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Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, in December, President Zelenskyy came here to Congress. He came to us because he is fighting for his country's future and for his citizens' lives. This supplemental spending bill, the portion for Ukraine, will fulfill our commitments to our allies, defend democracy, and save innocent lives.

Let's be absolutely clear about that. Ukrainian civilians will live or die based on what we decide to do here in the Senate, in this Chamber. Are we going to ignore the requests, the pleas, the cries for help from our fellow champions of democracy in Ukraine?

President Zelenskyy has told us that Ukrainians will continue to fight with or without us. By that, he did not mean that they don't need us. No, they need us more than ever. With our help, they have pushed back against the Russian invaders. Without our help, they will run out of ammunition to hold back the Russians.

Our White House has conveyed this message:

We are out of money--and nearly out of time.

That is our government speaking. Our White House has warned us that ``while our allies around the world have stepped up to do more, U.S. support is critical and cannot be replicated by others.''

Putin himself told us the deadly stakes. He said:

[Ukraine] will only have a week to live when the ammunition runs out.

And Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.

Now, the United States could choose to stop funding, but the Ukrainians can't choose to stop fighting--nor would any of us if war came to our hometowns. If you had to defend your home, if you had to defend your family knowing that, if you stopped fighting, that death would fall from the sky as bombs and rockets obliterated your communities; that as Russian soldiers marched down your quiet street, your neighbors would be tortured, raped, your children stolen, your family executed, would you stop fighting even if you ran out of ammunition?

And those actions are what Russia has already done in the cities and towns they ran over in Ukraine. We know it will continue to happen if they run over other cities.

So the Ukrainian people really are fighting for their lives, and we are here debating whether we are going to abandon them. This is a conversation I can't believe we are having. I can't believe, with all of the foreign engagements we have been involved in, that when a fellow Republic which has repeatedly pushed hard to be out from under Russia's thumb, which had the Orange Revolution, which threw a President out of their country who wanted to betray them, who are now fighting in the streets against this Russian invasion--I can't believe we are having this conversation here in the Senate with so many colleagues ready to abandon Ukraine.

But this is certainly a critical debate. Ukraine is not some regional conflict on a faraway map. Putin himself put it this way in October. He said:

This is not a territorial conflict or even the establishment of a regional geopolitical balance.

He continued, and he said:

The question is much broader and more fundamental: We are talking about the principles on which the new world order will be based.

That is Putin. And what are the principles that Putin champions in that new world order? Well, we know what they are: the end of freedom of speech; the end of freedom of assembly; the end of freedom of religion; the end of citizens, through the integrity of democratic elections, choosing their own leaders and their own futures.

And there is another principle that is very much embedded with Putin, and that is the continuation of vile crimes against humanity--of rape, torture, and execution.

And Putin is not the only authoritarian in the world with this set of principles. We have got the Ayatollah in Iran to Xi Jinping in China who share his vision, who have closed ranks behind him in this fight, this fight in which they evade sanctions, legitimize tyranny, undermine the precious values of human rights, freedom, and democracy.

They are watching the United States very closely. They are watching to see if Senators in this Chamber are going to vote to abandon Ukraine. They are going to see if Senators in this Chamber are going to abandon our partnership and alliance with NATO in support of the people and the republic in Ukraine. They are watching to see if they can outlast our fickle political attention span. They are watching to see if they can invade their neighboring countries, execute the citizens in that country, and take over those adjacent nations, all for more power and more profit.

It is so important that democracy stand shoulder to shoulder in this fight. We know that is what we need to do. That is how we won the Cold War. And before that, it is how we won World War II when we defeated another axis of authoritarians bent on repression and conquest.

It was in 1940. Germany and Italy signed a pact to support each other. Back then, many Americans believed that we could stay out of war in Eastern Europe by hiding behind the slogan of ``America First.'' And then the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor.

The war in Europe then, like the war in Europe today, isn't some regional conflict that we can ignore, not some regional conflict that doesn't affect us. It is a universal struggle about whether people in Ukraine and here in the United States have the right to live in freedom and peace or whether repressive authoritarians can conquer democracies.

And the authoritarians in Europe and Asia then, like the authoritarians in Europe and Asia today, were dictators who viewed democracy as a threat--a threat to their power, a threat that must be destroyed. Dictators do not stop. Dictators must be stopped.

Putin has ruled Russia for a quarter of a century, and he wants even more time to continue his establishment of those principles against freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, the principles of crushing dissent. Putin has ruled with total and merciless control and power, and he wants even more power. What makes us think that ceding some of Ukraine will be enough to placate him?

We have seen this story before. The last time the world naively tried to placate a murderous madman was when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went to Munich in 1938. In Munich, Chamberlain told Hitler, like some colleagues in this Chamber today want to say to Putin, that he could have a slice of an adjacent country--in that case, Czechoslovakia--and England would look the other way and declare ``peace in our time.'' But that appeasement of Hitler didn't produce ``peace in our time.'' Instead, that appeasement encouraged his appetite, made him stronger, set the stage for the unimaginable horrors of World War II.

Appeasing Putin today is as wrong strategically and morally as appeasing Hitler was 86 years ago. Think of the lives we could have saved and the incalculable destruction we could have prevented had we stopped Hitler in 1938.

Well, we have that same question before us right now. Every student of history, every student of politics, if they could go back in time, would tell Chamberlain: Do not appease Hitler. That will not work.

For the same reason, every student of history and politics today is telling us: Don't appease Putin.

Appeasing Putin would be a mistake of the same magnitude, one that future historians will condemn as the mega-mistake of the 21st century.

We must say here in this Chamber--we must say no to another Munich moment. We must say no to appeasement. We must say no to the Neville Chamberlains of our time.

Some of my colleagues asked the question: Can we afford to defend democracy?

Munich and Pearl Harbor teach us we cannot afford not to defend democracy. A threat to democracy anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.

Experts estimate that Putin is spending some 30 percent, and possibly quite more, of his government budget to fight this war. We here in the United States, we are spending 1.5 percent of our government budget to support Ukraine. That is pennies on the dollar. A penny and a half of our Federal budget, that is all we are asking.

The Ukrainians are fighting and giving with their lives and their injuries to save their democracy. All they are asking of us: 1.5 percent of our Federal budget.

We are not putting Americans in harm's way in the process. We are just being asked for 1.5 percent of our government budget. But that 1.5 percent, that is so important. It is that 1.5 percent combined with the European partnership that is supporting the people in Ukraine. It is those pennies, that 1.5 percent, that is ensuring that Ukrainian soldiers don't run out of artillery shells. It is those pennies, that 1.5 percent, so that Ukrainian soldiers won't run out of air defenses. It is those pennies that will ensure Ukrainian soldiers will not run out of ammunition.

If Putin conquers Ukraine like Hitler conquered Czechoslovakia, if he sees the United States will not stand with this democratic ally, where will his attention turn next? Where will his attention turn to his next project? He is a frustrated KGB agent who saw the dissolution of the USSR, the Soviet Union, as the biggest calamity of his life, and he wants to do everything in his power to take back as much as he possibly can in his lifetime. That is his mission.

So anyone who thinks you can appease Putin the way Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler, you are just wrong. Imagine the costs when Russian tanks roll up to the border of Poland or Estonia or Latvia or Finland. All NATO members are sworn by a treaty to defend each other, and that includes not just our money but our soldiers.

It makes so much sense to stand with Ukraine today and stop Putin in Ukraine rather than to hand over Ukraine and then defend the rest of Europe from his aggression that will surely follow.

And think about the message that we are sending to China regarding Taiwan. China is watching this very closely. China says: If Putin can outlast the United States and Europe in Ukraine, well, we can certainly outlast them when we attack Taiwan.

So standing with Ukraine today is the right stance if you want to deter China from attacking Taiwan tomorrow. We could have stopped Hitler in 1938, just like we can stop Putin today.

This is a war between democracy and authoritarianism, and this Senate floor, the battlefield, is right here, right now, this week. The decisions that we make this week about funding Ukraine may be the most consequential of our careers. The United States, in this fight, is the only truly indispensable nation.

If we are leaders of the free world, if we are the last best hope for democracy, then we have to actually be that hope for democracy. We have to heed the lessons of history. We have to stop dictators like Putin in their tracks, and we need to do it now.

When President Zelenskyy was here before Congress in 2022, he said:

This struggle will define in what world our children and grandchildren will live, and then their children and grandchildren. It will define whether it will be a democracy of Ukrainians and for Americans--for all.

He continued:

This battle cannot be frozen or postponed. It cannot be ignored.

My friends, defending Ukraine is not some charitable operation where we can decide to give a little more or a little less and feel good about it. Defending Ukraine is global and national security.

Putin and his authoritarian allies want to show the world that democracies don't work. We here in the U.S. Senate, need to show the world that democracies do work. The Senate should debate the supplemental security spending for Ukraine this week in this Chamber; the Senate should vote on this supplemental security for Ukraine this week in this Chamber; and this Senate should pass this emergency funding supplemental for Ukraine here in this Chamber this week for Ukraine's democracy and for our own.

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