{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=704A5087-C3A3-4CF4-BBAF-8A5F3B8BE2F5", "President Biden Must Get Tough in Tuesday Call with Putin", "2021-12-06", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding foreign policy:\n\n\u201cLast week brought new information about Russia\u2019s military activities along its border with Ukraine. Heavily armed ground forces are mobilizing by the tens of thousands. It\u2019s looking more and more like Vladimir Putin intends to redraw another border by force.\n\n\u201cThe escalation of Putin\u2019s ongoing war against Ukraine is an immediate threat to Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and to the security of its people. But as always with Putin, it\u2019s also a test with much broader consequences. Can aggressive powers violate sovereign countries without facing serious consequence?\n\n\u201cFellow authoritarians in Beijing and Tehran will be watching how the free world responds. And President Biden has an opportunity to set the tone when he speaks with Putin tomorrow.\n\n\u201cThe stakes for the President\u2019s call with Putin couldn\u2019t be clearer. We know what happens when the United States fails to engage with Russia from a position of strength. We know what weakness and capitulation get us.\n\n\u201cRemember how President Obama treated arms controls and Europe-based missile defense as negotiable items that could be traded away in exchange for Moscow\u2019s goodwill.\n\n\u201cRemember how he mocked Republicans \u2013 perhaps most notably our colleague, Senator Romney \u2013 who dared to suggest that we ought to take the threat of a revanchist Russia seriously.\n\n\u201cRemember the cuts to defense spending.\n\n\u201cRemember the dithering over whether to provide meaningful capabilities to Ukraine when Putin first invaded\u2026 And how useless our blankets and MREs were against Russian armor and Moscow-trained little green men.\n\n\u201cThis weakness didn\u2019t purchase a \u2018Reset\u2019. It produced a more emboldened Russia, willing to engage in more repression at home and more aggression abroad.\n\n\u201cAnd here we are today.\n\n\u201cVladimir Putin is gearing up to escalate his violation of Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty. And if the free world doesn\u2019t object, there\u2019s no reason to assume he\u2019ll stop there.\n\n\u201cSo tomorrow, President Biden has both the opportunity and responsibility to tell Russia, and Ukraine, and our allies in Europe that the United States cares about sovereign borders and will help its friends protect them.\n\n\u201cIf the free world is serious, its leaders \u2013 first and foremost, the President of the United States \u2013 will leave Putin no room to doubt that Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty is inviolable. And by extension, they will signal to Chairman Xi that similar prospecting in the Pacific will come with prohibitive costs.\n\n\u201cIf our leaders do not defend a fundamental tenet of the international order, we cannot be surprised by the chaos that will follow.\n\n\u201cSo if President Biden is serious, he will convince Germany\u2019s new government to abandon the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and instead try to reduce its dependence on the resources that enrich Putin and his cronies and give Moscow leverage over Europe.\n\n\u201cIf the President intends to learn from the past and actually help Ukraine defend itself, he should expeditiously provide weapon systems that will materially help Ukraine defend itself, including against air threats.\n\n\u201cFinally, for the United States to lead the world\u2019s response to authoritarian aggression, I hope President Biden will call on our allies to do more to contribute to our collective security.\n\n\u201cIn Europe, NATO member states must treat their own military modernization as a top priority. And in the Indo-Pacific, our friends in Taiwan and elsewhere must commit the resources, training, and reforms needed to help them face down their own looming threats.\n\n\u201cTomorrow\u2019s call must mark a turning point for the Biden Administration\u2019s approach to major power competition \u2014 from one where its words are pinned on hopes to one where its words and backed by strength.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=704A5087-C3A3-4CF4-BBAF-8A5F3B8BE2F5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7866891101002693, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}