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Floor Speech
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Mr. HAWLEY. Will the Senator yield?
Do you agree with this administration's policy to denying MiGs to the Ukrainians?
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Mr. HAWLEY. Well, the Senator doesn't want to answer any questions. I see. He denied my request to ask a question a moment ago.
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Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, thank you for finally giving me an option to speak. It is interesting, the Senator will come to the floor but doesn't want to engage in a colloquy or answer questions.
Let's talk a little bit about the policy--disastrous policy--that he is supporting. This is the White House's latest talking points that their failure in Ukraine is now due to some logistics problem and the Department of Defense--they, of course, can't be responsible for what they are doing, just like they are not responsible for anything. They are not responsible for what happened in Afghanistan--their policy. They are not responsible for what has happened in Ukraine--their policy.
Let's talk about their policy in Ukraine.
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Mr. HAWLEY. So what has President Zelenskyy been asking for for weeks, indeed, months on end? He said: ``Send us planes.''
What has this administration done? No. Actually, first they said yes, then they said maybe, then they said no.
Today, the Secretary of Defense testified before the Armed Services Committee, under oath, that even though this Congress has appropriated $3 billion in military lethal aid to the people of Ukraine, the Defense Department has so far given them less than one-third of it. Why, because of logistics? No. He was asked that. No, because of policy. His comment was: We are giving them what we think they need.
I would just point out that that is not what the Ukrainians think. If you listen to President Zelenskyy, if you listen to the Ukrainian parliamentarians who have been here, if you talked to them, what they will say is they need more military aid; they need more help.
This administration won't give it to them, not because of logistics but because of policy. We don't have a logistics problem; we have a Joe Biden problem, and we have had that problem in Ukraine from day one.
This administration's policy was to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine. It failed. Why did it fail? It is not hard to see. President Biden came to office, what did he do?
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Mr. HAWLEY. When Ukraine asked for military assistance, he denied it.
Can we have order?
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Mr. HAWLEY. When Joe Biden came to office, the people of Ukraine asked for military assistance a year ago--a year ago. Did he give it to them? No. He denied them military stance. He denied them lethal aid. What did he do, though, for Vladimir Putin? When he came to office, he green-lighted Vladimir Putin's pipeline. He turned their pipelines on. He turned our pipelines off. What did he do with American energy production? He throttled it down. He turned it off.
His first actions in office were to, among other things, cancel the Keystone Pipeline, halt the leasing program in ANWR, issue a halt to new oil and gas leases and drilling permits on Federal lands, impose tougher regulations on oil and gas and methane emissions, and a host of new regulations on other energy production.
And that had the desired effect. Russian energy production--up. Russian revenues--up. What has happened since then, since the invasion of Ukraine? It has been one gaffe after another. He won't send them planes.
Today, the Secretary of Defense also confirmed that this administration has, in fact, not been sharing intelligence with the Ukrainians. In fact, today the Secretary of Defense had to admit that the administration was going to be forced to change policy--his words-- change policy in Ukraine because of the fact we had not been sharing all the intelligence we might have with Ukrainian soldiers and the Ukrainian military despite their request for that. Whose decision was that? Joe Biden's. It is his policy.
The President hasn't been entirely silent. He did have this to say:
For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.
Now Joe Biden doesn't appear to know whether we are fighting or struggling to help the Ukrainians defend themselves or whether we are launching a war of regime change in Russia, itself.
You know, the bottom line is this: On one issue after another, when it comes to Ukraine, this President has been wrong. On every aspect of policy that has mattered, he has been wrong. Is it any wonder the Ukrainians are saying: Change policies, share your intelligence, send us the aid that we have requested.
I say again, we don't have a logistics problem. The White House shouldn't point fingers and shift the blame. We have a Joe Biden problem. That is the nub of the issue here.
There was Joe Biden's comment sounding like we are going to send ground troops:
You're going to see when you go there--
He said to servicemembers.
And you . . . some of you have been there. You're going to see--you're going to see women, young people standing . . . in front of a damn tank, just saying, ``I'm not leaving. I'm holding my ground.''
The President--it is one gaffe after another. It is one switch in policy after another. It is disaster from beginning to end. And let's not forget where these foreign policy disasters really kicked off in a big way. Yeah, I was in Afghanistan. Am I concerned about Afghanistan? You are darn right I am. Thirteen servicemembers were killed at Abbey Gate, including one from my home State. I will never forget talking to his father as soon as we learned of the attack--before, in fact, the official notice of his son's death had been released. His father asked me to do everything in my power to hold this administration accountable, and that is exactly what I am going to do.
Has anyone been held accountable yet for Afghanistan? Has somebody been fired? Has somebody been relieved of command? No. Has somebody been shown the door? No. Has there been a change in policy at the Department of Defense? No.
We just stumble from one crisis to another. Why? Because we have a Joe Biden problem. This administration is doing exactly what their Commander in Chief wants them to do and it is wrong, again and again and again and again.
Until we see some change in policy from this administration, until this Senate gets serious about its oversight responsibilities at the Department of Defense, I am going to ask that for senior defense leaders, we at least observe regular order. I can't block a nomination. I can't halt it, but I can ask that regular order be followed. That is exactly what I am going to ask with regard to this nomination and other senior leaders until there is accountability, until we have a change in policy, and until this administration admits that on issue after issue, in virtually every aspect of its foreign policy, it is just dead wrong.
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