Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Welcoming Ukrainian President Zelenskyy To The Senate This Morning And The Historic Importance Of Passing The National Security Supplemental Including Support For Ukraine

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor, welcoming President Zelenskyy to the Senate this morning and laying out the historic importance of continuing support for the people of Ukraine. Leader Schumer stressed Democrats are continuing to work to pass the national security supplemental package and find a bipartisan compromise on border while Republicans focus on hard-right, partisan policies and are threatening to leave for the remainder of the year without getting anything done. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Earlier this morning, Senator McConnell and I welcomed Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to the U.S. Senate, his third visit to the U.S. Capitol.

It was a very powerful, enlightening, and positive meeting. President Zelenskyy’s message was direct: Ukraine will win the war against Russia if more aid is approved. But, his message to the contrary was also true: if no more aid is approved, Putin will win. It’s that simple. Ukraine, the West, the United States’ strength as a credible ally are all hanging in the balance right now. Also, President Zelenskyy urged that we need to pass this aid quickly because if we don’t pass it quickly, it will send a signal to the whole world that we are abandoning Ukraine and could start a snowball cascading to Ukraine's detriment and to our detriment.

If Ukraine falls, it will be a historic and colossal tragedy. If Russia is victorious, future generations will remember this as a moment of shame for the West, for the United States of America, and for those in the Senate who sought to block it. This is a moment when a friend in need called on our help. We must rise to the occasion. If we abandon Ukraine to the dark forces of autocracy, we will all pay a price. The price won’t be tomorrow – meaning next week – but it will be in the months and years ahead. It will be an awful price, and everyone who voted against aid to Ukraine will have to live with it.

This is a time for Republicans to be serious about reaching an agreement. Serious is the word we are saying to our Republican colleagues. It is not a time for one side to demand maximalist, fringe policies that they know are unrealistic and then say our way or the highway.

If our Republican colleagues want an agreement on the border, they must meet us at the middle. They need to show us they are serious. So far, when they just ask for H.R. 2 – or something like it – they’re not showing seriousness.

There are two words to describe Democrats right now. Just like the Republican word should be they need to be serious, the two words that describe Democrats right now: still trying. We are still trying to find a good faith compromise with Republicans, but they must do the same.

Now, last night, I got on the phone with Speaker Johnson and urged him to keep the House in session to give a supplemental a chance to come together.

I told him that the House should stay in session, because over the past 24 hours, I’ve been alarmed to see some of the same Republicans in the House – and now a good number in the Senate – who have previously demanded action on the border are now suggesting there’s no urgency to act before Christmas. After months of saying the border is a crisis, that we must get something done yesterday, many Republicans now seemingly prefer to go home rather than to pass a bill.

If Republicans are serious about getting something done on the border, then why are so many of them in such a hurry to leave for the winter break?

Has the border been an excuse simply to kill funding for Ukraine? By Republicans being unwilling to budge on H.R. 2, and getting ready to rush out of town, unfortunately, it may seem the case that these are both excuses, and they really want to kill funding for Ukraine and never had any intention of passing it. That’s not true of all Republicans, but too many. Enough, simply, to hold us up right now from getting something.

Do Republicans not realize how thrilled Putin must be right now seeing the gridlock? Russian State TV is even running segments on how great it is for Russia that Congress can’t pass Ukraine funding.

Think about that. Putin’s allies on Russian State TV are running segments right now on how great it is for Russia that aid to Ukraine is stalled.

Democrats remain committed to finding a realistic, bipartisan agreement on securing the southern border.

We will not accept Donald Trump’s cruel border policies as envisioned in H.R. 2 – which even Speaker Johnson has reminded his colleagues didn’t get a single Democratic vote in the Senate. But if Republicans show they’re serious about meeting us in the middle we are willing to meet them in the middle. 

I hope my Republican colleagues take to heart President Zelenskyy’s warnings: the one person happy right now about the gridlock in Congress is Vladimir Putin. He is delighting in the fact that Donald Trump’s border policies are sabotaging military aid to Ukraine.

I urge my Republican colleagues to show they’re serious about getting a supplemental package done. Democrats are still trying, and we will continue to work with Republicans in good faith in the coming days.

###