Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Calling On Speaker Johnson And House Republicans To Provide Vital And Urgent Support For Ukraine
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the urgent need for the House to take action and provide critically needed support for Ukraine. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Seven hundred seventy-five days since Vladimir Putin began his illegal invasion, the war in Ukraine now stands at a bitter and decisive stalemate.
Russian forces today control about 20% of Ukrainian territory. As one recent headline from the Washington Post put it, “With no way out of a worsening war, Zelenskyy’s options look bad or worse.”
Now, let’s be very clear about one thing: the tide of the war is shifting against Ukrainians not because they are giving up, not because they’re not brave enough, or because they are somehow inferior to Russian soldiers. They’re not – they’re superior.
No: Ukraine is losing ground in the war because it is running out of the tools it needs to wage war to begin with: Ukrainians are low on ammo, on soldiers, on weapons, anti-aircraft defenses.
And let’s be blunt: the biggest reason Ukraine is losing the war is because here in the United States Congress, the hard-right has paralyzed the United States House of Representatives from taking necessary action. That’s it. Plain and simple. No ands, ifs, or buts.
It has now been fifty-six days since the Senate passed a national security supplemental package with robust military aid to help Ukraine. It passed with just about every Democrat and close to a majority of Republicans voting for it.
This package could mean the difference between victory and defeat for Ukrainian fighters – in fact, President Zelenskyy himself said as much when he spoke to the Senate in December.
But sadly, alarmingly, tragically, Speaker Johnson has sat on his hands for nearly two months now as the supplemental package collects dust in the House.
House Republicans have refused to move because an increasingly vocal pro-Russian minority seems to be running the show within their ranks, a contingent that takes its marching orders directly from Donald Trump. As one former House GOP member called them, they are like the “Putin Wing” of the Republican Party.
The Republican Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee recently said in an interview that Russian propaganda has now “infected a good chunk of my party’s base.” That's a Republican talking about what's happened to the base – the hard-right base – of his party.
Even the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee admits some within his own party are becoming evangelists of Russian propaganda. As he said just a few days ago: “We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.”
That’s what the Republican Chair of the House Intelligence Committee said: we are hearing pro-Russian messages “being uttered on the House Floor.” Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave.
Speaker Johnson has to decide for himself whether or not he will do the right thing for Ukraine and for America or if he’ll allow MAGA Republicans and the Putin Wing of the Republican Party to hand Vladimir Putin the victory he seeks. History is watching. History, Speaker Johnson, is watching. History is looking right over your shoulder. Do the right thing.
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