America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Madam President, it is a privilege to be here on the Senate floor speaking to Kansans and to Americans, to Vladimir Putin and to Ukrainians, and to the rest of the world, our allies, our friends, and our adversaries. It is a privilege to be here with the opportunity of speaking with one voice.

As we know, that does not happen frequently enough in the U.S. Senate, but the Presiding Officer was on this trip with us to Eastern Europe and to the Ukrainian border, and my colleagues here on the Senate floor--Republicans, Democrats, and Independents; Members of the U.S. Senate, together--saw what we saw and resolved what we resolved together.

I am so pleased that that is the case. Particularly our adversaries, but clearly our allies, as well, must know that this is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is an American issue. It is a world issue. It is something about freedom that transcends any of the differences that we have here in the United States or in the U.S. Senate.

And every day matters. While it is important for us to bring our report home to our colleagues and to our constituents about what we saw, what we heard, and what, most importantly, we felt, it is important that we act.

Remember the Ukrainian citizens who told us: It is OK to proclamate. It is OK to have a statement. It is OK to pass a resolution. But what we need is action.

Every day matters in the fight against Vladimir Putin's unprovoked, unjust, and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

To any of the people who say Ukraine is at fault here, I cast all doubt about that. That is not the case. What is happening in Ukraine, what is happening in Eastern Europe, and what may happen beyond the borders of Ukraine is the result of an evil man named Vladimir Putin.

The United States--this administration--must stop telling Putin what we won't do. Don't ever tell our adversaries: We are not going to do this.

It makes absolutely no sense.

But we do need to do what we said we will do and even more.

Our slow bureaucratic march to provide aid is not keeping up with the Russian forces. I dread when I get up in the morning, each morning, before, but especially after, I returned from the Ukrainian border. I dread turning on the television to see what the latest news is and what the sights are from Ukraine, only to find more onslaught, more death, more destruction.

Every minute, every day matters. We have delayed ourselves in providing financial sanctions and in imposing financial sanctions. We were slow in energy sanctions, and we were slow in getting a defensive military package in place. But we are moving now.

This Congress has reached its conclusions about the importance of these things. This administration has acted, but the things that we have promised, apparently, still have not in total reached Ukraine.

How difficult it must be to be a Ukrainian, knowing that something is coming from the outside world to help? While I get up and dread the news of the day, every moment in their lives has to be the expectation, the hope that something is going to arrive today to bring this incursion, this massacre, this death and destruction to an end.

If you are a parent in Ukraine, it is not about what you see on the nightly news, on the morning news. It is about how am I going to save my children's lives today? What is going to occur in a few moments? And our answer can't be: It is coming. We will be there later.

It has to be: We are there now.

The defensive military package includes Stinger anti-aircraft systems, Javelin anti-armor weapon systems, tactical unmanned aerial systems, grenade launchers, firearms, ammunition, and body armor and helmets. But they must be delivered. They mean nothing on a list. They mean nothing on a piece of paper that says we are shipping these things, on a bill of lading. They mean nothing en route to Ukraine. They mean something when they are in the hands of the Ukrainians that we know to be committed, brave, persistent, undeterred.

You know in visiting, the Senator spoke about the military men and women we have seen from our own country and what an inspiration they are and how much we appreciate their service and their sacrifice and their families back here in Kansas and across the country.

Our military men and women from Kansas have been training Ukrainians over the last several years, and even they are amazed that, despite their relationships and training with the Ukrainian soldiers, how successful they are. I think, unfortunately, in this country we thought that this invasion would last a few days and that it would be over and the Ukrainian people decimated or surrendered.

And so our expectations, apparently, were that we were not necessary, that we were not a solution to this problem. The course of events is already predetermined, but the human spirit defies all expectations-- the human spirit of the Ukrainian people, the tremendous leadership.

My experience suggests to me the value of a leader. You can have highly trained soldiers, but if you don't have leaders who inspire, their abilities to succeed, their abilities to persevere disappear. And President Zelenskyy has been the role model.

My guess is that citizens around the world look at Zelenskyy and say: Oh, that is the kind of clear leadership, determination that we need-- clear spoken, clear acting, not running, fighting the fight.

We must make certain--this is a moral issue, Americans, the world. If you think that the war was going to be over in a few days, you may have a different attitude. But now that we know that it is not, we have to provide the military equipment, the means for the Ukrainian people, their military, their civilians, not just to survive another day but to win the war. How immoral it is to provide just enough to live but not enough to win.

What we saw on the Polish-Ukrainian border is the impact of Putin's war to these people, to the people of Ukraine, to the people of the neighboring countries--the fear that our NATO allies have that Ukraine may not be next. Not only do we need to provide the equipment and support for Ukrainians to win for purposes of the Ukrainian people, but if Putin doesn't pay the price, if he feels that he is all-empowered after his march through Ukraine, I have no level of comfort that he stops at the Ukrainian border.

I am saddened by what I saw: the human suffering, the tragedies. We all have kids and grandkids. And we saw Ukrainian children; we saw parents who love them but had to give them up for their safety and security. We saw families--wives who love their husbands, spouses who love each other but departing because dad, brother needs to stay behind to fight the fight.

And on the other hand, there was the tremendous relief in seeing the response by others. It happens often in crises around the world, when Americans and others--the whole world--resolve to help people in these circumstances.

But this is not a flood; this is not is tsunami; this is not an earthquake. The sadness of this comes from: This is unnecessary. This is one man's evil actions causing the desperation and death, the tragedy, in Ukraine.

And we should know that it doesn't end at the Ukrainian borders. Even if Putin doesn't cross the border, the hunger, the starvation, the lack of food around the world--Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe, and its ability to feed itself and its ability to feed the rest of the world is disappearing.

We will see the need for assistance and humanitarian aid in countries around the globe only increase at a time in which there is famine in so many places.

It is a circumstance caused by a tyrant, whose actions will not just affect Ukrainian people, but the rest of the world.

We must be unified with our NATO allies. And it was so pleasing to see the NATO countries who now recognize the importance of NATO and are stepping up to fulfill their commitments, in support of the Ukrainians, but in support of this pact that at the end of World War II, across the Atlantic, it was decided that America had a role to play, but we could only play that role with the cooperation of others.

It is still true today. America has a role to play, but we need friends and allies, and we made our commitment to NATO. They, too, need to know that America will be steadfast. We can demonstrate that by being steadfast in Ukraine.

It is immoral, it is death causing, it is damning should the United States of America fail in its obligations.

I will conclude with the story I have told before. It comes from watching the news--something I try to avoid doing--about the reporter who is asking what appears to me to be a 10-, 11-year-old boy in a Ukrainian orphanage that question we often ask young people: What do you want to be when you grow up?

This little boy, through an interpreter, answered that question, What do I want to be when I grow up? His response was: I want to be an American.

What does that tell us about us? Americans? It tells us that we are still something special. We still matter. The rest of the world still pays attention to us, and an 11-year-old boy across the globe knows enough about us to know that is what he wants to be.

That should make us feel proud as Americans, but it also ought to make us accept and fulfill our responsibilities.

No 11-year-old boy in an orphanage in Ukraine ought to be in an orphanage in Ukraine. And we, our allies, must fulfill our responsibilities of what it is to be an American.

Madam President, I offer my willingness to work with you and everyone in this U.S. Senate, the Congress, and the administration to make sure that, knowing that there are people in the world who know what they want when they grow up is to be an American, to do my part to make sure that America is the place and an American is who you would want to be.

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