Washington, DC– In Defense of Christians (IDC), the nation’s leading advocacy organization for Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East, commends Senators James Risch (R-ID) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) for leading S.Res.682 – A resolution recognizing the devastating explosion that rocked the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, and expressing solidarity with the Lebanese people.
On Thursday, August 14 Senators Risch and Menendez, the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively, were joined by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Chris Murphy (D-CT.), and Rob Portman (R-OH) in introducing this resolution. S. Res. 682 re-affirms support for U.S. humanitarian assistance, particularly through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to those impacted by the August 4 explosion in Beirut.
In addition to supporting a strong U.S. humanitarian response, the resolution calls for economic and political reform in the Lebanese government. It also calls for an impartial investigation, with international experts, into the incident.
“Lebanon is going through a major crisis. IDC would like to thank Senators Risch and Menendez for recognizing the need to prioritize supporting the Lebanese people,” said IDC President Toufic Baaklini.
“IDC will advocate strongly for this resolution and its calls for humanitarian assistance and political accountability. IDC advocates can visit the Take Action section of IDC’s website to ask their Senators to co-sponsor S. Res.682,” he added.
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