Ukraine

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WICKER. Would the gentleman yield?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WICKER. And perhaps we can proceed in colloquy form.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I thank my dear friend from Ohio, and I see that we have been joined by my friend from Connecticut.

We did have a bipartisan American delegation in Poland and on the Ukrainian border this weekend. I don't recommend, for tourism purposes, a weekend trip to Eastern Europe and back. It is pretty hard on the anatomy. But I think we flew the colors for the United States, for the U.S. Senate, and made a bipartisan point.

And my colleagues can speak for themselves about exactly where they come down on these issues, but it was clear from the statements we made that the United States can do more and should be doing more.

And I call on the administration tonight to listen to the learned words of the distinguished Senator from Ohio. Yes, I support the MiGs from Poland and from other Eastern European countries. I think the debate got awfully heightened. I don't know why we needed to have an international discussion among allies about that rather than just do it. And maybe that should be a lesson to us on other decisions, which I hope we are about to make, but there are certainly other weapons that we can facilitate in delivering.

Does it make any sense to say that smaller weapons delivered from the United States are OK to fire against the Russian aggressors in Putin's war, but more effective MiG aircraft from NATO somehow would be escalatory?

Listen, our friends are in a war against the remaining dictator and tyrant on the face of the Earth; and if we are not willing--as we are not--to get involved directly in that war, yes, we ought to give our friends the weapons they need to win.

Let me say this: I hear debate in the newspaper and on the media-- even today--about an off-ramp, what Putin would agree to, to simply quit fighting: If we give him some of the territory that he thinks he has already conquered, Ukraine would get to have part of their country, and everything would be OK. It makes me feel like, somehow, I have been transported to 1938 and 1939, hearing talk about what Adolf Hitler might agree to, to avoid a world war.

Madam President, it is my understanding that the distinguished majority leader has a unanimous consent request, and I am willing to defer our debate at this point to accommodate some administrative matters that need to be taken care of.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source