[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2758-S2759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     National Security Supplemental

  Mr. President, now on an entirely different matter, 2 months ago, the 
Senate passed a national security supplemental that reflected the clear 
links between the challenges we face. That was by design. America's 
adversaries, from Beijing to Pyongyang and Moscow to Tehran, are 
actually all working together. They are reinforcing one another's 
efforts to sap our resolve, shatter our influence, and remake the rules 
of the road on their own terms. Anyone pretending that we can address 
these challenges individually, at our

[[Page S2759]]

leisure, is only kidding themselves. As I have said before, this isn't 
a matter of philosophical differences. The truth is plainly evident.
  If you want to see the world the way our adversaries do, trace the 
trade of Chinese cash for sanctioned Iranian energy. Watch the 
trainloads of North Korean artillery arrive at the frontlines of 
Putin's onslaught in Ukraine. Follow the flows of Shahed drones to the 
Russian military. They are the same ones that Iran launched at Israel 
this past weekend. Or pay attention to the words and actions of 
America's friends. Listen to the way our Indo-Pacific allies describe 
the stakes of Ukraine's defense for the prospects of deterrence in 
their own region. Watch the way they invest their resources both in 
modernizing their capabilities and in helping Ukraine beat back 
aggression halfway around the world.
  Now, America can choose, as it has nearly done before over the course 
of our history, to stick our head in the sand, to refuse to invest 
seriously in our own defense and in the alliances and partnerships that 
underpin it, to deny that a century of prosperity was purchased by 
American leadership and vigilance, but to do that now would be to 
ignore the basic fact that expanding America's defense industrial base 
and equipping our friends to resist and deter aggression are not 
competing policies but complementary ones.
  Helping Ukraine has accelerated important programs to arm our allies 
and partners in the Indo-Pacific. It has called the attention of 
Pentagon officials, defense industry leaders, and Members of Congress 
to glaring gaps in our own capability and production capacity.
  The Senate-passed supplemental would further expand the capacity of 
the arsenal of democracy. Of course, this isn't a one-off 
responsibility. The supplemental will not magically fix decades of 
underinvestment, and the administration and Congress will need to 
commit to taking our military requirements for missile defenses, long-
range fires, and other critical military capabilities much more 
seriously.
  But to continue to neglect the task in front of Congress right now 
would only compound the problem. Hesitation and indecision have 
prevented Ukraine from taking the fight aggressively to Putin's 
invaders. And if our friends are digging new defensive fortifications 
today, it is because they are starving--starving--for the munitions 
that would have helped them hold the ones they had already built on 
their frontlines.
  Addressing the linked threats to America's national security 
interests isn't about cooking up ``bogus justifications''; it is about 
dealing with the world as it actually is. Our House colleagues will 
soon record whether they are prepared to do exactly that.