Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Welcoming President Duda Of Poland, And Emphasizing The Need For The House To Pass Bipartisan Aid For Ukraine

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor welcoming President Duda of Poland and highlighted the imminent need to provide aid to Ukraine. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Today, Leader McConnell and I will be honored to welcome Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, to the Senate.

President Duda arrives to the United States at a critical moment for American leadership, and a critical moment for the war in Ukraine. It has been nearly a month since the Senate passed a bipartisan national security supplemental with 70 votes in support. This supplemental package is a lifeline for Ukraine’s survival, the only package on the table with enough resources to stop Russia’s advance and help Ukraine reclaim the offensive.

According to a CNN report yesterday, right now Russia is producing three times – three times – more artillery shells than the U.S. and Europe, and in a very real sense the war will turn on who can produce and deliver more munitions, which is what this supplemental will do.

I thank President Duda for his visit, and I thank him for being a staunch defender of the Ukrainian war effort. His support for Ukraine shows that the war in Russia has stakes that extend far beyond Ukraine’s borders. It implicates the very survival of Western democracy.  

A little less than a month ago, I joined with Senators Reed, Blumenthal, Hassan, and Bennet to travel to Eastern Europe, not just to Ukraine but to Poland, where we met with the U.S. Ambassador and U.S. military leaders.

We met with U.S. military officials just a short distance from the Russian border, and the military official told us: “Senator, without U.S. aid, Russia would control the territory we’re standing on now. Period.” Imagine that – Russia would control that territory without the aid. That's what they said.

The consequences of a victorious Putin are very plain: if he succeeds in taking Ukraine, he’s not going to stop there. What Putin wants is to destabilize the NATO alliance and permanently undo the balance of power that has kept the peace since World War II and since the end of the Cold War.

That’s why it’s a matter of the highest urgency that Speaker Johnson and House Leadership put the Senate’s bipartisan supplemental package on the House floor, because if he does, mark my words: it will pass. If he puts it on the floor, it will pass.

House Republicans need to do the right thing and answer democracy’s cry for help. House Republicans must show the world with whom it is that they cast their lot: those who support freedom and democracy, and hopefully not those who bow down to autocrats.

Last Friday, former President Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at Mar-a-Lago, for what one source called a “friendly” visit. A few days later, Orbán said during a Hungarian interview that Trump’s position on the war in Ukraine is “very clear,” that “first, he will not give a single penny for the Russo-Ukrainian war. That’s why the war will end, because it’s obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own two feet.” That's Orbán, Trump's friend, saying just what Trump will do. I hope our Republican colleagues hear that and heed the message.

It is disgusting that Donald Trump fraternizes with thugs like Orbán who openly cheer for Putin to win. It is even worse that so many extreme Republicans in Congress are doing Trump’s bidding by stalling Ukraine aid here in Congress. That’s not a majority of Republicans, but too many just go along. That is the shame of it.

You can be sure that the Chinese Communist Party is taking note of House Republicans who are thwarting American support for a friend in need, and assessing what that means for their own ambitions in the South Pacific. I guarantee it.

History will not be kind to those who turn their backs on American values in this pivotal moment. That is why the supplemental must get done. The Speaker must do the right thing and put the supplemental on the floor of the House, because it will pass. The clock is ticking, and failure right now only guarantees America will pay a much higher price – a much higher price – down the line.

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