Chris Coons: “I come to the floor today to speak for a few moments about the urgent--the pressing--matter of Americans held hostage or…”

“I come to the floor today to speak for a few moments about the urgent--the pressing--matter of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad and about a specific positive recent development to make sure that when they are released and freed, they are welcomed home in a positive and meaningful way. Today, there is somewhere between 30 and 40 Americans wrongfully detained abroad, and they range all over from their backgrounds to the countries in which they are held. I have met repeatedly with Rachel and Jon, who are the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American Israeli who was attending a music festival in Israel when he was attacked, badly injured, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, and dragged to Gaza where he is still today hostage beneath Gaza in tunnels. Ryan Corbett has been held in Afghanistan for years, an NGO worker who was abducted by the Taliban. Mark Swidan has been held in China on narcotics trafficking charges, a sentence upheld recently but not yet imposed. And, of course, Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter currently imprisoned in Russia whose mother I met with recently and who I join with his family in continuing to pray and work for his release. There has recently been a positive step forward in how we welcome home these hostages. First, I have to tell you something disturbing about how we have long welcomed home hostages.…”