[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4800-4801]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. CORKER. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the 
pending business before the Senate, which is the aid package and 
sanctions package and the IMF package relative to Ukraine. I wish to 
thank Senator Menendez for the way he conducted our hearings and markup 
relative to this bill.
  I think most people in this body understand this is a bill that came 
out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a 14-3 vote. We had 
one Member who was absent, dealing with some business in Florida. It is 
my understanding had that Member been there, this actually would have 
come out of

[[Page 4801]]

committee on a 15-3 vote. So I emphasize, first of all, this bill has 
been through the committee process. On the other hand, events on the 
ground have changed since the bill came out of committee. Things have 
evolved since it came out of committee. I hope there is an open 
amendment process to make adjustments to the bill to take into account 
some of the things that have occurred on the ground since that time.
  Look, I know all of us want to strongly support Ukraine. I know all 
of us strongly condemn what Russia and Putin have done recently in 
Crimea, and I think all of us understand that what we want to do is to 
stop that aggression from moving on into the southern and eastern 
portions of Ukraine. So we are trying to respond in a way that sends a 
signal to Russia, sends a signal to those who have been involved in 
these illicit activities, that they should at least stop on the Crimean 
border and, hopefully, over time they will recede from Crimea. What we 
are trying to do is prevent further aggression in this area.
  I think everyone understands it has been our policy for 70 years as 
the United States to promote a democratic whole and free Europe. So 
what is happening with Russia and Crimea--and hopefully not in Ukraine, 
although there is no doubt they have fomented many of the problems that 
have occurred there--what we are attempting to do is to ensure that 
Europe remains free, democratic, and whole.
  I know everybody here remembers the fact that Ukraine was a place of 
numbers of nuclear weapons from Russia. When the Soviet Union broke 
apart in 1991, there was a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and warheads 
in Ukraine. We signed an agreement called the Budapest Memorandum with 
the United Kingdom, Russia, and Ukraine relative to Ukraine's 
sovereignty if they were willing to give up these nuclear weapons. So 
it is very much in our national interests that we prevent Russia from 
breaking up and dealing nefariously with the sovereignty of Ukraine.
  We have crafted a bill which does three things. No. 1, it provides 
economic aid. I think everyone in this body understands the tremendous 
economic problems Ukraine is experiencing. I think we all understand 
the first thing that has to happen in Ukraine is it has to be 
stabilized economically. Therefore, the administration has pledged $1 
billion in aid. This bill backs that up in a way that allows that to 
occur. Obviously, Congress has to approve spending, which is associated 
with loan guarantees. These loan guarantees, by the way, would not take 
effect until after Ukraine has signed an IMF agreement that makes sure 
they are going to go through the structural processes necessary to make 
sure they do what actually causes them to be a more successful country.
  The bill also deals with sanctions. I think everyone knows there have 
been numbers of people who have been involved nefariously in dealing 
internally in Ukraine with their sovereignty issues, but there also 
have been numbers of corrupt officials in Russia who have affected what 
is happening in Ukraine, and this bill sanctions both. We are sending a 
very strong message. Economic aid is important, but I also think 
sanctioning the bad behavior and Russia understanding there are going 
to be additional sanctions put in place is important.
  I wish to thank the administration for the sanctions that have been 
put in place. I thought it was a big step to put in place sectoral 
sanctions, or when they said they had the ability through Executive 
order to do that. What I hope will happen, and what we have pressed for 
out of our office, is they will implement some of those sectoral 
sanctions to send a shock wave through the Russian economy that in the 
event they do anything to come into Ukraine while they are amassing 
troops on the border--if they do anything in that regard--this is just 
the beginning.
  I think all of us understand Russia is in a place where their economy 
is weak and we know the ruble has depreciated greatly in value. We 
understand our best asset against them right now is sanctions that 
would hurt them economically and certainly affect those people who sit 
around Putin and affect him in big ways.
  The third piece of this bill is IMF reform. I join a number of people 
who believe the IMF reforms that have been laid out are important. They 
are important to the world. I talk to my friends on this side of the 
aisle who I think may have more of an isolationist bent, and I say that 
one of the things that is most important for us as a nation is to have 
an entity such as the IMF--it is not perfect, it makes mistakes, but it 
is the entity that everything in the world is looking to right now to 
help usher Ukraine from where they are to a place that is prosperous 
and has the ability to improve the standard of living of Ukrainians, 
which is very important from the standpoint of their stability.
  So we are all focused on the IMF. We have people on my side of the 
aisle who again have become more isolationist, less adventurous, if you 
would, relative to--which is where the country is, I understand. But 
what the IMF does is allow us to share the risk of stabilizing 
countries such as Ukraine with other countries around the world. I 
think all of us understand the threats to global stability are greater 
today than they have been in the past. So there was an agreed-to set of 
reforms that took place back in 2010. I strongly support--I strongly 
support--those reforms and, as a matter of fact, would say Ukraine is 
the poster child for why we need to have an IMF that is functioning at 
a much higher level.
  We account for a transfer from something called the NAB, if you 
will--it is a line of credit that we have; it is out there; it is a 
liability our Nation has--and we transfer $63 billion of that $100 
billion over to something that is in a basket of currency. So we are 
not taking on any additional liabilities. Yet there is a pay-for aspect 
of this through the budgeting process that is fully accounted for in 
this bill.
  Again, I join Dr. Henry Kissinger, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, former 
Secretary Jim Baker in saying and knowing we should adopt these IMF 
reforms.
  These are the three big elements of this bill. We have some democracy 
assistance. We have some authorized sums to help us build stronger 
relationships with our allies. But I strongly support this piece of 
legislation. I think this piece of legislation is a full package. It is 
a package that deals with the three aspects that need to be dealt with 
at this time.
  Ukraine is, again, the poster child of why we want to have a fully 
functioning IMF. Look. I know there are going to be amendments offered. 
There actually have been some already. I hope we will have a full and 
open process, with amendments that are relevant to what we are dealing 
with on the floor. I think the bill can be improved.
  It is my hope, as we move through this week, that we will have the 
opportunity for those amendments to be heard and voted on but, at the 
same time, by the time the week ends and we head back to our respective 
States we will have, in a unified way, sent a message to Russia, sent a 
message to the people of Ukraine as to where this body stands relative 
to their support economically, relative to sanctions that we believe 
strongly should be put in place against Russia, and how we believe the 
IMF should be functioning as a stabilizing force in the world.
  With that, I yield the floor.

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