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Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I first want to say that, as we proceed on the initial vote today--and I support the President's package, including the work on border security--I do appreciate the Senator from Oklahoma's work in trying to reach an agreement. So many of us want to see an agreement on border security.

I rise today to highlight another part of that agreement that is very important, and that is the importance of the critical humanitarian aid in the supplemental funding request, and to urge my colleagues to include it in a final bill.

Throughout history, the United States has been a leader. When Hitler sought to conquer Europe, American's Lend-Lease Program ensured democracy triumphed over fascism, and it was our Marshall Plan that gave our European partners the resources they needed to rebuild after the war. When the Iron Curtain fell, American aid kept communism at bay. And, to this day, Agencies like USAID give nations across the globe the support they need to alleviate poverty, become stronger trading partners with our country, and recover from disasters.

We know that humanitarian aid, yes, saves lives in such a big way, but it is also important for our own country. It is our own security that we make friends. It actually helps us to spend less on military when we spend more on humanitarian aid.

Today, armed conflict is tearing apart families and neighborhoods in the Middle East, and the largest land war in Europe since World War II rages on. Ripples from these conflicts are felt around the world. We are at a pivotal moment in not just American history but the history of humanity.

Israelis, innocent Palestinians, and Ukrainians are looking to us for support, and the whole world is watching. It is during moments like these that leaders are called to step up. So the question before us today that so many of those who came before us in this Chamber-- Democrats and Republicans--have grappled with is, Will we step up? Will America step up? My answer: We must, just as we have time and time again throughout history.

That, of course, includes providing swift humanitarian aid to people across the world, including innocent civilians in Gaza.

Like so many in this Chamber, including the Presiding Officer, I strongly condemned Hamas's terrorist attack immediately, in the strongest terms. It was a massacre of innocent Israelis, and I am heartbroken by the devastation and the loss of life. But we must remember that the violence of this terrorist group Hamas does not represent the will of all of the people of Gaza, not by any means.

That is why I joined my colleagues in calling for a short-term cessation of hostilities in order to allow for the Hamas-held hostages to be released and to ensure that humanitarian assistance could reach innocent civilians in Gaza. I welcomed, as so many did, the announcement almost 2 weeks ago that Israel and Hamas had agreed to release more than 100 hostages during the cessation that would also allow, of course, for increased aid for food and the like into Gaza. Tragically, late last week, a continued agreement could not be reached, and the hostages, including, as we now know, so many young women--with very troubling and concerning reports coming out on their conditions-- are still being held hostage by the terrorists. The fighting has begun again.

The United States has provided significant aid to both Israel and the Palestinian people, now and in years past, but we know we cannot shirk from our duties. We cannot turn our backs on what is happening.

In discussing the need for foreign aid, we must not forget the continued importance, as we will discuss later today, of standing with Ukraine as Ukrainians fight back against Vladimir Putin's inhuman barbarism. For almost 2 years, in bright blue and yellow, the Ukrainians have shown the world what it truly means to fight for freedom, and America has been with them, as have so many of our allies. Beyond critical military aid, the United States has continued to support Ukraine through humanitarian assistance for both internally displaced Ukrainians and those who have been forced to flee their home country.

And we know that while we have taken in some of these refugees, including in my home State of Minnesota, which has a major Ukrainian population, many of whom are now working--I was just with a number of them who work in our Ukrainian restaurant that we are so proud of, Kramarczuk's in Minneapolis. We also have European countries taking in these refugees in unprecedented numbers--millions and millions of people.

When I visited Poland with a group of our colleagues on a bipartisan basis, just weeks after Vladimir Putin launched his brutal invasion, there were more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees. Today, that number is more than 6 million. I will never forget talking to those refugees-- women, children, seniors, kids with nothing but a backpack on their back with a stuffed animal in it. We heard their horror stories about homes lost, families ripped apart, and lives destroyed.

We know that Polish people don't have to imagine what it is like to live through a full-scale invasion. Their history is marked by invasions by Prussia, the Hapsburgs, the Nazi, and, yes, Russia. As our Ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski told us, the Poles are achieving the dreams their grandparents never could realize.

Poland is able to say to their Ukrainian neighbors: We value freedom and respect your democracy. We value you so much that we will take you into our homes and into our hearts. We will open our doors and not shut you out.

Just as our Polish allies and those small countries that I met with yesterday--the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania--they are there for Ukraine on the ground and taking in their people and being on the frontline and putting in an extraordinary percentage of their own resources, of their spending, into defense, into NATO. America must be there for Ukraine by providing, yes, topnotch military assistance, as we have to enable Ukraine to retake half of the territory that Vladimir Putin took in his initial invasion, but we also must be there for them with critical humanitarian aid. Our Ukrainian friends continue to persevere against all odds, against one of the largest armies in the world, and this aid is critical to that effort.

As we all know, the consequences of Putin's unprovoked, unlawful, unjustifiable war extend beyond Ukraine's border. Ukraine is one of the world's top suppliers of grain, and Russia's illegal blockade of Ukrainian ports has put millions of people across the globe, in places like Africa, at risk of starvation. By providing critical support for the State Department's refugee aid program, including food assistance, the administration funding request will support displaced people around the world.

Our Nation has earned its reputation as the leader of the free world due to its unwavering commitment to democracy and helping nations when they need it--knowing they come out of it; knowing they become major trading partners and friends of ours on the security front, on the democracy front, and on the economic front. So now it is on us to decide if we want to keep that reputation, if we want to keep that leadership.

As we negotiate this bill, the supplemental, I am reminded of what President Zelenskyy said just hours after Vladimir Putin launched his barbaric invasion. Everyone counted him out. Everyone thought he was going to run. Instead, he stood on the streets of Kyiv, with just a few people, and looked straight into the camera and delivered a simple message that was, all at once, a rallying cry to his people, but a statement of defiance in the face of evil and a call to action for democracies across the globe. Three words: We are here.

So that is our decision over the next 2 weeks. Are we going to be here for democracy? Are we going to be here for our ally in the Mideast and our allies around the world? Are we going to continue to feed the world? Are we going to continue to stand up against terrorism and barbarism and help innocent people, like those in Gaza, those in Ukraine, and those around the world who depend on us?

Moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, kids, and grandkids are depending on us. We must be there. We must say: We are here.

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