Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, the Republican leader referred to the American Rescue Plan, which did not receive a single Republican vote in support. He referred to it as runaway Federal spending.

What did we buy with the American Rescue Plan?

We bought vaccines, and we bought an administration and management of delivering those vaccines to the American people in the midst of a pandemic that was claiming American lives every day.

Runaway Federal spending--how much stronger would this Nation be if we were still in the depths of this pandemic?

We are emerging from it, thank God. But it wasn't for lack of effort on our part on this side of the aisle.

Yes, we spent the money. We administered the shots, and people across America are now protected from hospitalizations and death because of it. No apologies here to my colleague from Kentucky. It was money well spent, not just for that--and that was the number one public health purpose--but, secondly, to keep businesses afloat so they can reopen their doors as the pandemic ebbed.

That investment in the capital of America, in the businesses of America, paid off for business owners who otherwise would have lost their life savings and family investments and for their workers who finally returned to work.

I think it helped the small businesses, and I think it helped the families. The child tax credit, which cut in half child poverty in America--that child tax credit, according to the Senator from Kentucky, was runaway Federal spending. Tell that to the family who lives paycheck to paycheck and tries to provide the basics in life for their children. No apologies here for the American Rescue Plan.

And when you ask the American people, ``What about this inflation,'' it is a problem. Of course, it is. We see it as they do. And we see it all across the world. Inflation isn't confined to the United States. It is reflected in a world that is emerging from COVID-19, where economies--local economies--were strangled and choked and restricted. Now, they are expanding. People are expanding their needs and spending on that side of it. If the supply doesn't keep up with it, then inflation results. We have a battle ahead of us and many plans here to try to address it with a number of items to reduce the cost of living for families.

Mr. President, the second item I would like to mention refers to a moving, historic presentation this morning by the President of Ukraine to a joint session of Congress.

He did it virtually by remote because he is literally in Kyiv, risking his life every single day for his nation.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have started his life as a standup comedian, but at this moment in life, he is a standup President of Ukraine, who is confronting the monster of Moscow who has unleashed this invasion on his country. He begged us to continue to help, and we will.

Last week, we added almost $14 billion to the effort to support the Ukrainian defense and resistance. We need to do that and more.

Many of the suggestions by the Republican Senator are consistent with that goal, and I would endorse it. But I want to leave it to President Biden to make the critical decisions as our Commander in Chief who is really tasked with America's national security as his highest priority.

I take exception to this notion that Joe Biden didn't understand the timing of this crisis. He understood it better than anyone. He knew that if he pushed too far and too fast, two things might occur: first, that the Russians would move because we had precipitated it with an action we had taken. He was hoping, as we all did, that this could be ended bloodlessly and that an innocent people would be saved from what we see, the devastation that is happening in Ukraine today. So he was careful to make those moves in a way that Putin couldn't use them as an excuse for starting the invasion.

Second, and more important, he needed to move at a pace consistent with building the NATO alliance. President Joe Biden succeeded in that effort. The NATO alliance today is stronger than it has ever been. Don't believe the last President of the United States had anything to do with that, just the opposite was true.

Joe Biden picked up that alliance from the mat and brought them up to fighting trim, to be ready, if needed, to ``defend every square inch,'' as he says, ``of NATO territory.'' That timing was crucial. And decisions which seem so easy and obvious in America were much more complex on the continent of Europe. Joe Biden knew that, and he paced himself accordingly. And because of that today, we have the strongest alliance in the face of Vladimir Putin that he has ever seen and that we have ever seen.

The last point I want to make to this, you could not watch the graphic video presented by President Zelenskyy without breaking your heart. Every parent and grandparent in America watching that video saw a member of his family, a child, a lifeless corpse because of a man named Vladimir Putin and what he is doing to that poor country. Unprovoked, he has invaded them and kills innocent people every single day.

Last night, unanimously, the Senate decided, as they should, that the conduct of Vladimir Putin was nothing short of a war crime. I can't think of any other way to describe it and certainly never excuse it.

Zelenskyy touched our hearts too. His people are fighting a valiant effort, and the United States and allies and countries that share our values stand behind him and will continue to.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) is necessarily absent.