an all-out war of unspeakable destruction against the entire Palestinian people in what experts have correctly concluded is a genocide. Israel did not have the right out of a population of 2.2 million to kill more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wound over 170,000. That is more than 10 percent of the population. If that happened here in America, that would be over 30 million Americans dead or wounded. And in Gaza, a strong majority of the dead and wounded are women, children, and the elderly. By the way, that number is likely an underestimate as to the tragedy as bodies are literally being pulled out of the rubble every single day. Israel did not have the right to destroy virtually all of Gaza's infrastructure, including its water and sewer systems and its supply of electricity. They did not have the right to demolish every one of Gaza's 12 universities, along with hundreds of schools, dismantling their entire educational system. A vast majority of the children in Gaza today are not in school. Israel did not have the right to indiscriminately bomb civilian neighborhoods and damage or destroy over 90 percent of the housing units in Gaza--over 90 percent damaged or destroyed--resulting in the vast majority of the population there now sleeping in tents. That is where they are today. Israel did not have the right to bomb over 90 percent of the hospitals in Gaza--hospitals--and kill 1,700 healthcare workers. And Israel did not have the right to impose a blockade which prevented food, water, and medicine from entering Gaza, resulting in thousands of Palestinians being diagnosed with malnutrition and hundreds actually starving to death. But, today, we are not just talking about Gaza. In the West Bank, in direct violation of international law that protects Palestinian territory, Israeli soldiers and settlers, since 2023, have killed over a thousand Palestinians, including 233 children. During that period, they have demolished more than 6,000 Palestinian homes and established more than 200 new illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian territory. And let us be clear, because I think there is some confusion about this. These actions are not just the results of some extremist, out-of- control settlers who are just doing whatever they want. Those actions are consistent with Israeli Government policy. Netanyahu's Security Cabinet has approved the most sweeping changes to the West Bank's legal status since 1967, removing nearly all constraints on settlement expansion. Netanyahu himself declared: There will never be a Palestinian state. And I say that to some people here who still say: Well, we are in favor of a two-state solution. That is not Mr. Netanyahu's position. He said: ``There will never be a Palestinian state.'' His Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, bragged that new settlement construction in the West Bank would ``bury''--that is his word-- ``bury'' the idea of a Palestinian state. But it is not just Gaza and the West Bank. We now know that Netanyahu convinced President Trump to start an unprovoked and unconstitutional war on Iran. For 40 years--for 40 years--Netanyahu had wanted the United States to participate with Israel in a war against Iran, and, finally, after 40 years of effort, he finally found in Trump a President willing to go along. He couldn't get Democratic Presidents in the past and couldn't get Republicans in the past. In Trump, he finally found a President willing to go along. This war, in violation of international law, has resulted already in the deaths of thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children in Iran and Lebanon, including 26 Israeli civilians who are now dead and 13 American soldiers who have lost their lives so far in this conflict. All over the world, certainly including the United States, hundreds of millions of innocent people are suffering the economic consequences of this war, with higher prices and growing scarcity of basic goods. I believe that in Vermont, now, the price of regular gas is about $4 a gallon, and in parts of the country, it is even higher than that. But for Netanyahu, Gaza was not enough. Attacking Iran was not enough. Netanyahu is now waging a full-blown war of expansion against Lebanon. That war in Lebanon has not only killed more than 2,000 people but has resulted in Israel occupying 14 percent of Lebanese territory. Let me repeat that. The war in Lebanon has not only killed more than 2,000 people but has resulted in Israel occupying 14 percent of Lebanese territory. The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has announced that all Lebanese border villages will be demolished--will be demolished--his exact words, following ``the model in Gaza''--demolish border villages. Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, has warned that Dahieh, a suburb of South Beirut, will look like Khan Yunis, a city in Gaza that Israel reduced to rubble. In other words, what they did in Gaza is now what they intend to do in parts of Lebanon. And these are not threats. They are promises. For all of the reasons that I have given and more--and you are going to hear more from some of my colleagues, in a few moments--support for Israel in this country has plummeted. Today, according to a recent Pew poll, 80 percent of Democrats now have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, and 41 percent of Republicans share that view. And the numbers in all parties, among young people, are even higher. Young people, whether they are young Democrats, progressives, or conservatives, do not want us to continue to fund the horrific war policies of Netanyahu. A recent Quinnipiac poll also found that 60 percent--including three- quarters of Democrats, two-thirds of Independents, and 37 percent of Republicans--I say that to my Republican [[Page S1776]] colleagues: 37 percent of Republicans do not want the U.S. sending more military aid to Israel. And that is why I am offering, today, two joint resolutions of disapproval, the only formal mechanism Congress has to block an arms sale. The first resolution would block the sale of $151 million in 1,000- pound bombs. The second would block $295 million in bulldozers, the machines used to demolish homes in the West Bank and Gaza and make a Palestinian state physically impossible. The time is long overdue for Members of the U.S. Senate to start listening to the American people and not to AIPAC. The time is now for us to end all U.S. military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government, and a ``yes'' vote is an important way forward. Mr. President, with that, I yield to my colleague from Maryland, Senator Chris Van Hollen. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the two resolutions offered by my colleague Senator Sanders that would bar the transfer of certain offensive weapons and equipment to the Netanyahu government. Specifically, these resolutions would block the transfer of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs and 132 armored bulldozers, valued at more than $446 million and funded entirely by American taxpayers. We cannot continue to provide a blank check to the Netanyahu government as it continues to use U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. and international law. As I have long said, Israel was justified in its war against Hamas after the horrific attack of October 7, 2023. But the Netanyahu government is not justified in imposing collective punishment on all the people of Gaza. As Senator Merkley and I wrote in our r Referenced legislation: SJRES32, SJRES138