Shelley Berkley: “I want to also express my gratitude to Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, my very dear friend on the other side of the aisle, and of…”

“I want to also express my gratitude to Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, my very dear friend on the other side of the aisle, and of course my very special friend and mentor, Mr. Lantos. His eloquence was almost matched today by Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Engel. They did a remarkable job. And I do not believe I can equal theirs, but I would like to speak on behalf of this piece of legislation. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill and I am hoping for its immediate passage. Like some of my colleagues, I also want to express my sincerest sympathy to my colleague and good friend on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Cantor, for the unnecessary loss of his 16-year-old cousin, Daniel. I am heartsick about that, and did not know until this evening that he had died. This bill, Madam Speaker, is not about punishing the Palestinian people. This bill is about reasonable demands for United States assistance. There are three requirements on the Hamas-led PA to receive and to continue to receive financial aid from the United States. You must recognize Israel's right to exist. They must denounce and combat terrorism, and they must accept the roadmap and other past agreements. These are the three simple requirements that must be met in order to receive continued financial aid from the United States. The problem the Palestinians have, as I have said so many times before is not money, the problem has been and continues to be a complete failure of leadership.…”