[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 25, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S1698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to start with a few words about 
the legislation the Senate is considering this week on Ukraine. It 
touches on the jurisdiction of many committees and is of high interest 
to Senators on both sides of the aisle. How the United States meets the 
Russian invasion of Crimea matters. It is related to the future 
vitality of NATO, the negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, 
and our own energy policy regarding the export of natural gas.
  We have Members on both sides of the aisle working closely, and there 
is a decent amount of common ground here, which is good. Nearly 
everyone agrees the Ukrainian people deserve our support. Most of us 
also agree we should back up that support with meaningful legislation, 
not just to show our support for an independent, democratic, and free 
Ukraine but also to show President Putin there will be costs for his 
actions.
  So one would think it wouldn't be that difficult to get a solution 
here, but roadblocks keep popping up. First, there was a House-passed 
bill prior to the recess that would have provided loan guarantees to 
Ukraine. It was blocked by the majority leader. We should have passed 
that and sent it to the President. Now the majority leader seems 
determined to blow up the process too. Yesterday he actually came to 
the floor to effectively blame the Republicans--believe it or not--for 
the invasion of Crimea. I mean, who writes this stuff? It is not just 
completely unhelpful, it also injects hyperpartisanship into the 
process at a time when we should all actually be working together. At 
this point it is not at all certain the majority leader might not even 
make things worse by shutting down the amendment process. I hope that 
is not where we end up. This issue is way too important for that.
  Look, this bill in the Senate cannot pass the House or become law in 
its current form. It has to be amended. Not only have many Members not 
yet had a chance to offer amendments in committee, but so many 
developments have unfolded in this crisis in the weeks since the bill 
was drafted, the legislation has to be at the least modified to take 
those realities into account. In order for this bill to become law, the 
controversial IMF provision must be removed.
  This simply cannot be a ``take it or leave it'' situation. That is 
just nonsensical. The people who sent us here to represent them deserve 
better. We should give them that. That means allowing a sensible 
amendment process, and it means dropping the kinds of wild partisan 
accusations we have seen--attacks that will only make it that much 
harder to get an effective bipartisan solution.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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