Mr. Chairman, this is a similar amendment that we have passed recently, as recently as July of 2004; and it restricts any money in this bill, not a single dollar, not a single dime going to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We have had the debate many times in this Chamber; and on a few occasions some of my colleagues have posited, oh, no, this is not the right time to do it, the Saudis are getting better, they are becoming more cooperative, they are not exporting Wahabism, they are not exporting terrorism, they are not funding terrorism, they are not restricting human rights as much as they had, they are on the path to reform.
I am offering the amendment again today because in the last 7, 8 months since we have offered this amendment last to restrict moneys in the foreign aid bill, it has gotten worse and worse and worse still. Just in recent months, the State Department issued its annual country reports on human rights practices. Here is what it said about Saudi Arabia: ``There were credible reports of torture and abuse of prisoners by security forces, arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detentions. The religious police continue to intimidate, abuse and detain citizens and foreigners. Most trials were closed.''
That was not years ago. That was just in the last couple of months. The State Department also issued its report on anti-Semitism on the 30th of December. Of course, it reports about how there is an explosion of anti-Semitism in Europe and throughout the world funded by the Saudi kingdom.
Just in February of this year, Freedom House, an organization, sent Muslim volunteers to 15 prominent mosques in New York, from New York to San Diego, and collected hundreds and hundreds of books paid for by the Saudi Arabian Government that said things like, quote, any Muslim who believes that, quote, churches are houses of God and that God is worshipped therein is an infidel.
Another quote from these Saudi publications: Be disassociated from the infidels. Hate them for their religion. Leave them. Never rely on them for support. Do not admire them and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.
And here is what these Saudi documents say about America: It is forbidden for a Muslim to become a citizen of a country governed by infidels because it is a means of acquiescing to their infidelity and accepting their erroneous ways.
Also, these documents published by the Saudis, this is what it says about war against America, not years ago but weeks ago: ``To be true Muslims, we must prepare and be ready for jihad in Allah's army. It is the duty of every citizen and the government.''
Mr. Chairman, there should not be any money in this bill, and there is not presently any money that specifically says it can go to the Saudis; but we have seen again and again how money gets reprogrammed without a full vote of this Congress. If we vote today to say no aid to the Saudis, the President could not come back and ask for any of this money to be reprogrammed.
I think that the time has come for us to start sending an unambiguous, clear message to the Saudis that we understand, particularly in the post-9/11 world, that we are going to judge people based on what they do, not on what they say, on their record, not just on their glossy public relations campaign.
