McConnell: America Needs To Show We Haven't Forgotten How To Lead

Floor Speech

"Negotiations on border security continue to make headway. I'm grateful to Senator Lankford for his uninterrupted focus on the task at hand: meaningful policy changes.

Our colleagues at the negotiating table are under no illusions about how difficult it is to fix our nation's broken asylum and parole system.

They're working on what would be the first serious repair in more than 30 years.

But there's no longer any disagreement that the situation at the southern border is unsustainable and requires the Senate to act.

This is the core of America's national security. It will be an essential part of supplemental legislation to address pressing security challenges. And negotiations will continue in earnest until we get there.

The Senate cannot afford to get this wrong. From south Texas to southeast Asia, and from the Black Sea to the Red Sea, it's an historically challenging and consequential time to protect America's interests, our allies, and our own people.

The world is witnessing the first land war in Europe since 1945. Ukraine's citizen soldiers are in the trenches right now, resisting Russian aggression with Western assistance.

American leadership has strengthened the NATO alliance, prompted our closest allies and trading partners to share more of the burden of collective defense, and driven historic investments in the military strength and industrial capacity we need here at home to compete with our biggest adversaries.

Finishing the job will require more of that leadership.

Meanwhile, Israel is responding to the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Our ally needs the time, space, and support required to eliminate the terrorist savages responsible for the horrors of October 7th.

And the entire region needs American leadership to restore deterrence against Iran and its terrorist proxies who attack U.S. personnel with impunity.

From the other side of the world, our friends in the Indo-Pacific are watching closely what goes on in Europe and the Middle East and investing seriously in their own military strength… because they know that China is doing the same.

Our single greatest strategic adversary is growing increasingly aggressive, increasingly advanced, and increasingly keen to seize an edge over a global superpower that fails to act like one.

Mr. President, the stakes are high this holiday season for our allies and partners on the front lines of authoritarian aggression. The challenges are real for brave American servicemembers who are spending this time of year far from home and loved ones to keep us safe.

It's a dangerous world -- one that doesn't reward weakness.

America needs to show that we haven't forgotten how to lead, and that we're committed to restoring the hard power that leadership requires.

So I'm encouraged by our colleagues' commitment to keep working toward an agreement on national security, beginning with security here at home.

The Senate will not let the challenges we face go unanswered."

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