[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 187 (Monday, November 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Defense

  Madam President, now, on a related matter, as I have said for months, 
Congress also has a responsibility to help our Nation meet a growing 
network of serious threats from adversaries like Russia, China, and 
Iran.
  As one recent analysis put it, ``Each of these revisionist states 
aids the others in their goals to . . . subvert or destroy democratic 
nations.''
  Just consider the lengths that authoritarians in Beijing and terror 
sponsors in Tehran are going to prop up Putin's brutal war in Ukraine. 
The PRC has massively ramped up its purchases of Russian energy to help 
Moscow subvert Western sanctions. And Chinese materials are helping 
produce 80 million rounds of ammunition for Russian invaders.
  Meanwhile, Iran is providing maintenance for Russian aircraft that 
are subject to U.S. sanctions. And Iranian personnel are on Russian 
soil training Putin's forces to use their lethal kamikaze drones.
  So, Madam President, our adversaries are showing us by their actions 
that they are heavily invested in Russia's war in Ukraine. They clearly 
understand that their own ability to threaten America and the West is 
tied directly to what is happening in Eastern Europe.
  Our allies understand this reality as well. It is why allies from 
Japan to Poland are making massive new commitments to modernizing their 
own defenses and expanding their defense industrial bases. This is good 
news for burden-sharing and for collective security. In some cases, 
like Germany, our allies' investments into Russia's escalation into 
Ukraine mark a long-overdue departure from years of neglect for hard 
power.
  Today, as Berlin continues to pour new resources into its own 
military strength, our German allies have also announced a plan to 
double--double--their direct military aid to Ukraine in the coming 
year.
  Of course, some of our European allies have never had the luxury of 
taking a holiday from history. For example, since the beginning of 
Russia's escalation, our NATO ally Estonia has allocated a nearly 
unparalleled share of its GDP in direct assistance. Estonians know that 
Vladimir Putin does not intend to stop at Kyiv.
  America's friends understand that failing to check Putin's aggression 
in Europe would have far-reaching consequences. So do our biggest 
adversaries. We cannot afford to neglect this reality ourselves, and we 
cannot deny the clear ways that America's support for Ukraine is 
driving our growing readiness to face other threats.
  The emergency investments we have made in the U.S. defense industrial 
base as a result of Russia's war on Ukraine are doubling production 
capacity of 155-millimeter artillery rounds. They are driving a 40-
percent increase in production of long-range precision fires and nearly 
doubling our capacity for air-to-air missiles.
  Denying the obvious connections between the threats we face can't 
obscure the fact that the benefits of investments in Western strength 
are also connected. Expanding our defense industrial bases means making 
America and our allies stronger--from Europe to the Middle East to the 
Indo-Pacific.
  The most important thing anyone who is truly concerned about growing 
threats from China or Iran can do is support investments in American 
military capabilities and our defense industrial base. That includes 
both supplemental resources and full-year defense appropriations. If we 
fail to take these steps, we won't just be starving our friends and 
allies but our own military.
  The threats we face are not divisible, but neither is the progress we 
are making toward restoring American strength.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The senior Senator from Illinois.