Ongoing War Between Israel and Gaza
It's been more than six months since October 7. The whole world was shaken as a flood, as they actually called it, an Al-Aqsa Flood, of Hamas terrorists came through the wall separating Gaza and Israel in multiple places. Over the next several hours they murdered 1,200 Israelis. They took 253 hostages, including Americans. One hundred thirty-three are still hostages today.
Over Easter, I spent a few days in Israel. I met with multiple Israeli senior leaders, and talked to people in different parts of Israel to see the effects of this war. I made it clear when I was in Israel: the people of the United States see the people of Israel.
I traveled to the southern tip of Israel, along the border with Egypt, to discuss the relationship between Israel and Egypt. I spent a few hours at the Nova Festival site where hundreds of young Israelis were murdered at an outdoor concert. I traveled to the Kibbutz on the border with Gaza that is now vacant, empty, and devastated, where hundreds of people lived just a few months ago and now every building has bullet holes or has been burned and destroyed. When they were attacked, it was 6:30 in the morning on a Jewish holiday and on the Sabbath. Many of the residents were still asleep when a group of Hamas terrorists came into their homes and murdered many in that village and took many hostages.
We traveled to northern Israel, to visit with some of the mayors right along the border with Syria and Lebanon. Towns are evacuated there because people can't survive the onslaught of artillery fire from Lebanon.
The world watched when 330 drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were fired at Israel from Iran. However, that attack was only a small part of the 12,000 rockets and missiles that have been fired at Israel since October 7. Of those, multiple have been fired from Yemen, 9,100 were fired at civilians in Israel from Gaza, 3,100 of them have been launched by Hezbollah terrorists from Lebanon, and 35 of them were fired from Syria.
Iran and its terrorist regime have funded or supported all of the missile attacks on Israel and US forces in the region in the past six months. The Iranian regime is the biggest problem in the region because they pull the strings on all of the violent terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and they also hate America. We do not have an issue with the Iranian people; we have an issue with Iran's aggressive, terrorist regime.
On Tuesday, the Senate finally passed significant new sanctions on the Iranian regime as a part of the aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. We should use any leverage we have to isolate the Iranian economy to put pressure on their regime. Leader Schumer wants a change of leadership in Israel while they're in the middle of a war, I want a change in leadership in Iran.
We also cannot allow the Iranian regime to spew their hatred on US soil. Last week, the Iranian foreign minister flew to the US to speak to a group of people at the UN, and the Biden Administration gave him a visa. I called on Secretary Blinken to block the visa of someone who was a leading voice for the October 7 attack, and a member of the IRGC terror organization in Iran. Why would we give someone a platform to attack America and our ally Israel while he stands on American soil?
We should be clear on who we support—those bringing peace or those bringing violence and hatred.
Let's pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but let's also stand by her.
CLICK HERE to read more about my letter to Secretary Blinken about calling out the Iranian foreign minister for his anti-Israel behavior.
CLICK HERE to watch my speech on the Senate floor about the ways I believe the US should continue to stand by our friend and ally, Israel.
CLICK HERE to read my opinion piece in the Tulsa World about the ways I believe the US should stand with Israel.
CLICK HERE to read my statement on aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
Two Major Votes in the Past Two Weeks
In the past few days, the Senate has addressed multiple issues that need some facts to go with all the fiction online.
I supported the bill to provide assistance to our allies and to stand against international terrorism. During Passover week, activists screamed hatred at Jewish students at multiple elite American universities. Their antisemitic protests caused several schools to cancel classes for the rest of the semester. While the protests raged, the Senate held a vote on American support for Israel to determine if our nation stood with the protestors or with Israel. I chose to stand with Israel. The aid bill increased sanctions on the Iranian regime, provided military support to Israel and humanitarian assistance to the civilians in Gaza.
The bill also provided military assistance to Ukraine and Taiwan, who are both facing threats from communist or socialist dictatorships. Ronald Reagan spent his presidency working to break up the Soviet Union and to isolate communism and socialism. Now, the leadership of Russia is working to reconstitute the old Soviet empire while the leadership of China continues to expand its dictatorial control over its neighbors. America cannot be engaged in every conflict worldwide, but when our friends are fighting for their freedom or their very existence, the United States should not just turn its back on them as they are murdered on their own streets.
The aid bill also forces the sale of TikTok to break the Chinese control of one of the largest media companies in America. The communist party has used TikTok to push its propaganda to our nation. The bill does not ban TikTok. It simply moves the control of content out of China to any American company.
I did have one very significant frustration with the aid bill. It included only a fraction of the serious border enforcement measures I worked on for months. The bill contained a new sanction authority on foreign entities and people who deal in fentanyl, which will slow the flow of that terrible chemical into our nation. However, all of the increased standards for asylum, the tough new border enforcement, and ending the frequent and illegal use of parole into our great nation were not included in the final bill text coming from the House. The Senate was unwilling to pass any bipartisan border enforcement measures a month ago, and the House was unable to pass any border enforcement legislation a week ago.
This is one of the great challenges of our current political climate. Some people would rather have nothing if they don't get everything they want on an issue. I am a proud conservative, but I also see the national security risk of doing nothing day after day. I worked for months to make some progress closing our wide open borders, rather than just complain about the problem and hope it magically gets better on its own after a press conference. We still have work to do, which is why I was back at it again this week to make progress on closing our open border.
The other big vote was on foreign intelligence gathering and how to protect the privacy of Americans while at the same time discovering and stopping foreign terror threats before they happen. You may have heard the term FISA, which stands for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but you may not know that the final passage of FISA included 50 new limits on the authority, protections for Americans, and consequences on anyone who abuses the law. There were significant new civil liberty protections in the final version, which I supported.
FISA only applies to foreign intelligence. It is illegal to use that authority to spy on Americans, and the new version of the bill includes fines and jail time for any abuse. There was some debate about a new warrant requirement to even look at the database if there was any information about an American citizen included in the database. I voted against that amendment because it also included new protections for every person who is currently illegally present in the United States. I was not willing to tie the hands of law enforcement when they discovered a link between a foreign terror organization and an illegal alien currently residing in our country.
I understand that some people did not want FISA renewed, but as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I am very aware of the importance of learning about terror plots before they happen. We should not ignore the very real threats coming at our nation from foreign terror organizations, even in the past few weeks. We can protect American lives, while also protecting our civil liberties.
CLICK HERE to read my statement on the foreign aid supplemental bill.
CLICK HERE to read my statement on FISA reauthorization.
Impeachment Trial of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas
Last week, the House of Representatives brought their Articles of Impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. Because the House impeached Secretary Mayorkas, the Senate had a constitutional duty to hold a trial. However, for the first time in American history, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer raised a point of order that the Articles of Impeachment for Secretary Mayorkas were unconstitutional, and with a partisan majority vote they refused to even hold a trial. So the impeachment trial was over before it ever started.
There have been 22 impeachments in the history of our nation, and this is the first to ever have been rejected by the Senate as being unconstitutional. Senator Schumer and Democrats want to ignore the House and the actions they have taken because they refuse to acknowledge the chaos at our southern border.
CLICK HERE to read my full statement on the impeachment trial of DHS Secretary Mayorkas.
Hearing from Postmaster General DeJoy
Last week, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing with United States Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. I used the opportunity to address several questions about the proposed changes by the Postal Service for mail in Oklahoma. Oklahomans have expressed concerns about delays in mail impacting seniors and Veterans who rely on receiving benefits and medication through the mail. We also discussed concerns raised by Tulsans about the future of the Tulsa facility and their great workforce.
Following a public meeting held by USPS at Tulsa's Hardesty Library to receive community input, I was joined by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin and Oklahoma Representatives Frank Lucas, Tom Cole, and Stephanie Bice to send a letter to DeJoy to share our concerns on the Oklahoma changes in the Delivering for America Ten-Year Plan.
I will continue to put Oklahomans' postal needs first and ensure any proposed changes from Washington, DC, are monitored closely and receive feedback from me, my staff, and Oklahomans who would be affected.
CLICK HERE to watch my Q&A with Postmaster DeJoy.
CLICK HERE to read my letter to Postmaster DeJoy on postal issues in our state.
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