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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today, negotiators from the White House, Senate Democrats, and Senate Republicans will continue negotiations on a national security supplemental package. Yesterday, we had another round of productive conversations, and there was more progress. But of course, there is more work to do, and we are going to keep at it and keep at it.
Last night, I filed cloture on a couple of nominations to the Federal bench and the Department of Justice, with possible votes on these nominees as soon as tomorrow.
To my Republican colleagues who have said action on the border is urgent: Let's keep working to find a solution instead of rushing for the exits. If Republicans are serious about getting something done, they should not be so eager to go home. This may be our last best chance to get this legislation done.
After weeks of deadlock, we have seen significant progress over the past few days, and we should take advantage of the opportunity because we may not get one for quite a while. It is not easy to reach an agreement on something this complicated. But so much hangs on our success, so we need to try with everything we have.
The world is watching what Congress does right now. Our friends are watching. Our adversaries are watching even more closely. And most of all, Vladimir Putin is watching closely. He is eager to see us abandon Ukraine and thinks he is getting that done, working, in part, through Donald Trump.
Here is what Putin said a few hours ago about American aid to the Ukraine:
[T]he free stuff is going to run out someday, and it seems it already is.
That, Mr. President, is Vladimir Putin taunting the Senate, taunting America. While Congress is mired in gridlock, Putin is on the other side of the world mocking our resolve.
In generations past, this would have been a no-brainer. Democrats and Republicans would have bent Heaven and Earth to stand up to Russian dictators. We spent half a century, spent billions and billions and billions of dollars, lost lives to safeguard the free world against the malicious spread of communism, against tyranny, and against those who undermine our values. Now we find ourselves at another moment in history when democracy is under siege.
We heard directly from President Zelenskyy 2 days ago about what is at stake if we fail. So fail we must not. There is too much on the line for Ukraine, for America, for Western democracy to throw in the towel right now. We must keep talking. We must keep working.
Our Republican friends must be reasonable. They must show they are serious about getting something done, and we have had serious discussions in the last few days. Democrats are willing to keep trying. I urge my Republican colleagues to do just the same.
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