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Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, shortly, we will vote on the Russia sanctions bill as we have come to call it. I want to begin by thanking my colleagues for their overwhelming support for this measure, and in particular to thank Senators Shaheen, Britt, Wicker, Risch, Coons, Whitehouse, Durbin, and, of course, Senators Schumer and Thune. Their help has been invaluable as we reach this important moment.

Last week, with President Zelenskyy watching from the Gallery, this body sent a powerful message to Vladimir Putin and all who are supporting him with funding for his vicious, bloodthirsty, illegal war against the brave, free people of Ukraine.

Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine, and Putin is watching from Moscow. I would like to think that Lindsey Graham is watching too. And I know how proud he would be of his sister today who has taken his place on the floor and has been such a profoundly strong and effective advocate for this bill.

Today, we say to the people of Ukraine: You are not alone. And we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine. You will not defeat these free, brave people who are turning tides against your bloodthirsty aggression.

Nearly 2 years ago, Lindsey Graham and I began working on this bill, but really the journey began with our first trip to Ukraine together some 4 years ago.

Robert Frost once said when he was asked how he began his poems, he said:

A poem begins with a lump in the throat . . .

Our journey toward this bill began with a lump in our throats and tears in our eyes when we visited Bucha, not long after the Russians were pushed out of that small town just kilometers away from President Zelenskyy's bunker, which we also visited on that trip just weeks after Ukraine succeeded in pushing them out.

We saw the mass grave where Putin's military shot innocent women and children in the back of their heads. We talked to Ukrainian troops who lost limbs, loved ones who lost sons and daughters, fathers and mothers. We talked to children who were kidnapped by Putin, literally abducted and placed in education camps.

And on one of those long train rides--we took six or seven trips into Ukraine together--we began thinking about this bill to impose scorching, sledgehammer sanctions and tariffs on Russia to stop the flow of money fueling Putin's war machine, money that was essential to his slaughterous aggression against Ukraine.

And like one of those trains, the journey to this bill was filled with a lot of bumps, a lot of stops and starts, and through it all what sustained us, as much as anything, was Senator Graham's overwhelming sense of optimism, his sense of humor, his belief in freedom and democracy, his belief in America.

And so this bill is a tribute to him. We disagreed about many issues, he and I, and I could be on the receiving end of his anger, as well as his praise. But the partnership that we forged, I think is a lesson without exaggerating it to perhaps the people of America that, yes, we can work together and accomplish good things for the world.

One of Senator Graham's final acts as a Member of this body was to reach an accord with the White House on our behalf and secure the President's support. He died literally the next day.

I spoke to him shortly before his death, and I know as well as anyone that this Chamber--this body--will not be the same without him. We miss him, and this bill named in his honor carries on the work that he believed was so important.

It will impose scorching sanctions on the Russia war machine and the shadow fleet that sustains it. It will prevent critical resources from flowing to the Kremlin's coffers.

It will authorize the President to impose duties and penalties on the largest purchases of Russian crude oil and natural gas--punishing the profiteers for buying discounted energy products and pushing them to decrease purchases. It is a powerful deterrent against complicity in Putin's illegal war.

And it provides a powerful pressure point in stopping buyers of Russian oil and gas from continuing to provide the essential fuel for that war machine.

It will give the administration the tools it needs to punish anyone who aids Russia as they continue to evade United States sanctions and promote stronger, stricter enforcement of those sanctions.

For years, countries have been allowed to permit bad actors to broker deals and support the shadow fleet's movement all around the world. They have become fabulously rich, while preaching the need for peace. These countries will be exposed as facilitating evasion of sanctions, and it will help us end the war.

The goal is peace. We have the power to help end this war, and we cannot stand idly as a young, democratic nation desperately fights for its survival against a murderous dictator.

We know from history, appeasement is a failed hope, and hope is not a strategy. We cannot appease Putin in the hope that he will abandon his imperialist ambitions because history shows that he will not.

And his ambition doesn't end in Donbas or Luhansk. It reaches deep into Europe, and it threatens our national security and our allies' security. Yes, we need our allies, and they have stepped up to aid Ukraine in this war.

Appeasing Putin is a disservice to the brave men and women of our military who are defending our freedom all around the globe because it puts them in greater risk if Putin thinks he can move against our NATO allies, and then we will be required to put our sons and daughters in harm's way.

For 4 years, Ukraine has refused to bow to Putin's will. They have beaten back wave after wave after wave of Russian attacks. Our military gave them maybe a few weeks, in 2022, to survive Putin's onslaught.

They pushed the Russians back in those weeks after the first wave of assault, and they have continued a brilliant campaign of using new technology that has amazed and awed the world, including our own military, which is learning from Ukraine about the use of drones and other unmanned weapons platforms.

Their ingenuity and determination are awe inspiring, even as their stockpiles of interceptors and other air defense run dry. And we must provide the kind of military defense aid--the interceptors, the PAC- 3s--or the Patriot system--or the THAAD platforms that are essential to defend the Ukrainian people who are enduring--night after night after night--missiles and drones killing civilians, aimed at schools, hospitals, malls, civilian targets.

Putin not only abducts children, he kills them in their beds as they sleep with missiles and drones that are aimed purposely at civilian targets to terrorize and intimidate the people of Ukraine, but they will not yield.

And today, they continue to stand as a beacon of hope and liberty, shining against the darkness. Today, we cannot provide all that military aid that they need, but we can take this step--a step to stand with the people of Ukraine and show that their fight is our fight.

I would like to close with some brilliant, rhetorical flourish, but I would rather just recall some of Senator Graham's last words to me.

He said: This is a big effing deal. We all did good.

Decorum prevents me on the Senate floor from saying what he actually said, but I would like to say--looking across the Chamber where he sat--that he is with us today and that he will be proud of what we are doing.

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