[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 200 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5720-S5721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           National Security

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate has spent months considering

[[Page S5721]]

supplemental action to meet serious, connected threats to America's 
national security.
  As I have said from the outset, our work needs to address four urgent 
challenges: Putin's war on a sovereign democracy in Europe; the terror 
campaign against Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East; China's 
aggressive escalation against Taiwan and peaceful nations in the Indo-
Pacific; and the Biden administration's continuing failure to contend 
with the crisis at our southern border.
  Senate Republicans' focus on securing the border didn't just begin 
this fall. We have watched for 3 years as the border descended into 
chaos on President Biden's watch. And for 3 years, we have urged his 
administration to fulfill even its most basic responsibility to enforce 
our immigration laws.
  Anyone who suggests that Senate Republicans are injecting the issue 
of border security into this discussion at the last minute either isn't 
serious or hasn't been paying attention.
  Continuing to pretend that upholding American sovereignty is any less 
urgent than helping our allies and partners defend theirs is reckless. 
Borders in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are every bit as inviolable 
as those in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. And the sooner our 
Democratic colleagues realize it, the sooner we can deliver on urgent 
national security priorities.
  Now, needless to say, America's adversaries aren't waiting for us to 
get serious about our own security. In the South China Sea, for 
example, the PRC is increasingly using aggressive posturing and 
outright force to disrupt peace, stability, and lawful maritime 
commerce.
  Beijing now greets lawful passage in international waters with 
threatening, unsafe conduct and hyperventilating bluster and continues 
to undermine the long-established territorial claims of sovereign 
nations throughout Southeast Asia.
  Unfortunately, China is not the only adversary stepping up its 
aggression in the maritime domain. Iran and its network of terrorists 
continue to illustrate the failures of the Biden administration's 
deterrence in dangerous detail. On Sunday, a U.S. Navy destroyer and 
Israeli-flagged commercial vessels came under fire from the same Houthi 
rebels this administration had inexplicably taken off--off--its list of 
terror organizations when it took office. This was, of course, a 
concession to Iran.

  Of course, terrorist violence at sea is only the latest in a laundry 
list of Iran-backed attempts to kill Americans in the region since 
October 7. At least 77 times, Tehran's proxies have used lethal force 
against U.S. personnel in Iraq and in Syria, just since October 7.
  By any objective standard, the Biden administration's response has 
been woefully inadequate. Tehran remains demonstrably undeterred. As 
President Obama's former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta put it last 
week: ``I would be much more aggressive.''
  So effective deterrence requires both capabilities and credibility. 
And America can't hope to deter our adversaries if we signal hesitation 
and fear of escalation.
  Consider the enemy we are up against. One of Hamas's top terrorists 
in Gaza told the media recently that the slaughter of Israelis on 
October 7 was ``just a rehearsal''--a bloody rehearsal that left 1,200 
innocent people dead and hundreds more in terrorist captivity.
  These savages--savages--mean what they say about erasing Israel from 
the map. But this is not just Israel's fight. Today, at least eight 
Americans are still being held hostage in Gaza. And if Iran and its 
proxies get their way, there will be more Americans killed and 
captured.
  This is not--not--a time to go soft on terror. This is not a time to 
put constraints on Israel. This is a time to support your friends and 
stand up to your adversaries.
  As the Senate considers urgent national security for priorities, our 
adversaries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are watching closely 
what we do.