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Floor Speech

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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President and fellow Senators, I come to the floor here to support the bill we are going to vote on here pretty quickly, and that is on a Russia and Iran sanctions bill. It is no secret that this thing has been worked on for a long, long time. It is also no secret that this is a bipartisan effort--I think you heard both sides speaking about this--and there is good reason for that.

At nearly 4\1/2\ years, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has dragged on far too long. We all want to see this war end.

Now, with Russia's forces taking heavy losses on the battlefield and its economy showing signs of strain, Putin's war machine is in crisis. It is time to ramp up the pressure on Russia and finally bring this conflict to an end. To help accomplish this, this bill would impose sanctions against two of our foremost adversaries at the current time-- Russia and Iran--as they deepen cooperation and coordination against U.S. interests.

Along with many provisions in this final bill, I have worked to secure language that will target Russia's illicit shadow fleet ships that are used to prop up its energy sector and fund its war against Ukraine. This has been a very, very significant, ongoing problem. If you can stop them from shipping the oil, you can stop the money flow.

This bill gives the President the tools and the leverage he needs to finally bring a lasting peace to Ukraine and work toward ending the fight in the Middle East.

For many reasons, peace and stability in Europe are in America's interests. Russian aggression threatens this stability, and it can't be tolerated.

I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation and send it to the President's desk as soon as possible.

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