Floor Statements

As a proud alum of Head Start, on behalf of all of the families who are struggling for affordable childcare access, I proudly vote no.

Mr. President, today I pay tribute to Ms. Mary Frances Early for the 25th anniversary of the Mary Frances Early lecture series at the University of Georgia and the 5th anniversary of the naming of the University of Georgia's College of Education in her honor.

Hailing from Atlanta, GA, where she was born and raised, Mary Frances Early played an invaluable role in supporting music education in Georgia and the desegregation of Georgia universities. After earning a bachelor's degree in music education from Clark College--now Clark Atlanta University--in 1957, Ms. Early began her career with Atlanta Public Schools as a music teacher. While teaching, she worked to expand access to music education for all students. In 1961, Ms. Early enrolled at the University of Georgia, helping to desegregate the graduate school. In 1962, Mary Frances Early made history when she became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Georgia, earning her master's degree in music education.

As her career continued, Mary Frances Early became the first Black president of the Georgia Music Educators Association, where she traveled the State to support music organizations and advocate for music education. After dedicating 37 years to public music education, she later taught at Morehouse College and Spelman College and served as head of the music department at Clark Atlanta University.

Ms. Early was also instrumental in creating the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Talent Development Program, a first of its kind program designed to identify, mentor, and develop middle and high school Atlanta musicians from underrepresented groups for careers as professional classical musicians.

In addition to these many accomplishments, the University of Georgia has honored Ms. Early's legacy by awarding her with the President's Medal in 2018, an endowed professorship, and two scholarships.

On the 25th anniversary of the Mary Frances Early lecture series at the University of Georgia and the 5th anniversary of the naming of the University of Georgia's College of Education in her honor, I would like to thank Ms. Mary Frances Early for her tremendous contributions to music education and her lasting impact as a trailblazer for civil rights, inspiring generations of students, schools, and communities across our Nation.

Madam President, I rise today calling on the U.S. Senate

to immediately--immediately--approve the supplemental disaster assistance request sent to us by the President earlier this week so we can get Georgians and Americans all across our country the support they so desperately need following two recent storms: Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Sadly, these storms are becoming more frequent and becoming more destructive. And we will see again and again the need of the Senate to respond with the urgency that this demands.

I was pushing for additional disaster assistance for Georgians reeling from past storms before Hurricane Helene landed in our State; namely, following Hurricane Idalia last year and Debby in August of this year.

My office was on the frontlines of the Federal response to Hurricane Helene in Georgia, and I was proud to work with a bipartisan group with my colleagues, including Senator Tillis and Senator Budd of North Carolina, to kick-start this disaster funding process.

I want to thank the President for listening to the people of our State in expediting this request. I want to thank the Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray for acting on this priority today. It is something she and I have talked about over the last several weeks.

Since these storms tore through Georgia and much of the Southeast, we have seen light in darkness as communities come together to help one another, neighbors supporting neighbors.

I was down in Augusta a few weeks ago, and it was tough to see that devastation. But part of that light piercing the darkness could be seen in the eyes and in the effort of Robert Lanier of Lanier's Meat Market. I was driving. We were going down the street. I had my staff do a U- turn. And there was Robert Lanier, local business owner--Lanier's Meat Market--literally providing free food and water to his neighbors. The very food that he sells every day to take care of his family, he was giving it away to his neighbors--a light shining in the darkness.

I saw this in Homerville, Soperton, and Gibson, where my office hosted community resource clinics to connect Georgians to Federal officials and resources, helping some 200 Georgians in the process.

In Quitman and in Valdosta, my team and I hit the road to deliver food, healthcare supplies, and water to our neighbors in need.

I spent time with smalltown mayors all across our State that were desperately in need of a response.

And to date, FEMA has provided over $229 million in individual and household assistance to Georgians in need and continues to operate numerous disaster recovery and other assistance centers across the State.

I am proud of the great work being done, and I applaud the public servants and the community leaders who make it all possible. But in my travels and in my conversations with these smalltown mayors, with Georgians, for folks especially in our rural areas, it is clear that more needs to be done, and that help cannot come soon enough.

In Ray City, I joined President Biden to survey a damaged pecan grove. An estimated one-third of the State's pecan crop was destroyed as well as cotton. Over 100 poultry houses were damaged or destroyed, and 8 million acres of timber in America's No. 1 forestry State were impacted. All told, we are talking about more than $6 billion in total damages to Georgia's agriculture sector.

Too many of our farmers have taken too many hits with these storms over the years, which is why I pushed the President to send to Congress a request for additional funding immediately so we can give a lifeline to our hurting agriculture industry.

At its peak, Helene left more than 1 million Georgians without power, 300 boil water advisories across the State, over 200,000 homes with some level of damage, and countless communities facing a long road to recovery.

Most tragically, 228 individuals perished in Helene's devastation; 34 of them were Georgians, 6 of them were children. And so as we pray with our lips for those we lost, we must pray with our legs to help those still reeling and recovering from this devastation.

While Congress was out of session last month, because I understood the urgency, I called on the Senate to come back to Washington to pass additional disaster assistance funding. Weeks have passed since then, but the urgency remains.

While it may not be in the headlines, Georgians who were at the center of this devastation are living this every single day.

While I am here to remind my colleagues of the moral urgency to act, I know families and farmers back home still recovering. They are the ones who understand the dire circumstances, clearly.

There is one family in Augusta, GA, a married couple with two young elementary school-aged kids, who, following Helene--listen--are still residing in a house deemed 95 percent damaged. It is practically unlivable, their home. But they are still waiting on Federal support to move to either a temporary or a long-term housing solution.

Imagine that, waking up every day in a home that is 95 percent damaged. And as they navigate the stress and the trauma of this turmoil, the father continues showing up to work. He goes to work every day in order to provide for his family and then returns to their damaged home, waiting on us to show up to work and get the job done.

If we expect hard-working Georgians to do their job in the midst of a disaster, they should expect us to do ours. It is reasonable service. It is the least we can do.

The disaster assistance proposal before us would deliver a lifesaver for so many families, providing over $20 billion to help farmers address crop and orchard losses; more than $600 million to help them rehabilitate damaged land; $375 million to support rural communities with housing, power, water, healthcare, and more; and $40 billion for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund--the primary source of Federal assistance for Georgians impacted by Hurricane Helene.

There is also critical funding to fix our damaged roads and highways, support our small business harmed by the storms, and invest in public water and sewer system upgrades.

The only question is, What are we waiting for? There is no time for games, no time for delay, no time for partisanship, or politics. We must center the human beings, members of our families who are impacted by our policy, and the time to act is now.

We must approve this additional funding with bipartisan and bicameral support. And I will continue to do all I can until we get this done, and every dollar we allocate gets to the taxpayers. After all, this is the taxpayers'

money and hard-working families trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. This is the work we must do, and it cannot happen soon enough.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today carrying the grief of all Georgians after a school shooting in the small town of Winder, GA, claimed the lives of two children and two educators just 5 days ago.

I have been in the U.S. Senate a little over 3 years, and I have stood here three times to lament yet another tragic mass shooting in my State alone that has taken innocent lives. That is as unsurprising as it is tragic since we endure, in this country, about two mass shootings a day.

So here we are again. I stand here not just as a Senator but as a father of two young children. I can tell you that as a dad, that time in the morning when you get your kids ready for school and you put them in the car and you drive them to school--that is precious time. All of us parents, when we drop our kids off--we drive them to school or walk them to school or walk them to the schoolbus--we want to know that we are going to pick them up just a few hours later. It is a ritual played out in small towns and big cities all across America, and it is something we take for granted. But increasingly in the United States of America, we cannot take for granted that when we drop our kids off in the morning, we will pick them up at 3 o'clock. That is every parents' nightmare regardless of your politics.

Only weeks into the new school year, this nightmare again became a reality in Georgia. With four dead, others injured, and an entire community traumatized, Apalachee High School joins a grim and growing procession of schools where our children are dying from gun violence.

We cannot easily pass this over. We must never forget their names: two dedicated educators, Cristina Irimie and Richard--or Coach Ricky, as he was called--Aspinwall, and then two young students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

On Friday night, this past Friday night, I went to Winder to join Apalachee students, families, and community members as they came together to mourn these precious souls. It was a Friday night in smalltown Georgia. The truth is, we should have been there for a football game--how I remember those nights as a high school student-- but instead of cheering on their classmates, they were mourning their classmates.

One student came up to me with pain in her eyes, and she said, ``I don't want to go back to school.'' Then there were these girls, these 15-year-old girls, who surrounded me, because I spent some time there, and they began to talk to me. One of them talked about hearing the noise of someone banging on the door, of huddling and wondering what would come next.

Coach Ricky, who was beloved, was also a math teacher, and one of the girls said: This was my math teacher. Imagine that. You go to school one day, and the biggest thing you are concerned about is understanding the math problem, and you come to school the next day, the next week, and your math teacher is dead--another victim of a mass shooting in your school.

I remember talking also to the family of Christian, and the father shared with me that they had moved from California to a small town in Georgia looking for a quiet and peaceful life. Sad irony. Tragic irony.

One of my colleagues suggested over the weekend--one of my Senate colleagues--that this kind of violence is a fact of life. That is what he said. He said it is a fact of life.

No. This is a fact of life in America. In no other country that is not at war is this kind of random violence routine. This is a tragic form of American exceptionalism.

As we wrestle with this trauma, I think we are all called as a country to ask ourselves, what trauma do we visit upon our children if we say that the only thing we can do for you in the midst of all of this is to teach you how to hide?

That same colleague, by the way, suggested that what we ought to do is harden the schools because these are soft targets. Well, apply that logic. So are we going to harden every school in America, harden every grocery store in America? What about shopping malls? What about spas? What about the medical clinics? What about the houses of worship? Is that the answer? Are we going to turn the whole country into a fort just so 14-year-olds can have AR-15s? So I know that we may not all agree on what to do, but surely we can do better than that. We don't have to live this way. We don't have to accept this as a fact of life.

So in the midst of all of this, we hear often the words, you know, ``We are sending our thoughts and our prayers.'' Let me say as a man of faith that to say that you are praying while refusing to act is to make a mockery of faith. We must pray with our lips, and we must pray by taking action.

I do not believe that mass shootings as routine are the cost of freedom; I believe that they are the cost of blind obstinance. They are the cost of greed.

So we must start and see through a serious, bipartisan conversation right here in Washington and in State capitals all over this country about how to better protect our children and communities across the country from the scourge of gun violence.

I was proud that a few years ago, just a couple years ago, we did make progress right here in this Chamber, and we passed commonsense gun safety reforms in the wake of yet another tragic school shooting. While that bill was modest, it was meaningful. We made progress. Right now, that law is saving lives but, as we were reminded just a few days ago, not enough. So there is still work for us to do.

For me, this is not a political issue; it is a moral issue. The glimmer of hope is that most American families feel the same way. According to a FOX News poll, about 87 percent of Americans believe that Congress ought to pass universal background checks. That is Democrats and Republicans--87 percent agreement. Still we can't have a serious conversation about that here in this Chamber. Why? Because politicians have put their own political ambitions--their own fears in some cases--ahead of the people we were sent here to represent. It is just another sign of the growing chasm between what the people want and what they can get out of their government. In that sense, it is a democracy problem.

So we have to save the American people from this carnage, and we have to redeem the democracy. We must do more, and I believe in our ability to do more because I believe in the American people. The American people are calling for change--Democrats and Republicans, folks in rural spaces and in urban spaces. It is the gun lobby that wants to turn this into a culture war because they know that is in their best interest.

This is a public safety issue, and the American people are calling out for action, they are calling for sanity, and I believe it is high time that we do that work.

As I close, I just want to thank our law enforcement officers. I want to thank our first responders and our healthcare workers. May we thank our educators, our teachers, our coaches. May we remember the people of Winder and Apalachee High School and small towns all across our country. They all stood up the other day, shining bright in a dark moment. I pray for the day when I will be able to say the same thing about the U.S. Congress. It is past time.

As dark as this moment is, may we be encouraged by the words of Scripture:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not

overcome it.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today with deep antipathy and disappointment for the persistent political games being played in this Chamber. As a pastor, I am particularly bothered when those games are played with children.

Today, by all accounts, the Senate will fail to pass legislation with strong bipartisan support that will make a serious difference in the lives of everyday Georgians and their children. We are on track to do the right thing by our children.

But, once again, politics--as we enter the silly season of politics-- is getting in the way of extending the expanded child tax credit. It is not only the right thing to do morally, it is the smart thing to do economically.

I have to say that I find that often that is the case with our public policy.

Very often, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do. And it is politics and politics alone that gets in the way. Were it not for the cynical politics in Washington, passing this bill would be a no- brainer.

The moral question that we have to ask ourselves is, Are we so focused on the next election that we can't focus on the next generation?

It is beyond nonsensical that there are some who have previously preached about the importance of lowering taxes, but they are getting ready to vote down a tax cut for middle- and working-class families.

I think it is important to underscore that point because I recognize the folks at home, when they hear words like ``tax credit,'' ``expanded child tax credit,'' they are engaged in their work; they may not readily know what we are talking about. It is a tax cut. That is what it is, a tax cut for middle- and working-class families. And when we passed it back in 2021, it was, in fact, the largest tax cut for middle- and working-class families in American history.

But now we have the same lawmakers who love to talk about the need to lower taxes on middle- and working-class Americans--an argument I hear often--they are getting ready to vote down this tax cut. So the next time that I hear them talking about the need to cut taxes, I am going to ask my colleagues: How did you vote today? How did you vote when you had an opportunity to provide tax relief for ordinary people?

Maybe the issue is not so much tax cuts; it is for whom. Is it for those who need it the least or those who can benefit from it the most?

The bipartisan tax relief bill, negotiated in good faith by my friend the senior Senator from Oregon, is legislation that will offer a helping hand to ordinary families because we know that when ordinary people thrive, the economy thrives. And the reason the economy thrives is because when people who do not have a lot of disposable income--or virtually no disposable income--when they get a little bit of relief, you know, they buy extravagant things, you know, like a coat for their kid for winter, some more food, an opportunity to get some afterschool enrichment. That is what I think about.

I think about a mom that I met in Columbus, GA, named Denise, who in the weeks after we passed the expanded child tax credit said to me: Senator, I am so grateful that you all got this done. She said that she used those extra dollars to help prepare her daughter to go back to school and to help take care of her household as she was transitioning between jobs. It was a win for her, a win for her daughter, a win for the American economy.

Let's be clear. The bill that we are taking up today would help reduce poverty for some 636,000 children in Georgia and their families.

If I am honest, it is the kind of work that spurred me, a pastor, to get involved in politics in the first place. I put up with politics in order to do things like this. When we passed the expanded child tax credit, we literally cut child poverty 40 percent or more in America. But because we only did it for 6 months, we went back and doubled it. We can do better than that.

These dollars are going right back into the economy, helping small businesses and helping local economies to be stronger. We are helping families, helping businesses, helping our economy. Not only that, but we know that the smartest investment we can make is investing in our children. When we invest in our kids--especially in getting them out of poverty--we literally save them from the trauma, the actual trauma that poverty creates.

So I stand advocating, pushing, begging my colleagues to reconsider.

You know, I grew up in public housing. I wouldn't be standing here today if it were not for good Federal public policy. I worked hard. I put my shoes on every morning. I come from a family that emphasized a strong work ethic. But I needed all of that and good Federal public policy to be standing on this floor right now.

I am the beneficiary of Head Start, which, by the way, Project 2025 wants to go after. Head Start, which gives poor children access to literacy, sets the foundation for a good life.

In high school, another good Federal program called Upward Bound put me on a college campus every summer and every Saturday so I knew I belonged on college campuses. And then Pell grants and student loans ensured I could make my way through college.

The expanded child tax credit is part of that good public policy, strengthening ordinary people. It would strengthen their families and would strengthen the American economy.

The time to do that is now. The time now is not to focus on November but to focus on what we can do right now. Dr. King was right: The time to do right is always right and that time is right now.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions: S. Res. 645 and S. Res. 646.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I have 10 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Madam President, today I am honored to help the Georgia Association of Broadcasters celebrate 90 years of service to Georgians. Throughout nearly a century of existence, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters has been a stalwart advocate for the television and radio broadcasting industry, consistently pushing the boundaries of time and technology to deliver their communities quality, reliable news to keep us informed, safe, and connected.

Across Georgia, local broadcasters and journalists serve as the vanguard guardians of truth. Since its establishment in 1934, the GAB has been dedicated to representing the interests of radio and television broadcasters across the State. It is an organization that has played a pivotal role in making Georgia a premier destination for broadcast journalists worldwide, shaping the narrative of our communities with public education programs, scholarships, and professional development opportunities.

This remarkable journey includes initiatives like the WSB Care-a- Thon, a testament to the compassionate spirit of Georgia broadcasters, sharing stories of hope and inspiration from the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Through generous donations, this initiative funds family support services and vital research, embodying the association's commitment to making a meaningful impact on the lives of those in need.

And in the quieter corners of our State, we can still rely on sound local reporting, like at radio station WBHF in Cartersville, which prides itself on providing robust coverage of council meetings in towns across Bartow County, local sports and events, or school board meetings--nowhere else could local residents find such in-depth and impactful stories on what is going on in their own backyard.

Voices of Valor, a heartfelt project by WJCL in Savannah, stands as a corner dedicated to uplifting local troops and military families, as well as features honoring the educators shaping the next generation of Georgians. And over in Augusta, WRDW partners with Grant Me Hope, striving to end potential homelessness among Georgia's fostered youth by finding loving, adoptive homes before they age out of the system.

In times of disaster, the spirit of Georgia broadcasters shines a light on our better angels. When severe storms and tornadoes wreak havoc across our State, they emerge as the ``first informers,'' providing crucial information and assistance. In a remarkable display of community solidarity, local TV and radio stations, like WTVM, WRBL, and others, join forces for tornado relief campaigns, setting up online donation portals and donation drop-off locations that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for those in need.

These initiatives underscore a fundamental truth: A story is more than a script or a soundbite; it is an opportunity to see ourselves in others, to recognize our shared humanity, and to know that we are not alone in this world or within our communities.

Today, I commend the Georgia Association of Broadcasters for their tireless commitment to public service, and I urge my colleagues to join me in congratulating them on an extraordinary 90 years of dedicated service and storytelling to the people of Georgia.

Madam President, I rise tonight in anguish and in sorrow over the heinous and horrific attack by Hamas on the people of Israel on October 7 and also in response to the catastrophic humanitarian nightmare unfolding on the ground in Gaza right now, leaving over 100 Israeli hostages and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians suffering and tens of thousands--including many women and children--already dead, with no end in sight.

While much can be said about the geopolitics, perhaps because I am a pastor, I see first and foremost the people. On all sides of this awful and ugly, deadly conflict, I see the children of God. All of us are children of God. I especially see the children.

The haunting and penetrating witness of that ancient woman of the Jewish Scripture speaks to me in this moment. A voice is heard in Ramah, the sound of mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.

I hear Jewish mothers and fathers and Palestinian mothers and fathers weeping for their children, and the question is, What would we do if we truly believed that all of the children are truly our children? What would each side do if they could look into the eyes of the children on the other side and see in those children's eyes what they see when they look into the eyes of their own?

When we come to see that the safety of other people's children is inextricably connected to the safety of our own, we will do so much more to ensure that all children are safe. When we come to see that the health of other people's children is inexorably related to the health of our own, we will do so much more to ensure that every child can eat. When we come to see that the future of all children is tied to our children's future, we will ensure that every child can learn, play, imagine, and grow. We will hasten toward that path that leads to peace.

In that spirit, I rise tonight to explain why I think we have reached an inflection point in this conflict, one that demands all involved redouble our efforts to get a cease-fire and ultimately a just and sustainable peace.

I do not mean to suggest that any of this is simple. Indeed, if it were simple, it would have been resolved a long time ago. The issues of the Middle East are complicated. They are age-old and seemingly intractable. We live in a dangerous world, rife with conflict and replete with enemies who do not want to see peace.

October 7 was a tragic reminder. Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization that has the total destruction of Israel etched in its charter documents and ensconced in its mission, perpetrated the most devastating attack we have seen on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Some 787 civilians were killed, more than 1,100 if you count security personnel. Unbridled brutality and cruelty were visited upon seniors and women and children. Among those taken as hostages were young people simply enjoying a concert. Rape and sexual assaults were used as a weapon of war. Such depraved and immoral acts are rightly condemned by all who believe in human dignity and freedom.

Our ally Israel lives in a dangerous neighborhood, and it has a right to defend itself. That is why I was proud to support the national security supplemental in the Senate. It needs to pass in the House. It provides $5.2 billion for missile defenses like the Iron Dome, but it also provides $9 billion in humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza and in other places.

Moreover, it supplies urgently needed aid to Ukraine--a sovereign, democratic state viciously attacked by Putin's Russia. We stand with Ukraine. Their vital national security interests are tied to our own.

Putin, the old KGB agent with fond memories of the old Soviet Union, will not stop his murderous march with Ukraine. He will threaten other NATO allies. Because of NATO's article 5 protection, which states that an attack on one is an attack on all, that could well draw us in.

Last week, I participated in the Munich Security Conference. While we rightly urged our allies to put more skin in the game, as they should, to increase their own commitment to their own security--and to be sure, some of them are stepping up--the truth is, there is no replacement for American leadership in the world.

We, alongside our allies, must stand with Ukraine. In a broken and dangerous world like ours, evil has to be constrained, tyranny rejected sometimes by force. I would rather send military support to Ukrainian soldiers in their valiant defense of their homeland and of Europe today than send American soldiers to that fight tomorrow. It is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do for our own national security interest.

If we are speaking of Ukraine or Israel, ultimately the aim must always be peace--a sustainable peace, a just peace, the kind of peace that must be rigorously pursued with both a tough mind and a tender heart.

I pray for peace for the people of Ukraine, for the suffering people of Sudan, for Israeli children and Palestinian children. They are all children of God.

I think of the story of 13-year-old Ariel Zohar, an Israeli teenager who lost both of his parents and his two older sisters when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Nahal Oz just 2 months before his bar mitzvah. Ariel just happened to be out for a run, and he sought shelter with a kibbutz security guard. That is the only reason--the only reason--young Ariel survived. May God bless the memory of Ariel's family and the security guard, who also died at the hands of Hamas. He survived, but a 13-year- old child must now live with this trauma. It is a trauma that I know Jewish people in Georgia and around the world are living with every day.

The tragic irony is that in the wake of October 7, anti-Semitism has actually gone up. In this country, anti-Semitism has gone up. All of this is now witnessed through the prism of a people who have never truly felt safe in the world, people who carry the burden of history-- centuries of it--in their bones.

I got a sense of it in recent weeks as I sat with the families of hostages being held by Hamas. I sat with those families, who were stunned by the nightmare of their reality, people who have no idea when or how their family members might return.

I recall meeting with one father who was lamenting what had happened on October 7 to his daughter and his son-in-law when they were attacked by Hamas. Beyond his grief, here is what he wanted to know. He wanted to know: Does anybody other than us understand? Do they get it? Can they see what we see, hear what we hear, feel what we feel?

And as he said that with such pain and pathos in his voice, he was speaking about his own family, but he just as well could have been speaking for the family of 13-year-old Donia Abu Mohsen, a Palestinian girl who lost her parents and two brothers in an Israeli missile strike in south Gaza and had to have her leg amputated. And while she was recovering in the hospital, she was tragically killed by another Israeli airstrike while in the hospital.

May God bless the memory of Donia and her family. Donia is one of more than 12,000 children and tens of thousands of defenseless Palestinians who reportedly have been killed since Israel has been prosecuting its war against Hamas.

There is an acronym used in Gaza: WCNSF, wounded child with no surviving family. According to media reports, an estimated 17,000 Palestinian children fall under that category: wounded child with no surviving family. And another 2 million Palestinians have been displaced by the effort to rid the world of Hamas.

When I meet with my Palestinian and Muslim constituents in Georgia, members of our human family, I also hear them wonder: Does anybody other than us understand? Do they see what we see? Do they hear what we hear? Can they feel what we feel? Does anybody care?

The staggering loss of Palestinian lives should deeply trouble all of us, but equally concerning is the serious humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in Gaza before our very eyes. Earlier this week, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said during a briefing that about one quarter of the population in Gaza--576,000 people--are ``one step away from famine'' and facing a ``grave situation.'' Diseases like hepatitis A and digestive illnesses are spreading rapidly in overcrowded, makeshift camps, and this is made worse by a lack of access to clean water or sanitation systems.

Families right now are huddled in makeshift tents and other shelters, exposed to the winter elements, with everything they can carry on their backs. The medical system in Gaza has collapsed, with only a handful of hospitals still partially functioning.

On average, reportedly, more than 10 children have lost one or both of their legs every day since October 7, with many of those amputations performed without anesthesia. Pregnant women in Gaza have experienced a 300-percent increase in miscarriages.

And, most recently, the Netanyahu administration has once again ordered displaced Palestinians--women, children, seniors, regular civilians already pushed out of their homes by war--to evacuate territory they were told would be safe after fleeing previous offensives by the IDF in northern Gaza.

If Mr. Netanyahu advances military operations into Rafah, the question is: Where are these people supposed to go? What will be the human consequences?

World-class epidemiologists tell us that with an escalation of the war into Rafah, as many as 85,000 Palestinians could die from injuries and disease over the next 6 months--85,000 on top of the already mounting death toll. I submit that such a move would be unconscionable and morally indefensible.

But what do we do about Hamas, a terrorist organization bent on Israel's destruction? Let me be clear: Israel would be better off, the Palestinian people would be better off, the world would be better off without Hamas. But Hamas is more than a terrorist organization. It is an ideology. It is a mindset. It is a way of thinking that sits in a place deeper than the tunnels beneath Gaza. And if the legacy of Hamas's violence on October 7 becomes continuing and escalating indiscriminate violence in turn, then the destructive ideology of Hamas will have won the day.

We must not let them win. We must be careful not to create, through indiscriminate killing, that which we seek to destroy. We must find a more excellent way. With a tough mind and a tender heart, we must find that way that leads to peace.

We are at an inflection point, a place where two ways meet, and time is running out. I call upon Israel and Hamas to come to a negotiated cease-fire, with the immediate release of hostages and opening of humanitarian corridors so that food, medicine, water, and other supplies can be delivered to the people of Gaza with the fierce urgency that the situation demands. I am heartened by the quiet, steady work of the Biden administration and our regional partners in this effort, and I urge that it continue in earnest.

Furthermore, we must reaffirm our unwavering commitment to a two- state solution. The people of Israel deserve to live in peace and security alongside their neighbors. I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said that ``Israel's right to exist as a state in security is incontestable. The whole world,'' he said, ``must see that Israel must exist and has the right to exist.''

The dignity of self-determination is among the values he was seeking to uphold. Israelis deserve it. So do Palestinians. Two peoples, two states, living alongside one another in freedom and in peace--that must remain our North Star.

And if we would be true to our values, we must call to task any politician who would reject that right to self-determination, especially if that rejection comes while, at the same time, one is engaged in massive and indiscriminate bombing of the very same people.

From the ugly and dangerous specter of it all, the world cannot and must not turn away. With the Muslim holy days of Ramadan around the corner and the Jewish Passover shortly thereafter, we are at an inflection point, a place where two traumatized peoples meet. As a Black man who stands in Dr. King's pulpit, I know a little something about trauma. I know that while our trauma informs us, it must never define us. We are more than what has happened to us. We have within our capacity the strength to write a new story.

We must pursue peace, seek justice, embrace mercy, and struggle for human dignity with all of our might. The children on each side and all of our children are counting on us to do no less. I would wonder what we would actually do if we truly believed that all of the children are our children. As a parent with small children, I wonder what would each side do if they could look into the eyes of the children on the other side and see in those children's eyes what they see when they look into the eyes of their own.

Perhaps this is what the prophet Isaiah was getting at when he put forth his extraordinary vision, and I lift it up.

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie

down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling

together, and a little child shall lead them.

Honestly, I never quite understood what Isaiah meant. It seems too idyllic and other-worldly even for the preacher. But perhaps the prophet is saying something much more practical than we think.

To be sure, peacemaking is not easy work at all, by any stretch of the imagination. But perhaps when we allow our children and our love for our children, our concern for their future, and our children's inextricable connection to all other children to lead us--when we allow the children to lead us--we will find ourselves on the path that leads to peace.

So, tonight, I pray for a world where Israeli mothers and fathers and Palestinian mothers and fathers can put their children to bed in peace, say their bedtime prayers, and awaken to a world where they are finally safe.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, it is my honor and joy to join you in welcoming our good friend Rabbi Peter Berg to the U.S. Senate today.

Rabbi Berg, thank you so very much for your inspiring prayer. It lifts, before all of us, our highest ideals and reminds us of the important work that we are called to do together.

It is always great to see you. As I often say, every Baptist preacher needs a rabbi. And Peter Berg is not only the rabbi at The Temple; he is my rabbi. And he is my friend.

For more than 15 years, Rabbi Berg has led The Temple, Atlanta's largest and one of its most historic synagogues. Its history is so very important not just for Atlanta's Jewish community but for my own church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King served and, indeed, for the entire city of Atlanta. You are such an important leader in our country.

For more than 50 years, Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, led by Dr. King, has had a special relationship with The Temple. After Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize, some folks in Atlanta didn't want to celebrate it. They weren't certain that that was worthy of recognition. But it was Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, The Temple's then-senior rabbi and a champion for civil rights himself, who helped to bring the city together to commemorate that important moment in the movement for Georgians. It was an interracial dinner, and that, in and of itself, was a movement forward at a time of deep divisions and some of the darkest hours of our country.

And the special relationship has sustained to the present day, where Rabbi Peter Berg, who is the fifth senior rabbi in The Temple's history, and I, the fifth senior pastor in the history of Ebenezer Baptist Church, have carried on that tradition of ecumenical, spiritual friendship. And that friendship is genuine.

As you know, Rabbi, we have done a lot of important work together, and I am so grateful for the long history of friendship between our two congregations. This past March, I was honored to have you to serve as the guest preacher for Ebenezer's 138th anniversary, and you preached with all the fire of any Baptist preacher I know.

In fact, every year, our congregations come together to observe the MLK holiday, and we worship and we work together as one beloved community.

But beyond the doors of your congregation, Rabbi Berg has been a stalwart champion for change in Georgia. He and I have served together on too many occasions to count--from the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students to Faith in Public Life, Faith Forces Against Gun Violence, the Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center; our work together addressing the issue of mass incarceration in our country; standing up against bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia. Wherever hatred rears its ugly head, we have spoken time and time again together, as one voice. And because of that intersection of faith and justice, you will see Rabbi Berg and you will hear his voice time and time again.

We don't have enough time for me to run through all of Rabbi Berg's accolades, of which there are many. Time and time again, he has been recognized as one of the most influential spiritual leaders in our State and in our Nation.

So on behalf of the State of Georgia, I join Senator Ossoff in uplifting our appreciation for Rabbi Berg, who has been a source of counsel and a partner in making what Congressman Lewis called ``good trouble.''

And so during this season of Hanukkah and during this season of Advent, I lift the words of Isaiah, who said that ``the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. ``

May our lights continue to shine in this world.

Rabbi Berg, I am so blessed to have you as a spiritual brother.

With that, I yield floor.

Mr. President, I rise today because we are living in a nation besieged by gun violence.

So far this year, our Nation has experienced 630 mass shootings. This is day No. 340 in the year 2023, so 340 days, 630 mass shootings. That is nearly twice as many mass shootings as we have seen days. Our precious children are afraid to go to school. They are worried that their classroom may be the next Robb Elementary, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, or Sandy Hook, as we remember that somber anniversary.

I heard one of my colleagues, the Senator from Wyoming, earlier today say: They are trying to take our freedoms away. We have heard that a lot from folks on the other side: They are trying to take our freedoms away. It is a strange freedom that regularly sends our children into lockdown. What kind of freedom is that?

According to the Gun Violence Archive, we have lost over 1,500 children to gun violence this year. I think that there is a kind of unspoken assumption, as we have been pushing for commonsense gun safety and have gotten very little movement in Congress--I think the unspoken assumption is that this will not visit me; it will not happen to my family. But when you consider that there have been 630 mass shootings already this year, sadly, the chances are quite good that this could visit any one of us.

We ought to do our work here in the Congress as if we are protecting our own families because when we look out for other people's families, when we look out for other people's children, we look out for our own, and it could visit any one of us.

We act as if this is normal, business as usual. What legislative action has the Senate passed to address this epidemic of gun violence? The Senate actually voted to give less information--less information-- to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Keep in mind that according to a 2023 FOX News poll, 87 percent of Americans believe that we ought to have universal background checks. Listen. Let me say that again. According to a FOX News poll, 87 percent of Americans believe that we ought to have universal background checks. So they present this as if it is an argument between Democrats and Republicans. Really, it is an argument between Washington and craven politicians and ordinary people every day who are just trying to live their lives in safety.

There is a broadening gap between what Americans want and what they can get from their government. So, at root, this is a democracy problem. The question is, Who owns our democracy and at what cost to our children and to our families? So we have a moral obligation not to turn away.

Across the country, outside of Washington, there is widespread agreement that Congress needs to enact commonsense--commonsense--gun safety solutions. Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe that we ought to have universal background checks.

Every day, I hear from Georgians who are sick and tired of losing people they love to gun violence. As a pastor, I presided over the funerals. And it begs me to ask, how is it that we can't keep our own people alive? What kind of Nation tells its children that the only thing we can do in the wake of this crisis is to teach you how to hide?

Last year, for the first time in 30 years, we were able to pass modest but meaningful gun safety legislation, but it is not nearly enough, and it took 30 years just to do that.

We are all set to go home later this month to spend a few weeks-- safely, I hope--with our loved ones. I encourage all of my colleagues to reflect on this question: Are we going to let other people's loved ones continue to die by the tens of thousands and let our babies get killed in their classrooms for another 30 years before we choose to act?

The time is always right to do what is right, Dr. King taught us, and that time is now.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, there are several important domestic and international matters before us that require our urgent attention, not least of which is the need to find a bipartisan path to keep the Federal Government open and fund it within the next 3 days to prevent a national economic calamity.

We have a lot of work to do. A lot of priorities vie for our attention. But today, on World Diabetes Day, I rise to address another pressing issue that I believe also requires our timely action.

I want to uplift the findings of my new bipartisan white paper, released today on this World Diabetes Day. It shines a light on the urgent need for Congress to finally address the high costs of insulin and pass Federal legislation to cap the costs of insulin for every American who needs it.

This report is issued jointly today from my office in collaboration with my partner in this work, my friend the Republican Senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy. Senator Kennedy and I have been working to address the high costs of insulin because this is a problem that is particularly acute in our States.

Over 12 percent of adults in my home State of Georgia--12 percent-- are diabetic, but in Louisiana, that number climbs to over 14 percent, and many of these are people who cannot afford access to this lifesaving drug.

This is what we hear from the people in our States, but this new report, for the first time, takes a comprehensive look to learn more about who and where these people are. And what we found in our original analysis is that there are more than 800 counties across the country where you see the tragic convergence of high rates of diabetics coupled with high rates of uninsured people--high levels of diabetes, high levels of uninsured people. And we call these insulin deserts. These insulin deserts--some 813 counties across our country--are in the top half of counties across the country for both their percentage of individuals who are uninsured and who have diabetes--over 800 counties. And over 100 of these insulin desert counties are in my home State of Georgia.

Over 75 million nonelderly people live in insulin deserts. That includes more than 12 million Americans who are uninsured. In fact, among nonelderly individuals, insulin deserts have nearly double the percentage of uninsured residents as those who live in nondeserts.

So our analysis shows these insulin deserts are concentrated in the South and the Southeast. But it also shows that there are insulin deserts all over the country, concentrated in the South and in the Southeast, but you see them from Washington State to Texas, to North Dakota, to Florida, to New Jersey. In other words, this is a national problem.

And who are the people in these insulin deserts? Well, as compared to uninsured folks in other parts of the country, uninsured Americans who live in these places are, one, more likely to fall under the Federal poverty line than their counterparts. They are less likely to be college graduates than uninsured Americans in nondeserts. They are more likely to be people of color than uninsured Americans in nondeserts. In fact, in 2019, Black Americans were twice as likely as non-Hispanic White Americans to die from diabetes.

And uninsured Americans in insulin deserts are less likely to have access to sufficient internet service than uninsured Americans. And why does this matter? One of the reasons it matters is because it means that they have less access to patient assistance programs offered online by insulin manufacturers, and we know the challenges that uninsured people experience when it comes to accessing healthcare.

This report deals with the uninsured people who are diabetics and the convergence of those two things.

So what does all of this mean? What this report illustrates is that even with the steps private industry has taken to lower insulin costs-- steps that are good, that many of us in Congress pressed them to do. But it is still voluntary, and, by the way, they could be rescinded at any time.

And even with the steps more than 20 States have taken to institute State-level insulin copay caps and even with our success in lowering out-of-pocket insulin costs for Medicaid beneficiaries, there are still millions of Americans and communities across our country that are being left behind. They live in these insulin deserts concentrated in the South and the Southeast, but you see them all over the country. They are being left behind.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2019, uninsured people with diabetes spent close to $1,000 on insulin alone. If you are poor and you are uninsured, that number is unaffordable. We know that number includes the 246,000 insured Americans who use insulin every year, and we know that number rises to more than 540,000 Americans when we include those who experience a lapse in coverage.

But even when we look past the uninsured, we know that when we include those Americans with private insurance, the total number of Americans who are left vulnerable to potential spikes in insulin prices jumps to some 2.75 million Americans.

Here is the thing: Insulin should not be expensive. It is a 100-year- old drug. When it was invented, the patent was sold for $1. It certainly shouldn't be unaffordable.

For the first time, this analysis, which my office releases today, paints a clear picture of who is needlessly suffering and whom we will leave behind if we do not pass my $35 cap for the insured and the uninsured.

We already know what happens when people can't afford their insulin. We know that one in four diabetics--listen--ration their insulin. In the United States of America, people are rationing insulin, getting insulin from friends who have relatives who have passed away. I spent time with a young woman in my State named Lacey, who is a graduate student, was meeting people on Facebook meetup groups and then meeting them in dimly lit parking lots at the local Chick-fil-A to get insulin in the United States of America, a drug, invented 100 years ago, sold for $1.

That is not right. But not only is it not right, it is not smart. It is bad fiscal policy. We know that every year Federal and State government spending on hospitalizations related to complications from diabetes totals more than $11 billion. That is more money

than it would cost to cap the cost of insulin for everybody who needs it.

And, so, yes, I am a pastor; I am going to make the moral argument, but I am saying to you that it is not right, and it is not smart.

And perhaps that is why there are many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who care about this issue and have long been working to make insulin more affordable for diabetics.

I want to commend my colleagues, Senator Jean Shaheen and Susan Collins, for their leadership over the years that has helped keep this issue on Washington's front burner. I look forward to our continued partnership in the coming months on this issue.

I was proud that last year this Chamber passed a provision from my legislation, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, that was signed into law as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Since January 1, that provision has been saving our seniors money by capping out-of-pocket insulin costs at no more than $35 a month for Medicare patients. And my original Affordable Insulin Now Act included a 35-dollar-a-month insulin copay cap for patients on private insurance as well, and it almost passed this Chamber.

We got close. Now it is time to get it done. We weren't successful in getting that provision over the finish line. But I was proud that earlier this year, I got together with my friend John Kennedy, and we introduced a new bipartisan version of the Affordable Insulin Now Act that would finish the work we started by capping insulin costs at $35 a month for insured Americans and uninsured Americans.

Since then, Senator Kennedy and I have been working to build support for our legislation, which we have committed will be--listen-- completely paid for. And I am proud that support for our plan has continued to grow. I am proud our bipartisan bill has the support now of a broad coalition of Senators from both sides of the aisle, from Senators Fetterman to Peters, to Hawley, to Vance, to Warren, to Casey, to Britt, to Tuberville, to Braun, to Rosen--Senators who don't agree on a whole range of things, but we all know this makes sense.

Our bipartisan plan to lower insulin costs for the insured and uninsured also has the support of organizations like the American Diabetes Association, the American College of Physicians, Protect Our Care, and First Focus Campaign for Children.

So on World Diabetes Day, I encourage all of my colleagues to read this report, which we released today, because it drives home the work we should be focused on for the more than 7 million Americans with diabetes who use insulin, and it reminds us of whom we leave behind when we fail to act.

Dr. King said: Of all the injustices, inequality in healthcare is the most shocking and the most inhumane.

Shame on us if we can't get this done.

And so in closing--and nobody believes a Baptist preacher when he says ``in closing''--I think that this report is summed up by the story of a woman in the State of Georgia.

She said:

I have suffered with [diabetes] since the age of 11. [The]

type of insulin that costs me hundreds of dollars every month

at the pharmacy was released to market the year before I was

diagnosed. I bought a vial in 1997 without insurance and it

cost me $18.

In 1997.

This insulin has not changed since then--

The drug hasn't changed--

but now costs hundreds of dollars. Something needs to be done

to ensure we who depend on this life sustaining medicine can

continue to afford it. We will literally die in a matter of

days without it. It is not a matter of choice.

I agree with her, something must be done. And so let me just thank folks in my office, dedicated public servants who have been working on this issue, especially Gabi Vesey, Annie Wang, and Harper Melnick, for their work on this report. Thank you. People who need insulin really need it. It is not a matter of choice, and Congress can make a difference by passing this bipartisan legislation.

I urge my colleagues, with all that we have to do, to prioritize this work as we handle the host of other vital issues that require this body's attention.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I object.

I object.