Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Urgent Need For Congress To Pass President Biden’s Supplemental Request

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on urging Congress to pass the president’s supplemental request to fund Israel, Ukraine, and the South Pacific, and provide humanitarian aid in Gaza. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Tomorrow morning, the Senate Appropriations Committee will hear testimony from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken about why Congress must pass President Biden’s supplemental request, with aid for Israel, Ukraine, the South Pacific, and humanitarian help for Gaza, and to do so quickly.

Right now, America faces an unavoidable moment of truth: democracy and freedom are under attack around the globe in ways we have not seen since the end of the Cold War.

We must pass the President’s supplemental as soon as we can—with bipartisan support—for a simple and important reason: it will make the world safer for the United States, our allies, and our democratic values.

In the Middle East, Hamas and its allies like Iran and Hezbollah seek nothing less than the total annihilation of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and the only Jewish state on Earth.

In Europe, Putin continues his onslaught against the Ukrainian people, with the goal of not just subjugating Ukraine but re-asserting Russia as a world power along the lines of the old Soviet Union.

In the South Pacific, [the Chinese government’s] aggression continues to magnify, increasing military activities off the coast of Taiwan, ramming into Philippine Coast Guard ships, and having near misses with the American B-52 bombers over international airspace. That is what the Chinese government is doing, and all in just the past few weeks.

And in Gaza, we must ensure that humanitarian aid gets to civilians who need it urgently. This was one of the things that I pushed strongly for President Biden to include in his supplemental request.

All of these challenges share one thing in common: they directly impact—directly impact—America’s national security, America’s democratic values, and the international order that has allowed democracy to take root.

The way forward is exceptionally clear: we must pass the President’s supplemental request, which has funding for Israel, Ukraine, the South Pacific, while also providing critical humanitarian aid for Gaza.

America does not have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand or leaving our friends to fend for themselves.

If we want the world to remain a safe place for freedom, for democratic principles, and for America’s prosperity, we must defend against those who are working hard to undermine us.

So we need to pass this supplemental as soon as we can. We need to work with our colleagues in the House to ensure all these forms of aid make it to the President’s desk. We must not succumb to the false allures of isolationism that the hard right now professes, because the only thing that will achieve is to make America less safe.

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