[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         President Andrzej Duda

  Mr. President, today, Leader McConnell and I will be honored to 
welcome Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, to the Senate. President 
Duda arrives in the United States at a critical moment for American 
leadership and a critical moment for the war in Ukraine.
  It has been nearly a month since the Senate passed a bipartisan 
national security supplemental with 70 votes in support. This 
supplemental package is a lifeline for Ukraine's survival, the only 
package on the table with enough resources to stop Russia's advance and 
help Ukraine reclaim the offensive.
  According to a CNN report yesterday, right now, Russia is producing 
three times--three times--more artillery shells than the United States 
and Europe. In a very real sense, the war will turn on who can produce 
and deliver more munitions. That is what this supplemental will do.
  I thank President Duda for his visit, and I thank him for being a 
staunch defender of the Ukrainian war effort. His support for Ukraine 
shows the war in Russia has stakes that extend far beyond Ukraine's 
borders. It implicates the very survival of Western democracy.
  A little less than a month ago, I joined with Senators Reed, 
Blumenthal, Hassan, and Bennet to travel to Eastern Europe, not just to 
Ukraine but to Poland, where we met with the U.S. Ambassador and U.S. 
military leaders. We met with U.S. military officials just a short 
distance from the Russian border. And the military official told us:

       Senator, without U.S. aid, Russia will control the 
     territory we are standing on now. Period.

  Imagine that. Russia will control that territory without the aid. 
That is what they said.
  The consequences of a victorious Putin are very plain. If he succeeds 
in taking Ukraine, he is not going to stop there. What Putin wants is 
to destabilize the NATO alliance and permanently undo the balance of 
power that has kept the peace since World War II and since the end of 
the Cold War. That is why it is a matter of highest urgency that 
Speaker Johnson and House leadership put the Senate's bipartisan 
supplemental package on the House floor, because, if he does--mark my 
words--it will pass. If he puts it on the floor, it will pass.
  House Republicans need to do the right thing and answer democracy's 
cry for help. House Republicans must show the world with whom it is 
that they cast their lot: those who support freedom and democracy and, 
hopefully, not those who bow down to autocrats.
  Last Friday, former President Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister 
Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago, for what they called a ``friendly'' visit. 
A few days later, Orban said, during a Hungarian interview, that 
Trump's position on the war in Ukraine is ``very clear''; that ``first, 
he will not give a single penny for the Russo-Ukrainian war. That's why 
the war will end, because it's obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its 
own two feet.'' That is Orban saying just what Trump will do.
  I hope our Republican colleagues will hear that and heed the message. 
It is disgusting that Donald Trump fraternizes with thugs like Orban 
who openly cheer for Putin to win. It is even worse that so many 
extreme Republicans in Congress are doing Trump's bidding by stalling 
Ukraine aid here in Congress. That is not a majority of Republicans, 
but too many just go along. That is the shame of it.
  You can be sure that the Chinese Communist Party is taking note of 
House Republicans who are thwarting American support for its friend in 
need and assessing what that means for their own ambitions in the South 
Pacific. I guarantee it.
  History will not be kind to those who turn their backs on American 
values in this pivotal moment. That is why this supplemental must get 
done. The Speaker must do the right thing and put the supplemental on 
the floor of the House because it will pass. The clock is ticking. 
Failure right now only guarantees that America will pay a much higher 
price--a much higher price--down the line.