[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 186 (Thursday, November 9, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5438-S5439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Veterans Day

  Mr. McCONNELL. This weekend, with parades and gatherings, solemn 
ceremonies and phone calls to loved ones, America will mark Veterans 
Day by expressing our gratitude to the men and women who have served 
our Nation in the Armed Forces.
  But Veterans Day is much more than a once-a-year observation. It is a 
reminder of our daily obligation to honor their service, uphold our 
promises to care for them when they come home, and do everything we can 
to equip those defending our Nation today and tomorrow for success.
  So, today, I am reminded of some letters I have saved in my archives. 
They are letters my father sent home to my mother from his own service 
in Patton's army in 1945.
  With Nazi Germany on the ropes, with peace within reach, my dad was 
already seeing firsthand the sorts of threats that would define the 
next half century of American history. In the parts of his letters that 
made it past Army censors, he told us how the Russians were going to be 
a big problem.
  Well, today, America faces threats every bit as grave. Like those of 
the 1940s, our adversaries today aren't being shy about their efforts 
to win the next half century of competition with America and the West. 
As one recent analysis summed it up, Russia, China, and Iran are 
``working to end the world order that has prevailed for three 
generations under American leadership''--``under American leadership.''
  This didn't happen by accident. The Western order of peace and 
freedom was delivered by the sacrifices of American servicemembers like 
my father and preserved by generations of brave men and women in 
uniform ever since.
  Right now, we have an obligation to those servicemembers, to our 
allies, and to the American people to behave like the world-leading 
power we actually are. We have a duty to invest seriously in American 
strength. It is time to offer a clear strategy for victory against 
Russia and then deliver the resources Ukraine needs to achieve it right 
now.

[[Page S5439]]

  Putin is not deterred and his imperial ambitions do not end at 
Ukraine's border with the NATO alliance. If the United States abandons 
our support for Ukraine's resistance, we risk yet another generation of 
American forces being veterans of war in Europe.
  It is time to get serious about deterring Iran, the world's leading 
sponsor of terrorism and the leading sponsor of violence against 
American servicemembers in Iraq and Syria.
  I welcomed yesterday's strike on an Iranian facility in Syria, but it 
will probably take more than striking ammunition warehouses to restore 
the deterrence the Biden administration's policies have actually 
squandered.
  It is time to redouble our efforts to equip allies and partners in 
the Indo-Pacific to raise the cost of further aggression from communist 
China.
  And, as I have said repeatedly, it is long past time to make 
commonsense policy changes to address our southern border crisis that 
has required U.S. servicemembers to help Border Patrol maintain order.
  These are the tasks before us, and they will not get any easier to 
address the longer we wait.