00:00Every day, month after month, we in America are witnesses to and complicit in the horrific
00:05genocide in Gaza.
00:07Nearly all Gazans have been displaced from their homes and communities.
00:11Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:12My amendment would require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on the status
00:17and amount of U.S. funding that has been sent to the Board of Peace, an accounting of how
00:22those funds have been used, and documentation of any civilian harm occurring at any Board
00:28of Peace site funded by U.S. taxpayers.
00:31Every day, month after month, we in America are witnesses to and complicit in the horrific
00:36genocide in Gaza.
00:37The population has been systematically starved, civilian infrastructure has been destroyed,
00:43and areas designated as, quote, safe have been bombed.
00:47Almost 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 20,000 children, and over 170,000
00:54have been injured.
00:55Even by Israel's own statistics, which drastically undercount the number of fatalities, the IDF
01:01has killed more civilians than combatants.
01:04Nearly all Gazans have been displaced from their homes and communities, forced to repeatedly
01:09flee to often unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
01:13We have also seen the repeated and indiscriminate destruction of civilian infrastructure, including
01:18homes, schools, and universities, hospitals, religious sites, and farmland, meaning life in
01:24Gaza will never be the same.
01:27President Trump promised that he had the solution.
01:29And in January of this year, he created his so-called Board of Peace to supposedly oversee
01:35the reconstruction of Gaza and work toward a permanent political solution to this conflict.
01:40Nearly six months later, these promises are still unfulfilled.
01:44Palestinian civilians remain displaced without reliable access to food, clean water, medical
01:50care, education, or sanitation.
01:52And despite the so-called ceasefire put in place seven months ago, the IDF continues its
01:58bombardment of Gaza.
01:59Just last month, the IDF killed 119 Palestinians, 30% of whom were either children, women, or the
02:08elderly, making May the deadliest month for Palestinians this year.
02:14The United States is Israel's largest supplier of arms, providing the government of Israel billions
02:19of dollars in military aid.
02:21We have been derelict in not applying our own domestic laws to these military shipments and
02:27ignoring international humanitarian laws.
02:30This makes us complicit in this destruction.
02:33We cannot just trust that President Trump's Board of Peace will produce results.
02:38We need an actionable plan, an accounting of what U.S. funds are being sent, how they're
02:44being spent to ensure the human rights of Palestinians are respected, and that we never have another
02:51inhumane aid distribution system like we saw with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
02:56In February, the U.S. reportedly pledged $1 billion in taxpayer funds to the Board of Peace.
03:03But recent reporting has confirmed that the Board's account, managed by the World Bank,
03:07has zero dollars in it.
03:10That's right.
03:11Zero.
03:12Supposedly, money has been deposited into a separate private J.P. Morgan account with absolutely
03:18no transparency.
03:20When asked about funding for the Board of Peace in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
03:23Secretary Rubio could provide hardly any details about the Board's funding scheme and its strategy
03:29to fund reconstruction and promote durable peace.
03:33As Donald Trump repeatedly squanders American taxpayer dollars to further his own interests,
03:38whether it's through funding for his ridiculous ballroom or his $1.8 billion cop-beater slush
03:44fund, it is clear that congressional oversight is necessary.
03:47The American taxpayers and the people of Gaza deserve to know how this Board of Peace is being
03:53funded and where its money is going.
03:55I urge my colleagues to vote yes, and I yield back.
03:58Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your work in advancing this bill.
04:02And I want to thank Ranking Member Meeks and Ranking Member of the Africa Subcommittee, Sarah
04:06Jacobs, for their leadership on this bill.
04:11The humanitarian crisis that we're seeing in Sudan is incredibly dire.
04:15And it's one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.
04:19The Sudanese Civil War has reportedly caused over 400,000 deaths, forcibly displaced more
04:26than 14 million people, and caused a catastrophic level of hunger, with over 25 million people
04:34facing extreme hunger.
04:35To stop this senseless war and avert further catastrophe, the United States needs to act with
04:41the full force of its moral responsibility and diplomatic power.
04:45I was very grateful that just a few weeks ago, my resolution, HRES 1179, recognizing the
04:51three-year anniversary of the war, passed out of this committee with near-unanimous support.
04:56And I hope that we can still bring that bill to the floor for passage.
05:01The U.S. Engagement in Sudanese Peace Act represents another opportunity for this body to show the global
05:07community that the United States will not let the atrocities in Sudan go unchecked.
05:12Last week, before this committee, Secretary Rubio rightly recognized that, quote, Sudan has
05:18turned into a proxy war.
05:20And noted that, quote, the divisions between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have
05:25truly complicated our ability to bring the war to an end, end quote.
05:30Neither of the two belligerents in this conflict, the SAF or the RSF, could operate if it were
05:36not for the external actors putting their thumbs on the scale.
05:39The UAE has clear and proven ties with the RSF, sending weapons to an army.
05:44The State Department is determined to carry out a genocide in exchange for access to Sudan's
05:50gold.
05:51On the other side, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have clearly demonstrated their support for the
05:56SAF.
05:57It is unacceptable that stated U.S. allies are fueling starvation, crimes against humanity,
06:02security, and genocide, and they must be held accountable.
06:06I have welcomed the attention from the Trump administration and Special Envoy Boulos to this
06:11crisis, including their engagement with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt within the Quad
06:17framework.
06:18Unfortunately, just like we saw with the Biden administration, the issue of Sudan is taking
06:22a backseat to other conflicts.
06:25While we all understand that the bilateral relationships between the United States and members of the Quad have
06:31been focused on the issues of Gaza and now the war in Iran, the crisis in Sudan is too urgent
06:37to be sidelined and deprioritized.
06:40Because let's be clear, we do have the leverage to stop this proxy war in Sudan should we choose
06:46to use it.
06:47And I sincerely hope that this committee will take action to utilize that leverage and prohibit
06:53the sales and licensing of major defense equipment to any country supporting either the SAF or
06:59the RSF.
07:00The strength of the Sudanese people, I've gotten to know them extremely well over the years
07:05that I've been working on this, is truly remarkable.
07:08And they deserve better than to be caught in the crossfires of warring parties who care only
07:14about control for the sake of control.
07:17In 2019, the Sudanese people rose up and they demanded an end to the dictatorship of President
07:23Omar al-Bashir and a transition to democracy.
07:26I was fortunate at that time to travel to Sudan on a congressional delegation in that extremely
07:33celebratory moment to meet with the new president and with so many leaders of the peaceful nonviolent
07:40movement and to be able to thank the people of Sudan who displayed enormous courage and resilience
07:46and sacrificed so many lives and so much for that moment.
07:50Since the war broke out in 2023, I have met countless members of Sudanese civil society and Sudanese
07:57Americans who have witnessed and survived horrific atrocities.
08:02They've shared stories of repeated displacement, ethnic cleansing, the use of sexual violence
08:07as a weapon of war and near starvation as both the SAF and the RSF impede humanitarian access.
08:14And yet, even in the face of these atrocities, many of the activists who led the pro-democracy
08:21protests that led to the ousting of Bashir have become leaders of the emergency response
08:26rooms, a network of mutual aid groups that provide basic necessities to areas that international
08:33humanitarian organizations can't reach.
08:35We cannot ignore this crisis or waste this moment.
08:40We have to protect and empower Sudanese civilians and we have to help bring peace and democracy
08:47once again to Sudan.
08:49I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this important bill.
08:52I yield back.
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09:01Until next time.
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