[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1158-S1159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, American strength is not a provocation. 
American strength secures deterrence and peace. It is American 
hesitancy and weakness which our adversaries see as an invitation. It 
is a simple fact. We relearned it the hard way many times in our 
history. It should form the cornerstone of any administration's foreign 
policy, but every day brings new distressing signs that the Biden 
administration forgets this lesson.
  President Biden hesitated and waited to reinforce our NATO allies 
with more American troops out of fear that it might provoke Putin. 
President Biden hesitated and waited to send Stingers to the Ukrainians 
out of fears that it might provoke Putin. President Biden declined to 
send support and training to Ukraine in December because he feared it 
might provoke Putin.
  Here is a headline from earlier this week:

       Pentagon push to send more trainers to Ukraine was scrapped 
     in December amid White House fears of provoking Russia.

  Last week, President Biden publicly split from our ally Poland and 
scrapped a plan to get airplanes to Ukraine because our administration 
feared it might--you guessed it--provoke Putin. Predictably, Putin has 
not pulled his punches as a thank-you to President Biden for pulling 
his punches.
  American strength is not the provocation; American weakness is. We 
need to help get air defense systems to Ukraine without wasting another 
second.
  But, meanwhile, the Biden administration is already replaying this 
mistaken philosophy with another adversary. Iran watched our 
humiliating, botched retreat in Afghanistan. They have watched the 
Biden administration squabble with our Middle Eastern partners while 
removing sanctions from Iran's own terrorist proxies in Yemen.

  The Iranians have taken the measure of this administration. This 
weekend, even as the Biden administration is reportedly putting the 
finishing touches on an agreement deal that would massively favor Iran 
over America, they unleashed an audacious--audacious--missile strike 
into the Kurdistan region of Iraq that came very close to hitting our 
U.S. consulate.
  How will our Commander in Chief respond? The record is not 
encouraging. Deterrence of Iran has steadily eroded under his tenure. 
The worse the Iranians behave, the more desperate the Biden 
administration seems to be to give them concessions.
  Judging by public reports, the deal that President Biden is preparing 
would impose fewer, weaker, and shorter restrictions on Iran than even 
the deeply flawed 2015 deal, while giving them major and lasting relief 
from sanctions.
  The deal would reportedly not even touch Iran's ballistic missile 
program. So Iran lobs missiles toward our facilities, and we give Iran 
a huge influx of cash and a relaxation of pressure.
  Iran clearly does not fear that they will pay a price for threatening 
American interests. They must be made to think again.
  Yesterday, Senate Republicans sent the administration a letter 
expressing our grave concerns that they are preparing once again to 
give away the store. Republicans stand ready to work together on a 
real, tough agreement that blocks Iran's path to nuclear weapons, 
constrains its missile programs, and confronts its support for 
terrorism. But if the administration

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continues down the path they are on, they will find the stiff 
opposition that that path deserves.