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Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. As both Senators know, I have a deep affinity for the State of Delaware. My mother was born in Wilmington, DE. I have hundreds of cousins in Delaware, who are their constituents.

I would note that the senior Senator from Delaware, Senator Carper, when I was newly elected, proceeded to welcome me into a caucus I didn't know existed, the TC Caucus. Indeed, he and I both reflected upon this recently when we were both in Oklahoma for the funeral of our former colleague, Senator Tom Coburn, another member of the TC Caucus.

I would note as well that Senator Carper went so far as to call my mother on her birthday to wish her happy birthday for having been born in Wilmington, and my mother appreciated that.

The junior Senator from Delaware--we served together on multiple committees. We have worked together. We have sparred together. And we may well be able to work together in finding a resolution to this impasse.

Every Senator here knows why I have holds on these nominees. Right now, as we speak, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are massed on the border of the Ukraine, waiting to invade. The reason for that is because Joe Biden surrendered to Vladimir Putin on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. That is the direct cause for the threat of military invasion Ukraine faces right now.

Putin didn't just wake up one day and decide to invade Ukraine. He has wanted to invade Ukraine for years. In fact, he did so in 2014, but he stopped short of a full invasion because he needed to use the Ukrainian energy infrastructure to get Russian natural gas to the European market. Because of that--that is why Putin launched Nord Stream 2, to have a pipeline directly from Russia to Germany going undersea to cut Ukraine out of the transit loop, so then the Russian tanks could invade Ukraine.

This body right now should be talking about the crisis in Ukraine and about how to counter Putin's aggression and expansionism. The best way to do so would be to immediately put sanctions on Nord Stream 2-- sanctions that we had in place; bipartisan sanctions that I authored, that both of the Senators from Delaware supported, and that, indeed, had overwhelming bipartisan support from both Houses of Congress, passed into law, and worked.

Now, I have sought to ensure that we have the time, space, and resources to address how we stop Putin from invading Ukraine, and, indeed, I have offered a deal to resolve this impasse. It is a deal that I have offered to Senator Schumer that I would lift the hold on a number of nominees in exchange for a vote on sanctions on Nord Stream 2.

I would note that this is a deal Senator Schumer accepted 3 weeks ago. Three weeks ago, when we were debating the National Defense Authorization Act, I likewise sought a vote on sanctions on Nord Stream 2. In exchange for that vote, I offered to lift the hold on seven nominees. Senator Schumer accepted that deal, and the vote was scheduled. Then, unfortunately, the entire package of amendment votes that had been agreed to on Nord Stream 2 fell down in an unrelated dispute over other matters.

This week, I have offered Senator Schumer a similar deal, although a substantially more generous deal. The deal that Senator Schumer had accepted was to lift seven holds in exchange for a vote. He said yes to this.

I have now put on the table a deal to lift 16 holds in exchange for a vote on Nord Stream 2 sanctions--more than twice as many holds. Included among those 16 is Governor Markell from Delaware. He is among the holds I have agreed to lift if Senator Schumer will agree to schedule the vote that 3 weeks ago he agreed to schedule.

At this point, this deal is a better deal on every metric than the deal Schumer already said yes too. Unfortunately, as we stand right now, he has not yet said yes to this better deal.

So at this point, I am going to counter with a request for unanimous consent that we impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2, and I expect my Democratic colleagues will oppose this.

3322 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

You know, the two sides of the aisle often distrust each other. It is the nature of a two-party system. But we have a path forward that can confirm a substantial number of nominees in these final 2 weeks of this year and can also schedule a vote on an issue that previous to this administration commanded virtual unanimous, bipartisan support.

Among those who would be cleared is Governor Markell, and so I would encourage my friends from Delaware, given the eloquence with which you advocated his confirmation, I would suggest you direct that eloquence to your own party's leader, who has the ability to accept this deal and see Governor Markell confirmed to the new position to which he has been nominated this week. But since that deal has not yet been accepted, I object.

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