{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=ACB7226B-B758-473A-94AE-4DB655512F6C", "McConnell on Zelenskyy Visit: Helping Ukraine Directly Serves Core American Interests", "2022-12-21", "2022", "2022-12", "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 Ukraine:\n\n\u201cLater today, members of Congress will have the opportunity to assemble in a Joint Meeting and hear from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.\n\n\u201cI look forward to welcoming President Zelenskyy to the Capitol, and to hearing from the Ukrainian people\u2019s elected leader at a critical moment in their struggle for their safety and sovereignty against Russia\u2019s unhinged aggression. The people of Ukraine have reminded the entire free world about the meaning of sovereignty and the price of freedom. They\u2019ve fought back against the invaders with inspiring bravery.\n\n\u201cAnd let\u2019s be clear. The reason that a big bipartisan majority of the American people and big bipartisan majorities in Congress support continuing to assist Ukraine is not primarily about inspiring speeches or a desire to engage in philanthropy.\n\n\u201cThe Ukrainian people are courageous and innocent and they deserve our help. President Zelenskyy is an inspiring leader. But the most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests.\n\n\u201cHelping equip our friends in Eastern Europe to win this war is also a direct investment in reducing Vladimir Putin\u2019s future capabilities to menace America, threaten our allies, and contest our core interests.\n\n\u201cDefeating Russia\u2019s aggression will help prevent further security crises in Europe.\n\n\u201cIt will prevent even further economic chaos that would roil key American trading partners and hurt American workers and families directly.\n\n\u201cIt will massively wear down the arsenal that is available to Putin for future efforts to use bullying and bloodshed to redraw still other borders down the road.\n\n\u201cAnd it will send a stark warning to other would-be aggressors like the People\u2019s Republic of China.\n\n\u201cBy assisting Ukraine today, America is directly demonstrating our commitment to the basic principles of territorial integrity and national sovereignty \u2014 changing the calculus for others considering military aggression and lowering the odds of far costlier and far more deadly future conflicts in the process.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019ll say it one more time. Continuing our support for Ukraine is morally right, but it is not only that. It is also a direct investment in cold, hard, American interests.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why Republicans rejected the Biden Administration\u2019s original request for Ukraine assistance as insufficient. The Administration\u2019s initial plan assumed there would be a lull in fighting over the winter and so the disbursement rates of weapons would decrease. But hoping for the best cannot mean that we fail to prepare for the worst. Rather than slowing assistance, we should be speeding up international deliveries to Ukraine, to help them take back more territory and better prepare for whenever they next go on the offensive.\n\n\u201cSo Republicans pushed hard here in the Senate to increase the amount of security assistance in this bill. I\u2019m glad our Democratic colleagues came around.\n\n\u201cThe agreement on the table increases weapons purchases to support Ukraine beyond the President\u2019s request. This assistance is in our national security interest, but it\u2019s also in America\u2019s economic interest. These investments will help expand our defense manufacturing capacity and contribute to an industry that supports high-paying American jobs.\n\n\u201cThe money is tied to strong oversight requirements to ensure that America\u2019s investments reach only our intended targets. There has been meaningful oversight over our Ukraine assistance all along, including by three separate Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office. And on top of that, last week\u2019s NDAA will put in place even further expansions in oversight, more end-use monitoring, and stricter reporting requirements. And the oversight won\u2019t stop there. Just as Senate ranking members have worked hard to maximize the impact of our assistance, the incoming House Republican majority will be able to use their gavels to keep an even closer eye on Ukraine aid and make sure the Biden Administration is doing everything possible to rebuild our defense-industrial base.\n\n\u201cWhile America is uniquely capable of leading this supporting effort, we should not, and are not, doing so alone. Vital Eastern Front allies and partners \u2013 in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland \u2013 have risen to the challenge of backing Ukraine in the fight against tyranny. So, too, have some Western European powers. And some allies across Europe deserve credit for changing course, making substantial investments in their own militaries, and starting to unwind years of neglect of national defense.\n\n\u201cBut some other European allies have lagged behind. They can and must do more, both to stand with Ukraine today and rebuild their own strength going forward.\n\n\u201cFinally, we all know that Ukraine\u2019s fight to retake its territory is neither the beginning nor end of the West\u2019s broader strategic competition with Putin\u2019s Russia. Increasing the pressure on Putin\u2019s regime can and should be a bipartisan priority. That will take concrete steps, like sanctions with teeth, not empty symbolism. If our Democratic colleagues are serious about joining this effort, Republicans stand ready to expose Russia\u2019s long trail of wartime atrocities and meaningfully ratchet up the economic and political costs that Russia pays for its misdeeds, from Ukraine to Georgia to Moldova to the Middle East and beyond.\n\n\u201cThese threats and atrocities require more than symbols and resolutions. They require concrete actions and consequences.\n\n\u201cThe plight of the innocent people of Ukraine is offering the world the starkest, most painful, and most personal reminder imaginable that global security and national self-determination do not uphold themselves. That peace is far from inevitable, and freedom is far from self-fulfilling. That countries who benefit from global stability need to help deter countries who want chaos.\n\n\u201cBut even against the barbaric horrors of a war they never asked for \u2014 even in the face of torture, and executions, and inhumane attacks on infrastructure, and systematic terror campaigns against civilian cities \u2014 against all these things, against the cold fate that Putin has tried to deal Ukraine \u2014 we have seen the warmth of the Ukrainian people\u2019s spirits win out. Their love for their homeland\u2026. for their families... for their freedom.\n\n\u201cThe United States Congress will be honored to hear the message that their courageous president brings to us on behalf of the brave citizens he represents.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:06Z"]], "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=ACB7226B-B758-473A-94AE-4DB655512F6C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8105130400508642, "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"}