Floor SpeechUrgent2026-09-29

REQUESTING INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion to Discharge

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Context

On 2026-09-29, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) delivered a floor speech titled "REQUESTING INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(C) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1" in the Senate.

Full Text

REQUESTING INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion to Discharge

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 154 (Tuesday, September 29, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 29, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S5158-S5159] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REQUESTING INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion to Discharge Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 2304(c) and in accordance with section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S. Res. 852. 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. Res. 852, a resolution requesting information on Israel's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Vermont Senator Welch, thank Senator Sanders, who was here earlier, Senator Kaine, and all of our colleagues who have cosponsored a very important resolution demanding accountability--demanding accountability in the killings of nine American citizens on the West Bank in just the last 4 years. And as both the Biden administration and the Trump administration have said, if we don't get accountability, then these killings will continue with impunity. So this is about saving American citizens' lives. It is also a recognition that if we can't get accountability for American citizens, imagine how hard it is for a Palestinian to get accountability for human rights abuses committed against them--and about the Americans being currently detained in Israeli military prisons and the hundreds of Palestinian kids being detained as we speak. So this is a resolution that simply requires a report--a report on what the U.S. Government is doing to protect its own citizens. I would hope that every Member of this body would support a resolution that does that and calls for a review of the human rights situation and conditions on the West Bank. So with that, Mr. President, I would ask that the previously scheduled vote begin immediately. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Vote on Motion to Discharge The question is on agreeing to the motion to discharge. The yeas and nays were previously ordered. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant executive clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan). The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 51, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 252 Leg.] YEAS--47 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Paul Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen [[Page S5159]] Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--51 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fetterman Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NOT VOTING--2 Cassidy Sullivan The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Lummis). The Senator from South Dakota. ____________________

Referenced legislation: SRES852, SRES852

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REQUESTING INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion to Discharge Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 154 (Tuesday, September 29, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 29, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S5158-S5159] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REQUESTING INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion to Discharge Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 2304(c) and in accordance with section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S. Res. 852. 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. Res. 852, a resolution requesting information on Israel's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Vermont Senator Welch, thank Senator Sanders, who was here earlier, Senator Kaine, and all of our colleagues who have cosponsored a very important resolution demanding accountability--demanding accountability in the killings of nine American citizens on the West Bank in just the last 4 years. And as both the Biden administration and the Trump administration have said, if we don't get accountability, then these killings will continue with impunity. So this is about saving American citizens' lives. It is also a recognition that if we can't get accountability for American citizens, imagine how hard it is for a Palestinian to get accountability for human rights abuses committed against them--and about the Americans being currently detained in Israeli military prisons and the hundreds of Palestinian kids being detained as we speak. So this is a resolution that simply requires a report--a report on what the U.S. Government is doing to protect its own citizens. I would hope that every Member of this body would support a resolution that does that and calls for a review of the human rights situation and conditions on the West Bank. So with that, Mr. President, I would ask that the previously scheduled vote begin immediately. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Vote on Motion to Discharge The question is on agreeing to the motion to discharge. The yeas and nays were previously ordered. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant executive clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan). The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 51, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 252 Leg.] YEAS--47 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Paul Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen [[Page S5159]] Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--51 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fetterman Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NOT VOTING--2 Cassidy Sullivan The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Lummis). The Senator from South Dakota. ____________________ Referenced legislation: SRES852, SRES852