Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act

Madam President, there is one foreign leader for whom the Democratic Party seems to reserve special scorn. Leading Democrats have called him a reactionary, a racist, an ethnonationalist. They have accused him of committing war crimes and of leading an apartheid state. President Biden has called him extreme and has said they don't agree on a damn thing. Strong words.

Who is this monster, you may ask. Were the Democrats talking about Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping or, perhaps, Ayatollah Khamenei? No. They were referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving Prime Minister and one of America's best friends.

Once again, these Democrats have proven their party's tendency to coddle our enemies and condemn our friends. But the Democrats don't stop at mere words. They are working right now to undermine Bibi and his government.

Yesterday, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the State Department is funneling your tax dollars to Netanyahu's domestic opponents. Since 2020, the State has sent more than $38,000 to something known as the Movement for Quality Government, for so-called democracy education.

So what is the Movement for Quality Government, and how good is this democracy education?

This movement is an activist group that is fomenting unrest against the Israeli Government and demanding Netanyahu's resignation. In recent days, leftwing demonstrators associated with this group have protested the government's proposed judicial reforms. Last week, hundreds of protesters harassed Netanyahu's wife, forcing police to intervene and escort her to safety.

Far from staying neutral in Israel's domestic affairs, Secretary of State Tony Blinken lectured Netanyahu about the judicial reforms to his face, tacitly siding with the demonstrators. Some Democratic Senators have also condemned the reform proposals, which is awfully rich coming from Democrats who have voted to shred this Senate's ancient rules to pack our Supreme Court and to rewrite our founding documents. I guess, when American liberals want to change the courts, it is the only way to save democracy; but when Israeli conservatives want to, it is a threat to democracy. Go figure.

The State Department doesn't even deny it is funneling money to these leftwing activities, by the way, which is troubling because it is a clear violation of the usual State Department policy against funding foreign partisan organizations.

Not only is this U.S.-funded organization subverting a foreign government, it is subverting the government of one of our closest allies. Secretary Blinken should immediately apologize to the Prime Minister of Israel, demand your money back, and open an investigation into how this happened. But then again, I suspect we already know how this happened. After all, the Democratic Party has been meddling in Israeli democracy to undermine Benjamin Netanyahu for more than a quarter century.

By his own admission, President Bill Clinton intervened in the 1996 Israeli election to support Netanyahu's opponent, Shimon Peres. Clinton met with Peres; dispatched his own campaign advisers; dangled policy shifts to Israel--all to get Peres across the finish line. Netanyahu prevailed nevertheless.

Team Clinton intervened, yet again, in 1999. The Clinton White House reportedly urged Democratic donors to give money to Netanyahu's next opponent, Ehud Barak.

And it didn't stop there. Clinton's political advisers again campaigned against Bibi while the Clinton State Department allegedly spread falsehoods about the Israeli Government and Netanyahu himself.

Netanyahu lost this time around; though, he was more of a victim of his own success against Palestinian terrorism than Barak and Clinton's campaign against him. But Bibi returned to the Knesset just 3 years later and became Prime Minister again in 2009.

The Obama State Department was, if anything, worse than Clinton's in its funneling of hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars to a group called the OneVoice Movement. Not coincidentally, OneVoice partnered with an organization running anti-Netanyahu ads that was advised by-- you guessed it--a top Obama campaign operative.

Of course, the Democrats will insist they are innocent of these charges and aren't meddling in Israel's democracy, but Israelis know the truth. Obama's meddling was so pervasive that an astounding 62 percent of Israelis thought he was interfering. Indeed, one Foreign Policy magazine headline read ``Obama is Pursuing Regime Change in Israel''--not in Iran--our mortal enemy--but in Israel, mind you.

Now Joe Biden is simply following in Obama's footsteps by trying to sabotage Netanyahu. In 2021, the Biden administration reportedly pressured the United Arab Emirates to cancel an Abraham Accords Summit--all to deprive Netanyahu of a diplomatic victory ahead of that year's election. Then, after Netanyahu won the 2022 election, the Biden administration immediately sought to undermine his coalition government by trying to veto key Cabinet appointments.

This most recent scandal is not an aberration, therefore. It has been the de facto policy of the Democratic Party for a quarter century to beat Netanyahu, though he keeps beating the Democrats. Though, it does provide more evidence, yet again, for the old saw that while it is dangerous to be America's enemy, it can be fatal to be America's friend--at least when the Democrats are in charge.

Instead of trying to topple the democratically elected Government of Israel, I would suggest we should support it. Israelis are more than capable of managing their domestic affairs without Democratic meddling, but they need our help to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb; they need our help to achieve peace with their neighbors; and they need our help to defeat the terrorists who are threatening both of our nations.

They don't get that from the Biden administration either. Iran is racing toward a nuclear breakout while the President dithers. His administration can barely utter the words ``Abraham Accords,'' and President Biden is

breaking U.S. law to subsidize the Palestinian Authority's support for terrorism.

A few years back, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, which prohibits nonhumanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority until it ends its so-called martyr payments--a euphemism for bounties given to Palestinian terrorists or their families for maiming and killing Jews. So the administration has, instead, funneled tens of millions of your tax dollars to nongovernmental organizations to build roads, sidewalks, parking lots, and other infrastructure projects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. As a result, since money is fungible, the Palestinian Authority can ignore these basic responsibilities of government and, instead, keep pouring more money into its pay-for-slay program.

The contrast couldn't be starker. If the Palestinian Authority wants to bankroll terrorists and their families, the Biden administration will contort the law beyond recognition to fund the Palestinians; but if a center-right government gets elected once again in Israel, the Biden administration will work overtime to undermine it. This is exactly backward. We should demand the Palestinian Authority stop subsidizing terrorism before it gets another penny of your tax dollars.

While we are at it, we should pass the Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act, which I am reintroducing this week, to sanction foreign banks that process these so-called martyr payments for the Palestinian Authority.

Meanwhile, President Biden and his administration should quit treating Prime Minister Netanyahu like he is a rival or even an adversary and start treating him as he is--a war hero, a courageous patriot, a towering figure of modern Israel, and most importantly for us, a great friend of America.

Madam President, I rise to introduce the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act.

This legislation would expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include approximately 3,925 acres of adjacent public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

In 2015, President Obama established the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, proclaiming that ``once covered by ocean waters, it is a landscape shaped by geologic forces of staggering power overlain with bountiful but fragile biodiversity. Anchored in the north by Snow Mountain's remote forests and in the south by scenic Berryessa Mountain, this area stretches through unbroken wildlands and important wildlife corridors, a mosaic of native grasslands, picturesque oak woodlands, rare wetlands, and wild chaparral . . . This dramatic and diverse landscape is a biological hotspot providing refuge for rare plant and animal species and showcasing the human history of north- central California.''

The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is managed jointly by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, and the U.S. Forest Service, USFS, and provides for unparalleled outdoor recreational opportunities, is home to rich biodiversity, and contains lands that are culturally significant to over two dozen federally recognized Tribes. This legislation would add over 3,900 acres of adjacent, BLM-administered land to the existing national monument.

This expansion would include portions of the land known previously as Walker Ridge in Lake County, CA. Importantly, the legislation renames ``Walker Ridge'' to ``Condor Ridge'', which is translated from Molok Luyuk in the indigenous Patwin language. For thousands of years, these sacred lands have been central to Tribal origin stories, and Condor Ridge is an area that retains deep cultural significance to the Patwin people and over two dozen Native American Tribes. The legislation also directs the BLM and USFS to complete the management plan for the national monument and to consult with federally recognized Tribes to do so.

I am proud that this legislation would better enable federally recognized Tribes to be involved in the day-

to-day management of the national monument. This essential, landmark component of the legislation would enable Tribal communities to share their rich history and ecological knowledge to better conserve and care for these lands.

With the protections provided by this legislation, the abundant natural resources and the rich history on Molok Luyuk will be preserved for our children and future generations. By requiring the Federal Agencies to finally develop a management plan and by allowing for Tribal governments to be involved in the management of the monument, the bill would improve the health of these lands to benefit both people and biodiversity.

I thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this legislation with me, and I thank Congressmen Garamendi and Thompson for spearheading this effort in the House of Representatives. I would also like to thank Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso for working with me on this legislation and the entire Energy and Natural Resources Committee for unanimously supporting this legislation through committee last Congress. I am hopeful that we will see similar bipartisan support in the 118th Congress.

I would also like to thank the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for their leadership and desire to cooperatively manage Molok Luyuk to ensure that all Californians and Americans have the opportunity to benefit from these sacred lands.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act as quickly as possible.

Madam President, I rise to introduce the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act.

This legislation would expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include approximately 3,925 acres of adjacent public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

In 2015, President Obama established the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, proclaiming that ``once covered by ocean waters, it is a landscape shaped by geologic forces of staggering power overlain with bountiful but fragile biodiversity. Anchored in the north by Snow Mountain's remote forests and in the south by scenic Berryessa Mountain, this area stretches through unbroken wildlands and important wildlife corridors, a mosaic of native grasslands, picturesque oak woodlands, rare wetlands, and wild chaparral . . . This dramatic and diverse landscape is a biological hotspot providing refuge for rare plant and animal species and showcasing the human history of north- central California.''

The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is managed jointly by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, and the U.S. Forest Service, USFS, and provides for unparalleled outdoor recreational opportunities, is home to rich biodiversity, and contains lands that are culturally significant to over two dozen federally recognized Tribes. This legislation would add over 3,900 acres of adjacent, BLM-administered land to the existing national monument.

This expansion would include portions of the land known previously as Walker Ridge in Lake County, CA. Importantly, the legislation renames ``Walker Ridge'' to ``Condor Ridge'', which is translated from Molok Luyuk in the indigenous Patwin language. For thousands of years, these sacred lands have been central to Tribal origin stories, and Condor Ridge is an area that retains deep cultural significance to the Patwin people and over two dozen Native American Tribes. The legislation also directs the BLM and USFS to complete the management plan for the national monument and to consult with federally recognized Tribes to do so.

I am proud that this legislation would better enable federally recognized Tribes to be involved in the day-

to-day management of the national monument. This essential, landmark component of the legislation would enable Tribal communities to share their rich history and ecological knowledge to better conserve and care for these lands.

With the protections provided by this legislation, the abundant natural resources and the rich history on Molok Luyuk will be preserved for our children and future generations. By requiring the Federal Agencies to finally develop a management plan and by allowing for Tribal governments to be involved in the management of the monument, the bill would improve the health of these lands to benefit both people and biodiversity.

I thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this legislation with me, and I thank Congressmen Garamendi and Thompson for spearheading this effort in the House of Representatives. I would also like to thank Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso for working with me on this legislation and the entire Energy and Natural Resources Committee for unanimously supporting this legislation through committee last Congress. I am hopeful that we will see similar bipartisan support in the 118th Congress.

I would also like to thank the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for their leadership and desire to cooperatively manage Molok Luyuk to ensure that all Californians and Americans have the opportunity to benefit from these sacred lands.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act as quickly as possible.