[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 194 (Monday, November 27, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5587-S5588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, let me welcome all my Senate colleagues 
back to Washington for the final work period of the year. I hope 
everyone had a good Thanksgiving surrounded by family and by friends.
  Speaking personally, Thanksgiving is a bittersweet time for my 
family. It is my birthday--it occurs once every 7 years, and it 
occurred on Thanksgiving this year--but it is also 2 years since my dad 
passed away on Thanksgiving eve in 2021.
  It is still hard to fathom that I can no longer hop on the phone with 
him or go over to his house on Sundays for dinner. We miss him dearly. 
But I have learned since his passing that those we love never truly 
leave our side. They endure through the lessons they impart in us in 
life.
  My dad taught me to always fight for what you believe is right, and 
if you persist and persist and persist, God will reward you in the end. 
And there is a lot over which the Senate must persist in the upcoming 
month.
  Almost 2 weeks ago, Congress came together to avoid a painful 
government

[[Page S5588]]

shutdown. The task now is for Democrats and Republicans to reach an 
agreement on yearlong funding legislation, and the only way that will 
happen is with bipartisan cooperation. Both sides are going to have to 
give a little on important issues to them.
  Over the Thanksgiving break, both parties in both Chambers held talks 
about the appropriations process, and we hope to be well positioned to 
pass the first tranche of funding bills before the January 19 deadline.
  But before the year is out, there is a lot of other work we must do 
here in the Senate. Members should be ready to stay here in Washington 
until all our work is completed.
  We must, for one, finish the task of passing an emergency 
supplemental bill with aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel, humanitarian 
assistance to innocent civilians in Gaza, and funding for the Indo-
Pacific. Time is short for us to act, so it is my intention to bring 
the President's national security package to the floor as soon as the 
week of December 4.
  I want to be clear that aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid for 
civilians in Gaza, and the Indo-Pacific are all related and demand 
bipartisan cooperation. We don't have the luxury to pick and choose our 
national security challenges.
  On the other side of the world, Iran has been willing to prop up 
Hamas and is helping Russia's campaign in Ukraine. The Chinese 
Government is closely watching what we do in Europe just as much as 
what we do in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
  Russia, China, and Iran have grown closer over these past few years, 
working together to counter the United States at every turn. They see 
these conflicts as interconnected, so we must too.
  I implore my Republican colleagues to work with us on aid to Ukraine. 
For the most part, Democrats and Republicans largely agree that we must 
help Ukraine, including my friend the Republican leader. So I hope we 
can come to an agreement on an aid package soon. The worst thing we can 
do right now--the worst thing we can do--is to make something as 
bipartisan as Ukraine aid conditional on partisan issues that have 
little chance of becoming law.
  Sadly, that is what may well be happening right now because the 
biggest holdup to the national security supplement is an insistence by 
some Republicans--just some--on partisan border policy as a condition 
for Ukraine aid. This has injected a decades-old, hyperpartisan issue 
into overwhelmingly bipartisan priorities.
  Democrats stand ready to work on commonsense solutions to address 
immigration, but purely partisan, hard-right demands like those in H.R. 
2 jeopardize the entire national security supplemental package.
  I urge my colleagues, as they think about that, to remember what 
President Zelenskyy told us when he spoke in the Old Senate Chamber. He 
said:

       If we don't get the aid, we will lose the war.

  Let me repeat that. Zelenskyy said:

       If we don't get the aid, we will lose the war.

  That is what is at stake with Ukrainian aid: the possibility of 
victory or defeat for the Ukrainian people and ultimately our Western 
way of life. And let's be clear: A victorious Putin would be an 
emboldened Putin. If Ukraine falls, Putin will keep going. Russia's 
authoritarian influence will expand. Other autocracies may feel 
emboldened, and democracy around the world could enter decline.

  History will look harshly upon those who let partisan politics get in 
the way of defending democracy. Nothing would make Putin, Xi, and the 
Iranian regime happier than to see the United States abandon a 
democratic partner in its hour of need. So Democrats and Republicans 
need to stand together and pass Ukrainian aid, along with the rest of 
the supplemental package. If we allow Putin to prevail, it will come 
back to haunt us.
  For the information of Senators, in the coming days, we will hold an 
all-Senators classified briefing on the situation in Ukraine so we can 
get the latest update about the situation on the ground and see the 
immense importance of passing another aid package. I urge everyone to 
attend.

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