Floor Statements

Mr. President, I recognize Haley Shurack, the Broward County Teacher of the Year from Tropical Elementary School in Plantation, FL.

Haley loves the impact she can impart on her students' everyday lives. Students come to her not speaking much, unable to tell her if they are hurt, how they feel, or if they are hungry. By the end of the school year, Haley says she has trouble getting them to stop talking. She credits her ability to get students to open up by building trusting and positive relationships with students and their families.

Haley's students inspire her each day and being a teacher is one of the greatest joys in her life. Her ability to boost her student's self- esteem and help them to grow is a testament to Haley's commitment.

Haley teaches deaf and hard of hearing preschoolers at Tropical Elementary School, where she has taught for 3 of her 5 years in education.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Haley for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Sherri Skipper, the Washington County Teacher of the Year from Florida Panhandle Technical College in Santa Rosa Beach, FL.

Sherri works with students to develop their knowledge of computer concepts, how to change out hardware, and web development. She teaches these skills to familiarize her students with concepts that they will use in today's workforce.

Sherri also develops lesson plans for more advanced computer software usage, such as firewalls, networking, and ethical hacking. This consists of hacking computers, not for nefarious reasons, but to find weaknesses that can protect computer users through antivirus programming.

Sherri teaches applied information technology and applied cybersecurity programs at Florida Panhandle Technical College, where she has taught since 2012. She previously taught at Graceville High School and graduated from the University of West Florida with a bachelor's degree in business teacher education.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Sherri for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Kelly Smith-Williams, the Manatee County Teacher of the Year from Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, FL.

Kelly wanted to be a teacher from a young age. Her passion for teaching carried her through grade school, college, and her first job. Throughout her career, she has impacted countless students, with many staying in contact after leaving her classroom and crediting her for their success.

Kelly is a teacher in every sense of the word. She designs lesson plans that introduce her students to innovative online learning tools. She also devotes time to serving as their adviser on various academic boards, and during the Summer months, she works with students to keep them on track for their graduation.

Kelly teaches anatomy and physiology honors classes at Lakewood Ranch High School. She has been with the Manatee County School District for 7 years.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Kelly for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Litamarie Stanton, the Citrus County Teacher of the Year from Citrus High School in Inverness,

Mr. President, I recognize David Swartzfager, the Sumter County Teacher of the Year from South Sumter High School in Bushnell, FL.

David credits his mother for earning this recognition, noting she taught him just about everything there is to know about Future Farmers of America teaching. He considers himself honored to represent his school and the Sumter County community.

Prior to his teaching career, David served in the U.S. Army from 2009 through 2021, where he taught classes to soldiers and deployed to Afghanistan. Whether teaching students or members of our Armed Forces, David has always worked to ensure others are prepared for a successful future.

David has taught agriculture at South Sumter High School since 2020 and previously taught at East River High School, Crystal River High School, and University High School. He graduated from the University of Florida, earning his bachelor's degree in agricultural education and communication and master's degree in educational leadership. David is also a Future Farmers of America student adviser and the department chair.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to David for his commitment to his students and his Nation. I look forward to hearing about his continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Kimberly Theurer, the Pasco County Teacher of the Year from Gulf High School in New Port Richey, FL.

Kim designs her lesson plans to be relevant and understandable for her students and ensures they clearly understand the day's subject material. Students not in Kim's class talk to her when passing through hallways. They find her to be supportive and understanding. Kim devotes her time to any student and tells them she believes a sense of humor, respect, and approaching every day as a new day are vital for finding success.

Kim teaches government, law, and sociology classes at Gulf High School, her alma mater. She has taught for 34 years, and although she had planned to retire this year, her students asked that she put off her retirement plans for at least another year.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Kim for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Auburn Kendall Walton, the Holmes County Teacher of the Year from Ponce de Leon High School in Ponce de Leon, FL.

Kendall's colleagues describe her as the queen of algebra because of her tireless efforts in teaching the subject to her students. She works with each student, ensuring they can fully grasp math making her assignments enjoyable and easy to learn.

Kindall finds the most rewarding aspect of teaching to be when her students finally realize they understand the subject material and have confidence in their work. Through their work together during the school year, she believes they can achieve the goals they set for themselves by putting in the time and effort to learn.

For the past 8 years, Kendall has taught math at Ponce de Leon High School. Altogether, she has been a teacher for a decade.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Kendall for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Adam Zele, the Pinellas County Teacher of the Year from Azalea Middle School in St. Petersburg,

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 5 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.

So I think one of the things that has become increasingly accepted here is that deindustrialization was a terrible mistake for America. No. 1, it hurt us and wiped out good-paying jobs that we relied on to build strong communities, and the other is it left us vulnerable in our supply chains.

And one of the things that is talked a lot about in terms of industries is these provisions called ``Buy American.'' We have laws called ``Buy American.'' I think it is especially important when we are spending taxpayer dollars on propping up an industry that it have strong provisions that do so.

What is called the infrastructure bill has $5 billion of American taxpayer funds to build electric vehicle charging stations in the United States, and it has, in that bill embedded, very specific ``Buy American'' requirements that those funds may be used only so that all the iron, the steel, the manufactured products, the construction materials that are used are produced in the United States.

It is very simple. It is pretty straightforward. That is what the law reads, both a broader law that already exists and then the provisions of this bill.

The Biden administration, after passing this, however, didn't just fail to implement this provision--they were almost a year late in even issuing any findings on it, but they have now come out with this waiver. A waiver of that ``Buy American'' requirement that allows foreign-made EV chargers--translation, Chinese-made electric vehicle chargers--up until October of 2024.

But there is more. They actually give the Federal Highway Administrator the ability to extend that deadline by 5 years. And so we are now facing, under this waiver they are requesting, the real prospect that significant portions of the $5 billion that is going to go to electric vehicle charging stations is going to be spent on Chinese companies--taxpayer dollars.

So we are either serious about restoring America's industrial capabilities or we are not. We should be especially serious about it when we are spending Federal funds on it.

Now, I have watched some of the debate, some of the things the administration is telling people about how somehow this is going to be the opposite effect. There is this 1983 general regulation that they have written or waiver that they have in place. Everyone knows here that specific statutory language, such as that that exists both in this bill and in other law, supersedes any of these. But the other is very simple. The administration, as they have done with a bunch of other regulations, can either amend it or get rid of it. But they are using that as a threat.

What they are basically telling people is, if you vote for this, if this thing passes, we will interpret that 1983 general provision to just do anything we want with regard to this.

So it is pretty straightforward. Get rid of it. Don't use it that way. Commit yourself to rebuilding American industry, American jobs.

The bottom line is this. You can play all the jiujitsu games you want with regard to language, the bottom line is this: If we are going to spend $5 billion of taxpayer money to build electric vehicle charging stations in the United States, it should be made by Americans, in America, using American products.

And if you agree with me, I am going to give you a chance right now to vote for something that wipes out this waiver that the Biden administration wants to put in place that will guarantee that that may never happen and that most of this money--taxpayer money--will go into the hands of Chinese companies to build electric vehicle charging stations in the United States.

We shouldn't allow that to happen. I urge everyone to vote for this.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I want to read here, briefly, from the law of the United States of America. This is the existing law; I am not trying to pass a law today. And it says: section 212(a)3(B), subsection--I am not going to read the whole number. The law of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act mandates that you are ineligible to enter into the United States if you endorse or espouse terrorist activity or persuade others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.

What that basically means is, if you are a supporter of a terrorist group or you encourage others to support the actions of a terrorist group--a designated terrorist group--the statute defines what that is, you are not supposed to get a visa.

And so it is reasonable to conclude that if you are already in the country--understand what I am talking about, I am not talking about American citizens; I am talking about someone who is a foreign national and that person is in the United States on a visa and that person is out there defending or encouraging others to defend and take the side of a terrorist organization, like, for example, Hamas or maybe Hezbollah or somebody else--if they are not supposed to have a visa to come into the country, once they are already here, if they do that, they should lose that visa. That is applying existing law.

And so what I am going to come here on the floor and try to do today is pass something that I, frankly, thought was common sense, doesn't go any further than this, that basically urges--it is not even a new law. It is in the resolution. It basically says the Senate is asking the Biden administration, if they come across anyone who is here--a foreign national on a visa who supports Hamas--that that person's visa should be canceled, and they should be removed from the country through the proceedings involving removal.

That is what this resolution does. It, obviously, does things like condemns anti-Semitism and condemns the horrible attack from Hamas. But all it basically says is if you are a foreign national in the United States, you are here on a visa as a visitor and you support Hamas or you encourage others to support Hamas, you should lose your visa and you should be gone. That is what I hope to be able to do here today.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 413, which is at the desk; further, that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

If I may respond for a moment. I understand my colleague has to go. I know it is late and other things are going on. He is welcome to stay, obviously.

There were a couple of mentions about how I characterized the resolution. I will just read from the resolution:

Resolved, That the Senate [1] calls on the President of the

United States to enforce existing law to revoke visas and

initiate deportation proceedings for any foreign national who

has endorsed or espoused the terrorist activities of Hamas,

Palestinian Islamic Jihad--

People whose rocket yesterday hit a hospital in Gaza and killed innocent people--

Hezbollah, or other Foreign Terrorist Organizations--

Which is a term that is defined by the State Department who issues a list of who those are--

That participated in terrorist attacks against Israel and

United States citizens before, on, or after October 7, 2023.

Yes, we have a First Amendment right in this country to free speech, but everyone acknowledges there are limits to it. For example, you do not have a First Amendment right to call on people to overthrow the government of the United States. You don't have a First Amendment right to do that. You don't have a First Amendment right to incite people to violence. And there is no First Amendment right to a visa. I am not talking about U.S. citizens.

And, by the way, to be abundantly clear, this is very specifically written to talk about people who have endorsed or espoused the terrorist activities of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihads. This is not about people who support a two-state solution. This is not about people who are of Palestinian descent. It has nothing to do with any of them. People have every right to espouse those views. And I may disagree with them, but they have a right to do that.

What no one has a right to do, especially a visitor--not an American--a visitor to the United States granted a visa for which there is no constitutional right--that we are going to allow visitors into the country the law says they are not even allowed to be in, but now they are here. They got in because, obviously, nobody goes into their interview and says: I am a Hamas supporter, by the way, in case you are wondering. So they let them in the country. Or maybe they became a Hamas supporter while they are here. But they are here as visitors on a visa, espousing, defending, and supporting a terrorist organization that just committed a horrible slaughter, but they have been doing it for a long time--not at this scale and scope like we saw in one day.

This is not about the First Amendment. This is about people that are actively calling for the support of a terrorist organization that, if they could, they would slaughter Americans. If they have the capability to conduct an attack like that in the United States, they would. There is no constitutional right to that. And there is no constitutional right to a visa to remain in this country.

That is what I am talking about. That is what all this is about. It goes on, obviously, to condemn the attack and all the other things, which I think would not be controversial. But that is specifically what this is about.

The law is very clear. You are not allowed--it just makes all the sense in the world. Why would any country in the world say: We are going to give out visas to people who support terrorism? They wouldn't, and our law doesn't.

But now that they are here, somehow, they are immune to the application of the law? Now that visa is somehow a protected document? A visa is just like if we have to get a visa to go to another country. It is a country saying: We will allow you in as a visitor for a temporary period of time.

But there are all kinds of things that can get your visa canceled. There are all kinds of things that can get your visa canceled, like if you are here to do a certain kind of job and you are not doing that job, you are in default of the visa.

There are all kinds of things that, depending on the visa you are on, can get your visa canceled. Shouldn't one of them be espousing support for terrorism? Shouldn't that be one of the criteria we use? We can go back and forth. We can talk about all these other concepts. I promise you that all across America--I don't have to take a poll. If you went up to the average person and asked them: Let me ask you a question. If someone is a visitor to this country, say they are here on a tourist visa or student visa or here on a visa as a visiting professor. They are here on a visa. And that person is out there supporting and encouraging others to support a terrorist organization that hates America, hates our values, but more importantly, that carries out violence; that espouses violence as their primary tool for activism--if you went and told somebody: Should we kick people out of this country-- not Americans--who are foreign nationals who are here on temporary visas and are out there supporting terrorism inside our country? I guarantee you, the overwhelming majority of Americans would say, absolutely--absolutely, we should. I have had Democratic colleagues come up to me and say that today.

All this resolution does is--it doesn't even force the administration to do it. It just calls on them to do it. So I honestly don't understand the objection. I don't understand the rationale behind the objection. I hope we can maybe vote on it one day. Maybe we can get a vote on this, and that way everybody could be on the record.

We shouldn't have foreign nationals in our country that support Hamas or Hezbollah or any of these other groups.

I specifically tailored the language of this resolution to stick to the law and nothing more. I do not believe anybody should be out there committing acts of violence against people because of their ethnic heritage, because of their religion.

I tell this to people all the time. Do people realize, for example, that in the Israeli Army right now, there are Israeli Arabs who will be called to go into Gaza and fight in the war? There are Israeli Arabs who will fight for Israel because they are against terrorism. Do they realize in the Armed Forces of the United States, there are men and women who are Muslims, followers of Islam who have fought for the freedom of this country? This is not a Nation where your value as a person or status of American is determined by your religion or ethnic background. I reject that categorically.

We are heartbroken, for example, by a story that some deranged person knocks on a door and murders a little boy the other day screaming something about Muslim. That is a crime. I am glad he was arrested. He should go to jail. Anyone who does that should go to jail. That is the kind of violence that terrorists do.

No one is defending or talking about anything like that. What I am saying is common sense. You are a visitor. You are not even an American. You are a foreign national. You are here because we gave you a visa to be here temporarily, and now you are out there defending and supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization. You need to go. That is what this resolution asks the administration to do.

I hope we can get a vote on the Senate so at least everyone will know where everybody stands.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I recognize CMSgt Wendy Thi as she retires from a distinguished 28-year career in defense of the Nation in both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.

Chief Master Sergeant Thi began her career in the Navy as an electricians mate, graduating from one of the first classes at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Orlando, FL, that included women. After a 6-year tour with the Navy that included a deployment in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, she transitioned to the Air Force Reserves in 2001.

Chief Master Sergeant Thi spent 6 years in public affairs and 9 years as a first sergeant, helping thousands of airmen and their families. Critically, she served as the Reserve liaison to the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, where she was instrumental developing and executing the first-ever enlisted professional military education curriculum at the Royal Saudi Air Force that supported women, peace, and security.

In her final position in the Air Force, Chief Master Sergeant Thi served as the senior enlisted adviser to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. In that position, she advised on a wide array of issues ranging from recruiting challenges, readiness support, and food insecurity.

Chief Master Sergeant Thi's work over the decades has had an immeasurable impact on our servicemembers and the civilian employees of the Navy and Air Force. Her dedication to the mission and tireless efforts have contributed to the safety of all Americans.

I extend my best wishes to Chief Master Sergeant Thi in her retirement in Florida.

Mr. President, I recognize Carolyn Jayne Arrington, the DeSoto County Teacher of the Year from DeSoto County High School in Arcadia, FL.

Jayne has more than 20 years of experience developing lesson plans and classroom strategies to ensure students succeed. She commits her time and talents to helping students meet their personal educational goals.

Jayne's passion for providing quality student education drives her ambitions as a teacher. Her pledge to her students for the school year is to ensure they leave her classroom confident in the subject material with a mastery that lasts with them throughout their academic career.

Jayne has taught Algebra 1, Algebra 1A/1B, Pre-calculus, and Advanced Placement Calculus at DeSoto County High School since 2015. She also has served as her school's mathematics department head since 2017 and was named Mathematics District Lead Professional Development representative for the county in 2021. Jayne earned her master's degree in mathematics education and her bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in education from the University of Florida in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Jayne for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Tracy Clauson, the St. Johns County Teacher of the Year from Sebastian Middle School in St. Augustine, FL.

Tracy works with other teachers in developing support sessions that acclimate them into the classroom. She sets high expectations to be successful and ensures their students learn to the best of their abilities.

Tracy created and hosted development training programs for her fellow educators, emphasizing student engagement and classroom management. Her work with the Professional Development Certification Program and clinical educational training offers the best opportunity for their students' success during the school year.

Tracy teaches seventh and eighth grade Spanish at Sebastian Middle School. She has more than 12 years of teaching experience in reading and in English, Spanish, and English for speakers of other languages classes. Tracy also serves as district lead for middle school Spanish and participated in the 2022-2023 Instructional Literacy Coach Academy.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Tracy for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Katrina Feola, the Putnam County Teacher of the Year from Crescent

City Junior-Senior High School in Crescent City, FL.

Katrina became an educator because of her desire to help students obtain a bright future. She always works to help them achieve their goals and often meets with students after they leave her classroom.

Katrina makes her classroom available to other teachers and administrators as they work together for students. They design lesson plans to find a student's weakness and turn it into their strength.

Katrina teaches English 1 and has more than 30 years of education experience in the Putnam County School District. She returned to teaching in 2021 and serves on various committees at her school and within the school district.

I extend my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Katrina for her commitment to her students. I look forward to hearing about her continued good work in the years to come.

Mr. President, I recognize Estela Gonzalez, the Glades County Teacher of the Year from West Glades School in LaBelle,