WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) slammed Vice President Harris and members of Senate Democrat leadership for their decision to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress this afternoon. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.  

“I am absolutely stunned and profoundly disappointed that the Vice President of the United States has decided to boycott participating in this particular speech.”

“She’s blaming her decision on a scheduling conflict, even though the date of this speech was announced in early June.”

“The Vice President can’t be bothered to show up at the nation’s capital and the House chamber and to demonstrate the respect and courtesy that we thought was a given, but apparently not.”

“Not only has the Vice President chosen to skip this address, so has the Senate’s President pro tem, Senator Murray, as well as, we learned this morning, the Majority Whip, Senator Durbin, is boycotting this address.” 

“I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that the most senior members of the Democratic Party have chosen to give the Heisman to one of our closest allies in the Middle East.”

“It’s pandering to the most radical elements of the Democratic base.”

“Eight of the current hostages are American citizens, and the Vice President can’t be bothered to show up? It’s disgraceful.”