During remarks on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) celebrated the advancement of the national security supplemental.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Mr. President, today the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world.
00:09 America will always defend democracy in its hour of need.
00:14 We tell our allies, we will stand with you.
00:18 We tell our adversaries, don't mess with us.
00:22 We tell the world, we will do everything to defend democracy and our way of life.
00:28 In a resounding bipartisan vote, the relentless work of six long months has paid off.
00:35 Congress is sending the supplemental to President Biden's desk.
00:41 Getting this done was one of the greatest achievements the Senate has faced in years,
00:45 perhaps decades.
00:46 A lot of people inside and outside the Congress wanted this package to fail.
00:52 But today, those in Congress who stand on the side of democracy are winning the day.
00:58 To our friends in Ukraine, to our allies in NATO, to our allies in Israel, and to civilians
01:04 around the world in need of help, help is on the way.
01:08 To our friends in Ukraine, America will deliver more ammo and air defenses and basic supplies
01:14 that you need to resist Putin on the battlefield.
01:19 To our friends in Israel, America will soon deliver aid to help you fight the scourge
01:24 of Hamas and stand up to Iran.
01:27 To innocent civilians in the midst of war, from Gaza to Sudan, America will deliver food
01:35 and medicine and clothing.
01:38 And to our friends in the Indo-Pacific, we will stand with you to resist the Chinese
01:43 Communist Party.
01:45 And to the whole world, make no mistake, America will deliver on its promise to act like a
01:52 leader on the world stage to hold the line against autocratic thugs like Vladimir Putin.
01:59 A few months ago, Putin made a bet that American aid would sooner or later come to an end.
02:05 We are showing Putin that betting against America is always, always a grave mistake.
02:13 Over the past few months, I've spoken repeatedly and at length about the supreme importance
02:18 of getting this supplemental package done.
02:22 Starting in October, and through Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's and into the
02:26 spring, I said again and again that we had to work in a bipartisan way, Democrats and
02:34 Republicans alike, if we wanted to pass this bill.
02:39 And when we succeeded in getting the supplemental through the Senate the first time in February,
02:43 it was for two reasons above all, persistence and bipartisanship.
02:50 At certain points, it might have seemed hard to see how we'd reach our goal, but we never
02:56 lost hope that if we persisted, we could finish the job.
03:01 Today, thank God, our persistence has been validated.
03:05 The bill and the bill the Senate sent to us by the House is largely the same as the bill
03:11 in substance as what the Senate has championed all along.
03:15 It wasn't easy to reach this point, but today's outcome yet confirms another thing we've stressed
03:21 from the beginning of this Congress.
03:24 In divided government, the only way to ever get things done is bipartisanship.
03:30 I'm very pleased that in this moment, when it mattered most, both parties found a way
03:35 to work together, even when it wasn't easy.
03:39 Again, persistence and bipartisanship is what saved the day.
03:45 Leader McConnell and I, who don't always agree, worked hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder
03:50 to get this bill done.
03:53 Together we were bipartisan and persistent.
03:56 Now it's troubling that a very small minority within the hard right tried desperately for
04:01 months to prevent Congress from doing the right thing.
04:05 These isolationists have now secured their ignominious place in history as the ones who'd
04:10 see America stick its head in the sand as our enemies sought to undermine us.
04:16 Had they won, they would have presided over a declining America.
04:21 I'm glad that today we will see that effort fail.
04:25 This is an inflection point in history.
04:30 Western democracy perhaps faced its greatest test since the end of the Cold War.
04:35 The conflicts we see right now in Europe, in the Middle East, and the tensions of the
04:39 Indo-Pacific will go a long way in shaping the balance of power between democracy and
04:44 autocracy in the decades to come, and the consequences for America's long-term security
04:51 will be profound.
04:53 If Putin's allowed to seize the territory of a neighboring sovereign nation, if Chinese
04:59 Communist Party is allowed to consume the Indo-Pacific, if Iran is allowed to dominate
05:04 the Middle East, and if America were to stand by and do nothing, it is the United States
05:11 that would suffer the consequences most of all in the long run.
05:16 Failure to act now could not only undermine the legitimacy of our democratic values, it
05:23 would have impacts across American life.
05:27 It would hurt us politically, economically, militarily, and socially.
05:33 It would harm the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, endanger the safety of our troops,
05:38 cripple America's innovative potential, and make the world a more hostile place for our
05:42 civic values, individual liberty, freedom of expression, equal justice under law, and
05:48 opportunity for all.
05:51 We always try to live up to these ideals, but they will not survive if autocratic powers
05:57 like Putin and the Chinese Communist Party overtake America in this century.
06:03 That's what's at stake in the war in Ukraine where we face Putin.
06:06 That's what's at stake in the war in Indochina where we face Xi.
06:13 That's what's at stake in conflicts in the Middle East where we face Iran.
06:17 Nothing less than the future of American security and the future of the democratic order that
06:23 has survived since the end of the Second World War.
06:28 So we have a choice.
06:30 We can either make a down payment on defending our security or finding ourselves on the back
06:36 foot facing much graver threats in years and decades to come.
06:41 The only answer is the right one.
06:43 We must act now.
06:46 We have learned in recent years that democracy is a fragile and precious thing.
06:50 It will not survive the threats of this century, the new threats, if we aren't willing to do
06:57 what it takes to defend it.
06:59 And if America will not lead the way to project democracy in this age, no other nation will.
07:07 That is the burden.
07:09 That is the duty of a nation as great as ours.
07:13 There are so many people on both sides of the aisle who deserve credit for this immense
07:18 accomplishment.
07:19 I thank President Biden for his stalwart leadership.
07:23 He never flinched or winced.
07:24 He knew how important this was and was always working with us and importuning us to move
07:29 forward.
07:31 I thank Leader McConnell, as I've mentioned before, working hand in hand with us, not
07:36 letting partisanship get in the way.
07:39 I thank Speaker Johnson, who rose to the occasion, in his own words, said he had to do the right
07:47 thing despite the enormous political pressure on him.
07:51 And I thank Leader Jeffries, who worked so well together in his bipartisan way with Speaker
07:58 Johnson.
08:00 And let me say this once again about my friend the Republican leader.
08:05 We were of one mind to get this bill done.
08:08 It was our bipartisanship, our linking of arms together, that got this large and difficult
08:14 bill through the Congress, despite many political ideologues who wanted to bring it down.
08:21 Bipartisanship once again prevailed, and I thank him for his leadership.
08:25 I want to thank my Senate colleagues, particularly in my caucus.
08:29 The dedication and unity and strength that you have shown has made this possible.
08:35 I was able, as leader, to work with the Republican leader in the House, the Speaker, the minority
08:44 leader in the House and the President, because I knew I had our full caucus behind us, strongly,
08:51 fervently.
08:52 The speeches that we heard at our Tuesday lunches, made by many who are sitting here,
08:57 would make every American proud.
09:00 And I thank you, thank you, thank you for that.
09:06 The past six months, our friends and allies across the world have been watching what's
09:11 been going on in Congress and asking themselves the same thing.
09:16 Will America stand by her friends to face down the forces of autocracy?
09:21 Will America follow through on its commitment to be a leader on the world stage and safeguard
09:26 the cause of democracy?
09:28 Will America summon the strength to come together, overcome the centrifugal pull of partisanship,
09:35 and rise once again to meet the magnitude of the moment?
09:39 Today, with both parties working together, the Senate answers these questions with a
09:47 thunderous and resounding yes.
09:50 I yield the floor.
09:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]