| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
From Venezuela. | |
| Confirmation votes are also expected on some of President Trump's cabinet nominations. | ||
| The House returns briefly Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern, and then we'll proceed to the inaugural ceremonies for President Trump. | ||
| Members will return on Tuesday for legislative business and votes. | ||
| And then later in the week, legislation on forest management and wildfire prevention following the recent fires in California. | ||
| Also, a bill to coincide with the upcoming March for Life requiring medical care for a child born after a failed abortion. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the House on C-SPAN. | ||
| See the Senate on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| And of course, all of our congressional coverage is also available in our free video app, C-SPANNOW, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| President Joe Biden spoke from Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina, delivering remarks to the press about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, which had taken effect earlier Sunday morning. | ||
| Hey, folks, it's going to be quick because I got to be downstairs, but thank you very much for being here this morning. | ||
| The deal that I first put forward last May for the Middle East has finally come to fruition. | ||
| The ceasefire has gone into effect in Gaza, and today we're seeing hostages being released. | ||
| Three Israeli women held against their will in the dark tunnels for 470 days. | ||
| Four more women will be released in seven days, three additional hostages every seven days thereafter, including at least two American citizens in this first phase. | ||
| We pray for them and their families for they're going to be a long recovery ahead. | ||
| By the 16th day of the deal, talks will begin in the second phase. | ||
| This phase includes the release of Israeli soldiers and a permanent end of the war without Hamas in power or able to threaten Israel. | ||
| Hundreds of trucks are entering Gaza as I speak. | ||
| They're carrying assistance for civilians who suffered enormously from the war that Hamas started on October 7, 2023, nearly 15 months ago. | ||
| Today alone, we anticipate several hundred trucks will enter the Gaza Strip as I'm speaking. | ||
| And after so much pain, destruction, loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent. | ||
| This was the deal that I outlined for the world back in May 31st. | ||
| Many of you covered it at the time. | ||
| It was endorsed overwhelmingly by folks around the world, including the UN Security Council, who unanimously endorsed the deal and developed a in coordination with coordination with Egypt, Qatar, and Israel. | ||
| I've worked in foreign policy for decades, and this is one of the toughest negotiations I've been part of. | ||
| Many of you who followed these negotiations will attest that the road to this deal has been not easy at all, a long road. | ||
| But we've reached this point today because of the pressure Israel built on Hamas backed by the United States. | ||
| Some said my policy of affirmed support for Israel is relentlessly pursuing diplomacy, risked drawing America into a wider war in the region. | ||
| I listened to those voices, many of whom I respected a great deal, but I concluded abandoning the course I was on would not have led us to the ceasefire we're seeing today. | ||
| But instead, it would have risked a wider war in the region that so many feared. | ||
| Now the region has been fundamentally transformed. | ||
| Hamas's longtime leader, Sin Mar, is dead. | ||
| Hamas' sponsors in the Middle East have been badly weakened by Israel, backed by the United States. | ||
| Hezbollah, one of Hamas's biggest backers, was significantly weakened on the battlefield and its leadership was destroyed. | ||
| Even as we worked for diplomatic solutions in Lebanon, we provided ongoing assistance and supported Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, including its efforts to take out the terror infrastructure along the border between Israel and Lebanon. | ||
| Israel's campaign was extremely successful, so much so that by the end of November, the United States had brokered a ceasefire in Lebanon. | ||
| Hezbollah did what it said it would never do. | ||
| It cut its deal and abandoned Hamas. | ||
| And today, Lebanon, in Lebanon, there's finally a new president and prime minister, both of whom support a sovereign Lebanon without Hezbollah running the show or playing any part in it. | ||
| The Assad regime next door in Syria is gone, removing Iran's ready access to Lebanon. | ||
| Iran is in the weakest position in decades after the U.S. military helped defend Israel from Iranian missiles and supported Israel's military response inside Iran. | ||
| Just look across the region. | ||
| In Lebanon, there's an opportunity for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah. | ||
| In Syria, a future free from the Assad, the tyranny of Assad. | ||
| For the Palestinian people, a credible path to a state of their own. | ||
| And for the region and the future normalization, an integration of Israel with all its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, who I've spoken with. | ||
| You know, we've had many difficult days since Hamas began this terrible war. | ||
| We've encountered roadblocks and setbacks, but we haven't given up. | ||
| A special thanks to my team, particularly Brett McGurk, who many of you know, who spent weeks and months working non-stop to reach this deal, many of those weeks and months out of the country. | ||
| Today's ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages is a result of a principled and effective policy that we've presided over for months. | ||
| And we got here without a wider war in the Middle East than many predicted. | ||
| And now it falls to the next administration to help implement this deal. | ||
| I was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days. | ||
| It was both necessary and effective and unprecedented. | ||
| But success is going to require persistence and continuing support for our friends in the region and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence. | ||
| So as we reflect on the news from Gaza today, we also remember all the victims of this war. | ||
| They were mindful. | ||
| We're mindful that the pursuit of a lasting peace, while never easy or quick, must always be our calling. | ||
| So thank you all for listening. | ||
| May God bless you all. | ||
| May God protect our troops. | ||
| I'm looking forward to this deal being fully implemented. | ||
| And I'm sorry I'm not going to take any questions now because I'm waiting. | ||
| There's a whole congregation waiting for me. | ||
| And I'm sure the remainder of the day I'll have an opportunity to speak with you. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Anything about the condition of the hostages that were released today and the others? | |
| Yes, I've just got a call saying the three are released into Gaza to the out of the hands of their captors. |