[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 43 (Thursday, March 10, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on one final matter, over the last 
few days, the Biden administration's confusing mismanagement and mixed 
signals surrounding the Ukraine crisis and the West's response have 
again spilled out into open public view.
  Here is the pattern. Time and time again throughout this crisis and 
in the months preceding it, the administration's first instinct has 
been to resist strong and decisive steps. The President and his team 
initially take a pass on strong steps when they could have been put 
into place proactively and had a real deterrent effect, but then, after 
sustained public pressure, they buckle and implement the steps anyway, 
often too late. This ``leading from behind'' leaves us in a lose-lose 
scenario.
  The pattern has played out yet again with this bizarre argument over 
MiG airplanes that President Biden's team has carried out in public 
with our Polish allies.
  The mere fact that Biden administration officials are contradicting 
not only each other but also our NATO allies in public like this 
evidences a severe lack of the coordination and proactive leadership 
that we should be--us, Americans--should be providing. This isn't 
limited to just these Polish planes; there are all manner of different 
systems, tools, and arms that our eastern flank allies and partners 
could be providing more readily to the brave Ukrainians. This would 
take American leadership and coordination and an American commitment 
that we will help them replace their Soviet-era stocks with American 
and Western military technology.
  The loan guarantees we included in the supplemental appropriations 
bill will give the administration a tool to do just this--help eastern 
flank NATO partners use their own money to modernize their defensive 
capabilities. This would be a win for Ukraine, a win for us, and a win 
for NATO.
  These kinds of steps should be no-brainers for a confident, 
assertive, and decisive American administration. Instead, it repeatedly 
seems like the administration's first instinct is to flinch--to 
flinch--wait for international and public pressure to overwhelm them, 
and then take action only after the most opportune moment has nearly 
passed us by.

  Nobody wants an escalation, but if the administration keeps repeating 
this pattern of self-deterrence, of convincing itself that any 
proactive step would be irresponsible, they are just internalizing 
Putin's false premise and amplifying Putin's false equivalence.
  Remember this: Strength is not a provocation. The world needs 
President Biden and his team to be leading, taking the initiative, and 
shaping circumstances calmly, soberly, but with confidence and 
decisiveness. They seem to be trapped in a cycle of passivity, 
indecision, self-deterrence, and then, finally, reaction. The world 
needs the Biden administration to be flying this plane. Too often, it 
feels like the plane is flying them.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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