Midco supports cspan as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. The u. S. Senate is about to gavel in on this Tuesday Morning with votes expected this morning on the nomination of Jennifer Hall to be a u. S. District court judge for delaware. Lawmakers will also work on the nomination of Julia Kathleen munley to be a u. S. District court judge for the middle district of pennsylvania. On the other side of the capitol the u. S. House. Chapld dr. Barry black, will open the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Almighty god, ruler of the universe, provide our lawmakers with a perspective that will enable you to use them for your glory. May they see themselves as called to serve you and the people of our nation and world. Use this perspective to motivate them to remove the obstacles that prevent them from working together and accomplishing your purposes. As they continually seek to discover opportunities they agree can make them more productive, give them the wisdom and courage to always strive to honor you. And, lord, bring a speedy end to the hamasisrael war. We pray in your powerful name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C. , october 17, 2023. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. Warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the followings nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary. Jennifer l. Hall of pennsylvania to be United States district judge for the district of judge for the district of we were expecting a speaker spoke today again noon eastern is what we are hearing and it day after House Republicans ousted former speaker Kevin Mccarthy. Heres a headline from the New York Times today. Jim jordan making gains but still faces holdouts. Jim jordan needs 217 votes for speaker today meaning he can only lose four four House Republicans. This is jim jordan yesterday on whether he has of the votes or would be willing to go multiple rounds on the house floor to secure those votes. How many votes are you willing [inaudible] they will have their conquerors, house of representatives working, again we need to do that plus we need to be [inaudible] dearest friend and colleague or closest a la israel we need help them as well. Tomorrow you expect multiple roll call votes . I felt could walk into the conference. Weve got more people to listen to and then will have a vote tomorrow. Host again that vote at noon eastern. You can watch here on cspan. To the other three were following President Biden is set to travel to israel today, be there tomorrow for meetings with israeli officials amid the ongoing war with hamas. This is a front page of the new times today President Biden is signaling strong support the right but also linking u. S. With strikes on palestinians yesterday after meeting with the Israeli Defense minister secretary of state Antony Blinken shared a bit of President Biden agenda when hes in israel. This is what he had to say. On wednesday resident biden goes israel. Hes coming here at a critical moment for israel for the region and for the world. And hes come here to do the following. First, the present will reaffirm the United States solidarity with israel and our ironclad commitment to its security. President biden again is make clear as you step unequivocally since hamas slaughter of more than 1400 people including at least 30 americans that israel has the right and indeed the duty to defend its people from hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks. President will hear from israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with congress to meet those needs. Second, President Biden will underscore our crystal r message to any actor, state or nonstate, trying to take advantage of this crisis to attack israel, dont. To that end, yes to. 2 mac Aircraft Carrier groups and other military assets to the region. Third, the president will continue to coordinate closely with our israeli partners to secure the release of hostages taken by hamas including men and women, small children, Holocaust Survivors and american citizens as an indispensable humanitarian effort. Fourth, President Biden will receive a comprehensive briefed on israels war aims and strategies. Fifth, the president will hear from israel how to conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables Community Assistance to fold civilians in gaza that does not benefit hamas. Host secretary of state Antony Blinken, that was yesterday in israel. President biden lisa blatt yesterday, will be there tomorrow and were talking about that story. We are talking about the House Speaker vote set for today, a very busy day here in washington. Want to especially hear from you. You. Phone lines pleasure to buy political party. 2027488001 republicans. 2027488000 democrats. Independents. Translator . We will start in North Carolina republican line. This is ray. Good morning. Caller hello. Thank you for taking my call. Yes, they need to go ahead and get that done. They need to get a speaker. Jim jordan is a good guy. I really hope he gets selected but they need to get that done now because theres a lot of Things Congress needs to be doing, helping israel, yes. Totally i support to spoke hoping israel and what theyre doing. Everybody who thinks sanely must believe israel must have a right to defend itself against terror. I mean, its of their land. I god gave them that land, but i just really Hope Congress gets their act together and gets a speaker today. Host ray, were you supportive of Kevin Mccarthy or Steve Scalise . When you say the need to get it done, doesnt matter to you who the speaker would be as long as a house starts working again . Caller Steve Scalise wouldve been a good choice but he was [inaudible] i would support him. Mccarthy, soso. But ended going and get a speaker selected so they can get some business done. Because with no speaker is no sense things are a stalemate, and right now theres a lot of things that are not being done that should be done, should be getting to. Host that is ray out of North Carolina. This is a headline from axios from yesterday. Gop holdouts persist as jim jordan plows ahead on the House Speaker vote. The latest unofficial count from congressional course put the jordan opposition bloc were from around half a a dozen the posy close to 20 members. You will recall it was last week some 55 republican said they would not vote for jim jordan on the house floor. He has narrowed that number down quite a bit since then and yesterday it was several highprofile members republican members in the house who announced their support for jim jordan that seemed to show some momentum in jim jordan favor including House Armed ServicesCommittee Chairman mike rogers of alabama. This was his tweet yesterday, yesterday morning saying i had to do cordial and thoughtful and productive conversations over the past two days. We agreed on the need for congress to pass a Strong NationalDefense Authorization act, appropriations to fund our government and other important legislation. Like the farm bill picky set as result i decided to support jim jordan for speaker of the house on the floor. Again mike rogers was one of those. Ann wagner as well was one of those last week of misery, republican sick let me be clear, i am not and will not work with democrats as a republican conference comes together. Announcing his support for jim jordan yesterday closer to lunchtime. Then with ken, republican of california safe keeping america safe by top priority in congress after having conversation with jim jordan about how we must get the house back on a path to achieve our National Security and appropriation goals i will be supporting them for speaker on the floor. Lets get to work, said the california republican. So holdouts still including oxman Carlos Jimenez the republican saying that he will support Kevin Mccarthy so calling in Speaker Mccarthy and i intend to vote for him on the house floor and he added i will never support socialist Hakeem Jeffries for anything to the contrary is a fabrication and a flat out lie. Hakeem jeffries of course as expected to be the democratic nominee for speaker. Thats the latest will find out a lot more later this morning right around lunchtime, noon eastern is when that vote is scheduled. This is carolyn in alexandria, virginia, democrat, good morning. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Caller yes. Because i think you two things going at everything on your tv and on your phone. Drama just talk through your phone, that the easiest. Caller okay. First, im talking about the nomination of jim jones i dont understand what people would vote for somebody who want to take over their own country. And i tell you, if you take over your own country what are you sending your young men and women overseas to fight for other countries . I just dont understand this. I need to think hard to put that man in the speakership because you know nothing is going to get through, the government is going to be shut down. Not only the people from here but the people from the state is going to suffer. You need to think about that. Second of all, i want to know why we always have to send our men and women over to Different Countries why those people and theyre good. Theyve all these people all living over in the United States and they need to send them back to fight. They dont need to send her own people, our men and women over there. Send a people back. They are over there protesting everything about the country. Get on a plane, send an back to the own country let them fight for the own country. And children over there to fight for the country why there over here i have said before, but still feel it deeply in my gut, no words can fully express the horror of hamas attack on israel two saturdays ago. In a single day, 1300 jews murdered in cold blood, men, women, children, the elderly, the disabled. As old as nearly 100 years old, down to toddlers and infants. I was told that one at one of the kibbutz scene, hamas rounded up nearly 100 people, from 90 years old to little babies. They put them into the recreation room, then machinegunned every one of them down. Now its reported that there are about 200 colleagues being held by hamas, including americans. I walked by the tv, they said they just showed the first hostage, a 22yearold girl. It wrenches your stomach how evil these people are. How evil. We jewish people have been used to this for thousands of years. We live with it. As i mentioned when i talked about the kibbutz, i remembered my greatgrandmother, 1941, the nazis came into europe and told her, she was wellknown because her husband, late husband, was a famous rabbi, gather your Greater Family on the porch of your home. They made the 800 jews go to the town square, near her home, and toll her 35 people gathered, from 88 years old to 3 months. They said to her, youre all coming with us. She said were not moving. They machinegunned every one of them down, in front of the others. This is what we live with and why were so resolute, that the threat to hamas must be extinguished. This morning, my four colleagues who traveled to israel, and i, will have a phone conversation with President Biden about how we can be most helpful to bring all of the hostages home safely. I promised the families we met that we would do everything we can, and we exploring every option. The five of us met with the hostage families. There wasnt a dry eye in the house, watching the videos. Some of them had videos, hamas sent some of the videos to the families we were just weeping together, about the cruel, inhumanity of hamas and the desperation these families had to get their loved ones back. October 7 will go down as a day of inextinguishable grief. The deadliest single day for jews since the holocaust. A reminder of much older, darkers days we must never return to. When my colleagues and i traveled to israel this past weekend, we delivered a simple message to the jewish people america will stand with israel as an unrelenting partner, and i promised that ill do Everything Possible to ensure that the United States senate provides israel with the support she needs to defend her people. As the highestranking jewish elected official ever in america, as the first jewish majority leader, i will do everything i can to see that that happens, as will so many of my colleagues, jew and nonjew alike, democrat and republican alike, which we so appreciate. The senate must, above all, work quickly and swiftly to draft, consider, and pass a strong aid package for israel as soon as we can. That includes military support, intelligence support, diplomatic help. On the military side, the israelis have jo you the lined to us on their trip what weve needed and weve conveyed that to the administration. Very importantly, i spoke with the president yesterday, and he said something i had been urging, that there be a significant amount of humanitarian aid to help victims and innocent palestinians who had nothing to do with hamas. While i was abroad, i spoke with the israeli leadership, every Single Member we met with, we said we want to make sure you have what you need to eliminate the threat from hamas, but we also reminded them that we must provide humanitarian assistance to those who need it, including innocent palestinian citizens in the inest in the fastest, safest and most effective way possible. Were going to work to ensure that happens. Our reports in israel were that hamas was trying to block that aid in certain ways, block the highways that people drove down. Some told us that when Israeli Soldiers were putting together water mains to bring water to some of the people, hamas were shooting at them. But we must persist. We must be above the kind of evil cruelty that we saw from hamas. We must go by the rule of law and try, make sure that we do everything we can to minimize the pain and loss of innocent civilians, pal stinnans and everyone else palestinians and everyone else. I thank my colleagues, senators rosen, romney, collins for joining on this delegation. Our mission was threefold to send a clear message of solidarity, to assess what israels security needs are now to put together a strong aid package and show support for israel is bipartisan. Standing with the israeli government, as i mentioned, we got a list of what military assistance they need in order to fully defend themselves and elimb nape the threat of hamas eliminate the threat of hamas. Tomorrow, President Biden too will travel to israel to affirm, as only an american president can, that as long as there is the United States of america, israel will never be alone. Ive known President Biden when he was senator biden and vice President Biden and now President Biden. His support for israel comes from the heart. Hes a believer, and that is so good. I know he will deliver a strong message of support and solidarity when he comes before the jewish people. And i know that he will reiterate, as are my colleagues as my colleagues and i did when meeting with each israeli leader the need to follow the wallace of war and the laws of war and minimize palestinian death. This is important. Civilian casualties is something we stressed to israeli leaders. The task israel faces so difficult. Eliminate the threat of hamas hard enough. Secure the return of hossance hostages safely held by these evil, vicious, horrible terrorists, cruel. And minimize the loss of innocent palestinian lives. This is all not easy, but its very important we make every effort to achieve all three. As we continue working with the Biden Administration to stand israel on the world stage, the senate has a lot to do here at home. To move on a robust aid package quickly, im instructing senators murray, reed and cardin, our leading National Security committee chairs, to work with our republican colleagues and with the Biden Administration on the details of an aid package that the senate can take up as soon as possible. Hopefully within the next few weeks. That package wi