Watch Bennet’s Speech HERE
Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet spoke on the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to extend funding to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
“Putin knows exactly what’s going on here. He knows about the debate that’s going on here. He knows, my colleagues, that he’s losing on the battlefield. He understands that. NATO understands that. Xi Jinping understands that. He knows that. He’s losing on the battlefield. He’s counting on winning on Capitol Hill. He’s counting on winning on this battlefield,” said Bennet.
“I suppose we could be having a very different debate if Ukraine hadn’t been as successful as they have been. But they have been successful. And what we know is if we roll over now for Vladimir Putin, if we stop providing Ukraine with their weapons… if we stop providing them with resources, if we stop providing them with the intelligence that we provided them, they’re going to lose this war,” continued Bennet. “We cannot abandon Ukraine at this moment.”
Bennet has staunchly supported the Ukrainian people in their fight to defend their democracy against Russian aggression. In September, Bennet briefly objected to a government funding resolution that failed to provide additional funding for Ukraine. Before the invasion, Bennet and Democratic colleagues introduced legislation to impose crippling sanctions on Russia. Bennet also joined colleagues on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in urging President Biden to share intelligence with Ukraine as Russian troops amassed on its border.
Following the invasion, Bennet introduced bipartisan legislation to seize the assets of Putin and Russian oligarchs and direct the proceeds to benefit Ukrainian reconstruction and recovery, which was passed unanimously as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 federal spending bill in December. Bennet also has supported efforts to ban Russian oil imports and urged the Biden Administration to grant Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainian nationals until the conflict abates.
Bennet’s full speech is available below:
I’m glad to be here today. I think it’s important for us to have this debate. This is a debate. People on the other side always say it’s not one.
I heard my colleague from Ohio talking earlier about slogans, slogans, slogans, this is all about slogans. I cannot believe the degree to which the accomplishments by the Ukrainian people are being diminished on this floor or being diminished in this debate. It is absolutely disgraceful.
They are this close to winning this war. There is a freeze today on the battlefield, on the front line, in part because Putin knows exactly what’s going on here. He knows about the debate that’s going on here.
He knows, my colleagues, that he’s losing on the battlefield. He understands that. NATO understands that. Xi Jinping understands that. He knows that. He’s losing on the battlefield. He’s counting on winning on Capitol Hill. He’s counting on winning on this battlefield.
Let me tell you something, this isn’t about slogans. Let’s talk about what Ukraine has done over the last two years. I haven’t heard anybody talk about that in this discussion or this debate. I hope my colleagues on the other side are listening because you will not hear in your lifetime a list of greater courage or sacrifice than what you will hear from Ukrainians. And it’s not slogans.
They defeated and reversed the Russian attack on Kyiv, which by the way, Kyiv was supposed to fall in 72 hours. They reversed that.
They forced Russia to retreat from Chernihiv and Sumy. They won the battle of Kharkiv. They took back Kherson. They took back Snake Island.
Ukraine has taken back more than half of the land that Russia took from them in this invasion. Colleagues, more than half.
Nobody two years ago would have predicted that. Everybody would have said Putin would never relinquish that land.
They almost single-handedly restarted commercial grain trade with Asia and Africa. Why does that matter? That matters so that the whole rest of the world can be fed, so they’ll stay in the fight that we have led, that no other country can lead but the United States of America, even though my colleagues on the other side have gotten tired.
[…] Last month, they largely neutralized the Black Sea Fleet. They don’t even have a real navy. They don’t have a navy. And through their dedication and through their imagination and their willingness to sacrifice, they have managed to neutralize the Black Sea Fleet. There’s nobody that thought they could do this.
This is all while Russians outnumber Ukrainians three to one on the battlefield. I heard from my colleagues, “How [many]more American lives? How much more American treasure?” There is not an American losing their life. Ukrainians are losing their lives in the name of democracy.
In total, Ukraine has killed [or injured] 300,000 Russian fighters. Thank you, Ukraine, for doing the work that NATO has not been asked to do, that the United States has not been asked to do.
Putin knows he’s losing this war in Ukraine. The only question he has is, “Is he going to win the war here in the United States Congress? Who’s going to lose Ukraine?” And the people that are here today saying this is not a lesson from World War II, this is a lesson from World War I. These are the people that are going to lose Ukraine.
Do we have any right to be fatigued, colleagues, when we haven’t lost 100,000 people? When all we’re being asked to do is… manufacture the weapons that Ukraine is using on this battlefield? Putting American people to work to support Ukraine and democracy? That’s what we’re being asked to do. Can we possibly be fatigued at this moment?
I suppose we could be having a very different debate if Ukraine hadn’t been as successful as they have been. But they have been successful. And what we know is if we roll over now for Vladimir Putin, if we stop providing Ukraine with their weapons — and they’re out of bullets, Mr. President, they’re out of bullets as we stand here today. They’ve got a billion dollars left. That if we stop providing them with resources, if we stop providing them with the intelligence that we provided them, they’re going to lose this war.
President Zelenskyy came here and told you that “we will win this war if you stick with us, we will lose this war if you abandon us.” We cannot abandon Ukraine at this moment.
So I know I have other colleagues on the floor who need to speak today. Mr. President. I am glad this has been recorded for history. I am glad today’s debate has been recorded for history because when they ask who lost this war to Vladimir Putin? It’s not going to be a question of rhetoric or debate points. It’s going to be a question of a war that we were actually on the verge of winning and a war that we’ve walked away from and lost, with repercussions to every single corner of this world, including where Xi Jinping is sitting right now in Beijing, and don’t forget about it. Don’t forget about it. I yield the floor.
Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet spoke on the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to extend funding to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
“Putin knows exactly what’s going on here. He knows about the debate that’s going on here. He knows, my colleagues, that he’s losing on the battlefield. He understands that. NATO understands that. Xi Jinping understands that. He knows that. He’s losing on the battlefield. He’s counting on winning on Capitol Hill. He’s counting on winning on this battlefield,” said Bennet.
“I suppose we could be having a very different debate if Ukraine hadn’t been as successful as they have been. But they have been successful. And what we know is if we roll over now for Vladimir Putin, if we stop providing Ukraine with their weapons… if we stop providing them with resources, if we stop providing them with the intelligence that we provided them, they’re going to lose this war,” continued Bennet. “We cannot abandon Ukraine at this moment.”
Bennet has staunchly supported the Ukrainian people in their fight to defend their democracy against Russian aggression. In September, Bennet briefly objected to a government funding resolution that failed to provide additional funding for Ukraine. Before the invasion, Bennet and Democratic colleagues introduced legislation to impose crippling sanctions on Russia. Bennet also joined colleagues on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in urging President Biden to share intelligence with Ukraine as Russian troops amassed on its border.
Following the invasion, Bennet introduced bipartisan legislation to seize the assets of Putin and Russian oligarchs and direct the proceeds to benefit Ukrainian reconstruction and recovery, which was passed unanimously as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 federal spending bill in December. Bennet also has supported efforts to ban Russian oil imports and urged the Biden Administration to grant Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainian nationals until the conflict abates.
Bennet’s full speech is available below:
I’m glad to be here today. I think it’s important for us to have this debate. This is a debate. People on the other side always say it’s not one.
I heard my colleague from Ohio talking earlier about slogans, slogans, slogans, this is all about slogans. I cannot believe the degree to which the accomplishments by the Ukrainian people are being diminished on this floor or being diminished in this debate. It is absolutely disgraceful.
They are this close to winning this war. There is a freeze today on the battlefield, on the front line, in part because Putin knows exactly what’s going on here. He knows about the debate that’s going on here.
He knows, my colleagues, that he’s losing on the battlefield. He understands that. NATO understands that. Xi Jinping understands that. He knows that. He’s losing on the battlefield. He’s counting on winning on Capitol Hill. He’s counting on winning on this battlefield.
Let me tell you something, this isn’t about slogans. Let’s talk about what Ukraine has done over the last two years. I haven’t heard anybody talk about that in this discussion or this debate. I hope my colleagues on the other side are listening because you will not hear in your lifetime a list of greater courage or sacrifice than what you will hear from Ukrainians. And it’s not slogans.
They defeated and reversed the Russian attack on Kyiv, which by the way, Kyiv was supposed to fall in 72 hours. They reversed that.
They forced Russia to retreat from Chernihiv and Sumy. They won the battle of Kharkiv. They took back Kherson. They took back Snake Island.
Ukraine has taken back more than half of the land that Russia took from them in this invasion. Colleagues, more than half.
Nobody two years ago would have predicted that. Everybody would have said Putin would never relinquish that land.
They almost single-handedly restarted commercial grain trade with Asia and Africa. Why does that matter? That matters so that the whole rest of the world can be fed, so they’ll stay in the fight that we have led, that no other country can lead but the United States of America, even though my colleagues on the other side have gotten tired.
[…] Last month, they largely neutralized the Black Sea Fleet. They don’t even have a real navy. They don’t have a navy. And through their dedication and through their imagination and their willingness to sacrifice, they have managed to neutralize the Black Sea Fleet. There’s nobody that thought they could do this.
This is all while Russians outnumber Ukrainians three to one on the battlefield. I heard from my colleagues, “How [many]more American lives? How much more American treasure?” There is not an American losing their life. Ukrainians are losing their lives in the name of democracy.
In total, Ukraine has killed [or injured] 300,000 Russian fighters. Thank you, Ukraine, for doing the work that NATO has not been asked to do, that the United States has not been asked to do.
Putin knows he’s losing this war in Ukraine. The only question he has is, “Is he going to win the war here in the United States Congress? Who’s going to lose Ukraine?” And the people that are here today saying this is not a lesson from World War II, this is a lesson from World War I. These are the people that are going to lose Ukraine.
Do we have any right to be fatigued, colleagues, when we haven’t lost 100,000 people? When all we’re being asked to do is… manufacture the weapons that Ukraine is using on this battlefield? Putting American people to work to support Ukraine and democracy? That’s what we’re being asked to do. Can we possibly be fatigued at this moment?
I suppose we could be having a very different debate if Ukraine hadn’t been as successful as they have been. But they have been successful. And what we know is if we roll over now for Vladimir Putin, if we stop providing Ukraine with their weapons — and they’re out of bullets, Mr. President, they’re out of bullets as we stand here today. They’ve got a billion dollars left. That if we stop providing them with resources, if we stop providing them with the intelligence that we provided them, they’re going to lose this war.
President Zelenskyy came here and told you that “we will win this war if you stick with us, we will lose this war if you abandon us.” We cannot abandon Ukraine at this moment.
So I know I have other colleagues on the floor who need to speak today. Mr. President. I am glad this has been recorded for history. I am glad today’s debate has been recorded for history because when they ask who lost this war to Vladimir Putin? It’s not going to be a question of rhetoric or debate points. It’s going to be a question of a war that we were actually on the verge of winning and a war that we’ve walked away from and lost, with repercussions to every single corner of this world, including where Xi Jinping is sitting right now in Beijing, and don’t forget about it. Don’t forget about it. I yield the floor.