Floor Statements

Madam President, I have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the senior Senator from Hawaii be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions from February 29, 2024, through March 5, 2024.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3859, introduced earlier today by Senators Grassley and Ossoff.

I further ask that the bill be considered read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3706 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 570, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Madam President, I now ask for its second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned to convene for pro forma session only, with no business conducted, at 12 noon on Friday, March 1; and that when the Senate adjourns on Friday, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Keohane nomination; further, that the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, negotiators in both Chambers continue working to ensure the government will not shut down at the end of the week. We continue to make very good progress on an agreement, and we are very close to getting it done.

I met yesterday with President Biden, with Speaker Johnson, with Leader McConnell, and Leader Jeffries; and we all agree a shutdown is a loser for the American people. In a shutdown, costs would go up, safety would go down, and the American people would pay the price.

I am hopeful that the four leaders can reach this agreement very soon so we can not only avoid a shutdown on Friday but get closer to finishing the appropriations process altogether.

If our House Republican colleagues of good will want to avert a shutdown--if they want to govern responsibly, as they say they do--they must resist the centrifugal pull of the extreme hard right who want to burn everything down, who openly use the threat of a shutdown to push their extreme agenda. They are brazen about it. They are brazen.

We know what the hard right has been pushing. They want to restrict women's reproductive freedoms--we saw the case in Alabama. They want to rip apart gun safety laws and reward corporate polluters. Or else, they say, they want a shutdown. This is no way to govern.

If our House Republican colleagues of good will want to do the right thing, they must accept a fundamental truth about divided government: Republicans cannot pass a bill without Democratic support; it takes both sides working together--and ignoring the extremes of the hard right--to get anything done.

I have said this over and over again directly to the Speaker, even in my first conversation with him: The only way we will get things done is by bipartisanship. And I am proud in our Chamber, not just on the supplemental but in bill after bill after bill, we are working in a bipartisan way. I am proud of that record. The Speaker should understand that.

So I am hopeful that soon we will have an agreement for keeping the government open beyond Friday's deadline. We will keep working very diligently today. And I ask my colleagues to stay flexible and be ready to act quickly when the time comes.

Mr. President, on Ukraine, the meeting I had yesterday with President Biden and congressional leaders over Ukraine was one of the most intense discussions I have ever had--or witnessed--in the Oval Office.

Every single one of us yesterday understood the basic facts: The situation in Ukraine is getting increasingly dire. Russia has made a major advance by taking the city of Avdiivka, which they did simply because Ukraine was running short of ammo and long-range artillery basic equipment. It wasn't the lack of the will of the fighters. It wasn't the lack of plan. It was, simply, that they ran out of ammunition. Imagine being a brave soldier fighting for freedom, fighting for your country, and you no longer have the ammo.

Without more aid from the United States, Ukraine will lose. In fact, one American leader over there told me that he wouldn't be surprised if Russian tanks were on the Polish border if we didn't give any aid. What kind of legacy would that leave for the House Republicans who seem to want to stall that aid? It is not all of them, of course, but too many.

Everyone in the room, with the exception of the Speaker, agreed that Congress must finish the work on the supplemental ASAP because the future of Ukraine and the West is at stake. Speaker Johnson said he wants to continue to think it over.

I was candid with the Speaker that I hope he gives it careful thought because the eyes of history are upon him.

I said to the Speaker: If you are the one stopping Ukraine aid, then no matter what the consequences may be in the short term, you will regret your decision 2 years from now and could potentially regret it for the rest of your life, because this will be remembered as a turning point in America for our strength, our credibility on the world stage, for our national security.

If we don't provide this aid, every year the United States could lose out to its enemies: the autocrats of the world, the Putins, the Xis, the heads of North Korea, and Iran. We could lose out economically, militarily, diplomatically, politically because of a shortsighted decision not to provide the much needed aid.

The Speaker has a legacy-defining decision to make on Ukraine. If he lets this bill move forward, he can go down as a fierce defender of America's core values. But if he shrinks from the importance of the moment, it will be the greatest gift Putin, other autocrats, and enemies of our country could possibly ask from the American Congress.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 516, Aprille Joy Ericsson, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, with the exception of Col. Ralph J. Rizzo, Jr., and all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I have 12 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: