Bill would block Biden Administration’s plan to reopen a U.S. consulate for the Palestinians that divides Jerusalem
WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today led a group of 36 Republican senators to introduce the Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act of 2021 (S.3063), a bill to protect the full and faithful implementation of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and block the Biden Administration’s efforts to subvert the law.
“President Biden continues to push forward his inflammatory plan to establish a second mission in Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem—one for the Israelis and a second one for the Palestinians—despite the fact that this plan violates the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and is completely opposed by the Government of Israel,” Senator Hagerty said. “It is regrettable that the Biden Administration insists on making moves that divide the United States and Israel when our two nations should be laser-focused on stopping Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime from going nuclear, on countering growing threats from Hizballah, Hamas, and other Iran-backed terrorist groups, and on strengthening and expanding the historic Abraham Accords that truly have increased peace in the Middle East. The Trump Administration kept its promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish State, and Congress must do everything in our power to strengthen our posture.”
Under the Trump Administration, the United States fully implemented the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 by formally recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel on December 6, 2017, by moving the U.S. Embassy to Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, and by closing the U.S. Consulate General for the Palestinians and merging its functions into U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem’s new Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU) under the U.S. Ambassador to Israel’s Chief of Mission authority. Prior to the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995’s full and faithful implementation, the U.S. consulate for the Palestinians had previously operated completely outside of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel’s Chief of Mission authority.
In June, Hagerty joined a group of Republican colleagues led by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to press the Biden Administration to adhere to U.S. law and refrain from reopening the Mission of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem for the Palestinians.
In February, the White House confirmed—albeit delayed and after Hagerty wrote President Joe Biden—that the United States still recognizes Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel and intends to maintain the American Embassy in the city, which came after the U.S. Senate passed the Hagerty-Inhofe Amendment to ensure the U.S. Embassy remained in Jerusalem, 97 to 3.
Original co-sponsors of Hagerty’s Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act of 2021 include: Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), James Inhofe (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), James Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rick Scott (R-FL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN).
Click here to read a copy of the legislation.