A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate in commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 445, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, earlier today, this body voiced its support for a resolution commemorating the Holocaust--the Shoah--Nazi Germany's systematic effort to exterminate the Jewish people.

For anybody who questions the existence of evil, the Nazi regime's deliberate murder of 6 million Jewish men, women, and children should settle all doubts.

Today, people all over the world will mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. At 10 o'clock local time today in Israel, a loud siren sounded throughout the country. Motorists pulled their cars aside and office workers stepped away from their computers. Everyone in the nation paused for a moment of silence in commemoration of the Holocaust.

Beginning with the Kristallnach Pogram on November 8 and 9, 1938, the Nazi government embarked on a systematic, deliberate campaign of cold- blooded murder. Families were stripped of their possessions and killing squads roamed the countryside. Millions upon millions of Jewish people were brought to concentration camps where the Nazi regime killed most immediately and sent some to work as slave laborers.

The Jewish people did not meekly submit to the Nazi onslaught. They fought back: 63 years ago this month, a group of 750 lightly armed Jewish partisans began the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Knowing that the Nazis planned to deport and murder them, the Jewish residents remaining in Warsaw staged occupied Europe's first ever organized urban rebellion against Nazi tyranny. They fought heroically and delayed the deportation for over a month.

During the Holocaust's 7 years, the Nazis did incalculable damage to ancient Jewish communities within Europe. In many parts of central Europe, few Jews remain today. But Hitler's evil plan failed utterly. He did not destroy the Jewish people. Millions survived. Many came to the United States. And many settled in what is now the prosperous, thriving, and democratic State of Israel.

Over the past year, 5 year olds who survived the Nazi death camps became eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Eighteen-year-old GIs who took part in the camps' liberation will turn 80 next year. Personal memor1es of the Holocaust are quickly disappearing.

We have an obligation to keep these memories alive even after these people pass on.

Through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Tennessee's own Holocaust Memorial in Nashville, and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority we have established places dedicated to making sure that we remember the Holocaust.

It is the least we can do. We owe this debt of memory to ourselves, to our children, to the Nation, and to the world.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I acknowledge three significant days of commemoration that fall around this time each year. Today is the 58th anniversary of David Ben Gurion's declaration of Israel's Independence and the end of the British Mandate in Israel. As a Jewish American, I am proud to be one of the cosponsors of the concurrent resolution the Senate will pass celebrating Yom Haatzmaut, Israel's Independence Day.

Yom Haatzmaut is usually observed on the 5th of the Jewish month Iyyar; this year it falls on May 3rd. In Israel, Yom Haatzmaut is always preceded by Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers. The proximity of the dates is a reminder that Israelis owe their independence to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for it. The official switch from Yom Hazikaron to Yom Haatzmaut is signaled when the flag is raised from half staff to the top of the pole in a ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem after sundown.

Last week, the Senate commemorated Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, with S. Res. 445, which I also cosponsored. Yom Hashoa is when the Jewish community solemnly remembers the suffering caused by the Nazi Holocaust led by Adolph Hitler during World War II. During the Holocaust, over six million Jews perished, along with Gypsies, homosexuals, and other victims of Nazi genocide.

Yom Hashoa is observed every year on the 27th of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, a week after the seventh day of Passover, and a week before Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut. Yom Hashoa became a national holiday in the State of Israel in 1959. Each year, throughout the streets of Israel, the sound of sirens on Yom Hashoa stops traffic and pedestrians for 2 minutes of silent devotion.

Mr. President, I am pleased that the U.S. Senate is adopting these important measures.

Mr. President, I submit today a resolution commending the Iraqi people for their participation in the election of January 30, 2005, of a 275-member Transitional National Assembly and provincial and regional governments; and encouraging further steps toward establishment of a free, democratic, secure and prosperous Iraq.

Despite the threats to voters, candidates and election workers, and the acts of violence by those seeking to prevent the voice of the majority from being heard, millions of Iraqis voted on Sunday.

For the first time in over 50 years, the Iraqi people have been given the opportunity to choose their leadership. Through this resolution, the Senate recognizes and commends this historic moment and the strides of the Iraqi people toward free and fair elections.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 463, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, this resolution we addressed is a resolution recognizing the 58th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. I am proud to be the sponsor of this resolution and appreciate my colleagues for joining me on this resolution.

Mr. President, pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I am submitting for publication in the Congressional Record changes to the Rules of Procedure for the Select Committee on Intelligence. I ask unanimous consent that the rules of the committee be printed, in the Record to reflect the amendments adopted by the committee.