[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 24 (Monday, February 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S531]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  GERMAN CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ VISIT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on another matter, today President 
Biden will welcome Olaf Scholz, the new German Chancellor, to his first 
visit to Washington since taking office.
  Germany is a crucial ally of the United States. Tens of thousands of 
U.S. servicemembers reside in Germany, contributing to the collective 
security of the NATO alliance. According to the State Department, 
bilateral trade between our countries totaled more than $260 billion in 
2019.
  Many in Washington on both sides of the aisle appreciated the 
increasing leadership role that Chancellor Scholz's predecessor, Angela 
Merkel, played in international affairs. Germany's overseas 
contributions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa demonstrated a growing 
willingness to contribute to international missions that advance our 
collective security interests.
  The German people have built the largest economy in Europe and the 
fourth largest in the entire world. They are indeed a major player, but 
there is no question Germany could do more given its influential role, 
including within the EU and NATO, to advance our shared foreign policy 
and security interests.
  Back during the Cold War, the West German military was truly a 
capable fighting force, but Germany's military has been allowed to 
atrophy in the decades since. Today, it lags behind the state of the 
art and suffers from shortfalls in readiness and regular maintenance.
  Germany endorsed the 2014 NATO pledge to commit 2 percent of its GDP 
to defense and 20 percent of that defense spending toward modernization 
by 2024. But it has taken very few credible steps to meet that pledge.
  Meanwhile, threats to the alliance have only grown since 2014. 
Russia's and China's decades-long modernization efforts made it clear 
that 2 percent will not suffice for NATO to meet these growing 
challenges.
  Here in Congress, we have demonstrated our commitment to NATO and to 
Europe's security. We hosted Jens Stoltenberg for a joint address to 
Congress 3 years ago. We have included measures supporting America's 
presence in Europe in our annual Defense bills, including significant 
investments in our European Deterrence Initiative.
  So I hope that Chancellor Scholz will reciprocate and take this 
opportunity to reassure us about Germany's commitment to NATO and our 
collective defense. Our friends are too powerful and too prosperous not 
to contribute more militarily to our alliance.
  Of course, building military capabilities takes time. But the urgent 
issue of Russian aggression in Europe also demands courage and 
firmness, and it demands it right now. We know how such resolve works. 
The United States and our allies displayed such firmness again and 
again in standing up to Soviet pressure, and West Berlin remained a 
free city because of it.
  Chancellor Scholz has plenty of tools at his disposal to join his 
allies in sending a strong signal to Putin that aggression against 
Ukraine would carry a tremendous--tremendous--cost.
  So let's take one example. A bipartisan chorus in Congress has 
opposed the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline for years. We have viewed it as a 
new geopolitical tool for Putin to undermine Ukraine and divide Europe. 
Germany acknowledges the international community's concerns, hence 
German delays in moving the project forward.
  It would be a powerful demonstration of German leadership for 
Chancellor Scholz to declare firmly and simply that Russian escalation 
in Europe will result in the termination--the termination--of Nord 
Stream 2--not another pause, the end of the pipeline, period.
  Likewise, it would send an important message if Chancellor Scholz 
commits, like other NATO allies have done and like his own 
predecessor's national security advisor just recommended, that Germany 
will help Ukraine with legitimate military capabilities so that it can 
better defend itself against aggression.
  So, in conclusion, Germany has been an important pillar in NATO and a 
strong ally of the United States literally for decades. We welcome the 
new Chancellor to American soil. The time is now--now--for Germany to 
stand up and protect the peace and defend the stable Europe that modern 
Germany itself has helped construct and from which it has greatly 
benefited.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.

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