Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging The Senate To Come Together To Pass The National Security Supplemental

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on passing the national security supplemental. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Over the weekend, the Senate took the next significant step towards passing the national security supplemental, by voting last night on cloture on the substitute, 67-27.

By now, we have taken numerous procedural votes that prove beyond doubt that there’s strong support behind this bill. It’s time to finish the job and get this critical bill passed.

If we want the world to remain a safe place for freedom, for democratic principles, for America’s prosperity, then elected leaders need to put in the work to make that happen. We need to approve the investments that ensure our people’s security, ensure the security of our partners, and prevent our adversaries from gaining an edge over us.

These are the enormously high stakes of the supplemental package: our security, our values, our democracy. It is a down payment for the survival of Western democracy and the survival of American values.

The entire world is going to remember what the Senate does in the next few days. Nothing—nothing—would make Putin happier right now than to see Congress waver in its support for Ukraine. Nothing would help him more on the battlefield.

And if some people think Putin is just going to stop at Ukraine, if they think its somehow better to reason with him, to appease him, to hear him out, then these modern-day Neville Chamberlains ignore the warnings of history: the appetites of autocrats are never-ending.

And make no mistake, the war in Ukraine is not some regional struggle. Its effects will reverberate around the world. The Chinese Communist Party, the Iranian Regime, and all of our adversaries are going to take note if America fails to defend a democracy and ally in need. They will conclude that if America fails one of our friends, then we will fail others too. And they will act accordingly.

Imagine what kind of message failure by Congress would send to NATO.

Imagine what message it sends to our partners whose troops fought with us and bled with us and died with us after 9/11, even though it wasn’t them who were under attack?

Imagine what message inaction would send to Taiwan, or the Philippines, or other places around the world?

The message – if we fail – would be that America cannot be trusted. We as a body, as a Congress, as a country cannot afford to send that message.

Protecting democracy is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes it requires us to make difficult choices in this chamber. But that is precisely what the American people sent us here to do.

In generations past, Democrats and Republicans would have bent heaven and Earth to stand up to Russian autocrats. We would have balked at the mere thought of showing weakness to thugs who attack our friends and villains who seek America’s demise.

We find ourselves yet again in a moment of history when democracy is under siege. We heard directly from President Zelenskyy what’s at stake if we fail. So fail we must not.

It has been long enough – long enough. I urge all of colleagues to come together and finish working on the supplemental. We will not rest until the job is done.

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